Arabesque maybe the #1 Shape of 2016

Will the Arabesque Format be the #1 format of 2016? Not sure Hexagon is putting up a fight. It is a Timeless Classic. I really suppose it depends on options. The more options of Arabesque we add the more we sell. The new Vento Gray will be $11.95 a Square Foot and Free Shipping for 2016. Available around mid September.

Installation of our Black and White mix Chevron Mosaic

From Instagram: Black & White Chevron $12.95 a Square Foot part of the largest collection of Nero Marquina (Black Marble) Mosaics, Field Tiles and Trims in the USA.

This installer is remarkable at installation and best of all really takes pride in his work in the same way we take pride in the selection of our stone. It is difficult to find installers with a passion for installing natural stone. Here is our Black and White Chevron pattern being installed.He dry laid it measured out the area and then started the process. So many at least 80% of “so called” professionals just install box to box, sheet after sheet. Just throw it down. No checking by dry laying to stand back and think “perfect” then install. When you throw it down box to box, if their is a rouge sheet that is darker it will really stand out, but not until you have finished and it is too late. That is why the dry laying of natural stone is vital. To ensure the product is correct prior to installing. You can see his process on his Instagram Feed and follow him on Facebook.

You can read it in Dustin’s reviews “This is a guy who pays great attention to detail”. Love installers, craftsman, car mechanics anyone with a passion for what they do. It gives them an edge over every one else as they do it because they want to not because they have to.

Wish he lived near us.

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Subway Tile

Carrara Venato 4×12″ Honed Subway Tile for $8.00 a Square Foot thru 2016.

Carrara Venato Honed 4×12″ for $8.00 Square Foot • Carrara Venato 1×3″ Herringbone Honed Mosaic Tile

Coming out of the shower customer created a double vanity using Carrara Venato 4×12″ Polished Subway Tile.

What can we say or comment. Very little. The installation is incredible. They have taken their time, blended the veining to insure that their are no “clumps” of Gray veining or white blocks. The tile has been well mixed and carefully selected. With the consumer giving the installer a range of tiles considered acceptable. The rest discarded. Over ordered by 20% to create a HGTV bathroom.

In short that is the trick. A bit of hands on at the start. Only “YOU”. Only you know the look “YOU” want. With one hundred and fifty square feet of tile you could create multiple looks. You should design and layout a small section, perhaps five square feet on the floor and then communicate talk to the installer about the design and flow of the veining. If you have paid for a qualified person he would do all of this before installing. He would ask questions like “How do you want the veining to flow?” If he is not asking this, I recommend reviewing his reviews and looking into his work more carefully. He maybe a wonderful tile contractor. Absolutely the best. But this maybe his first natural stone install. You do not want to be this guys learning project.  Your bathroom is not his school of learning.

Calacatta Gold Hexagon Mosaic

Incredible Lot of Calacatta Gold 2″ Hexagon Honed for $16.95 a Square Foot and Free Shipping for 2016 (or until we run out).

We seem to have finally hit the sweet spot in the quarry where it is producing just the right amount of veining and a really, really white based product. This is incredible grade of Calacatta Gold very pleased I know many companies would see this and raise the price. We’ll keep the price the same and let our customers benefit from this product in the same way we are just as happy to receive it ourselves.

This is all part of our Calacatta Gold collection with trims included here.

Carrara Bianco 6×18″ Italian Marble

Always nice to get pictures from our QC people in Italy this is 6×18″ Bianco available in Honed and Polished for $9.95 a Square Foot (as with all prices on the blog that is subject to change but not for 2016).

It is a great lot. Just the right amount of veining very light Gray base. Perfect ‘C’ Grade Bianco Tile.

Shower and Bathroom. Bianco and Venato.

This is a great mix of Carrara Venato 3×6″ Subway Tile on the wall (which is currently $7.00 a Square Foot) then Bianco Carrara Hexagon with Bardiglio edge for the flooring. They have then edged that with our 1×12″ Bardiglio Border and edged again with the 3×6″ Venato.

Same home following the look through they have used again the Bardiglio striped Bianco Honed 2″ Hexagon Mosaic.

This is what make has made The Builder Depot unique from any other online company or even retailer. We can take pictures of the product, our product (the product that will be packed and shipped to you, it is a huge level of control in an industry that really has none).

This is product that we stock. This is not stocked in a 3rd party warehouse while the person you speak to on the phone is 600 miles away sat on the 32 Floor of some “tech” building and has never seen the product or worse they are not even in the USA.

The people on the phone at The Builder Depot can open the door while on the phone with you and find the product and discuss it with you. Take pictures and send them on. Match up with other sizes. All of this impossible task for big boxes or any other online retailer or Tile and Stone retailer as they just have 2-3 year old concept boards to work off.

“This is one of the main reasons we are able to be a Google Trusted Store and so many competitors or companies in the similar remodeling industry cannot”. Comments David Shearn. “The ability to see the product you are selling everyday should not be underestimated in the results it drives through customer satisfaction.” he adds “How can a person in a cubicle hundreds of miles away sell a natural product or a product that they cannot physically check. You must reduce the distance from customer service to the actual product”. Companies already know this and that is why they refuse to have unbiased reviews on their website. “If you are nothing but a broker you are doomed to follow the same results as all the brokers that have come before you. Irrespective of how much Venture Capitalists, what you to “IPO” so they can “cash out”.

