Marbleous Experience

This is the first in a series called "Accountants do not necessarily make good Counters".

A real life consumer nightmare - that continues to today - with no end in sight.

One day in early January - the hunt was on for a counter-top for my renovation. Visited a couple of places with granite, composites and laminate and some shops that unfortunately were closed for the weekend. My last stop was Continental Marble. I had to visit our local manufacturer - for if I could find a product there - I'd be happier buying the counter.

Continental has been around for a few decades and I knew the owner - Lorne Janes - from back in the Manufactured Right Here days.

The plant was a mess as were the old offices and the samples of counters, sinks, and shower surrounds were strewn around haphazard - however it looked like things were happening.

Perhaps many years of commercial customers eliminated the need for a neat and attractive showroom. This however did not scare me off - I was intrigued with the samples of marble composite here and there - particularly the candy striped red and pink one - it was unique.

Myself and Lorne exchanged pleasantries and talked a little about the days of old and then carried on to the discussion of what I needed.

The composite marble product is a good one and I figure if you've been doing it this long and are still here - something must be going right.

We talked about the process, colours, designs, and basic measurements of my kitchen.

Then we talked price - I'll expand on that in a later post.

Lorne and I reviewed the renovation schedule and we estimated that the kitchen would be ready for the counter in March. This - Lorne said - was a great lead time and they would be out to measure the counter and also to produce a sample in the colours and design discussed.

During this initial discussion with Lorne - other cabinet and counter companies were commented on - particularly as Lorne suggested would be problems areas such as service and all-inclusive pricing.

During this initial meet - there was no discussion of the company being sold - or that ultimately if I had problems - I would not be dealing with him. With a custom pour such as this - I would have to be comfortable that if there were any defects or issues - I had somebody in Lorne who I felt would fix it.

Lorne went on to show me different products they had done and the absolutely limitless possibilities of one's imagination that could be achieved.

After the actual on site measurements were done he could solidify the quote and we'd be on our way to a new and unique counter top.

The fellow in the company who would be doing our counter had been with Continental almost - if not since - the beginning and was a seasoned manufacturer of this product.

With that we went away and emailed back and forth to establish a site visit.

Sounds good so far right?

Next post - the site visit, the quote, and the sample.