One of the biggest lessons learned by fabricators from the 2008 recession was that a business must be adaptable. Some changed their target market; others changed the foundation of their business. For Stone Restoration of America, located in Charlotte, NC, the company changed entirely. “A small group of us originally started in 1993 just polishing marble floors,” said John Lambert, president of Stone Restoration of America. “As we started to build a reputation in the area, people would ask us to do more. We went from one employee, all the way up to 120 employees. We also went from fabricating kitchen countertops to now providing services for maintaining buildings and parking decks, as well as having the capacity to perform waterproofing and restoration for large capital projects.”

Right before the economic downturn, the Charlotte market was flooded with fabricators that it didn’t make sense for Stone Restoration of America to continue fabricating kitchens. While fabrication isn’t the focus of its business, it still has six workers on staff who can fabricate. “Recently we finished, and were nominated for a Trinity Waterproofing Award from SWRI for a 25,000-square-foot granite plaza at Two Wells Fargo Center,” said Lambert. “We had to de-clad and waterproof the existing plaza, planters and old water features of the center. All the granite, about 5,000 pieces, had to be removed in-tact, labeled for location and stored off-site due to limited jobsite space. Because some pieces broke and some other work had to be done, we still had to fabricate 6,000 square feet.” The granite used for the project was supplied by Coldspring of Cold Spring, MN.