Archive for August, 2009

We’ve been hearing it on the news, from friends even from our own mouths as we walk the aisles at the grocery store and balk at what we see. Prices have gone up. Seems to be a paradoxical occurrence in a down economy, doesn’t it? Many companies in all industries are also eliminating freebies, extras, bonuses or bulk values. This is probably a more expected sign of the times. One thing we don’t think you should have to expect or deal with is any decrease in the service you receive!

As a business professional we know you are dedicated to giving your clients the best customer service possible, and you expect the same from the vendors who serve you. You don’t make excuses, and neither do we. The staff of International Marble Industries Inc. (IMI) has always been dedicated to excellent customer service, quick turnaround times and affordable quality products.

IMI guarantees a 48 hour response time, and a typical five day lead time on products. How often have you heard the word “guarantee” lately? IMI also promises to get your quotes to you accurately and on-time. What’s on-time? How about within 24 hours of receiving the information? That’s fast!

Would your clients like:

• To make color selections with an IMI professional in a dedicated design center?
• To have professional installers in their home, not just contracted laborers?
• To have products that are warrantied by not only your company, but by the manufacturer as well?

Would you like:

• To work with a company who was the first in the industry to offer the fastest lead time?
• To work with a company that is a member of the ACMA, ICPA, NARI, GAHB & NAHB?
• To work with a company that will do the measure AND the install for you?
• To work with a company that actually loves to speak with your clients and answer their questions?
• To work with a company that offers Certified Aging-In-Place Professionals to consult with you or your clients?

IMI is a company you and your clients can trust. We’re not letting economic downturns or pricing upturns change our dedication to excellence. Simply put, we’re offering a great product brought to you by great people. It’s a basic philosophy that has served us well over the years. Come back to the basics. Come to IMI.

Whether you’re talking about a bathroom or a kitchen, a floor or a countertop, a shower or a tub; tile has traditionally been a consumer favorite. Tile touts itself as easy to clean, durable, with low maintenance and in a variety of colors and sizes. But before we all start mixing up the grout, why not consider some alternatives. It seems like many clients, remodelers and builders look to tile simply because “that’s what they’ve always used.” This, of course, is a saying that never leads to improvement or discovery.

Let an engineered composite onto the playing field and you just might find that the tile you’ve always used is suddenly not the clear winner. MasterCast Engineered Composites from International Marble Industries, Inc. (IMI) are recognized as “Beautiful, Durable, Versatile, (and) Affordable.” Four values that are obviously in competition with everything we thought we knew about tile.  MasterCast Engineered Composites encompasses cultured marble, cultured granite, solid surface polymers, and engineered quartz Bathroom & Kitchen products.

The beauty of a MasterCast engineered composites  product is immediately obvious. Used in high-end hotels around the world and first-time family homes alike this product boasts beauty that cannot be found anywhere else. From color to shape, the MasterCast Engineered Composite fabricators like IMI produce custom Bathroom Vanity Tops, Kitchen Countertops, Tubs, Shower Bases, and Shower/Tub Surrounds especially for remodelers, builders, dealers and re-sellers.

Have you ever seen a tile curve? Have you ever seen a tile shower with no visible seams, no grout lines? Imagine the beauty of a product that could do both! Now imagine that same product needing no sealing, no special cleaners, which resists stains and mold and is antibacterial.  If it sounds too good to be true then you are starting to learn why engineered composites are quickly becoming a top choice in today’s economy.

Homeowners want a product that will be durable, easy to care for and add value to their home. An engineered composite can suit all of those needs, which has the end result of making the builders and remodelers who use them very happy.

A final reason these users, owners and makers of engineered composites stay so happy is the longevity of the product. No warranty visits when the tile grout starts cracking or the tile shower base starts leaking. No spreading mold or mildew which can cause major health problems. Engineered composites are waterproof and a non-porous surface that deliver a warmer, softer feel to the touch than cold tile.

