Woody Sanders of D.W. Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting in Marietta, Ga., takes the stan- dards serious- ly, engaging in ongoing study of industry documents and pub- lications including A137, the TCNA Handbook and the MIA Dimensional Stone Design manual. “Understand it is a voluntary stan- dard, so educating your client to use an A137 tile is just like educat- ing them on why they need to use qualified labor,” he said. Don’t buy the tile yourself Sanders also shared a strategy that works well for his company: “In our business model we work hard not to buy the tile or stone product. This is and will always be a hot topic but we do not have a showroom and our bidding strate- gies are different than others. We are a unique labor force whose focus is on tile and stone installa- tion. We focus on billable service items, like delivery of tile. If a tile selected and furnished by others is out of spec or is not suitable, we work hard to find a resolution to our customer’s best interest, at the same time charging them for hav- ing to move the tile around or work on the resolution.” Work with reputable distributors; order extra and do mockups These two suggestions go hand- in-hand, along the lines of the proverb “Trust God and tie up your camel.” It’s great to trust that things will work out when you work with a reputable vendor, but it’s also wise to hedge your bets. It is a no brainer to work with distributors you can trust. Even so, you may wish to inspect the tile when you pick it up. Sanders said, “I review lot numbers and calibers to see that they match or look at a few cases of stone if at all pos- sible.” But he is clear that he is not the quality control on the manu- facturer or distributor – and quality is THEIR job. “That said, we work and have developed relationships with our vendors [so they understand] that HOT TOPICS ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 3 Robert Brazington of Rob's Floor Covering, Meridian, Idaho, recently had to wrangle this substandard tile. 48 TileLetter | April 2018