Cyndi, I knew there had to be more than two! Online searches gave me those two. Hotel phone book gave me two more. You gave me ones I didn't have too. Thank you for your help. Peke

Your welcome! I wish you success!
If you have a moment, I'd be curious about some of my questions, but if you are really only here till today, you probably won't have the time! I could focus your search if I had more to go on.

Thanks,
Cindi

Wow, Cindi. I live in the DFW area and I didn't know about all of those.

Cindi, I realized that I had gone to IMC in Fort Worth on Tuesday, so I went to the Dallas store on Wednesday. I found the exact color of quartzite that I wanted. Iceberg
Blue. Then I read the sign that said SOFT Quartzite. I
tested it, and it crumbled like marble. So sad!

I went to some of the other stores you suggested, but we ran out of time due to all the wrong turns. How can you live with all the construction. GPS sure doesn't work there. This was a spur of the moment trip. My sister had a class to attend for her new embroidery machine so I tagged along to Dallas.

MS we could have had lunch! I probably would have gotten lost. LOL . Peke

msrose,

Glad to let you know of some additional sources! We are lucky to have such a great variety locally. I have known about most of these for quite a few years although some are relatively new. It is interesting to see how design and color trends affect stone popularity, availability and pricing over time. I just love looking at all of the variety!

Thanks, Cindi

Peke,

What a disappointment!! Well at least you got to see the stone, but so sad that it was really too soft! I wish they would just call something marble instead of trying to call it quartzite. Well, if that is the look you like, you can look at some other similar slabs to see if that can work for you. What area of the country are you from? Show your local places pictures of that to see what they have available. Or perhaps they don’t have much selection which is why you were looking for it out of town.

I did a Google image search for your quartzite you were looking for to see what it looked like, and I saw a couple of others that looked close to yours called Azul Maraubas and Blue Azul. I think these are granites but you’d have to check it out to be sure. I have seen one of these before at IMC and it was stunning. I have also seen some Fusion quartzite that was mostly a light blue grey without any of the frequently seen peachy or rusty tones. You could see if something like that might work if you could come across some. There are also several other quartzites that are in the grey family that come off as a blue-grey, especially depending of the surrounding colors / finishes of the finished room.

Yes, there always seems to be construction. I was trying to give you locations close together to maximize your travel time, but sorry you got hung up in that. Hope you and your sister otherwise enjoyed your trip.

Wish you continued luck in your search,
Cindi

Cindi, you seem to have a tremendous amount of stone yard knowledge for around here!
I have a question for you, have you seen soapstone around here? After calling most places who have the largest selections of stones, I continue ,to come up empty on soapstone.

Thanks
Susie

Susie,

Thanks! I like to keep informed of local sources and enjoy doing research. I had just seen your post right before 5 and thought I'd just check real quick myself and call one right before they closed. Not sure who you tried. I called IMC Dallas and they actually have several right now. One bundle she mentioned had the classic green tint 3cm honed with 3 or more slabs in the bundle. Sized 102x63 and 106x63 for that one. And some others with less than three in a bundle are apparently available.

Too late to check any of the others right now out of curiosity, but that is at least one place!

Cindi

Susie, they had a very pale gray soapstone. It was prettier than the one in Tulsa. I did not take a picture though. Sorry!
Peke

PS their websites are not up to date. They do not show the Iceberg Blue online.

Peke,

Do you live in Texas? Just wondering what you would have done if you found the perfect one :)

LOL. I guess I would have paid a lot for shipping! I live about two hours from the ok/tx border.

It was the first stone I thought would be perfect. Sea Pearl will probably be what I settle for. I really don't want to "settle" for something that expensive. Peke

Susied3,

Did you get to see some soapstone? You can go by and see them from the IMC I mentioned above. Or you can call them and they can email current photos for you to get an idea. You'd still need to see the actual slab in person of course. And yes, their website is NOT up to date as I mentioned above (in my probably too long winded info), because they are so busy and so large, but they have some really wonderful things!

Cindi, outstanding answers! I was in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, wish I had your list then.

Your post regarding how all the pricing works is good info. We had a quote of $2,700.00 for entry level granite, when we asked about Ocean Blue from Arizona Tile, the price increased to over $10,000.00. I'm wondering if my fabricator doesn't usually deal with Arizona Tile and is paying a higher material cost. We live in Lubbock, about a 5 1/2 hour drive West of Dallas.

We need veined slabs and am having a hard time staying within our price range. He quoted $4,466 for labor, $3,850 for two Ocean Blue slabs. He said if we go down to Silver Travertine that the material cost would be half. He's also going to see what polishes and cuts we might be able to eliminate to get the labor down to $2,700.00 or so.

