Stone People: Countering the Market
By K. Schipper
RICHMOND, Utah – Paul White, owner of Cache Valley Counter Tops, likes to cover all his bases.
Some of that comes from his father Doug, from whom he bought the business five years ago. The senior White started with laminate countertops 36 years ago, and built the operation over the years by adding solid surface and later granite and quartz to his repertoire.
Click photo to enlargeAn even riskier move – adding cabinets – cost the company a big piece of its sales at the time, but today it enables Cache Valley to install both cabinets and countertops in as little as one day.
It’s finding the niches that raise his level of service that Paul White believes is the hallmark of the business, and what really sets him apart from his competitors.
LONG HISTORY
Cache Valley Counter Tops sits on property that served the building needs of Richmond – a community of approximately 2,500 people within shouting distance of the Idaho border – even before World War I.
Initially, it was the site of a lumberyard.
“There’s a pretty long history here,” says White. “My grandfather purchased what was a small-town mom-and-pop lumberyard in the 1950s. In those days, they did everything from build houses to cut keys to sell paint.”
He adds that both he and his father grew up working in the lumberyard. The only difference was that the younger man also grew up helping in the countertop shop.
Click photo to enlarge“In the mid-‘70s, they decided that one of the products they would offer out of the lumberyard was rolled-edge countertops,” says Paul White. “My dad purchased a post-formed machine and started Cache Valley Counter Tops in 1976.”
White explains that the shop was a separate business that operated out of the lumberyard, which also became its largest customer. While the countertop business continued to thrive, the lumberyard suffered as big-box stores arrived on the scene. In the mid-1990s, White’s Building Supply closed its doors for good.
“The countertops have just grown and grown and grown,” says Paul White. “In the early ‘90s we started offering [Dupont™] Corian® solid surface, and then in 2001 we built a building and started fabricating stone and quartz countertops.”
White went to work for his dad in 1997, and purchased the operation from him a decade later.
The Whites may have plenty of history behind them, but they’re also big on planning ahead. Paul White says the former lumberyard has been a great site for Cache Valley, but they also work hard to get the most from it.
“Our granite shop sits now where the old lumber bins were,” he says. “We tore the old bins down to build the stone facility. At the time, we built 5,000 ft² with the expectation that we would add on an additional 5,000 ft² – which we have done.”
The company began fabricating stone with a Park Industries Yukon® bridge saw and a Pro-Edge®. The addition was built when Cache Valley added a Destiny® CNC machine; the building also provides indoor slab storage.
