Classic Rock Fabrication: Targeting a niche market
Operating solely as a wholesale stone fabrication business, Classic Rock Fabrication of Harrisburg, PA, was established by several fabricators who realized a need for this specialty service.
First opening its doors in 2006, Classic Rock Fabrication is owned by Alex Bazdar, Chris Mellott and Brad Wevodau. “We have always maintained the same business model,” explained Bazdar, CEO, who joined the company almost six years ago and serves as its managing partner. “We have always been a wholesale company, even prior to my start here. Brad and Chris had a great vision and stuck with it, even when the markets went south. Classic Rock never wavered to opening its doors to the public. We continue to remain strictly a true and through wholesaler. Some fabricators say they are, but they take walk-ins and sell retail which directly competes against the dealers and builders.
We deal with solely kitchen and bath dealers and home builders. Wetemplate, produce and install for them. We have no contact with the consumer, other than once a job has been sold; they make stone selections in house.” According to Bazdar, Classic Rock Fabrication’s business plan was well thought out and has proven successful.
“The partners all agree that the wholesale model is where we want to operate,” he said. “We love the relationships we get to build with the dealers, and we have seen how trying to juggle both retail sales and wholesale sales is just not ideal for us. We have a broad mix of employees, who have been in this industry for quite a while, and all have been involved in both retail and wholesale, and we choose to work only with other businesses.”
The company, which operates out of a 55,000-square-foot facility with 56 employees, has a broad market, which includes Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware. “We service over 200 customers,” said Bazdar. “We have a small sample showroom, which really isn’t our focus because of space limitations.
We placed our importance in a well-lit, extensive slab gallery that is here as an extension of the kitchen and bath dealers showrooms. If you think about it, we don’t offer retail sales, so the investment in our gallery is for the dealers.” The slab gallery is a part of the plant that spans over 10,000 square feet and features more than 100 varieties of stone that the company stocks. A state-of-the-art lineup Classic Rock Fabrication maintains an impressive range of equipment, which drives a successful production operation. The lineup includes a full-bed SawJet, a single-bed SawJet and four CNC routers — all fromNorthwood Machine Manufacturing of
Louisville, KY.
“We are very loyal to Northwood,” said Bazdar. “We feel they are a good fit for us. We like the service and training that they provide. The reps we work with are always there. We really feel Northwood is the ticket for us. We have had hardly any maintenance issues or downtime with the machines.” The CNC machines are fitted with vacuum pods from Blick Industries of Laguna Beach, CA, and all tooling is from Tyrolit Group of Italy.
Additionally, the company operates a waterjet from Flow International of Kent, WA, and it purchases supplies from GranQuartz, based in Tucker, GA. Building a reputation Bazdar explained Classic Rock Fabrication has built a reputation and business around the best group of employees. “We only employ Classic Rock employees for install crews as well, which a lot of fabricators use both employees and contractors,” he said. “We don’t subcontract employees. The reason being is that we like to control the project. Our employees are accountable to the company. That is important to the quality of the product, and honestly, our dealers love the relationships they have built with our people.”
The company’s templaters use LT-2D3D Laser Templators from Laser Products of Romeoville, IL. “We love them,” said Bazdar. “We feel the Templators give us more options. They are easy to transport, and there is almost no set-up time. They have increased our ability to template.”
When looking to the future, Classic Rock Fabrication intends to remain on the path it has put in place. “We just want to continue doing exactly what we have done — focus on quality first and foremost,” explained Bazdar. “It is important for us to thank our dealer base. We rely on the same companies day in and day out. Fabricators are like banks. There is one on every corner now. If you don’t separate yourself, it is very difficult. We will continue to focus on our dealers.”
By: Jennifer Richinelli
Article originally appear in Stone World