We’re Changing
LOUISVILLE & SOUTHERN INDIANA
FAMILY COMPANY KEEPS UP WITH COUNTERTOP TRENDS racy Leet comes from a long line of experts in the marble business. Her grandfather was a “Marble Man,” who then taught her father the trade at a very young age. Her father started his own business McDonald Marble & Stone in the early ’90s, and when he retired, Tracy and her brother, Mark McDonald, took the reins, although they branched into two distinct operations: ELeet Stone Countertops in Middletown, Kentucky, and McDonald Marble & Stone in New Albany, Indiana. Along with her husband, Marty, whom Tracy calls her “Chip Gaines,” she has grown ELeet into a prosperous fabrication and installation company.
Tracy Leet, right, pictured with Client Services Manager Allison East, learned everything about countertop fabrication and installation from her father.
“We learned everything we knew from our father; he’d been doing it all his life. He taught me the bidding aspects of the job, knowing how to quote jobs, and all the stones,” Tracy says.
“When hand-selecting a natural stone, we think it’s best to actually see your slab and tag it with your name.” — Tracy Leet, ELeet Stone Countertops Over the years, Tracy has seen the fads and trends in countertops change. She remembers when granite’s popularity was overshadowed by Corian. She says quartz is the current top trend among consumers because it has a more solid look, while granite and marble have more patterns. She admits she is biased in favor of natural stones because of their long-term durability. She has also seen how equipment and fabrication has transformed, which for Tracy has meant learning about all sorts of new technologies from water jets to CAD programming to digital templating. ELeet purchased their manufacturing equipment from Northwood, which is also a local company. “I felt like it was important to have someone local we could call in if we ever had issues. They were right here, hands-on, training us,” she says. Tracy attends trade shows so she can keep current on the newest products coming to market. The range of countertop materials available to customers is wide, including quartz, granite, marble, quartzite, travertine, slate, and limestone. ELeet Stone Countertops has numerous local suppliers, where clients can select their slabs. “When hand-selecting a natural stone, we think
it’s best to actually see your slab and tag it with your name. It changes from bundle to bundle,” she says. One sample of a natural stone will not match any other sample. When clients select a slab, they only pay for the square footage of the slab that they use for their project, which means ELeet has a wide selection of remnants to choose from at great prices. Tracy says these slabs are perfect for use in a powder room, a laundry room, or a wet bar. “We do a lot with our remnant yard, which I love because I hate to see it go to waste,” she says.
Tracy loves working with clients to help them create their dream kitchen or bath, and she works hard to ensure there are no surprises by laying out the template with the client on their hand-selected slab of stone. “Customers love to do that. We have some clients who want to come back and watch the whole job be cut,” she says. Working with ELeet means a personal relationship BUILT IN STONE and the ability to see the work at any given stage of the fabrication or installation process.
502.254.7055 13042 Middletown Industrial Blvd | Louisville, KY 40223 eleetstone.com
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September 2019 / TodaysWomanNow.com
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Photo by Erika Doll
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