If you are a builder, remodeler, kitchen and bath dealer or re-seller and you know your clients would like this product contact IMI today. IMI professionals would be happy to provide you with an on-line presentation of the products.  On IMI’s website you can find your Contractor Kit as well as information for Kitchen and Bath Dealers. Please visit IMI on the web at: http://www.intlmarbleindustries.com/

If they’re not you may just want them to be, because if it sounds like a bad thing – it’s not. Serial remodels, or phased remodeling projects, can go over several months and even years. For example, homeowners might opt to start slow with a remodel to a powder room or closet and then tackle a larger project, such as the kitchen, master bath or home addition.

According the the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, residential remodels are no longer those once-in-a-lifetime projects that keep homeowners dreaming years on end before they ever pick up a hammer. Instead, many homeowners opt to do a series of remodels as their schedules, budgets and lifestyles evolve over time!

Qualified Remodeler’s business website says that these phased remodeling projects are part of a larger trend in American consciousness, which Trendwatching calls “Foreverism.” It speaks to people’s desire to continue conversations, relationships and projects over time. Technology is driving people’s ability to find, follow, interact and collaborate forever with anyone and anything, and home improvement is just one of the areas benefiting from the trend.

According to Qualified Remodeler, phasing a remodeling project has a number of benefits, besides cultivating contractor/client relationships. For homeowners who can’t fund the entire project upfront, breaking elements of a major home remodel into stages can help extend costs over time.  Embarking on a series of smaller projects also keeps homeowners less stressed.

IMI professionals would be happy to help you propose and prepare a phased remodeling project involving any of our products. It just may be a feasible way to allow your clients to realize their dream…in phases.

From HowStuffWorks: http://home.howstuffworks.com/most-expensive-toilet-in-world.htm

They say that the road to the palace of wisdom is paved with excess. The folks at Hang Fu­ng Gold Technology Group in Hong Kong must be very wise indeed. The company’s Hong Kong showroom features the “Hall of Gold,” which contains several opulent handcrafted treasures. But the tourist favorite is “The World’s Most Expensive Gold and Jewelry Sparkling Environmental Friendly Washroom” [source: Hang Fung]. Perhaps the most admired item in the gold bathroom is the 24-carat solid gold toilet.

The company’s owners stipulated that if the price of gold reaches $1,000 per ounce, one ton (32,000 ounces) of the tourist attraction will be melted into bullion and sold [source: AFP]. The company would gross a cool $32 million, and the owners would net about $17.6 million.

The one-of-a-kind posh potty will be spared and remain in Hang Fung’s showroom — it’s not for sale. But if you’re itching to add some bling to your bathroom, there are some other fixtures on the market that might appeal to your expensive taste.

The Neorest 600 certainly falls into this category. The Neorest takes the cake as the most expensive commode available for purchase in the home. Produced by bathroom fixture manufacturer Toto, the Neorest 600 is a tankless, one-piece toilet. It may not be gold, but you could call it green: It’s a low-flow toilet, conserving water by sending only 1.6 gallons down the drain per flush. But you’ll be too busy sitting in awe of the Neorest to yearn for the water-frivolous days of the full-flow toilet. It’s also a bathroom dynamo, doing all of the work your old toilet used to make you do.

When the Neorest senses your approach, the toilet lifts its lid, inviting you to have a seat. Once you do your thing, a gentle blast of warm water cleans your bottom. This is followed by the toilet’s air-dry function. And after you get up, the toilet flushes the ionized, self-cleaning bowl and deodorizes the air [source: Toto]. With all of these features, maybe the $5,800 retail price for the Neorest 600 isn’t so much, relatively speaking [source: Forbes]. Plus, you can find them for sale as low as $3,159 [source: Buy Plumbing]. Of course, you can get a regular residential toilet in the U.S. for around $150, but these certainly don’t come with the bells and whistles the Neorest offers.