At The Builder Ddepot we “know” what we are shipping. The majority of online companies are “Brokers” or as they do not like that name they call it “Marketplace” but it is a Broker. You buy from their website, they add 20-30-40-60% and then ship direct from the factory or 3rd party warehouse. Chaos. Absolute Chaos. Tried it before many years ago.

Unless you have the product and the people all in the same facility results like this are incredibly challenging to achieve. With their customers paying the price.

For us. We keep it all close. Everything is here. So we can check it off, sign off, double check. Make sure the 3×6″ goes with the 6×12″ and the pencil that you plan to put in-between matches. We can do all this because our customers communicate and we are working with the product every day.

Here is the product on the Bianco Carrara Collection page, one of 70-80 different products. The largest collection of white marble in the USA, stocked and ready to ship. No third party. Just premium products warehoused with over 2.5m square feet in Alpharetta, GA. People ask “Why not add a warehouse on the West Coast”. We have been down this road before. The further the product gets from the people you speak to on the phone the less control they have over the quality and knowledge of what they are doing.

It is imperative (and other companies can find this out the hard way) that the person with whom you are speaking to about your order, can physically see and touch your order. Can mark the crate as “Sold belongs to Remodelers, Inc.”. That pictures can be traded.

Here it is on the product page. Price is subject to change but currently for 2016 it is $12.95 a Square Foot. (I cannot find any company that competes with this price at ‘C’ grade Italian Marble).

Wide Basketweave Calacatta Arrives

Not a huge Quantity arrived. Getting Calacatta with the whitest base available is still a challenge. This however is pretty much perfect. Just a shame we could not have got more.

Available in Honed and Polished for $17.95 a Sheet and Free Shipping (thru summer 2016).

This is the layout for the Wide Basketweave Above

Mixing Venato and Bianco

A great idea and design. This is Carrara Venato 12×124″ which is $9.95 a Square Foot, but not wanting it to be too slippery in a bathroom they inserted and added the Diamond Long Octagon Honed Mosaic $12.75 a Square Foot with a 1×12″ Bardiglio Border strip.

Italian Marble 18×18″ Polished coming along….

Carrara Bianco ‘C’ Grade Italian Marble, the highest grade available for $9.95 a Square Foot available in Polished and Honed from our Bianco Marble Collection (Yellow boots, not included).

Google Trusted… Yes! World First for Natural Stone!

We all must have by now purchased something online. I think it is fair to say that Google are the masters of the world wide web. They have captured the marketing unicorn “synonymity” or “Synonymous with a product or action”.

Throughout history this has always been the goal in the 1980’s we did not photo-copy you would “Xerox this please”. Kleenex is another one, it was not pass me a tissue or napkin it was “Kleenex please” and people “Hoovered up the floor” following the brand Hoover and vacuum cleaners.

Today when we want to look something up we “Google it!” we do not say “Bing it!”

We “Google It!”. So Google has become Synonymous. Will it last? I cannot predict the future so I cannot say, but certainly other brands in this position have lost control. Xerox could not keep their hold, it is hard to keep complete control.

But today June 13 2016. Google is the Internet.

They have a Google Trusted Store Program. They are the only 100% unrivaled most invested mechanism for reviews. Their entire business and keeping the internet clean is based on it as they are the Internet. So why have others not dived in? Something to hide?

I honestly believe the Billion Dollar Home centers are running good systems for reviews.

But when you get into companies that are less than twenty years old and not on the stock market or have less than 2,000 employees and are not in your state then you must fall back on the company that controls the internet. If you are buying on the Internet. Google.

The Builder Depot is the only Google Trusted Store in the online Natural Stone world. Try and buy a complete bathroom of matching tile 6×12″, perhaps 12×24″ and chair rail and pencil along with a matching mosaic…… there is no other Google Trusted Store in the World. The Builder Depot is the only company that sells matching natural stone product collections. A World First!

How are we doing. We are trying to get better every day. Spotting issues. Removing products that do not fit the standards required by Google and pushing the limits.

Ultimately the real trick is not us. It is the consumer. We can fix a terrible supply chain, improve products, but a product that is natural and has variation (aside from our Glass, Wood Look Tile, Metal, porcelain, ceramic…) okay so 70% is natural which means every lot is different. That is where looking at the blog, reading the FAQ page read the Q&A page as well. Finally I would read #15 on the FAQ page, this is mistakes made by others. Reading and reading the website is the key to success. We have a great product. We have an incredible business model that is striving to save consumers money outlined here (and by the reviews below again left on Google)

As a company The Builder Depot seeks to disrupt the inefficient supply chain that has been in place for decades, wasting consumers money. Take those savings and pass them along to the consumer. Keep the savings….. Nope, pass them on. So you can add value to your home. That is our passion!

It is the only Google Trusted Store in the Industry to do so.