dina, Author at Superior Tile & Stone

Superior Tile and Stone Launches New Company in Utah

Posted on November 12, 2015 by dina

Construction Leader in Stone, Tile and Marble Experiences Rapid Growth in Western States

San Leandro, CA, November 9, 2015 – California based Superior Tile and Stone announces the launch of its sister company, Superior Tile and Marble, based in Murray, Utah. Superior Tile & Marble opened its new Utah office earlier this year in response to increasing demand in Utah’s commercial & residential construction market. The Murray-based company will serve the greater Salt Lake City and Park City areas. It will offer an expanded product mix of masonry, carpet, wood, and vinyl flooring; in addition to tile, stone, and terrazzo. After decades of fabricating and installing stone and tile in some of the most significant commercial projects in the west, Superior is poised to bring its reputation for excellence, expertise, and safety to a state known for its ski slopes, national parks, history and a welcoming business environment.

“Our mission and value lies in continuously exceeding customers’ expectations. We are not satisfied simply meeting contractual obligations. Our customers turn to us because they know we’re experts in the field, and because we focus on excellence in every single aspect of the business,” says Superior CEO Tommy Conner.

During the last five years, award-winning Superior has commenced work on hundreds of projects for a total dollar volume of over $135 million. The largest project completed to date is the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada for a total of $37 million.

Superior Tile Companies: Since 1929, Superior has sourced, fabricated, and installed porcelain and ceramic tile, natural stone, marble, granite, quartz, thin brick, mosaic, and terrazzo in large-scale projects throughout California, Nevada, and the Pacific-Northwest. Superior’s clientele come from a wide range of industries: from airports, casinos, and hotels, to luxury apartments, high-rises and city monuments. Its California and Nevada facilities cover more than 65,000 square feet. The founding company is based in San Leandro, California.

Website: www.superiortileandmarble.com.

Media Contact: Johna Diaz, (510) 895-2700, ext. 407, jdiaz@corpofficemail.com

“Better to Lose a Minute in Life than to Lose Life in a Minute.”

Posted on October 22, 2015 by dina

Twice a year Superior Tile & Stone comes together to focus on safety and the role of teamwork in keeping each other safe.

With zero record-able injuries for 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012 and a mod rate of .67 (one of the lowest mod rates in the industry), Superior is able to qualify for every project.

Superior Tile & Stone Semi Annual Safety Meeting Oct 2015

September 3, 2015, Bi-Annual Safety Meeting and Awards Ceremony for Superior Tile & Stone at Francesco’s Restaurant in San Leandro, California.

“Teamwork is about how to improve. It’s NOT about who screwed up.” Tommy Conner, CEO, Superior Tile & Stone

Superior’s commitment to safety means continually thinking how to improve. It means recognizing we always have something to learn from our peers. The question is, are we willing to ask for help and to take the time to teach one another?

Continuous Training & Review

Worker safety depends on training and a continued willingness to learn and improve. Superior provides on-going safety training and support. One of Superior’s safety trainers is Tom Reed. Tom trains employees who work on scaffolding to focus on one key issue – awareness. His message is simple:

Use peripheral vision to know where you are on the scaffold and in relation to other staff
Be aware of your mind and your emotional state
If afraid of heights, for example, tell your supervisor ahead of time, and you’ll be assigned other work
If on the ground, look up
If driving, never allow anything to distract you

Reward Success

Our bi-annual safety meetings provide an opportunity to come together to look at our successes and review our mistakes. We review safety basics and award employees for their commitment to safety. Finally, we come away from our safety meetings with the recognition that safety is our first priority.

(Acknowledgement for title quote to Ernesto Moreno, Sr.)

Tile Murals and Glass Columns Bring New Life to Las Vegas F-Street Underpass

Posted on September 21, 2015 by dina

Walk through the F Street underpass in this working class neighborhood and you’re instantly drawn into true Las Vegas history. The faces of Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Martin Luther King Jr. and many other well-known icons beam down from 12 beautiful ceramic tile murals — reminding us that Las Vegas’ success lies in its people, culture, and history.