We're doing two stand alone sinks, a makeup table, tub top and sides. The sinks are going to have the most cuts. They will have a stone base 8" high on three sides, miter cut at the corners. The vanity tops are going to be 6" high on three sides, miter cut at the corners and top with the stone top miter cut and set into the three stone sides.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

asharding,

Sorry for my slow reply.. we had a family emergency with my Dad. Everything ok now. It’s been a rough week...

Well, I wish you had it a few weeks ago too! Yes, prices can be really confusing, but you are already ahead of the game with knowing a breakdown of labor and materials! Many times you don’t even know that, but just a grand total.

I have family from the Lubbock area but have not really been there for years so am not familiar with any sources there. Is your fabricator from there? Did they send you to Dallas for slab selections? Did they recommend any places to start with or give you a list of preferred slab yard(s)? Are there any local slab suppliers in your town?

Wonderful inspiration picture by the way! Love the stone look and modern details but a very classic feel and very warm and inviting. And the shower with the unusual framing sections around the glass looks great! I had to look up the Ocean Blue because I was not familiar with it. Wonderful looking, but in the pictures it does look a lot like the Silver Travertine.

A side note: Are you intending on having the stone tiles on the floor and the shower like your picture shows? If so, you would need to select a stone slab that would likely have tiles to match and that is generally only available in the regular stones like the vein cut Silver Travertine. Or even a regular vein cut travertine which is available in several other shades within the normal beige / cream / taupe range. But you probably prefer the cooler tones of the Silver and the Ocean Blue. If you are not trying to have the tiles be the same stone, then you would probably go with a porcelain tile and it wouldn’t be an issue.

As for pricing of the Ocean Blue slabs from Arizona Tile, some slabs are just more expensive due to the rarity or exclusive nature of the stone. Most places like to have some exclusives and something different from the competition. More for us to see and drool over!!

Pricing of slabs is actually very confusing. Unlike EVERY OTHER ITEM in construction and remodeling, the slab pricing and structuring is hidden. Slab yards and showrooms will only sell to and give pricing to, the fabricator. If they also carry tile, that they can give you pricing for and will directly to you. But not the slabs. That even holds true for designers, architects and builders by the way who do repeat business with them. Maybe other parts of the country operate differently. (There have been some rare exceptions and then the slab yard has to ask your fabricator permission to give you pricing, but you never really know how accurate that is).

So in Dallas at least, the fabricator you select and the price they pay for the slabs are related to how much business they give the particular supplier / slab yard. I don’t think that is very well known. When asking the stone yard for their suggested fabricators, the intent is to assist the customer in completing their project with the best fabricator for the job. That list of preferred fabricators is an always current list of their top performing, least complained about, easiest to work with, best communication with and most active companies. A side benefit of this is they will receive the preferred pricing which most pass along to their customers.

By the way, fabricators that have repeat customer complaints (bad seams, poor sink cutouts, etc) or have poor business practices (missed picking up slabs, poor communication, etc) do not stay on their favored list.

Sometimes you may have a stone that is more delicate and takes special handling (like Honey Onyx) or may be difficult to cut and cut an edge (like some Quartzites or slate) and the salespeople at the slab yards can recommend a fabricator with recent experience for your best results. A great salesperson is your best ally. It is always important, but especially in busy times like now, to be polite and patient and you will get better service. Not everyone is and they appreciate those that are.

IF YOU ARE WILLING AND HAVE THE TIME TO DO A LITTLE RESEARCH, you can find out the places your fabricator should get his best values. And conversely, you can find out the best fabricators of where your favorite slab is. And then compare the results.

1) First, ASK YOUR FABRICATOR that gave you the quote what their top stone yards are. I have no idea if they are in Lubbock what their answer will be. But ask who their main number one, two and three places are. They may be in different cities.

A) Call these slab yards / slab showrooms and ask if they have the Ocean Blue slabs. It may be known in different places by different names, so you can email them some pictures and see what is most similar. (it will be fastest if you can email them right when talking on the phone with the sales person). Then ask if they have a vein cut Silver Travertine (and what other particulars like a 2cm or 3cm and polished or honed)

You may want to ask what other vein cut travertine or other stones they have in stock as well. (You can ask a price range and they may give you a scale of levels or general categories, but it will not be actual prices, but might help comparatively). Most of the travertine in recent years had always been the cross cut variety, but now the linear slabs are popular again, so more of the Vein Cut slabs are becoming available.

