Collins Tile

Over the past twenty seven years, Collins Tile has been contracted all over the West Texas area. They have done mostly commercial work, but have done residential and Texas Tech University buildings as well. The owner was also very proud to announce the opening of his new store in Midland next month. Collins Tile has been very successful for many years and still continues to be a prospering company.

The tour began by a discussion of the tile business and how easy it is to begin but the economy has a large impact. Between 2002 and 2007, the tile business was very successful, but over the years tile companies have slowed down and many companies go into bankruptcy. One of the better times that Collins Tile has was a project of a bank in Midland that was a million dollar project. Another project that Collins Tile had done was the University Medical Center in Lubbock.

On the countertop in the main showroom there were many different samples of the types of flooring sold. The lecture began by going over the different types of natural stones. Granite is one of the most popular natural stones. This stone shows a lot of movement in each of the slab and is usually sold for $10 to $11 a square foot while some of the more expensive Granite costs around $35 a square foot. Marble is another commonly used natural stone that also has movement called veins. Quartz is another natural stone that is not as popular as the others but is very expensive costing around $20 a square foot. The average residential project that uses these types of materials cost between $6,500 to $7,000. When the owner was discussing the types of stones being sold, he informed everyone that you must pay special attention to the location the stone is being place, like the kitchen versus the bathroom. Special attention is required when placing stone in these areas.

The two other tiles that were talking about during the trip were coriander and natural slate. Coriander is better used for medical applications and comes in a range of colors. It is impervious and cannot hold bacteria which is a good material to be used in a sterile environment. Natural slate has been put together to create a laminate so that is can be placed on curves.

Outside of the main building is where the entire inventory is placed. This is important because it allows the customer to get the full picture of what their selection would look like. Although allowing the stone to sit outside will cause it to crack and yellow, which means they must hurry to finish their new showroom! When buying slabs, you must buy in a bundle which comes in six pieces. Typical projects are around two to three slabs. Mr. Collins also talked about real world experiences which are always interesting to hear as well as different fees and services. He also shared what to avoid and expect in the future.

Lastly, everyone learned about the different machines used to cut and style the stone. One of the cutting machines used at Collins Tile is from Italy and was obtained by the company in 1998. Both is cutting machine and the CNC machine, which cuts circles and makes curves, are computer programmed and very expensive!

At the end of the tour, Mr. Collins gave a very inspiration speech and wished us the best of luck for the future.