some how I can't quite picture the  red beret, yellow ascot and light blue shirt ....  but yes , good times! 

Hello all. I... feel eclipsed by the number of professionals here, please don't mind the lurker. I'm a little bit of a CAD tinkerer, and have access to several AXYZ machines through the trade school I recently departed. Alas, 'twas Electronics, not Carpentry, my chosen profession.

What I'm more interested in though is some properties of Solid Surface for rather eccentric uses, bodies and casings for some electronic devices and electric instruments come to mind first. I'm here to soak up the knowledge being thrown around instead of contributing to it, so don't mind if you never see me post, ever again.

Except for the Swamp. My, what a temptation. Someone shackle and collar me now.

Hey, all, SOCR is my son, Ken. With his interest in CAD,CNC and tech stuff, I asked him to check the forums out here. Give him a welcome for me.

The Team Mather gauntlet.......great!    I got nowhere to go now 

Welcome Ken.

Posted By SOCR on 29 Oct 2009 11:08 PM

I'm here to soak up the knowledge being thrown around instead of contributing to it, so don't mind if you never see me post, ever again.

 You said 'Soak up knowledge"...   Just beware. When knowledge comes at you here, sometimes it is wise to duck.  We will either impress you with knowledge, or baffle you with bulls**t.   Welcome to the fabNet!!

But when all else fails, go to the thread, Ask Norm.

Welcome Ken. Don't be afraid to post if you have a question. We don't bit all the time.

Glad to see you reading.

Take Care,

Andy

Hi all, my name is Tim Scarlata of Atlantic Granite & Marble in Rochester NY
I started installing in 1982 and started fabricating in 1987. Through the years I have run into countless repairs so I started a restoration company called Stone Seal. We started with stone, corian and fountainhead but the stone quickly took over and we phased out SS. That was many moons ago and am now considering getting into some alternative countertop options for my clients. I look forward to learning about new products and some new tricks and hope I can contribute as well.
Thanks.

Welcome Tim,   brave of you to enter...   My brother who now lives up here in AK near me worked out of Rochester for years as a contractor,  the area treated him well.     Just so I understand,   the repair biz  of stone took over?

Hello everyone. Thanks to Andy and others who are keeping this network up and running. We are fully equipped granite countertop fabricators with 4 shops on the east coast. I am one of the owners of the company. Our locations are in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We import our own granite.  We measure, template, fabricate and install granite countertops. We fabricate silestone, quarts and marble as well. Everything is done in house. Let me know if you need a quote for any upcoming project. Thanks and good luck to everyone

Howdy all.

My name is Randy and I am fairly new to the solid surface world.
Was certified about an year an a half ago and love it.
We are a full service commercial remodeling company that does most of our own fabrication and installations.
I hope to learn a lot of useful tips from the more experience folks here.

Thanks
 
Randy

Welcome. You have come to the right place for a lot of helpful, insightful and sometimes crazy information.

I must have missed this section somehow but hey.........Hi we run a family owned and operated solid surface fab business in Adelaide, Australia we have been in the kitchen and solid surface business for quite a few years and Peter has been on the fabnet for quite some time, but we worked mainly for a major kitchen company until recently. We recently broke away to achieve some of our ambitions for our solid surface business in different areas other than only kitchens....brave I know :|  We have now launched our business more formerly, with a website, facebook and signage etc. We have many varied contracts which is great because we are always doing something different and interesting. The business currently consists of my husband 'Peter the fabricator' and me in sales and customer services and our two sons who are into a bit of everything. I also do a lot of work in the workshop finishing and on sites refinishing, Peter says I am the best at it. He better be saying that or else...... Anyway we are really passionate about ss and want everyone to know how great the product is and the endless possibilities in its applications. We have great relationships with our clients, because we love what we do and we want what they want. That is, stunning, quality solid surface products and happy repeat and referring clients. Look forward to chatting on fabnet with you all in the future.

Hello to all.my name is rob.
 Our company is actually a construction company that has transformed in to a granite shop, (due to the economy and local new housing market sales or lack of ).
We started doing a lot of kitchen remodels,and ended up doing our own granite tops as well.
We are located in port charlotte Fla.
Starting our own fab shop has been interesting to say the least.But its been two yrs now and going better every day

Hello Everyone.

Looking forward to learning more about fabricators and their needs as well as provide some insight in our areas of expertise. I am CMO for an Online Marketing firm focused on driving new business for the granite fabricator. Based on what i see so far this is a pretty active forum and looking forwarded to picking up some tips on the industry across the country. If anyone has any online marketing and promotion question feel free to contact me. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.

-pg

Hi My Name is Dave Knowlton I own a small business in Andover, CT fabricating and installing granite tops for the last 8 years. Two years ago I decided to stop fabricating and concntrate on the whole kitchen so I template and install but sub out the fabrication of the granite and have taken on kitchen cabinet design and install too. Every now and then I am asked to work with another material so I have been toying with bringing on paperstone or Richlite. I also do some granite repair every now and then.

I have been an instructor for the NSRA stone repair class for the last 5 years and with the changes over there I have helped create the new Stone Repair Network in its place. Along with Tim Scarlata and Chris Soderland I will be teaching the stone repair classes for the SRN as well. I have taught over 100 students from several countries how to properly repair granite.

I hope to be able to help other professionals better themselves as well as learn a thing or two.

Hi, Dave. Your shop used to be in Manchester by the Hobby shop, correct?

Welcome to the FabNet.

Welcome to the FabNet Paul and Dave.

Tom M

You are correct sir. I still have a few slabs by the street over there that were buried in a snow bank when I moved. Free advertising. My showroom is on Rt 6 in the Andover plaza now. Profits are better without the shop overhead for the volume I sell. I still only really sell granite tops but I sell quite a few cabinets to remodellers as well as a set here and there of my design and install.

How are things over at Mather Tops these days? I heard that your granite installer is doing a fine job. It is good to hear that at least someone else in our area is doing quality installs.

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Heh, yeah, it's tough to try to maintain a quality install when "drive-by installation" is more and more the way things are moving. We are staying alive, but not exactly flooding the bank accounts.

By the way, you are one of the main reasons why I changed my opinion about stone tops. Early on you spoke with a conviction about quality and possibility that opened my eyes to consider it.

I always thought that a cabinet business would fit well either to the left of the package store (or is it the bagel place?) or where the old nail salon used to be (left of Andover Pizza). Looks like we had similar ideas. That's the difference between thinking and acting. I wish you good luck.

What brand cabs do you sell?