As a company that began in 1996 doing small jobs for efficiencies and apartments, Twin Stone Marble of Hollywood, FL, currently gets calls for some of Southern Florida’s most prestigious projects, and it is not feeling the effects of a slowing economy. Additionally, its most recent shop is more than 10 times the size of the original location, and it houses an entire new line of machinery from Coch Corp. of Argentina, supplied through its U.S. office in Palm City, FL.

Prior to the establishment of Twin Stone Marble, owner Ignacio Medina had been doing installations for around 24 years when he met Mayra Parente, an entrepreneur, and now the other owner of the company. From there, the two collaborated their strengths and formed their own business. “My dad is the backbone of the technical side, while my mother is the salesperson,” said the owner’s son, Andy Medina.

Medina explained that the company began small in a 1,200-square-foot shop, primarily working on efficiencies and apartments, but eventually worked its way up - often being fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. “We got a job doing a large commercial lobby [where another contractor] fell through,” he said. “The owner, [Larry Jenkins of the Plaza Group], offered my parents the contract. We owe a lot of our success to that man.

“In 2001, we met a man by the name of John Cantadora and did a house for him,” Medina continued. “He loved our work and put us through to Richard Vipes, owner of the Solace River House. From there, it’s been awesome.”

The Solace River House happens to be the biggest residential building in Southern Florida, according to Medina. “That building was huge for us and the second we finished that, the Plaza Group gave us the Ocean Palms, a 46-story building on Hollywood Beach.”

Currently, Twin Stone Marble is doing work for the Trump Royal and the Trump Hollywood as well as exclusive townhouses under the complex name, Luxoria, which has a lot of detail work. “We do anything that has to do with stone - cladding bases, walls, countertops and so on,” said Medina. “In commercial high-rises it’s mostly countertops, but houses alone often have $6 million worth of stonework.”

Expanding the operation

Twin Stone Marble has also seen growth in its own facility. What began in a 1,200-square-foot shop, followed by a 9,000-square-foot shop, now sits in a 20,000-square-foot shop. Additionally, there is a 6,000-square-foot showroom on the approximately 80,000 square feet of land. And when it came time to move into the newest location, Twin Stone Marble wanted to start fresh in all areas. “In 2006, when we went into the new shop, we also went in with all new machinery,” said Medina. “All of our machinery is from Coch.”

Equipment from Coch includes a C34 bridge saw, which features 20-horsepower, automatic, miter cutting, a laser for alignment and hydraulic tilting table. Additionally, a Coch LFT32 edge polishing machine is used for bull nose and straight edges. Finally, the company owns a Coch R30 stoneworking center that has a heavy-duty router for sink cut-outs, edge profiling and polishing, drilling faucets and surface polishing for scratches and repairs.

For templating, the company relies on Luan plywood strips and plans to continue to do so. “My father is old school, so I don’t see us changing to digitized templating any time soon,” said Medina.

Twin Stone Marble has 12 workers in its shop and on average depends on 40 installers, who are all subbed out. “At our peak, we have 70 installation guys,” said Medina. “Even though they’re subbed out, they’re there for every job we do.”

With principal markets in Southern Florida, including Miami-Dade and Broward County, Medina says the company is also getting its feet wet further north in West Palm Beach and is not feeling the consequences of a slowing economy. “We’re still doing really well,” he said, adding that the ultimate objective is to keep expanding like it has already been doing. “Expansion and growth is what I think any company hopes for.”

Twin Stone Marble

Hollywood, FL

Type of work: large-scale commercial and residential projects

Machinery: a C34 bridge saw, an LFT32 edge polishing machine for bullnoses and straight edges and a R30 stoneworking center -- all from Coch Corp. of Argentina, sold through its U.S. office in Palm City, FL

Number of Employees: 12

Production Rate: varies depending on project type