4" Backsplash

[RonPaul]

How popular is 4" backsplash

say out of 100 people

how meny customers will buy 4" backsplash
how meny customers will buy no backsplash(tile or something other than granite)
how meny customers will buy other size of backsplash

[Andy Ross]

About 1 in 4 buy 4" backsplash from us. It less and less all the time. Tile is the trend.

[Nick]

Vanities always have some kind of 4" splash unless wall is marble or some kind of glass tile thing

Kitchens are either no splash or full splashes

Other areas usually 4" or splash of some kind not full (BBQ, bars, etc) except laundry rooms which have a higher rate of full splash but if not are 4".

Backsplash has to be something, if it is not stone then it is glass or tile.

[Dan R.]

For us it used to be 100%. Now it is around 50% and dropping.

[william w]

Still around 75% for us.

[steven nenzel]

20% max for kitchens.

[RBatstone]

1 or 2 jobs a year

[Joe Durfee]

Back in the day when we did kitchens (a couple months ago) it was about 4 out of 5. I always tried, when I was the "salesman" to switch them away from them because I hate them. Our kitchen customers were mostly all price shoppers and didn't want to pay someone to tile.

[The Stone Shoppe]

Almost always on vanities. About 90% of the kitchens we do get a tile backsplash.

[JOHN_T]

Almost always on vanities. About 90% of the kitchens we do get a tile backsplash.

Same here , Thank god , hate 4" splash

[coolhandchris]

Twice this year on kitchens. Once 4", once full height. 2(+-1)%?
We hardly do it in baths now. Maybe 25-35% of houses.

[BellaTerra]

We're running 4" splash about 15/100 kitchens, 95/100 baths

[Stuart Young]

Currently we are selling B/S in 95% of vanities & about 20% of kitchens. A very simple process with a fast back to polish it and a fusion to cut it though. With these tools there is a substantial reduction in man hours required to produce the product, therefore we are able to increase our sales volume in these areas 10-15% with no additional marketing expenses or need to expand the client base. In consideration that generally the B/S is consuming waste material and generally consuming excess production capacity (as everyone in the shop is trained on the fast back), the 10-15% increase in vanity sales volume is a directly applied to the contribution margin. In return the ROI is an extremely easy calculation.

If produced with the correct equipment and the sold with the proper mindset (i.e. production oriented) this can be a win-win for the company. Although the numbers are not as favourable in a manual environment where cutting with a traditional gantry saw and polishing by hand. When using these methods generally the direct labor costs associated do not equate out to a favourable ROI, as the additional sales would have to be applied to the standard COG due to the consumption of traditional production capacity which normally would be polishing a full countertop.

Just my 2cents

Stu

[Dan R.]

@Stuart…how do you account for the the extra man hours doing installation? Most wall issues simply transfer up to the top of 4" backsplash and must be addressed in the field in a similar manner. Our installers take almost as long to install b/s as the tops themselves. B/S also takes about the same amount of effort to produce (with machinery). So 40% of the time (labor) is spent on 13% of the product, backsplash. Not very efficient, imo.

Running a 4" piece of splash through a Fastback (or any other machine) is more efficient than polishing by hand. It is far less productive than running the same length countertop piece through the machine. Isn't the ROI better on a top than a splash? To maximize ROI, it seems that the best plan would be to sell more tops and less splash, even with a line machine.

disclaimer: I have 2 line machines and love them. Sometimes, we just have to do what the client wants, profits aside.

[Andy Ross]

Crooked walls = not my problem. Granite responsibility ends at the top of splash. Painters handle it from there.

Dan- your guys either suck at splash or they are super awesome installing counters. Should take 15 minutes to cut and install splash on an average kitchen. If you are trying to profile walls, that would explain the time consumption.

[Dan R.]

How did we go from ROI to crooked walls?

Andy, maybe you are just awesome at splash and suck at setting tops?

Boy, wish I would have thought about that wall thing, thanks for the wisdom, I shall file it under "K".

Iis the same Andy who can not find decent installers?

[Dan R.]

The difference in the wall is not my responsibility for sure, but the client usually see it differently. If there is a gap between the wall and the top, this will get covered by splash, either slab or tile. The tile will mitigate the issue better than a 4" bs. All the 4" does is move it up the wall 4". The tile can obscure the entire issue, leaving a happier customer, IMO.

[ageless]

We do very few kitchens with 4" backsplash. Some turn into a real pain in the rear: both on time and customers concerns.

[Stuart Young]

Dan, reasonable observation in regards to the fact that running countertop runs down a piece of equipment provides a much more substantial return on man hours as compared to B/S. However it has been my experience that straight line machines are generally not run at 100% capacity and thus have excess capacity of which and relatively low skilled employees can be trained to operate such equipment and utilize this equipment to provide additional throughput of $$. In regards to additional man-hours required to install the splash it has also been my experience that all install crews have a minimum of 2 or 3 employees on a truck, of which there is generally a lead which has a stronger skill-set that will conduct the more intricate details of an install once the countertops are physically carried in and set in place (setting seams, any on site fabrication or touchups, coring holes etc... ) leaving the less skilled installers to be an assistant and quite often not as productive as the lead. My crews generally (which comprise of 3 men, primarily to increase the install footage per truck avg 200-250 sq/ft day - topic for another conversation) will train the helpers on the truck to install the splash and do all the caulking, which in turn capitalizes on the excess install capacity on the install trucks and in turn providing a greater ROI.

I would agree that it would be better to just "sell more tops" but any astute business person knows what their cost of acquisition of new cliental is and understands that there is always a lower cost of sale acquisition from an existing client base than acquiring new cliental to increase revenue. Thus the reason so many businesses diversify and expand their product offering to existing cliental, in order increase revenue. I am only suggesting a scenario where a company can increase revenue with no other sale acquisition costs, while capitalizing on their current production and installation capacities thus resulting in an improved net profit per project and in turn providing a measurably increased ROI.

I also agree that tile mitigates the wall issue better than 4" splash does but unfortunately we do not offer tile in our scope of work therefore there is not an opportunity for our company to increase revenue by suggesting tile. We deal with the wall tile with painters caulk, again numerous views on this solution but it works for us.

I truly understand the different and unique characteristics that all shops have, all I am doing is sharing are some of my observations and opinions.

Cheers
Stu

[Dan R.]

Well said, each shop is a little different and everything has a cost. All in all, 4" splash is a necessary evil.

[politefab]

80% yes here

[Matt Lansing]

Excellent post Stu!

We are still around 66% of the kitchens have splash but we almost never do 4" tall splash, I never cared for the look of 4". Our standard is 3" tall. It is not as dominating a look in the kitchen.

[Rick George]

We are probably about in the 60% range. 4" is our standard but in a remodel we always go about 1/8" to 1/4" above the old laminate line to hide it when we can.

[Stonecuttter]

60%-70%.
Rest is tile.

[jhudds]

Probably do maybe 20% of our jobs with granite backsplash, the rest are tiled.