Jo, I don not understand what you mean about the fireplace companies doing veneer work with non masons. Could you explain this some more?
Sure NJ, I'll try my best.
The vast majority of homes getting a FP in my area are going with zero-clearance units, whether it be gas, wood, or electric.
Most all builders use either a large HVAC supply house or a specialized FP only type store. Mostly the latter of the 2 because they have full showrooms for the HO's to select from.
All of these FP stores have there own "installers" for both the unit & the interior surround. They have all pretty much branched out to exterior cultured stone work also, seeing as they already have the installation crews & are generally suppliers for a few cultured stone brands anyway. This has really helped drop the bottom out of the cultured stone prices, as well as the quality o fwork.
These "installers" are not masons by any means. Many of them don't even speak English from what I have witnessed. They pay little or no attenion to WRB's, proper lathe overlapping, stone installation, etc.... Generally they lay the stone in this matter:
Start at the bottom, staple a sheet or 2 on at a time with no regard to wall stud locations (sounds like a firing range:w00t

, normally skip the rough plaster coat, butter the back of the stone with a hand, glove or just scoop the stone through their mud tub, grout & joint as they go, usually only using 1 or 2 boxes at a time, jump the planks up & repeat. Normally they set the scaffold at 2'+ away from the wall, too, using no outriggers or brackets. I have no idea why.
The sad part is that these homes all look the same, no attention to the little details like arches, keystones, etc...
I can guarantee alot of these applications will be part of mold remedition in the next decade or so, too.
I wish I could recall the numbers a 35 year+ veteran masonry salesman told me about cultured stone a few years ago. Just for the sake of giving you an idea, I'll pull a few #'s out o fmy a$$!:jester:
Something like a 800% increase in cultured stone production in the last 12-15 years, but actual masons where only reporting an increase of 5-10% increase in cultured stone work in that same period. Again, DON'T read those numbers as fact, & they may also be a regional/local thing, IDK.
Sorry for the long post & steering this thread off track!