“We are always interested in unique jobs”, says Bob Herman, President of Superior Tile Stone. Herman, who negotiated the contract with Las Vegas Paving and sourced the materials for this project says, “This isn’t one of those projects where our name is on the wall. F Street Beautification is a symbol of neighbors and local leaders coming together. We played a small part in a much bigger story.”

Up until 2014, the closed F Street underpass was a dangerous, run-down, and neglected part of the Westside District. Prior to its closing as part of the I-15 highway reconstruction, the underpass was local residents’ main access to downtown jobs and services. Eventually the community, local government, and private sector came together to plan, design, and execute the project.

“Whether the project is a large office building or a local community effort, we put our commitment to people front and center. “– Bob Herman, President, Superior Tile & Stone

F-Street involved the installation of glazed ceramic tiles manufactured in China by Dal Tile. Computer-generated collages of photographs and hand-painted images were applied to the tiles that made up 12 murals. In addition, twenty-two glass mosaic columns, similar to those Superior constructed for the Wynn Hotel downtown, add drama and elegance to the sidewalk landscape as you exit or enter the F-Street Underpass.

Fabrication and Installation the Superior Way

Posted on May 7, 2015 by dina

Our goal is to provide our customers with excellent fabrication and installation services. We operate state-of-the-art fabrication facilities in California and Nevada, with over 65,000 square feet of operating space. We have the capacity to meet the most rigorous fabrication schedules while consistently delivering the ultimate in artistic stonework. Check out this video to learn more about our fabrication and installation services.

Superior Tile & Stone Fabrication and Installation Superiority

Superior Tile & Stone’s highly trained employees and large-scale facilities enable us to work on multiple projects at the same time.

Safety is Our #1 Goal

Posted on April 27, 2015 by dina

Superior Tile & Stone is proud of its culture of safety. We work on it every day and we find time to celebrate it.

Superior Tile & Stone Safety Celebration 1

The Superior team held its annual Safety Meeting at Francesco’s restaurant where we celebrated another successful year of workplace safety.

Because Superior employees spend a good portion of their lives fulfilling our mission of excellence in tile, stone and terrazzo fabrication and installation, we’re dedicated to ensuring they always have a safe place to work. Safe, healthy, and engaged workers are the cornerstone of Superior’s success.

“Our number one goal is for our employees to return safely home to their families every day.”

–Tommy Conner, CEO Superior Tile & Stone

Worker safety is our #1 priority.

Three years with no accidents on-the-job.

We are pleased to announce that we have not encountered an on-the-job accident for the past three years.

One of the lowest EMR’s in the industry.

We measure safety by our Experience Modification Ranking — a workmen’s compensation insurance ranking that begins at 1.0 and goes up due to accidents.

Superior Tile & Stone’s EMR is .67 – among the lowest in the industry! We are proud of this achievement and will continue to improve upon it.

5 Reasons to Choose Superior for Your Next Terrazzo Project

Posted on March 22, 2015 by dina

What makes terrazzo so appealing? It’s beautiful, durable, cost effective, and you can see it in the fabric of our cities – on public transit station platforms in the San Francisco Bay Area, in schools, and in the most elegant hotels and office buildings in the West.

1. Terrazzo stands the test of time.

From old-world Venice to the present, terrazzo makes an elegant, long-lasting, walkable surface nearly impervious to moisture. You can see Superior Tile & Stone’s version of terrazzo in most Bay Area Rapid Transit subway platforms, stairs, and entries, as well as in many public and private architectural projects, some more than 50 years old.

