Shop Owner By Age 18

At the young age of 16, Eddie Martinez was faced with the need to work. He dropped out of high school and started working for a large fabrication company in the San Diego area. By the time he was 18, he mastered his fab skills and understood the business from template through final installation.

With granite countertops becoming more and more popular in 1999, Eddie decided to jump on the chance to open his own company. He turned to his older brother Alex, and together they started San Marcos Marble & Tile out of a small 600 sq ft shop with hand tools and a pickup truck for picking up slabs and delivering installs. Eddie’s wife, Daisa, joined the team shortly after and the three of them having been growing their business together ever since.

Problem or Opportunity?

Fast forward to spring of 2020. San Marcos is now utilizing 13,000+ sq ft of fabrication space in their semi-outdoor shop. Still fabricating by hand, they are steadily making name for themselves in the area. Then the COVID pandemic hits – business for San Marcos slows, labor becomes fuzzy, and the Martinez’s feel they need to make a change.

In November of 2020, San Marcos Marble & Tile installed a SABERjet™ XP CNC Sawjet and Pathfinder™ Digital Slab Station. Just a few months later they added a FASTBACK® II Edge Polisher.

SABERjet™ XP

The SABERjet™ XP CNC Sawjet was a major upgrade for San Marcos as they had been cutting everything on a manual bridge saw.

Daisa shares, “We invested all of our savings to get our SABERjet™ XP. And it was the best decision we’ve ever made. We are at 3x the capacity as before and have gone from a little company that’s been around to a big player. I still pinch myself to see if it’s real.”

Eddie adds, “It does everything for us – joints, sink cut outs, miters, everything. It’s fast, accurate, produces clean work and we are definitely happy with it. I’d recommend it to anyone.”

Miters are huge in California. The SABERjet™ XP turned a pain into a profit for San Marcos as miters had always been hard for them to sell before the SABERjet™ XP because they didn’t have a machine they could rely on. With their new CNC sawjet, they now offer miters as a standard edge which provided them the opportunity to win contract work.

FASTBACK® II

With the SABERjet™ XP dominating San Marco Marble’s cutting production, able to cut “8 slabs in just a few hours”, their polishing production was now in need. Enter Alex’s favorite machine: the FASTBACK® II Edge Polisher .

Alex explains, “Oh man, the FASTBACK® II is the best to polish with. I can polish a full kitchen in under 20 minutes, we are so pleased with that machine.”

Pathfinder™

Lastly, Daisa shares what the Pathfinder™ has meant for them, “The ability to showcase digital layouts has really helped us stand out in our market. When you’re competing with 8-10 fabricators on the same road, which is how it is here, you need to provide extra value and stand out. That’s what the Pathfinder™ has done for us.”

Efficiency & Growth Gains

To see the impact of their Park machinery, just look at San Marcos Marble & Tile’s numbers:

With their new machinery, they produce 1,500+ sq ft / wk – triple what they use to – with less stress and overtime.

Daisa reflects, “That’s the biggest change we’ve noticed…just how much more efficient we are. We get compliments on how much we are able to produce with how small of a team we have. In order to achieve these numbers without Park’s machines, I would need 3x the manpower and would still not come close to being this effective.”

She continues, “I could not believe I was talking to Randy, our Park Industries sales consultant, about buying a TITAN less than a year after buying the SABERjet XP. We have a TITAN 3000 coming in February! I couldn’t even imagine that conversation would be possible.”

Eddie adds, “It was easy to learn, even being Hispanic, with English not as our first language. If we can do it, anyone can.”

And Daisa concludes with, “Growth will not happen unless you invest in technology. It eliminates the unknown elements in manual fabrication. My biggest regret is why didn’t we do this all sooner.”

Why They Recommend Park Industries®?

The story behind the company was a huge part of why San Marcos Marble & Tile went with Park Industries®. After poor experiences waiting on parts or being on different time zones for customer phone support, San Marcos was excited to have an American Made company having their back.

One story that stands out for Daisa – They needed a part for their SABERjet XP. It’s Friday. 2pm. California Time. Memorial Day weekend. Job is due.

They called Park Industries® and said I need this part tomorrow. At 8am the next day, they had their part, finished the job, and met their deadline. That type of Peace of Mind is priceless for San Marcos Marble & Tile.

Dasia ends with, “We wouldn’t be where we are today without Park Industries®. What they offer is so much more than a machine…they help you grow into a business rather than just an income.”