Stone People: Selling Service and Selection

It’s that philosophy that moved the company into the fabrication of quartz, granite, marble and soapstone. Dessco also offers other countertop options including stainless steel and concrete, although it buys those from suppliers, rather than doing its own fabrication.

“It’s all customer-driven,” says O’Brien.

EVOLVING SYNERGY

Click photo to enlargeWhile the move to offering more products proved to be a good one, it also created its own set of challenges. For Dessco and O’Brien, the biggest one is simply space.

Dessco operated out of a business park before O’Brien took over ownership; the space easily housed an approximately 1,000 ft2 showroom and a solid-surface shop. When the company started fabricating its own stone and quartz some five years ago, however,that portion of the operation opened in rented space elsewhere in the greater Ancaster area.

Currently, the company is in the final stages of completing an addition on the building to increase floor space by 50 percent and allow Dessco to centralize production. O’Brien hopes to have the move completed as early as mid-November.

“We’ve brought most of our inventory from there over here,” he says. “We still have some trenching to do for our water system, because we have to have water. And, then we’ll move our bridge saw (a Hesheng HSM 450 model).”

While he adds that, “It was time to bring it home,” O’Brien admits the process of adding onto the building and now the move hasn’t been an easy one, especially while trying to keep up with day-to-day operations.

He adds that the process of having to take stone customers somewhere else to see inventory probably slowed down Dessco’s growth – at least in the area of walk-in sales. And, even with the new space, moving forward will still be something of a balancing act.

“We have a CNC machine in our sights, but we want to consolidate and get things going first,” O’Brien says. “Once we’re under one roof the synergies between the two product lines should help us grow, and we’ll also be able to use those synergies in terms of managing people and inventory and everything else.”

The other issue: the showroom. O’Brien says it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of displaying product beyond samples.

“When we looked at expanding the back, we looked at expanding the showroom as well, but we thought, ‘One thing at a time,’” he says. “And, we thought we’d do better expanding our production first.”

O’Brien adds that he would like to have a definite timetable for adding new showroom space, but due to the cost of the current expansion and moving the equipment, he’s going to recoup some cash flow before tearing things up again.

“Hopefully, we’re looking within the next two or three years,” for that expansion, he says.

Even taking things slowly, O’Brien believes he is better placed than many of his competitors as the economy rebounds. Perhaps because of his business background, he says he saw the recession coming and made changes in Dessco’s direction that left it in a stronger position.

In the years immediately after O’Brien bought the company, it emphasized residential work, obtained through a variety of sources from kitchen shops to builders and renovators to homeowners walking in off the street.

“Around the time the recession hit, I was afraid that market might shrink somewhat, so we made the decision to go for more commercial business,” he says. “That’s turned out to be a good thing. The commercial is what’s really kept us buoyant.”

Making the move wasn’t even really that difficult O’Brien says. A lot of it involved nurturing relationships Dessco already had, particularly with designers and millworkers. And, it’s paid off in a wide range of jobs.