You can also ask if they have anything like that coming in. They typically have photos of their incoming stock and it can be a great advantage to know what is coming and schedule a first viewing and get first crack at the entire lot!

Get the names and sizes of these slabs that interest you, photos and bundle numbers if you are really serious about some, and ask if they can either email the info to you or your fabricator, to be considered.

B) Then contact your fabricator and ask for an additional quote, just for comparison’s sake, if you used the slabs from a, b and c company, using that material and how that might change the previous quote total from them. Sizes of slabs vary and will even vary within matching bundles (although book-matched slabs are almost always the exact same size) and may alter your needed quantity and if it is a difficult stone to fabricate, may increase the labor.

That will give you a good indication of the price variations you can expect from your fabricator. Sometimes there are great differences and sometimes they are surprisingly similar. The pricing for the Silver Travertine from different vendors should be the easiest to compare since that is probably available from most vendors.

2) Then, or while you are waiting for answers from the above, CONTACT ARIZONA TILE (talk to their ‘Slab Desk’ department) and ask them for their top two or three fabricators. You mentioned 'finishes' in your description of tweaking the costs. If the slab is currently one finish and you want another (if Polished and you want Honed or vice versa), then you need to add that capability into your request for a fabricator. Not all fabricators have that capability. It takes a special machine. So selecting a slab that is already finished the way you want will maximize your budget.

A) Call these fabricators and ask for an estimate for your details that you mentioned, giving the countertop and tub dimensions, edges, sink and tub cutouts, undermount or drop in, and any finish details. Give all of these fabricators the same details using a first choice of Ocean Blue and a second choice of the Silver Travertine, all from Arizona Tile. Tell them that you are getting several estimates. Mitered edges are relatively new and not all fabricators will have experience at doing them properly. By the way, before finalizing your selection of a fabricator, always ask to see their ACTUAL edge samples (or pictures of ACTUAL samples if you’re out of town), NOT drawings or cross sections on a page of all of their edge selections. But get a quote regardless.

B) When talking to them, ask how they work and how they charge for the entire job and the details like the edging and cutouts. Email them your inspiration photo if needed or sketches of the layouts. Some will charge separately for everything. Most will have some included edges at no charge and an additional charge for more complicated edges. If they do charge for edges, it is typically charged per linear foot. If they include options, have them call that out separately.

How sinks and tubs are priced are OTHER QUESTIONS TO ASK and are either drop in (with no finished edges) or undermount with a finished edge. Sometimes for the tubs, it makes a difference on price if it is rectangular (less expensive) or oval (more expensive). Also ask how they handle out of town jobs - it is trip charges (to template and install) or an increased percentage of labor.

By asking about two different stones with the exact same fabrication, if they don’t itemize the quote, you can tell the difference of the stone cost by comparison.

This second step will tell you the best case scenario of your preferred stone from a few different fabricators. And when you compare that to your initial fabricator, you can tell where they are in the pricing from the others.

You may be very surprised at the comparisons. Your initial fabricator may be charging less for the labor and more for the stone. Arizona Tile’s preferred fabricators might be less for the stone, but may be more on labor or for travel for an out of town job. But this will give you what you need to make an informed decision.

Something to keep in mind on the budget is the overall VALUE for your best results, which is more than just the cost. Don’t overlook a fabricator’s skill, experience and ease of communication. A mitered edge is exacting work and not everyone does it well. It is a relatively new edge treatment and some are not really familiar with doing it. And communication and ease of working with them are even more important if you are in different cities.

For BUDGET ISSUES, with your current quote, you also mentioned asking for suggestions for cutting the labor / fabrication costs. Do you have the labor itemized so you can see where it can be tweaked? Your inspiration picture shows an undermount sink. That is a more expensive cutout than a drop in or top mounted sink. Of course the cost of a modern top mounted sink may be more expensive than a simple under mounted sink and it may be a wash on the budget, but the labor to fabricate the stone would be less.

Instead of the mitered edges everywhere, you could do it just at visually noticeable places like the vanity top but on others like the vanity base, you could have a simple butt joint instead. Take a look at your vanity and the tub deck at the corners to see what edges are prominent and what are not. If it does not show, use the less expensive butt joint.

Also in the photo, it appears like the shower base and top are of the slab and the floor and walls are tile. You could look at this and see if the just tile can be used. But if you are not using matching tile to the slab, that may alter the design and may not be what you want.

