[Old Man]

Hello all. I need some help figuring this out.

I have a customer who went to the Emser showroom and found a marble tile he likes. I'm certain I can get a better price elsewhere but I cant tell who the wholesaler/importer is. They claim its an Italian marble. I have a dealer that gets me great prices but I would have to provide the manufacturer and model name.

At Emser its called
Crema Marfil Classico
Color: freemont beige
(emser.com - marble)

Any tips on how I can locate this tile without Emser or is this product exclusive to them? They say its usually in stock.

Any good or bad experiences with Emser?

Thanks for reading fellas

 

[JazMan]

Why didn't you send the customer to the showroom you normally do business with? You think Emser should waste their time with your customer, then have you try to order the material some where else? If they're smart they'll only stock exclusives. I think you would do the same

Gee, that's not a very honest way to operate is it? Do you do this kind of thing often?:whistling

Jaz

 

[Old Man]

Why didn't you send the customer to the showroom you normally do business with? You think Emser should waste their time with your customer, then have you try to order the material some where else? If they're smart they'll only stock exclusives. I think you would do the same

Gee, that's not a very honest way to operate is it? Do you do this kind of thing often?:whistling

Jaz

Well wise guy,
a) I didn't send them to Emser, they went there before I knew them
b) my dealer doesn't have a showroom in that area anyway
b) I have no loyalty to Emser and will not pay their prices
c) My loyalty is to my dealer

 

[jarvis design]

This is going to sound wrong but....

Hey Old Man!!

Can't help out with your marble problem (other than it is probably imported by several companies), but I can offer you a little advice for this forum.

Fill in your profile page - people like to know where you are from and what kind of experience you have

Go to the Introduction section and give your speel.

 

[Old Man]

duplicate message

 

[Old Man]

This is going to sound wrong but....

Hey Old Man!!

Thats OK. Thats what my much younger wife calls me so Im used to it.

Can't help out with your marble problem (other than it is probably imported by several companies),

Thats what I figure. I really dont think that Emser owns that quarry in Italy exclusively.

Fill in your profile page - people like to know where you are from and what kind of experience you have

I have a lot of experience I just cant remember half of it

Go to the Introduction section and give your speel.

Just did. here tis...

Hi, I'm Al and I'm old. :wheelchair:

Old but still hanging. I'm bi-coastal. I reside/work in both FL and CA and sometimes in between if I land a management gig. Mostly residential, although I got my start in commercial tilt-ups (Union Carpenter). That was back in 1979 before my latest wife was born. She would be #4, and no, the others did not die though mysterious circumstances. They just got old and Im a grumpy bastard. #4 calls me "Old Man" and thats fine by me, why lie.

Through the years Ive learned most of the trades and arguably, today, am probably master of none. I did work as a building inspector for a few years but that got really boring although I must admit I liked the freedom of being out in the field. Since Im getting tired I now market myself into construction project management, the rest of the time I fall back on residential remods and additions if the job has an interesting element to it. I get a lot of work because I have an all-female crew that wears only bikinies under their tool belts :w00t: and my mostly male customers don't really care if they do a good job or not. I wish. Seriously I have a small crew of good guys but I sub out a lot of work too.

I'll be happy to share my experience even though I suffer from CRS syndrome (Cant Remember Sh#%) which may also cause me to ask some stupid questions more often than not.

I do see some rude children here from the "my parents failed when teaching me social skills" era, but far out-numbered by good guys so Im really looking forward to being here. arty:

 

[ChrWright]

The guys are well known for busting the chops of new guys, so don't sweat it. Thanks for posting the intro, by the way. Best one I've read in awhile.

I totally understand the perspectives of the guys who've responded. But I've had a similar experience on many occasions and once a client chooses me, I have no loyalty whatsoever to any show rooms they've already visited.

If asked about ordering from another source, I usually point out to my clients that part of the benefit of working with me is the relationships I have with my suppliers and the superior value, service, and selection they provide.

Crema Marfil is a pretty common stone and I'm fairly certain it's all quarried in Spain. The color variations I've seen are minor, and the color names are probably slapped on by whomever is importing it. I would think the showroom you typically work with can source it, and though the color names may be different it will probably be the same thing.

(Oh, and as a natural stone it's boring as hell--but that's just a personal preference. :thumbsup

 

[Old Man]

Thanks Chris, and I agree on the boring thing. And they dont just like it, they "like it a lot". Now if the crema marfil is all the same color then it might not be so hard to locate. Still waiting on my rep, shes been out of the office all week.

 

[angus242]

I did some tile work in a new construction condo. The builder supplied a Crema Marfil tiled shower and floor but the HOs wanted the rest of the MB tiled after they closed on the property. I went through the trouble of tracking down the original supplier and ordered the same Crema Marfil through them. While close, it didn't completely match.

Lesson is, unless you are getting all materials in a single lot, the chances of natural stone being identical, even from the same quarry, are very slim.

When working with natural stone, I always get extras (more than normal). It you get a change order to install more tile than contracted, you can get screwed with matching.

I agree with the suggestions of just sending your customers to your supplier and see what they can offer them.

 

[Old Man]

I certainly wouldn't mix shipments since stone can vary depending on when/where it was harvested, but I wouldn't be surprised if the different suppliers are pulling from the same importers local warehouse. In which case the only difference is price.

 

[Old Man]

UPDATE

I can get the Crema Marfil for $8.95 sqft for 18x18 (lists for $13 at Emser)

Has anyone seen better or does this seem fair?

 

[angus242]

That seems in the ballpark. If you start getting too cheap, I'd fear you're now buying junk marble. Have you ever seen overly filled stone?

 

[Old Man]

ya, I once did a large bath floor and walls to the ceiling with overly filled potato chips miss-gauged between 3/8 and 5/8 took me 3 time longer than it should have. Customer provided the stone. It was one of those learning experiences where I lost my shirt

 

[Dash808]

I'm just finishing up a shower using Crema Marfil, Crema Rosa, and Dark Emperador. The Crema Marfil ran about 10 bucks for a 12x12. It is pretty boring, but not compared to cutting it down to 4x4's for the shower floor.


edit... +1 on the overly filling thing!! yuk