Transforming Lives…One Counter at a Time

By Bob Cox

When Chris Barr was assigned to investigate a struggling Granite Transformation franchise nearly five years ago, he had no idea that just eight days later, his life would never be the same. Barr was working for the corporate office in Miami, Florida when he was asked to pack his bags and fly to the Sacramento area to find out why several of their customers and employees were concerned.

By the end of eight whirlwind days of nonstop action, Barr felt both exhausted and exhilarated. He had invested everything he had into troubleshooting a plethora of issues during his week in Rancho Cordova. “The adrenaline of fixing this problem and seeing customers respond to what we were doing was a big high,” explained Barr.

On his plane flight back to Florida, Barr had an epiphany. “It was clear to me that this franchise needed an onsite manager who had a deep commitment to customer satisfaction and employee development. I'm a native Californian and knew that the Sacramento market was viable. I was also incredibly impressed with the caliber of people that had been working there for many years and had made their way through this rather bumpy period. As I was flying home, I realized that this was something that I would enjoy doing myself, and that I would be good at,” recalled Barr.

Barr presented his idea to corporate and they loved it. His soon-to-be spouse was completely supportive, so just two weeks later, they booked a one way flight to Sacramento to assume the reins as the new franchise owners of Granite Transformations in Rancho Cordova! I spoke with Barr to learn more about the amazing transformations he’s experienced these past four and a half years.

Q: What was your background prior to Granite Transformations?

A: I got involved with specialty retail franchising right out of graduate school. I spent 10 years as an outside consultant for a few companies with accelerating roles over time while raising three kids as a single father. One of my clients was a new company in the U.S. back in 2001 called Granite Transformations. In the early phases, the company took off very rapidly in the U.S. and needed my help. In 2004, they offered me a permanent position in their corporate office and I accepted.

Q: What was it like transitioning from an independent consultant?

A: In the 10 years that I had been independent, I had some interesting clients and had a lot of fun but I had never been tempted to go back to working for a single company. But I felt so strongly that the concept of Granite Transformations had a ton of potential and I liked the people. I just thought the dynamic of the group was really strong, so I did it.

Q: What’s been the greatest challenge of owning a business?

A: The biggest challenge is you can never turn it off; you’re on duty 24/7. Even though I had run companies before, the challenge of it being not only your own group of employees but your own money is a really different thing. I think the other big challenge is that it’s super easy to get engrossed in the day-to-day stuff. If you're really trying to build a future, not only for yourself but for the business, you have to force yourself to do some long-term planning.

Q: What’s been the best strategy for you to overcome that challenge?

A: I force myself to schedule time for long-term planning on the calendar. I also do that because otherwise, you just burn out and don't have the energy to plan. When I have a home show like we did this weekend, I schedule a day off for myself that following week so that I can think about things a little farther down the road – and catch up on sleep!

Q: What have been the greatest rewards of owning a franchise?

A: This is going to sound like fluff, but it isn't. There are two things I find greatly rewarding. I feel myself being rewarded by the incredibly positive feedback we get from our own customers. Everybody that we do work for fills out a review form and we get enthusiastic feedback 99.9% of the time. The second thing has to do with the team we have here. In the key roles we’ve had no turnover. I've come to know and respect these people and their families. When something unexpected happens, they simply roll with it because they are as committed to this as I am. They are an astonishingly great group of people.

Q: What do your customers love most about Granite Transformations?

A: There are at least four things that we hear consistently. First, most people love the idea we can do all of the messy part at our place and simply show up to install, finishing in a day instead of several weeks of downtime, mess, noise and confusion. Second, our product is super easy to live with. There is no more durable product on the market and it is zero maintenance. You never have to seal it, treat it or clean it with anything special. Its heat, stain and scratch resistant with a lifetime warranty. Third, our products also happen to be beautiful, so our customers love showing off their transformation. Finally, our customers love the overall experience of working with us from first day to last.

Q: What makes Granite Transformations unique from other companies that install countertops?

A: We're the only company that can install a brand new counter in one day. There are other companies that are trying to develop the technology that we have, but so far no one else has been able to successfully do it. The other thing that sets us apart is the actual finished quality of the product. There are some other good quality products in the world but ours is really quite special, which is why we are able to offer a lifetime warranty where other companies do not. It's just really that good.

Q: Can you tell us about some of the newest and hottest products?

A: The worldwide company has people working for us that focus on product development to stay ahead of where the industry is going. Many of our customers wanted to see the swirling and wavy designs in the surface like you would get from some kinds of regular granite or marble. We were never really able to do that until now. We've been getting about two new products a month that fall into that category. You can now enjoy the beauty of these products without all the drawbacks, including high maintenance and low durability.

Q: Do you do anything else besides manufacturing and installing kitchen counters?

A: Yes, our slab products are perfect for multiple situations. We redo a lot of bathrooms, including shower walls, tub surrounds and vanities. We redo fireplaces and have even done some homes were they wanted an entire wall of a bedroom covered with our hand cut glass patterns just for the art of it, as people are recognizing that vertical surfaces are really what you see first when you walk into a room. We also offer cabinet refacing. You can entirely change the look of any room without tearing it apart and starting from scratch.

Editor’s notes: Granite Transformations is located at 11367 Trade Center Dr. # 130 in Rancho Cordova. Their phone number is (916) 851-9745 and their website is www.granitetransformations.com.