ROCKin’ teriors, located in Raleigh, NC, was launched in January 2008 and sustained growth incrementally during the financial recession and construction crises. According to owner Laura Grandlienard, the company is an eco-friendly natural stone showroom and fabrication company. “We believe in preserving the beauty of nature through professional design, fabrication and installation of stone within residential and commercial building projects,” she said.
The eight-year-old business has recently moved into a newly constructed 7,000-square-foot headquarters design studio and shop. “The showroom and shop reflect our mission and our brand with the commitment to sustainability throughout, and featuring unique environmentally friendly technologies,” said Grandlienard. “We also believe in maintaining a great work environment for our staff, and this special commitment carries through, for example, within our dust-free and silica-free facility.”
The company is a member of the Marble Institute of America (MIA) and is certified to fabricate all natural stone, Caesarstone, Cambria and Ice Stone. Their services include direct-to-customer, as well as partners in the interior design, architecture and contractor trades. They are capable of design, fabrication and installation of stone for nearly any size residential and commercial project.
The shop is equipped with a Zonato bridge saw and tooling and accessories are purchased from GranQuartz, Salem Stone and Braxton-Bragg. Additionally, ROCKin’ teriors now features an underground wastewater reclamation system engineered to the exacting standards of the Town of Cary in North Carolina. “The planning and development of our facility enable it to thrive within the surrounding natural areas,” said Grandlienard. “It is uniquely situated as a retail-industrial facility on a site with significant natural habitat, rather than a zoned industrial park.”
ROCKin’ teriors runs one shift of 14 employees and prides itself on having its own installation crews — three of them in total. “One of our most important corporate commitments to customers is to employ all our fabrication and installation professionals,” said Grandlienard. “We do not subcontract any of our trades.”
While the business currently uses a wood templating system, they are looking to expand to digital templating in 2016. They service customers primarily in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, which is Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill, however, they also serve customers from across the state and Southeastern U.S. Their specific customer is typically a high-end affluent client base.
ROCKin’ teriors specializes in entire residential projects, including 1 to 24 rooms per home. Some of their recent projects include: personal residence for the family of PGA golfer Carl Pettersson, retired NBA player Rasheed Wallace, NFL player Mario Williams, renowned artist and architect Thomas Sayre and The North Carolina State University Chancellor’s residence, in which the building led by Rufty Homes was recognized by the National Association of Home Builders with its 2012 “Room of the Year” award as well as a platinum award for “Interior Design: Kitchen” in the 2012 Best in American Living Awards. “This is the highest honor bestowed upon builders by the National Association of Home Builders,” said Grandlienard. “We completed 15 rooms in the 8,000-square-foot residence, which is remarkably designed to be both an intimate home for the chancellor’s family, as well as a unique entertaining venue for 200 at alumni gatherings.”
In the short-term, the company plans to become a MIA Accredited Natural Stone Fabricator and a MIA CEU (Credited Education Units) site for the design community by the fourth quarter of 2015. When thinking about the future, ROCKin’ teriors wants to continue to be known as striving to have operational excellence in everything it does as well as thrive, thanks to its ongoing commitment to client service.
“We believe in the beauty of nature and its importance in all aspects of the design of residential and commercial structures,” said Grandlienard. “Great things happen when natural beauty combines with design and construction. One of the things that makes ROCKin’ teriors unique is this passion for design. Stone fabrication can be a dirty, dusty process, but the end result is always beauty. Customers don’t typically want to get bogged down in the ‘dirty underbelly’ of stone fabrication. While this is a wonderfully tactile process, we believe our passion for design and beauty enables them to always see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
ROCKin’ teriors
Raleigh, NC
Type of Work: Residential and commercial
Machinery: Zonato bridge saw, as well as tools and accessories from GranQuartz of Tucker, GA; Salem Stone of Winston-Salem, NC; and Braxton-Bragg of Knoxville, TN
Number of Employees: 14
Production Rate: 160 to 210 square feet per kitchen and one to 24 rooms per project
