"In the beginning was the slab, and the slab was without flaw, and void of error; and upon the surface, there was the call for order.And the spirit of craftsmanship moved upon the face of the job site, and lo—there came forth the Word of the TCNA.And the Word became Standard, and it dwelt among us, full of guidelines and truth.From grout lines to gauge, from substrate to setting bed, the code was written so the laborer might not stumble." The Good Book, Chapter 1, Verses 1-3.
Have you ever wondered how the rules, the techniques, and the standards came about for working with porcelain slabs? In today's special episode, we learn from a key contributor, CTEF's own Scott Carothers. Having personally been taught by Scott multiple times over the years, this was a very rewarding episode in front of a live audience.
Like allergies making your nose sniffle, this episode brings a steady stream of useful insight from one of New York's finest installers of porcelain slabs. For Casavant Tile's Eric Tetreault, the drudgery of routine caused him to seek out the next big thing in construction. From tile to porcelain slabs and now SICIS Art Glass, finding the ability to perform in highly sophisticated situations makes the routine disappear. There were so many good topics, we plan on following up with a second episode! Enjoy this wonderful discussion on GPTP, Crossville Laminam training, and why digital templating can be a tool in your arsenal.
Always Be Closing. Perhaps you know this famous line from Glen Garry, Glen Ross. Well in this episode, David Sandana explains how he walked into Lutz Tile of Tacoma, Washington, for a bag of thinset but came out owning an entire tile store. This in-depth episode goes over much of what it takes to have a brick and mortar presence, selling materials to your competitors, and the challenges associated with getting a crew to install porcelain slabs. This was a fun one for sure!
For season 2's premiere episode, we wanted to start off strong. You can't get much stronger than speaking with the CEO of Laminam, Philip Eeles. With the residential market turning to porcelain, what decisions are important for a CEO to help push product awareness, handle growth, and find the right partners in the market? Mr. Eeles explains and gives additional insight from his experience showcasing at KBIS 2025, and why diversification is important for fabricators everywhere. This is an episode you don't want to miss!
For those that have been listening to our episodes you may have heard a reoccurring comment: find a good partner from the distribution world. In today's episode, we get to hear about what happens when the distributor of porcelain slabs cannot find a partner to work with. For Atlanta's Leo Chuahy of Prime Surfaces, having a million dollars of inventory had to make the tough decision: sit and wait for someone to start installing his inventory, or get out there and do it himself. Hear his rationale, the lessons learned, and how having the right tools matters to him.
We needed to apologize to our friend from Cincinnati. In one of our earliest episodes, we chose to interview Fred Wiedenmann from Telos Tile on the floor of Coverings. That episode holds the record for shortest discussion recorded. So we thought we needed to give him another chance to explain how his savvy business acumen has allowed him to be critical of his business model. Hear the difference between panels and slabs, if having a showroom is really worth it, and if having old guys hanging out at your business is a good thing.
You are not in a metropolis like LA or NYC. You have a couple competitors that already have quartz and granite figured out. Why not try something new and see if you can make it your speciality? For Eau Claire, Wisconsin's Luke Dillamon of Eau Claire Custom Stone, that was the situation he found himself. Small startup, in a smaller market, with an established competitor. Hear how his background made him unafraid to try porcelain slabs for countertops, fireplaces, and more in this, our 20th episode!
North Carolina is my home. I have moved here 3 times as an adult. It is a special place for me full of memories as I grew into a young adult, then into a husband, and into a spiritually minded man. So as North Carolina reels and begins the painful recovery process this week after Hurricane Helene, I thought I would talk a little about the damage done and the effects on the communities I know.
We will also discuss training and educational classes for porcelain slabs, plus the impact of taking on inventory, becoming a monogamous or polygamous installer, and if you should write that check for a $400k machine.
Tale as old as time, True as it can be, Barely even a trend, Then something breaks, Unexpectedly. No this is not the theme song to a Beauty and The Beast Tile Themed Reboot. Rather, that is the worry most general managers get as they take on their first porcelain slab job. For Florida's Shayne Hogenmiller of Southeast Stone, getting the call that Disney needed him to save the day as their Prince Charming was the moment he realized it was time to adopt porcelain into their large scale operation. From there, everything changed. Hear about the process of adopting it, understanding the impact of pricing, and how granite shop owners need to scale their businesses properly in this weeks longest episode to date!
Would you shut down your fabrication shop to travel coast to coast installing ventilated facades? For Florida's Bart Orzechowski of AGD LLC., his team of 60 employees travel coast to coast installing over 300-thousand square feet of ventilated facades. Hear how his crew started in New Jersey but now get called to handle high end work in California to the exclusive neighborhoods near Miami, and everywhere in between. Not to mention, he is on a 6 year project in Florida. This is a conversation you don't want to miss.
