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Steve,
I'm located in Michigan. I'm a long time stone setter too. Not so long with tile, but learning. I'm in the process as I speak of putting together a fireplace shop/ storefront. I've teamed up with 2 brothers who are heating contractors, so we can offer anything from custom masonry f.p.'s to Jo basic gas log units to anything in between. Hope to be opened up by early June. Already have accounts set up with tile wholesalers, stoneyards, etc. I'm not sure about outside f.p. and entertainment areas. I've done a few outside masonry f.p./grills over the years, but not many. I have seen some interesting gas and wood burning products for those applications lately though. That would be a pretty narrow niche here, but maybe not so much in your area. Actually, I'm looking for some good design ideas for tile surrounds for my showroom displays. If anyone has any they're willing to share, please chime in. We'll have about 20 units on display. About half will be freestanding stoves and half will be built in units. All my stone veneer will be natural stone, no artificial, although we will be offering it. I'm planning on 2 or 3 full thickness veneers and the rest will be natural thinstone veneers. This is a pretty big step for me. Exciting but nerve wracking.
I do a lot of split fieldstone, cobblestone and flagstone work here. Mostly f.p.'s and residential veneers. What stones are your hot sellers? How are you at staying busy in the winter? I have 6 months of work lined up now, but I have trouble getting customers to wait till winter for inside work. Tenting and heating just seems to result in a lot of spinning my wheels. Hopefully opening this showroom will help to equalize that a bit.
Eric
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