Pricing Battles

Originally posted Aug 26, 2020

Of course everyone wants everything to be as inexepensive as possible.  That's just how it works. 

However, when you consider the price of the item you are buying, you also consider these common issues:  quality, aesthetics, where it's made, what it's made from, who made it, safety, ease of use, and availability. 
Any of these values may help you to decide if you are willing to pay more for a given item.  

When we started making Slate-ish, way back in 2008, we had very limited access to material, and the process for creating the tile was very labor intensive.  When we first offered this as a product on the market, our pricing was around $25/sf.  Pretty high.  Not where we wanted it to be, but as a manufacturer, you have to consider the costs of making your product.  We had to figure in costs of material (we were using our own scrap from countertop installations), the cost of the blades to cut it, the labor to rip it into strips and to split it, the boxes, tape, and labels to prepare it for shipping, and the labor for that as well!  Low volume gave us no economies of scale.  Over the past 10 years, we have worked very hard to both increase our production efficiency and procure large enough volumes of scrap to satisfy growing demand.  

We don't make a lot of effort to compete with the cheapest of the cheap out there.  There will always be something cheaper.  You could buy fancy designer jeans for $300 per pair, but you could also buy them for $70 at the Gap.  You could buy them at the Gap, but you could also buy them at Walmart for $15.  You could buy them at Walmart, but you could also buy them at the Thrift Store for $5.  It goes on and on.  Some people look at our tile, and think that $10/sf is too pricey.  And that's fine.  Everyone has a budgetary limit.  We think the value of our tile lies in these factors:
     Made in the USA - Family owned, Nebraska based business
     Made from recycled materials, diverted from the landfill
     Ease of installation - unlike natural stone which can be very heavy, our tile does not require that you purchase and install tile backer, mortar, grout, or sealers, nor does it require a wet diamond saw
     DIY friendly - no need to hire a contractor if you have the skills and DIY spirit
     Simple Makeover - you can dress up a wall, a fireplace, an entry,  with little expense
     Durable - our tile is not brittle like stone

When you look at what the big-box home stores sell for tile, and compare ledger stone with a similar look to Slate-ish, you can see that our pricing is competitive.  We recently found the range to be $6 - $23/square foot - which is EXACTLY our range!   It's easy to be distracted by the $1.99/sf tile you see, but it's not the same thing.  Consider the the value, and decide if you think it's worth it.