How buying remnants makes you money

Apr 7, 2011 | RemnantSwap

When we built RemnantSwap.com, we knew that countertop fabricators who were selling their remnants would be getting a direct financial benefit. They’re taking something that used to be a cost and turning it into revenue. But what we didn’t realize is that the folks buying stone and solid surface remnants were getting an enormous benefit, too.

When we were at the Coverings trade show last month, we spoke to several fabricators who hadn’t posted their remnants for sale, but were already getting amazing results… just from buying remnants from other fabricators near them. How?

Lowering your material cost. Scott Walker, of Maxwell Counters, told us how he’s been buying remnants and as a consequence, lowered his material cost on jobs by almost 10%. Just the fact that you don’t need to buy an entire slab improves the average profitability of jobs.

Building relationships with other fabricators. The owner of PLI Group, Shannon Bitzer, explained how he’s built new relationships with some fabricators in his area. What started as a single purchase of some remnant stone has led to sharing information about business, and learning more from each other about their production process and best practices.

Offering more choices to your customers.
I was also surprised that there’s a way you can turn other people’s remnants into money. The scenario we heard a few times is that a homeowner wants a kitchen, and by buying remnants, it’s possible to offer them a free or low-cost vanity in order to close the deal.

Want to know more? At Moraware, we make software for countertop fabricators. JobTracker is scheduling software that helps you eliminate the time you waste looking for job folders. RemnantSwap is a place to buy and sell granite remnants with fabricators near you.