Another MAJOR QUESTION is how you are being charged for the slabs? Are you paying for the entire slabs regardless of how much you use? If so, you might as well use up the slab(s) as much as possible since you are paying for it anyway. If you are paying for the entire slabs, if you have remnants, can you sell them or are they just yours? Are they charging per sq ft of only what you use? You need to know that to maximize your budget.

Sometimes you can extend your budget by purchasing major elements ahead of time (slabs, tile (get more than you need), plumbing hardware, cabinets, cabinet hardware, lighting, sinks, tub, etc as you can afford it and wait till you have a majority of those before actually starting the project and that is easier on the budget. This does not always work out, but has for others.

Of course, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and accept what you want is more expensive and you can adjust elsewhere. For example, if you are using the framed shower glass like the picture, that is less expensive then a frameless style. And using 3/8 inch thickness is less than the 1/2inch. And especially if you are going framed (which looks great with the entire look by the way), the thinner won’t be noticed. You could select a more economical shower hardware and cabinet hardware, lighting scones, etc, etc. Your choice. Also your choice if you want to go with everything you want in this room and budget in different ways or different parts of the house to get what you want here.

Which ever way you choose, you have a beautiful inspiration and you will have a wonderful bathroom. I hope my answers weren’t too long winded. I was trying to give you complete information. If you need clarification on anything I have said or have additional questions, just let me know.

Cindi

Cindy, you rock! Great information for us. I am glad things are better with your dad.

I have called and emailed IMC three times, and they won't return my calls or emails. I was curious why they have some slabs labeled "soft" quartzite. The one I am most interested in is Iceberg Blue. I specifically asked if it was really a marble. They said no. Anyway I can't use it in my kitchen because it is soft, but I thought it might work for a bathroom.

Peke,

Thanks for the encouragement on my Dad. It has been difficult to drop everything in my remodel to be with him when things like that have happened, but I would not have wanted to be anywhere else.

So frustrating that you have not had a response from IMC. I know they are really busy right now but that is still not an excuse. I had just talked with them recently. Perhaps I can get an answer for you. I was actually very curious of the "soft quartzite" myself which to me is an oxymoron and just leads to more confusion.

I have a quartzite that has just been installed in my kitchen. I saw the slabs and it stopped me in my tracks so I totally understand about falling in love with stone. I had originally thought the colors would be perfect for my master bath - blues ranging from navy to aqua, lavenders and greys with flashes of gold and green, but it was (real) quartzite which was VERY hard to work with and could not do the edging I wanted. And then the irregular non symmetrical pattern was working against my designs, so choose to do it in the kitchen instead. It is gorgeous with the sun in the kitchen (thanks to additional windows) and the multi colors and patterns are better there anyway as I really wanted a calmer feel in the bathroom but just loved the blues. A more tranquil stone was needed for the bath and the quartzite worked WITH us on a kitchen instead of against us in the bathroom.

After our first conversations here, I had seen your posts in the Rocks other thread and the pictures of the Iceberg Blue from your last visit at IMC. Really stunning! I am a real fan of the large crystals (and blue stones!) and I'm sure it is even more georgeous in person!

Yes, I think that would work great for a bathroom. The stone I found for my master bath replacement was a softer stone that is a type of honey onyx. The quiteter colors work better too from my previous selection. I also found a great sealer that works better on calcium rich stones that was a concern and now it is great.

That is all finished and installed but the room is not finished yet but all of my sealer tests came out great, so I think yours would work well too.

Cindi

I can't wait to see your counters.

I called them again on Friday and they insist it is not marble. They said it acts like marble though.

If it walks like a duck.......peke

Well, I have not been successful at attaching a few pictures (my first try)...will try again later. Would love to show you those pieces installed. They really turned out well.

I talked to IMC also and told them they are contributing to the confusion of the quartzite properties! I suggested an alternate category name of something like 'high crystal marble' and they said that they would think about it. Maybe if they got enough comments about the quartzite confusion.

I do think your Iceberg Blue would be stunning in a bathroom. Are you going to go that direction? Let me know your progress.

If I can be of assistance with you of anything in Dallas in general or IMC (or any stone place)in particular, just let me know. Be glad to help. I know how challenging all of this can be but especially since you are out of town.

Cindallas,

Thanks! I am still learning how to post pics too. I can only do one at a time. Peke

Hi Cindallas! you know a ton about stone slabs and countertops in Dallas! Thanks for all the good info. I know this is an older thread so I hope this reaches you. I was curious who you would recommend for a fabricator in dallas? I love the look of quartzite (the white quartzite with grey veining). I am doing a large island with a waterfall edge with a 2 inch mitered edge so I am looking for an expirienced fabricator. Thank you!