Page 2 - June SRG

2|June 2020
All Slab Fabbers
Slippery rock Gazette
Continued from page 1
From Concept to Facebook
Realizing he had a great con- cept, Hildebrand began doing a little advertising, and specifically brought in tile tradesmen. “We wanted to get tile people into the group, because porcelain slabs have been coming on hard, and we wanted their experience. The next thing I knew was that we were up to 2,000 members, and we are currently up to just over 3,100 members. Not bad for just over a year. It’s been a great place for tile setters, fabricators and the people in the construction indus- try to gather to share problems and solutions. It is now growing organically, and there’s no need to push the growth at this time.”
In September of 2019, the All Slab Fabbers had their first work- shop at Hildebrand’s shop. The turnout was surprising, he recalls. “We were expecting 50 to 75 fabricators here, and we wound up with about 150. I had been working with a couple of porce- lain suppliers, and their complaint was that nobody would take the time to learn how to cut it and play with it. So the focus of that workshop was on porcelain.
“Being the type of shop that we are, we fabricate everything on what I call a ‘locked schedule.’ This means that everything we are working on is a week and a half out to installation. We are never in a rush, and this gives us the time to test a new blade, a new bit or a new material. I’ve always tried to stay ahead of the curve, and when something new comes out, I want to know about it! Manufacturers also want feedback, and without
it, they don’t know how to make their products better. We weren’t scared. I’ve dealt with fragile stone my whole career and we’d been testing and testing and test- ing porcelain, and decided to bring in people and show them what we had learned. We were also look- ing to get insight from others who had worked with it. One thing that people don’t understand with por- celain is that you’re not supposed to use epoxy or acrylic when glu- ing miters. Urethane glues are much better because they dry soft, not hard.”
With their first successful workshop now behind them, the All Slab Fabbers did have an- other workshop planned for May 2020 but, unfortunately, due to COVID-19, this meeting has been rescheduled. However, not one to be denied, the group came up with an alternate idea. “We decided, because we canceled that work- shop, that we were going to get a couple of guys together and do some sessions on Facebook Live and see what kind of responses and participation we get and try to stay ahead of the game. It ac- tually was Jesse George’s idea (AG Stone Granite and Cabinets, Atlantic Beach, FL) to do some instruction videos on line, and it ended up being an information video, instead. Our presenter was Geoffrey Gran, of the Countertop Factory Midwest. We hope to keep doing these- I think it was very well received.”
When asked if All Slab Fabbers is a paid membership or is it free, Hildebrand said, “You might be surprised. It is completely free for fabricators to participate online, The only cost to our members for
workshops is their travel expense, and we can usually get blocks of rooms at a reduced rate. However, we do invite a number of sponsors to come, which helps to offset the cost of running the workshop.
“For example: if we expect 150 people, we’ll invite 20 sales peo- ple. They may consist of machine makers, suppliers, and vendors such as Braxton-Bragg, and any- one in the stone industry. I’ll put the word out, and when there is a workshop coming it is first come, first served, and they can talk and give demonstrations on their products.”
Hildebrand did make a very strong point very clear, though, and that is that they do not have any direct sponsors for the group itself or any paid advertisers. “We did start a separate online group off to the side called, ‘All Slab Fabbers Vendors’ for companies to advertise there. We do try to drive more and more traffic to it, but we keep (all) sales stuff out of the group, because we’ve seen too
Left: All Slab Fabbers group members also post in-prog- ress updates, photos and videos on notable projects from their shops.
Right: This recent poster asked for help identifying a mystery problem with a dark, spreading stain on marble. The most likely culprit? Stain is coming from underneath, due to oils leaching from plumber’s putty. The faucet was installed by a third- party plumber.
Networking on Facebook or face-to-face, and offering advice among their members spreads best practices and helps fellow fabricators find the best solution to common problems from mitering, to working with new materials, to chip repair.
many groups out there overrun with advisements. This is one of the reasons that we’ve grown so fast. We also have no sales peo- ple or manufacturers moderating the group. It’s just fabricators, all about fabricators, and that’s the way we are going to keep it.”
Looking Down the Road
“We are going to do a little bit of
everything in the coming months. With everyone on a downturn, due to the virus, a lot of compa- nies and their people don’t know how to prepare for slower months ahead. We’re also going to talk about ways to increase revenue as well as the cost of acquisitions.
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