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Any of you guys do solid surface?

11/21/15       
Mike Fuson

The only kind of countertops I do currently is laminate. Most of my clients are getting granite these days which I sub out. I have been entertaining the thought of offering solid surface and have watched some YouTube videos on it. I was wondering if any of you guys do it and is it lucrative and worth doing, or lucrative yet not worth it, is there much of a demand for it, worth the investment of tooling, the training? Thanks

11/21/15       #2: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
JeffD

I don't do it but will be interested in the replies you get. I almost tried it last year on a commercial project but a friend talked me out of it. He said he hated working with it b/c it created a fine dust that got everywhere, and I guess was much more a PITA to deal with than sawdust. So I ended up subbing it out and just tacked 10% on to their price.

Not sure I'd want to invest unless your sure you have a market. Around here it's either natural stone or artificial stone for residential.

JeffD

11/21/15       #3: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Pat Gilbert

That is interesting. In Calif no one does laminate or solid surface except for commercial. Stone is the lion share of residential. What state are you in?

Anyway solid surface is no big deal and not much of an investment. The bigger question to me would be how much demand there is for it.

11/21/15       #4: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Mike Fuson

I'm in Ky Pat. It's all about the clientele here. Average kitchen that I'm doing here the granite is anywhere from 7 to 11k. I'm not ready to get into it by any means just gathering info about it. I do think that I could replace some of the laminate work with it assuming it's more affordable than the stone...

11/21/15       #5: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Pat Gilbert

That is just it. It is not less that stone(YMMV). Stone work is quite competitive. You may consider subbing out the stone and just do the installation.

11/22/15       #6: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
hen bob Member

In my area, Chicago . I'ts all stone or man made stone, very little laminate.. I used to have a fabricator that did solid surface but he closed his doors.. From my understanding that solid surface was more expensive than granite by quite a bit...

But in Chicago there are so many granite guys its almost comparable to laminate, for the easy stuff that is...

11/22/15       #7: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Larry

We do less SS than we used to. A lot of quartz is being done in commercial. About the only SS we do now involves thermoforming or resin inlay.

11/22/15       #8: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Mike Fuson

Thanks guys. I've done heard enough to turn me away from the whole idea.

11/23/15       #9: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Dave Zammit

I've been doing SS work for about 5 years now. I just bought a thermoforming oven today!

I've got a stand-alone furniture product that is primarily laminate, but about 15% of the tops are SS. The prices I get for the SS tops I do are REALLY good.

Like another poster said, it's pretty basic stuff. You don't have to buy any new equipment. Just cut it, glue it, and sand it. If you have the opportunity to do that work, there's no reason not to price it high and give it a try.

11/24/15       #10: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
Larry

Depending on how much labor you want to spend: Saw blade designed for SS, 3.25 hp router +, sink round over bits for SS, orbit sander, adhesive dispenser, lots of spring clamps. One step up: 2nd router, coving jig & bit, 11" sander & supplies, higher quality sanding discs. Next step: vacuum sink mounting system, a way to cut precise miters so you can miter fold edges instead of the layering (a CNC router works well also allows nice resin inlay work, need software too.) Next: An oven for thermoforming, silicone membrane for your vacuum press. And last but most important a stream of work to pay for your system. It is a neat material allowing great design work. When sold as a designer material it has an advantage over stone & quartz. Simply sold as another choice in counter tops, it's a hard sell.

11/24/15       #11: Any of you guys do solid surface? ...
cabinetmaker

we slam the stuff out daily. What is it that you want to know ?


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