Hi Rich

Sorry for the very looooong delay in getting back with you about your question posted down below (11/15) with regards to cost for setting up for doing stone/marble/granite/terrazzo/concrete polishing. As Rick mentioned I was out of town, for my 23rd anniversary. Since then Ive been pretty busy (were up about 22% as of the first of this month over last year) and I dont spend as much time on the BBs as I use to; something about wanting to make it to 24 years. LOL On to your question.

As Rick also posted, he has a retrofit package that will and does work well if you want to use the Cyclone. (Keep in mind though that your production will be about half that of a Cimex 48DF) If you want to go that way youll also need a way to powder polish (slow machine/swing machine) and pick up your slurry (wet vac/high pressure porty). In addition to that youll also need to address the edges of the floor as well as areas that you cant use your Cimex on/in; i.e. stairs, counters, table tops, between the toilet and tub, etc. No doubt for areas like that youll want a variable speed hand grinder with appropriate diamonds.

In a very rough estimate to go about doing stone the Right Way it will cost you about $12,000.00 - $15,000.00. Now dont freak; there are ways to get by for less. Those dollar amounts encompass some of the best equipment on the market that will save you thousands and thousands of dollars on labor and countless hours of frustration, and make your job much easier. As Im sure youll agree like anything, what you put into it is what youll get out of it. I was recently talking with a long time contractor about this very topic (spending money on your business) and he said hes blown away by guys that complain about spending $200.00 - $300.00 on a hand grinder. He asked; Do these guys have a business or a hobby?

My recommendation is if you want to get into doing stone get some training. Whether you come through our training program or someone elses; get some training. No you wont know it all by the end of anybodys training class (not even ours), but you will have a very good place to start. I will tell you that stone takes a measure of practice and its nice if you have endless follow up technical help (our program offers that). As for the investment cost of the equipment; it comes back to you pretty quick.

Let me quickly share with you how it all came together for me. I had a woman call one day and she wanted her terrazzo floors restored. I confirmed she knew what she was talking about and that she knew that it was not a cheap proposition. At the same time I had a potential marble restoration job pending. I ordered my Cimex 48DF and scheduled the work 30 days out. While I waited for my equipment I sold two more terrazzo jobs. In the end, just two of those terrazzo jobs would have covered the cost of my Cimex and diamonds. This year we did a job that was more than $17,000.00 it took three of us about eleven hours. True, those types of jobs dont come along every day or every month for that matter, but if I didnt start somewhere I wouldnt have been in a position to do that $17K job either.

By all means if I can help you out or anyone else here please dont ever hesitate to ask. When I was starting out there wasnt a lot of help out there but there were a few that did help and Im glad to return the favor just let me know. I hope this helps some. I know it was a little vague but its hard to know where to start without knowing a little more about what you have now for equipment or what type of work youre looking to do. Like I said, let me know if I can help.

David Gelinas
Marbleguy

Thanks for the info. Happy 23rd by the way. I'm married 12 years and we just had our first child. He is almost 10 months old already.

I love cleanng carpet but the reason for me asking is because there are so many CC's and it would be nice to have something different on this area.

I have a passion for stone. As a matter of fact I am a stone mason, only my body says no more.

Yhis is something I would love to learn how to do!