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From a hobby to a successful business

Thomas Sullivan of Granite Tops talks to Build & Renovate

Story Highlights
  • "We're never happy with what we have as we're always looking at ways of improving."
  • "Things have gone from strength to strength."

Granite Tops are Ireland’s leading importer, manufacturer and supplier of quartz granite & sintered stone worktops. Granite Tops is family run with family values at its core working with all major brands such as Mason Quartz, Inalco, Silestone & Dekton.

Each countertop which leaves their workshop is at the standard at which the team expects to be fitted in their own homes with every member of staff taking a genuine interest in each job that leaves or facility and the quality of work that we put the Granite Tops name to.

What started as a hobby, grew into an idea and flourished into a passion. Granite Tops became a reality in 2004 when Colin Sullivan took on a lease for a worktop workshop in a repurposed mushroom shed.

From here Colin turned people’s dreams into reality and made worktops affordable and accessible to everyone. This small cramped space proved to be a blessing in disguise, it forced the team to develop a process to provide short turnaround times from template to installation and allowed them to finesse perfect techniques to give perfect finishes. Even with the increased level of business over the years the team have managed to hold onto our customer service values and level of satisfaction from sale to fitting.

“My Dad is a cabinet maker by trade and he got bored and he didn’t feel challenged enough and he began working with stone. He started the company from the ground up with an angle grinder in a mushroom shed all the way up to where we are now through a mix of sheer determination and ignorance which has got him this far,” said Thomas Sullivan.

“Things have gone from strength to strength and key to our success is when we have had successful periods we have re-invested not only staff, equipment and stock. We are continually trying to improve and we’re always in the pursuit of perfection and excellence. We aim to be at the forefront of stone fabrication in this country and we strive to push the boundaries of what’s possible in peoples homes.

“Whilst we continually reinvest in the business for the safety of our staff as we’re working in a very dangerous business and construction has a huge number of deaths every year so we’re trying to make the job a bit easier every year for our staff as well as improving on the quality which is where the reinvestment in the machinery and equipment comes in.

“We’re never happy with what we have as we’re always looking at ways of improving,” enthused Mr Sullivan.

As to the functionality of these countertops?

“Functionality and aesthetics are key, and we take great pride in the quality of durability of all the products we use. Stone is an investment for clients and we take that very seriously and make sure that our products and materials stand the test of time no matter the budget or requirement.

“We will put stone on any horizontal surface in a house, occasionally we will do the odd vertical surface. Predominantly we would use quartz but we are launching a new range of materials such as the ultra compact surfaces which are the large format ceramics and porcelains which have a large array of properties, these new composite material are a new era in the fabrication industry in this country and we are here at Granite Tops have positioned ourselves to be at the forefront of that new era” imparted Thomas.

When it comes to the future of Granite Tops?

We’re very optimistic about the future and we see a huge array of opportunities out there and we have huge potential growth in the pipeline, We are also now the sole stone provider the upcoming season of DIY SOS on RTE, we have completed one job already and for us to have the chance to give back to families and people in need has been an amazing opportunity and we can’t wait to do the next project with the SOS team.

‘We have worked very hard over the years and will continue to do so, our team here is second to none right across the board and together with them and re investing in the latest technology and materials the possibilities are endless. concluded Thomas Sullivan.

 

Source
Words: Emer KellyImages: Webpress

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