Innovation Rocks at Bluefish Granite
A Small Shop Serving the Hamptons Gets Creative to Prosper
by Peter J. Marcucci
Shop Photos by Peter Marcucci & Courtesy Bluefish Granite
What do you do when business is slow in a down market? You get resourceful, according to Bluefish Granite owners Steve Marrama and Jeff Forman.
With the seemingly endless growth of upscale homes along the Hampton, New Hampshire coastline, and an ever increasing upper demographic clientele in neighboring Exeter, it seemed like a pretty safe bet to Steve Marrama and Jeff Forman, co-owners of Bluefish Granite, that one more fabrication shop in the area to service that growth was the perfect new business.
After all, North Hampton had been a growth machine for years with no end in sight, and who should know better than Steve and Jeff—they had been homebuilders in the area since the mid 1990s. So in 2004 when they opened the doors of Bluefish Granite, they were confident that everything was going to be peachy keen—and it was—for a while.
“When Steve and I finished building our last condominium in 2003, we looked at each other and decided we were both burned out in the construction field and needed to do something different,” explained Jeff. “We had always admired the look and beauty of the natural stone countertops that were installed in many of the homes we had built, so after a lot of discussion, Steve and I decided a fabrication shop was the way to go.
After selling off their final chunk of commercial property to a local builder, Steve and Jeff began searching for as much information on fabrication that they could get our hands on by visiting shops and manufacturers and calling suppliers throughout the country. It was at this point they had their first experience with Braxton-Bragg, Jeff said.
“From the beginning whether it was information on tools, supplies or techniques, Braxton-Bragg was there for us offering straight talk and solutions that fit our budget, and in retrospect, they were key. We had gained enough information to get into the game and opened Bluefish Granite in 2004. It definitely wasn’t a cakewalk, we made our mistakes, but little by little our volume grew, and by 2006 we were on a roll.”
Being on the coastline, most of Bluefish Granite’s service area is a 30-mile half radius with 3cm 80-110 square foot kitchens being their main product.
With a total of 7,000 square feet of floor space, Steve and Jeff’s efficient array of equipment consists mainly of a Park Industries Sierra bridge saw, a Park Industries Wizard radial arm workstation, and a water recycling system by Water Treatment Technologies. Equipped with workbenches that easily configure to any shape kitchen in progress, seam matching is a snap, Jeff said, adding that sometimes they don’t carry a lot of slab inventory, but when they do it’s nice to have a large floor space that’s not cramped. “It’s big enough for the good times and small enough for the lean times.”
And lean times there were. By 2008, Steve and Jeff’s sales were slowly decreasing. They had always strived for long-term success by putting customer satisfaction before profits, so they weren’t sure what was going on, or what to do.
Staying Unique in a
Tough Business Environment
It was now one year into the recession, and things weren’t getting any better. They were still seeing many of the same contractors, but homeowner traffic was still in decline. “We had always had a relaxed attitude when it came to dealing with our clients,” Steve remarked, “We never pressured anyone who walked through our door. Truthful information, honest pricing and patience had been part of our business model from the very beginning. We always went the extra mile when it came to giving our clients state-of-art-service with added value.
For example, being generous with our time while allowing them as much time as they needed to confidently make decisions such as stone type and color, edge detail and overhangs. Another primary concern for us was communication. We had always invited our clients in for a full viewing of their slabs, making a point of showing them every little flaw and then offering a plan that described matched seams and splashes—one of our specialties.”
Steve went on to say that after receiving final layout approval, production usually began within a few days, and when the job was within four or five days of shop completion, a call was placed and an installation time confirmed. In the end when the final product was set, caulked and cleaned and seams matched as promised, most of the time the clients were happy—and happy usually led to the best kind of advertising for any business—the word-of-mouth kind.
“By this point in time we had also gained a lot of ground with the smaller local contractors by being accessible to them whenever they walked in. They could call or show up at our shop with measurements for shower or tub elements, and one of us would stop what we were doing and take care of them.”
Staying in the Game
From the onset Steve and Jeff had always had good relationships with the other fab shops in the area, and no one wanted to trigger a price war. Devaluing their products or the market wasn’t in anybody’s best interest, so they just continued to hang in there.
It wasn’t until 2010 that they restructured everything, Steve told me, and eventually, he said, they began to see a difference. They also began making cold calls to area builders with whom they had never done business with and quickly learned that most builders in the area have their favorite relationships and stick with them, at least most of the time.
“When we walked into a sales call, we didn’t just show up with a cobbled together price list and samples,” Steve explained. “We were very organized and stressed that we do whatever it takes to keep a job moving forward without sacrificing quality. Jeff would then step in saying, ‘If we have to do a little plumbing here and a little electrical there, we’ll do it!’ That’s the great thing about having a partner! Both of us are always there to back each other up. I would then try to stress the fact that we are both owners, and our futures are on the line and we aren’t about to let anyone down with poor service. Some shops will take on more work than they can handle and then wind up shortchanging their longstanding customers. Both of us have seen this too many times, so Jeff usually closes the conversation by saying ‘we are here today and we will be here tomorrow, and if something does happen to the fabricator you are using, we are here to help.’ ”
Business continued to increase, albeit slowly, and not ones to take slack time laying down, Jeff and Steve took a good look at what they did have—instead of what they didn’t.
“We had quite a few remnants stored around the shop by now,” Jeff now explained, “and one day I picked up a saw and grinder and began making shapes. Within a few hours I became comfortable with using the tools that I had used for cutting sinks, radiuses and edges and began making more complex designs such as fish, turtles and sea horses.
When the dust had cleared, I stood back and thought, Hmm – not too bad. Sculpture just snowballed from then on.”
Jeff went on to say that his mom was an artist and that “artist” was in his DNA, and pointing to his display he said, “You don’t see sculptures like these in other shops. Many of them I make on spec, but much of the time people walk in with something special in mind. I love making them!”
The Future
When I asked them for their sense of the future, each took a turn by remarking, “It’s been a roller coaster but so far this year business is up by 25 percent, with 80 percent being remodel.
We’ve had some stellar months and we are holding our own. Someday we’d like to own a building that has all the little extras that a marble shop needs. Things like pitched floors in work and machine areas and a mid-size showroom that designers could use for client consultation is in our future, but for now we are happy where we’re at.
People know where we are and it’s a good size space to work out of. We’ve also seen an increase in our Internet marketing and mail order sales of sculptures, and we are going to do everything in our power to continue this growth.”
See the link “Special Granite Projects” on www.bluefishgranite.com for more sculptures, and samples of kitchen and bath projects.