“My grandfather was a mason in Sicily, and I followed in his footsteps,” said Dardar. “Tony and I had spoken, and we decided it was time to open a stone business. We were tired of working for other people.”

As they build their young company, the owners of Quality Stone and Flooring have focused on the installation of stone kitchen and bathroom countertops, walls, floors and custom accessories. The owners were pleasantly surprised with the response to their new venture. “We are probably doing about 13 to 14 kitchens a week, and we have only been open for less than four months,” said Goutierrez. “We really went slow in the beginning. We could have gone faster, but we called it Quality Stone because we wanted to produce quality work. Still, our production is increasing.”