Although it has only been in business for four years, Stone Crazy Inc. Marble and Granite Works of Orlando, FL - a stone fabrication and installation company - continues to grow at a rapid rate. The company's three managing partners, Jake Lechtner, Carol Lechtner and Joe Borsellino, have a rule for which they attribute much of the company's success - that is that a partner is always present at a jobsite.

Stone Crazy's 42,000-square-foot facility includes showrooms, a stone yard and fabricating operation. Its fully stocked slab yard contains 250 different types of marble and granite, and the factory is equipped to cut and polish slabs for countertops, vanities, fireplace surrounds, furniture and custom-cut flooring. The company's current production stands at approximately 13,300 square feet a month.

To ensure high-quality production, the company relies on its 12 fabrication workstations - each of which is completely tooled and staffed. Additionally, large-scale equipment at the shop includes a Marmo Meccanica LFB1 single-head edge polishing machine; a Marmo Meccanica flat edge polishing machine; seven Edgemarc Stinger portable routers from Hard Rock Tool, four Sebring bridge saws from Matrix Stone Products and an edge chipper from Stone Boss.

The Matrix Sebring bridge saws are the company's newest additions to the shop. “Our Sebring saws help us keep up with production without losing the quality of our fabrication,” said Borsellino. “By not rushing a job, we can spend more time on custom details [because] our saw room is not struggling to keep up. We can also focus on seeing the job through better when something needs to be re-cut or there are extra requirements for a job.”

Serving the Central Florida market, mostly builders, designers and affiliated construction industry contacts, Stone Crazy's production is comprised of 85% residential and 15% commercial work.

Stone Crazy currently employs a highly trained staff of 54. According to Borsellino, interviewees are given a series of test jobs in-house to see how they place as far as expertise and people skills are concerned. “Once we are satisfied with their performance, we then place that employee under one of our key people to train him to our level of expectations,” he said.

The company owns a total of 11 trucks - two for templating, two service trucks for warranty and touch-up work, and seven install trucks - each of which has a full mobile fabrication set-up with back up generators for the “no-power” projects. Stone Crazy stocks a variety of imported marble and granite slabs on the premises for customers to view and choose from, and the company's product line also includes onyx and travertine. Borsellino said that the company's most popular products are Ubatuba granite and St. Cecilia granite.

According to Borsellino, two of the biggest challenges as a fabrication shop owner are to provide a good working environment for employees, as well as to stay competitive with pricing. “A big part of our success comes from our employees, who we have built a great foundation with,” he said. “We believe that when you work hard with your employees and work together, it builds integrity. Our builders like to see the same personnel because they feel that they already know their expectations to better service them.”