David Coster, the plain speaking Director of Advanced Stone & Masonry Supplies, which sells Stain Proof and Tenax products in the UK, talks to Steve Murphy, hands-on MD of Planet Granite near Coventry.

David: Quartz, ceramic/sintered or natural stone?

Steve: For job satisfaction and creativity, natural stone. But for ease of manufacture and making money, 20mm quartz jobs all day long.

David: Straight off the machine or hand finished?

Steve: We use a Breton for polishing all our sinks. Everything comes off the machines probably to a standard that for many fabricators would go out. We have the tool manufacturers come and set up the tools for us using Zolllers. We pay extra for that. We still check the quality of everything and hand finish, so I would say probably every sink that comes from us is finished by CNC and still hand finished as well.

David: Physical templates or digital?

Steve: We have been digital templating with LT55s – or LT-2D3Ds, I should call them now – for six years. It was the only way to go really – completely digital. We can edit the drawings. The lads in the factory spend a lot of time on the CADs editing stuff, chopping bits up. If it was a physical template it would be highly inaccurate.

Customers – love them or hate them?

Love them and hate them. Both. I love some and I hate some. You get some customers who are an absolute nightmare. But then, fortunately, every so often you get really, really good ones that make up for it.

What’s going to be your next investment?

Software… for the smooth running of the business. There are various programs on the market now – Moraware, Stone Profit from Capterra, things like that – so we’re going to be investing in that. We have our own CRM system that we have custom built but we’re thinking now more about swapping over to one of the systems designed specifically for stone fabricators. CRM [customer relationship management] is about the whole process. We have our stock on there, our quotations, we’ve got our invoicing on it, our calendar for booking in jobs for fixing and templating. All the information of the whole business is on our CRM. But I think we’re going to move over to one that’s purpose built for stone, that’s tried and tested with bar codes and QR codes. Ours has got a bit clunky after so many years.

With COP26 and Net Zero companies are being told to cut their carbon footprint. Do you have any plans in place?

We are looking at putting solar panels on the roof. We recycle our water. Everything we do is trying to be low energy. The waterjets we have are very low energy.

Have you felt the effects of Brexit?

Steve: The price increases by all the suppliers. Everyone’s put their prices up. Getting stuff is getting difficult as well.

How do you use social media?

I just use Instagram, really. My handle is PlanetGranite_Steve. I post pictures when I see something I think is interesting and, being in the business, I appreciate – something that looks particularly good or a nice material or I’m proud of the lads for what they have done. I won’t put a white, L-shape quartz job up with a cut out for a sink and a hob because to me it’s not showcasing our ability, it’s just something we do. I probably post a picture once or twice a week, but I always try to make sure I took an all-right photo on my phone and it’s something to be proud of that the lads have achieved.

What sort of level of production do you achieve?

We don’t get easy jobs here. People say they’re doing 20 jobs, 30 jobs a week but I don’t believe for a minute they’re doing £6,500-£7,000 jobs. I think they’re talking about £1,500-£2,000 jobs. We do jobs that have window cills, full height splash backs, mitred end panels, all sorts. That’s completely different to an L-shape.

What trends do you see in materials. Have we reached peak quartz?

I definitely see natural materials making a come-back – most definitely over the past 12 months. Nice big granite islands and book-match wraps. We have just done a lovely Panda White and another one was Honey Onyx. That was nice. Blue Roma. I don’t how many Blue Roma quartzite jobs we’ve done but I bet it’s 20, maybe more. I think we might see some back-lit onyx making a bit of a come-back next year. And people using real marble. When you’re working with real Calacatta you can definitely see the difference. Have we seen the back of quartz? Yeah, maybe. The white quartz with a grey vein in it might go the way of the sparkly black. Maybe there’s going to be a change.

When you look to the future do you think it will be worse, better or the same?

The future is going to have to be better than the past two years. We spent the whole of Covid investing in a whole host of new machinery and new buildings. We’ve got our Robo Sawjet and two other robots, a bridge saw, another edge polisher, two more buildings. We have spent Covid preparing for coming out of it, really.

To complete the survey to help develop the most useful work experience ‘tasters’, CLICK HERE 

As reported at the Natural Stone Industry Training Group (NSITG) meeting last month (November), the Construction Industry Training Board is developing ‘taster’ work experience opportunities in construction for youngsters considering what route to take as they conclude their time at school.

Claire Wallbridge, the NSITG Training Officer, has asked stone companies, especially contractors, to help deliver these work experience ‘tasters’ by offering opportunities for youngsters to work on their sites.

All the youngsters will be older than 16 so they will meet health & safety requirements, and participating will enable contractors to meet 106 requirements for social values, which is useful as contractors are often required to include apprenticeship placements without too much consideration of what that involves for the contractor.

In order to develop these ‘tasters’ the CITB would greatly appreciate some input from the industry about how best to showcase opportunities for working in construction, all sectors of which are currently crying out for more employees.

It is looking for input to help it understand:

• the current offer
• what makes a good taster/work experience session
• how best to showcase opportunities in construction to the widest possible audience
• the challenges employers face when offering these opportunities.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete (perhaps a bit longer if you give particularly thoughtful responses). It is at https://citb.researchfeedback.net/s/jd3t7g.

CITB wants as many responses as possible in order to identify common themes. It will then develop ‘how to’ guides for tasters and work experience covering all the challenges identified. This will be available as a free download for companies to use in order to offer work experience and tasters.

Precisely what the pack will contain depends on the feedback, but it is intended to include all the information a firm will need to help it offer the best experience for the youngsters taking part, both to encourage them into the industry and to retain them.

The pack is likely to include a timetable or tick list identifying areas to be covered and providing a record that they have been covered. It might also include information about the facilities and considerations required for the youngsters during their placements.

But precisely what it includes is down to those who complete the questionnaire – and the more who do so the more the resulting material is likely to contain what you need. So, once again, the link to the survey is: https://citb.researchfeedback.net/s/jd3t7g.

Stone Federation Great Britain is calling on its members to sign up to a new 'Responsible Sourcing Pledge' to demonstrate their commitment to sourcing stone ethically and sustainably. 

The Federation wants its members to sign up to the Pledge to give the industry's customers another reason to turn first to Stone Federation members for all their stone requirements.

The Pledge requires firms to commit to an up-dated Stone Federation Sustainability Statement and to start their journey on the Ethical Stone Register.

The Sustainability Statement was first published in 2012. It laid out the Federation's position on sustainable procurement and detailed the expectations it had of its members in this regard. Now the statement has been updated and you can read the latest version here.

In 2016 the Federation launched the Ethical Stone Register in response to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (which came into force in 2016) and issues of sourcing materials responsibly. The Register provides independent verification of a stone company's commitment to eliminating modern slavery from its supply chain and sourcing materials with environmental responsibility. 

Now comes the Responsible Sourcing Pledge, which is aimed at material suppliers, specifiers, consultants and contractors, because issues of ethical and sustainable sourcing require a commitment from the whole supply chain.