I am often asked if one's city has the population/income level to support a healthy restoration business.

As I so often do, I usually deliver a vague answer. Now, I am not being sly here or trying to appear knowledgeable while covering up ignorance..... it basically comes down to something my Old Man always said to me, "Figures don't lie, but liars can figure." So why the double speak? Let's take a look at two cities that I have become very familiar with in my stone life: London and Windsor, ON and see why.

London is situated in the center of South Western Ontario (the arm jutting South of the Northern US Border States), centered between Detroit, MI and Toronto, ON with a population of 352,395 (2006). According to the Census, the average value of a home is reported to be $212,059.

It prides itself on being a medical research hub for most of the world, with plenty of doctors (and lawyers). Now, according to census data from 2006, individuals with a degree earned an average of $71,821 annually and the city had a 6.5% unemployment rate. Everything looks good in London from this perspective.

Windsor actually is South of Detroit and could be likened to the Motor City's little sister. It has a grand casino managed by Harrah's and is largely affected by the automotive industry. It is known as a blue collar town with factories by the big three, and also two wellknown (by more than this writer, of course) whiskey distillers. It had a population in 2006 of 216,473 and in 2010, an average home price of $145,000 (low, I know).

Further census data from 2006 shows individuals with a degree earned an average of $ 63,270 annually and this city had a 10.1% unemployment rate. In this light and compared to London, you could view Windsor as a town to avoid in the restoration business.

Now, to quote another favorite of mine, Mark Twain in saying, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics!" The above data means nothing in the world of stone restoration! Why? Because it is "average" numbers, for one, and secondly, it doesn't look at true factors that determine good locations for the stone restoration business.

It comes down to who is in the city, what their knowledge and respect of stone is and, of course, if the area has a stone heritage.

The truth of the matter between these two urban centers is this, we do (and have) 90% of our business in Windsor. And that percentage is from before we were awarded the casino contract! And it is not because we do not market in London. I was on a regular radio call-in show for home tips in London for over 6 years. We sponsored the local OHL hockey team in ads on radio and in the arena for two years (with zero ROI).

I live in London and therefore my lettered truck is seen regularly at the supermarket, malls and liquor stores and yet, we still travel down the 401 (Canadian Interstate) on a regular basis to work in Windsor where our marketing has been less than 10% of what we spend in London.

Now many in London tell me that it is because Windsor has a large Italian population and I still say, "Bunk!" Nowhere that I know of is natural stone exclusive to the Italian people (except in Italy, of course). We work in homes of Irish, French, Polish, Russian, Israeli, Syrian, Indian and on and on in the Windsor market.

It has nothing to do with race or ancestry. In my experience it comes down to positive peer pressure (that means one rich woman sees another rich woman with stone and wants it in her home too), having stone readily available and showing the customer just what can be done with it. As well as educating the customer as to how beautiful, affordable and low maintenance it is.

So in layman's terms here, if you want to know if your city has potential to produce profits in professional restoration, then look to see who is selling it and just how good of a job that they are doing in that. The funny thing about that is that it is almost exactly what Joe Salvo (VP of Miracle Sealants) told me when I first got into this business after he gave a presentation here in London so many years ago now.

And to answer a question that many of you should be asking yourself as you read through this article (That being -why don't you just move to Windsor?), I stay in London because I am close to my children. I do not want to live two hours away from them. But, as soon as they are old enough, you may see me (and them) in the Southern US or even in Dubai. Now, in the meantime, if anyone wanted to partner up with me and use my name and our experience so that I can still spend my weekends with my kids, well, I am open to talking to you.

Until next month, keep your stick on the ice.

Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone, an Ontario-based stone cleaning and restoration company servicing Ontario and Chicago, IL. Tom also offers corporate and private consultations as well as speaking at conventions. He can be reached at stone_ rx@earthlink.net .

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