We all know that working with porcelain slabs can be a struggle. So why not make it harder by regularly working on the 30th floor of a condo tower, with restricted work hours, an elevator requiring reservations, and no space to actually fabricate on site. For Miami's Christian Maya of Limitless Surfaces, this is his daily logistical headache. Listen as we discuss the planning involved for his team to succesfully install throughout the condo towers of South Florida, how he makes sure he has a good relationship with granite shops, and how to be successful with his tool budget.
As a professional, you might feel from time-to-time that you are alone fighting the good fight in your business, in your role, in your mind. Often times though, we forget that those battles are shared with folks that are too close to us to not be affected. Our loved ones, our families, our spouses, do see what we are going through and may very well live through it themselves. So for this, our 15th episode (Can't believe its 15 already), we decided that it would be best to have a honest conversation about the experiences encountered over the last 10 years by my very own wife, Patricia Parsons. Be prepared for straight forward opinions, immense flirting, and some very experienced suggestions for those getting into porcelain.
So you're still scared to work with porcelain slabs are ya? Can't muster the courage to cut a slab the right way for porcelain countertops? Well then you need to have a listen to Ireland's Thomas Sullivan of Sullivan and Lambe. Hear how in 2017 he got an early morning message from his Father saying porcelain was the future and they needed to go all in. Since then, hear how the staff needed to change, what they did to market porcelain slabs to their Dublin clients, and why Brexit was the best thing they could have had to building relationships on the European continent. They obviously are doing something right to be cutting over 2000 slabs this year alone in porcelain.
Would you like to spend 4 months in Vale, Colorado, all expenses paid? The catch is that you'll need to install hundreds of porcelain slabs in a gorgeous home. For Chicago based installer and business owner Alin Pop of Alldex Tile & Surfaces, that seems to be happening more and more. Originally from the granite countertop world, Alin has found his true calling in porcelain slab installs. Lighter, easier, and much more unique than working with with stone countertops, his team has found a habit of being the go to installer for high end projects with architects and suppliers around Chicago. Hear how his move to the Windy City was based on love, how he won't go after certain business to business relationships, and why his being Romanian has no correlation to how fast he will install on this weeks episode.
Be Heavy or Be Light? When you are a stone shop already producing 3cm stone slab showers, it would make sense to pivot to a lighter, thinner material that makes your installer's lives easier. That would be the easiest decision for Affordable Quality Marble and Granite's Chris Hildebrand of Aiken, South Carolina could make while being an early adopter of porcelain and ultra-compact materials. When Dekton came knocking in the early 2010's, the hardest part was adapting his equipment and finding the right tooling. What are the suggestions he gives to other stone countertop shops, is wood an appropriate substrate, and how his sales team is able to become educated on porcelain are just a few topics we cover in this episode.
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and even lowly podcasts are flush with options, opportunities, and opinions of how you should be installing porcelain panels or what tools you should buy with your money. How do you find the right fit to fill your needs on the job? What are the critical tools you absolutely need to buy to be effective with porcelain slabs? For Beno J. Gundlach's John Roberts, knowing the industry was about to change meant he needed to find ways for his 40-some years of experience to be best used for those coming up in the ranks.
As a CTEF evaluator for CTI tests, and someone I have personally known for many years, we thought it would be a unique conversation to see how the trainers and tooling companies have adjusted as the popularity of porcelain slabs has sky rocketed the last few years. What changes in tools are coming, what has he seen in the earlier trainings from the NTCA, and what does he hope installers learn before jumping onto their first job? Give a listen to John as we go through the industry at large.
You are traveling through Europe with your soon to be wife, and you are stopped dead in your tracks. You see the most amazing marble install you have ever seen, but alas, it is not marble. The install is of polished porcelain slabs. For Joe Macaluso of Modern Room Remodels in Northern New Jersey, this was his reality in 2010. He returned stateside and began researching how to make porcelain slabs his ticket to success in the tile industry. Hear how he went big early, how he has made year over year growth a reality, and why his financial background has gone hand in hand with his clientele.
From avoiding slabs freezing outside in the cold of winter, to understanding which tool to use to properly cut misbehaving material, sometimes porcelain slabs will do what they want no matter the precautions or careful precautions. When that happens, who is on the hook for the replacement material? For Toronto's Stephen Girardi of Frank's Flooring, they have learned that having frank and direct conversations with customers is often the best approach to figuring out who is liable for those broken slabs. Hear how they studied before installing their first project, how the trowel fought the slab and the trowel won, and how scientific method can only go so far when you don't have a good slab provider in this week's episode of Porcelain Predications.
Sometimes, we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to get as much work as possible that we miss the key directive: make money. For Buffalo, New York's Walter Crowe of Crowe Tile, staying focused on high end projects found amongst the affluence of old money has allowed him to do what he does best: create amazing catalog worthy projects. From stumbling into the field of tile, to getting curious about large format tile, to then deciding to be the slab guy in his area, porcelain slabs have been a level of work he did not see coming but he is happy to have adopted the product line. In this episode we get to discuss the challenges, distractions, and how his own son made him upchuck in his own mouth. Not to mention, he has clients that won't take no for an answer.
