Cut Stone & Stone Product Manufacturers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Industry Structure, How Firms Opertate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Quarterly Insight, Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 1,900 stone products manufacturers in the US cut, shape and finish granite, marble, limestone, slate, and other types of stone for building projects and other uses. Firms may also work with composites, such as engineered stone or solid surface products. Applications for cut stone products include countertops, floors, and walls. Stone fabricators may have in-house staff dedicated to installation, rely on subcontractors, or use a combination.
Competition from Alternative Materials
Natural and manufactured stone compete with a variety of alternative materials, depending on the application.
Dependence on Imports
Stone fabricators are highly dependent on foreign suppliers for dimensional stone.
Industry size & Structure
The average stone products manufacturer operates out of a single location, employs 16 workers, and generates about $2-3 million in annual revenue.
- According to the Census, the cut stone and stone product manufacturing industry consists of about 1,900 companies that employ about 32,000 workers and generate $5 billion annually.
- Industry groups estimate the number of stone fabricators in the US could be as high as 8,000 to 12,000. A survey by the Natural Stone Institute found that automated shops employ an average of 38 workers, while manual shops, which tend to be smaller operators, employ an average of 10 workers. Average sales volume was between $2 million and $3 million.
- The industry is fragmented; the top 50 companies account for 35% of industry revenue.
- Large, vertically-integrated firms, such as Cold Spring Granite, extract, cut, and finish stone products. Most firms are small and serve a local market.
Industry Forecast
Cut Stone & Stone Product Manufacturers Industry Growth
Coronavirus Update
Apr 29, 2022 - Stone Sustainability Standard Updated
- The Natural Stone Sustainability Standard (ANSI/NSI 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone) has been updated for 2022. The latest version reflects the standard’s name change and makes community approval of quarry reclamation plans optional, according to NSF International, an independent organization that facilitates the development of standards and certifies products for manufacturers. The Natural Stone Sustainability Standard is a continuous improvement standard, requiring updates to be made at least every five years to remain relevant to the evolving sustainability market. The 2022 update was the third since the standard was first published in 2014 to stay up to date with the latest needs of design teams with green building goals.
- Rising mortgage rates and supply chain disruptions are pushing up prices of new homes resulting in fewer sales. Sales of newly built, single-family homes in March fell 8.6% to a 763,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate from an upwardly revised reading in February, according to newly released data by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the US Census Bureau. New home sales are down 12.6% compared to March 2021. Demand for cut stone and stone products is driven by trends in the housing and construction markets.
- Concern over worker and customer safety has resulted in modified slab storage techniques. Slabs of stone tend to be large in dimension, heavy, and capable of causing severe injury. Firms are increasingly strapping slabs to their metal frame storage systems to reduce the risk of slabs tipping out. Strapping also reduces breakage that can occur if a slab tips onto the floor or hits other slabs. In addition, firms are paying greater attention to how wood blocking is cut and fit into the C channel of racks. Proper cuts create stable bases for the slabs and eliminate trip hazards.
- ● Supply chain chaos will likely persist until the middle of 2022, according to Jim Snabe, chairman of German conglomerate Siemens and Danish shipping firm Maersk. "Right now, we have congestion primarily in the West Coast of the US where the ports are full of containers." A shortage of truck drivers to pick up containers is resulting in ships waiting in ports. "That takes capacity out of the shipping industry because they are lying there idle. You have higher demand and lower capacity, not because we don't have enough vessels, but because they are not sailing because of congestion," Snabe added. Stone fabricators are highly dependent on foreign suppliers for dimensional stone. Imports account for 82% of the US market, according to the US Geological Survey.
- Total construction starts, a driver of demand for stone products, increased 9% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. Nonresidential building starts jumped 26% while residential starts rose 3%. Construction starts are forecast to increase 6% in 2022.
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