Why Everybody Must Get Smart About Stone Selection

In the competition to attract and retain tenants, commercial building owners often rely on amenities. A new fitness center or the latest kitchen appliances can help a property stand out in a crowded field.

But there is another element to consider when vying to get people’s attention. While not as flashy as the latest range top, thoughtful stone selection by the design team can delight tenants while adding value to the building for years to come.

“Stone plays a significant role in office and multifamily buildings in influencing people’s rent or lease decisions,” said Sandya Dandamudi, president of GI Stone, a 30-year-old Chicago-based supplier, fabricator and installer of ​​interior and exterior stone cladding, floors, countertops, furniture and custom projects. “Stone features are among the first things that potential renters see — or in the case of offices, that tenants’ customers see.”

Anyone who has admired the marble work in an office building’s lobby or the granite countertops in an apartment model unit can attest to Dandamudi’s observation. 

But when it is time to specify the stone for a construction or rehab project, how does one select the right material for the job? Complicating matters, the range and variety of stone products are not set in stone. New technologies continue to improve the look and durability of stone products, constantly increasing the options available to designers, architects and owners. 

“Technology has made a huge impact on today’s stone offerings, making the choices exciting but also daunting,” Dandamudi said. 

She said there are things for a designer or owner to consider to help ensure that the stone looks as good in five or 10 years as it did at the ribbon cutting.

True Measure Of Quality

Beyond obvious aesthetic differences, all stone is not alike in its suitability for a particular application. Dandamudi said it is crucial to ask a vendor or stone contractor about a product’s durability.

“On one project, the stone specified was not fit to use on a catering kitchen’s surfaces but was selected because the color matched the space,” she said. “It became etched and chipped with use, and we had to come back six months later and change out everything at the owner’s expense. We’ve also seen finishes in apartments that look great when the doors open, but two or three years later show a lot of wear and tear.”

A poor stone selection can be a costly mistake, but Dandamudi emphasized that the best stone choice is not always the most expensive. Nor does a less-expensive material mean it is of bad quality. 

“A true measure of a material’s quality is due less to the price than to the correct material selection for a specific purpose and in execution that does not result in high wastage,” she said. “You need to find the right balance. If the designer is open to a little bit of tweaking, then we can experiment with different materials. A successful project is often very collaborative.”

Other considerations include transportation of the stone material to the jobsite. Dandamudi advocates purchasing the stone from local suppliers to help ensure quality, but that option might not always be available.

If finished slabs are to be shipped cross-country, steps must be taken to ensure they make the journey undamaged. Improperly transported stone may develop fissures that only become evident after installation, resulting in replacement costs. 

“These are all legitimate concerns and questions that need to be addressed up-front,” Dandamudi said. 

Collaborative Process

Dandamudi recommends engaging an experienced stone contractor with knowledge of the materials available locally. A vendor can be helpful, too, but might lack the hands-on expertise of a firm that regularly fabricates and installs stone, she said.

“A trustworthy stone contractor not only has vast experience in different types of surfaces, but is also continuously open to reeducation in the new products and technologies available,” she said.  

Dandamudi advised getting the stone contractor involved early in a project to identify the best stone material to meet aesthetic, budget, durability and other requirements. 

“It is important to collaborate with a reputable stone contractor in the beginning so that important choices are made before the drawings are substantially complete and work begins,” she said. “We recently saw an expensive fireplace that started to malfunction because the millwork above the mantle had been misspecified and overheated, melting the TV mounted above it. This required the installation of a small but costly stone surround.”

A stone contractor can work with the designer and other stakeholders to identify the best stone to realize the project vision. A high-profile multifamily project on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive benefited from this collaboration, Dandamudi said.

“The type of stone that they were looking at for their primary bath floors was expensive to source and install,” she said. “As the quantity of stone to be purchased was substantial, we went to the factory in the country of origin and direct-sourced it, resulting in a product that fulfilled the design team’s vision while also making the entire project 30% to 40% more cost-effective.”

This article was produced in collaboration between GI Stone and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.