Porcelain Predications - Preaching the lessons and principles of porcelain slabs

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.

We went international this week! It was not easy getting over the jet lag but interviewing a sprite young lad from the old world made up for the discomfort. For England's Mark Frost of Mark Frost Tiling, getting into porcelain slabs took just a simple phone call. This special episode gives the listener a chance to understand the vast differences between two markets separated by an ocean. Truly, this is an episode you don't want to miss.

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.

What level of investment do you feel will get you established in porcelain? $5-thousand, $10-thousand, or $100-thousand? For Trident Tile & Stone's Anthony Temblador of Las Vegas, Nevada, he initially spent several thousand dollars buying standard manual tools but quickly realized he had to go bigger. Listen as he explains the challenges and regrets of buying a $100-thousand dollar saw and the lessons he learned jumping into countertops as a trained tile professional.

How many generations does that tool have? Located near Minneapolis, Minnesota, Eric Maki of EPS Fabricators & Diaflex Tooling has seen many updates to hand tools over the last decade. For Maki, going head first into porcelain slabs did not seem like much of a gamble 10 years ago. Since then he has doubled down, hit a parlay, and taken the pot from the house. Learn how he views his initial $12-thousand dollar investment as a win even though the tooling was subpar, how he is going big on equipment, and how quartz now imitates porcelain slabs on this week's episode of Porcelain Predications. This episode also marks our last record episode from Coverings 2024 in Atlanta. More episodes are already scheduled for publication. Enjoy and make sure you are subscribed.

When you need information badly, and no one around can help you, what do you do? For Fred Wiedenmann of Telos Tile in Cincinnati, Ohio, you get on social media and message people half way around the world. Having to overcome the fear of failure, working with slabs was forced on him by a customer that would not accept no for an answer. Hear how the customer worked with Fred, and how his team is happy to have been first in the market to adopt porcelain slabs as their specialty. The conversation was so thorough, we may just have to do a follow up since this episode is a little shorter than normal.

San Antonio is considered by some to be on the border of the original Wild West. For San Antonio's own Erin Albrecht, owner of J&R Tile, the "Wild West" of working with porcelain slabs is just starting. Having had her team work with slabs in the days before there were standards from the TCNA, Albrecht can speak to so many of the challenges encountered by folks beginning to encounter these massive tiles in the field. In this episode we get to discuss dealing with porcelain slabs that come from unusual sources, why having a good thin set partner is key, and why 4mm material is the source of her nightmares.

It's not very often you get to speak with a rock star. Or at least a Coverings 2024 Award Winning Recipient Rock Star. Atlanta's very own Sean Gordy of Gordy Tile takes a few minutes to discuss his multi-generational tile business and how he was able to break into commercial porcelain slab installations. We discuss the time a superintendent ripped his TCNA guidelines and we teeter on the edge of an existential breakdown of our mental state. It surely going to be a good listen.

In our preeminent first interview, we chat with Mind Grab of LFT Professionals from Calgary Alberta Canada while on the floor at Coverings 2024. We discuss everything from having your main apprentice be very short, to the foolish tool purchases we made back in 2014, and how investing $250-thousand dollars on a showroom is both good and bad. Porcelain Predications is a chat between experts at failure in the porcelain slab world. Talking to folks who took the plunge early in the porcelain slab world, seeing the potential without anyone else to help guide them through the process. Where we failed, learned expensive lessons, or just somewhat found solutions, we hope you find a good story and a good listen. Known as the Porcelain Panel Pro on social media, and owner of The Porcelain Slab Company of North Carolina, host Nathan Parsons connects you with some folks that have truly learned the most useful lessons in the porcelain slab game and that can be defined as experts.