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The company’s services go beyond just countertops as illustrated by this solid surface and crack repair and refinishing project on a boat.
“Every technician has to have an incredible amount of knowledge and training in the repair field,” explained Vatis. “The knowledge any particular technician needs just to repair solid surface and quartz alone is staggering.” And the fact that the company’s headquarters
has both a research and development shop and a training facility helps it to keep a handle on
the latest materials and techniques. “The R&D shop is used for development of new repair
techniques and tooling,” he explained. “If we haven’t repaired a particular surface, we will
work with it in our shop and find a solution.” Training to be the Best The company is extremely picky about its
technicians and spends a lot of time training
everyone to ensure the best service. As such,
the company has three in-house manufacturercertified instructors for quartz surfacing and solid surface. At the Surface Link’s training
center personal, hands-on training is required for all new technicians, as well as recurrent
training for existing technicians. The company
also offers training to fabricators wanting to get certified with a particular manufacturer or start their own businesses.
“Every technician has to have an incredible amount of knowledge and training in the
repair field,” explained Vatis. “The knowledge any particular technician needs just to repair
solid surface and quartz alone is staggering.”
It is this training that keeps the company
on the top of its game, which is key when
handling warranty work for manufacturers
and distributors — a large percentage of the business the company handles.
“It’s especially important that we provide
the best service and value to manufacturers for their warranty work,” said Vatis. “Our
technicians are incredibly talented. I am in awe sometimes.”
A Day in the Life The importance the company places on
training seems to have paid off, as during a
typical month, Surface Link’s operations center fields between 500 and 800 requests for repair
All of the company’s repair technicians are trained in-house by certified trainers and kept current through regular learning updates.
work. The center manages all calls, technical
fabricators are also a primary source of
been established, the center also takes care
support fabricators all over North America;
advisory services and sales. Once a job has
of the logistics and coordinating technicians in
the field to handle each call. Then, a technician working out of a fully equipped truck goes into action, putting their restoration/repair capabilities to work.
Keeping the hoppers full and the calls coming in requires a variety of sources. In addition
business,” explained Vatis. “We work with and they refer repair work to us so that they can
focus on new fabrication and installation. Our
relationships with fabricators are important to
us. We help them by providing a quality service that they can refer their customers to. They
know their customers are in good hands which reflects positively on their businesses.”
to warranty work, Surface Link also gets
In addition to these professional referrals,
material manufacturers and distributors. “It
business. This is brought in through marketing,
non-warranty referrals for repair work from is just as important to them to know that
referred consumers are handled carefully and
professionally, once again reflecting positively on their own brand,” said Vatis. “In addition, we perform inspections of high pressure
laminate surfaces for one major manufacturer on a national scale.”
Plus the company is happy to work with
other fabricators. “Repair referrals from other
the company does a good bit of direct sales
traditional advertising and online lead sources, as well as word-of-mouth referrals. A lot of this retail business is countertop and sink
refinishing and replacing existing sinks with updated models. Additionally the company
repairs and refinishes baths and showers on a case-by-case basis.
On the retail side, currently it is about an
80/20 split with residential work dominating its International Surface Fabricators Association • Vol. 7 / Issue 1 • 33