2. Terrazzo is beautiful and cost effective.

Terrazzo is a composite of marble, granite, quartz, and glass cast with binding agents, ground and polished to a smooth, beautiful surface. The best thing about terrazzo is it beats the annual square foot cost of other flooring options by nearly half over a 40-year lifetime. Take a look at the far right column in the chart below. Notice terrazzo’s annual cost compared to other flooring types:

3. Superior produces highly skilled terrazzo artisans.

Terrazzo installation requires intense training and skill. In this growing economy, there’s a constant need for terrazzo specialists. Superior Tile & Stone has its own training program in its 30,000 sq. ft. warehouse and fabrication facility in San Leandro, California. Master terrazzo mechanics Steve Young and Jeff Young provide customized training in the art of terrazzo for Superior’s apprentices and journeyman.

4. We’ve earned our reputation.

Superior is directly responsible for countless terrazzo projects in schools, hotel/casinos, federal courthouses, hospitals, office buildings, and restaurants throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas, Nevada. In the last 12 months alone, we’ve initiated work on over a dozen terrazzo projects including:

Quad Hotel Casino lobby
Pacific Union Club
St. Ignatius School
San Francisco Airport Air Traffic Control Tower
Maple Street Correctional Facility
De Anza High School
VISA

5. Jeff Young & the Terrazzo Division at Superior

Jeff Young, head of Superior Tile & Stone’s Terrazzo Division based in Northern California, directs all terrazzo operations. He supervises the pouring of terrazzo, custom terrazzo stair treads, cove base, and 1cm terrazzo tile in Superior’s fabrication plant. The ability to manufacture pre-cast terrazzo can substantially benefit project schedules and improve budget efficiencies. As with our stone and tile divisions, Superior’s terrazzo division can take a project from start to finish with all the work expertly completed in house.

Please check out our terrazzo projects on the Superior Tile & Stone website.

Clark/Hathaway Dinwiddie Selects Superior Tile & Stone for Salesforce Tower

Posted on February 25, 2015 by dina

What do Calacatta, Vera Gold, Olympia, Verde Maritaca, and Absolute Black have in common? They represent the types and colors of stone chosen by Boston Properties and Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects for one of the most exciting stone projects slated for 2015 – the Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco.

Superior Tile & Stone is proud to be the stone installation contractor for what will be the tallest building West of the Mississippi. Formerly known as Transbay Tower, with 1.4 million square feet of office space and 61 stories, Salesforce Tower will stand tall above the San Francisco skyline. It is the centerpiece of the San Francisco Transbay Terminal project, a multi-billion dollar plan that includes a multi-modal transportation hub, office space, retail, and residential towers.

Clark Construction/Hathaway Dinwiddie JV, the general contractor on the project, selected Superior based on its past performance, financial strength and depth of experience with complex fabricated stone projects throughout the Western United States.

Superior Tile & Stone’s CEO, Tommy A. Conner, and its President, Robert F. Herman, traveled to Italy in September 2014 to source stone for this project. The design team, led by Ed Dionne of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, and the owners – Boston Properties and Hines – ultimately settled on Calacatta Jule for the lobby walls, Vera Gold and Olympia Cream for the interior paving, Verde Maritaca for exterior landscape paving and Absolute Black for the vanities. Superior’s work will begin in late 2015, and is targeted for completion by the end of 2016.

Architects & GC’s Depend on Five Star Contractors

Posted on February 10, 2015 by dina

Have you ever been disappointed with your tile or stone contractor because they didn’t measure up? Have you hired a tile contractor with a good word-of-mouth reputation but no back-up documentation, safety training, or supplier recommendations?

Large-scale commercial tile and stone projects require high-precision skills, organization, safety, and flexibility – plus a well-documented, credible reputation.

The NTCA’s Five Star Contractor designation reassures architects and general contractors that they are hiring the very best.

Superior Tile & Stone holds this prestigious designation because it meets the strict criteria of the National Tile Contractors Association, including:

Documented recommendations from general contractors and suppliers
Continuous training through educational seminars and events
A rigorous safety program
Active participation in the NTCA

The Five Star Contractor designation provides accreditation and respect to Superior Tile & Stone within the Tile Contractors industry. We are honored by this opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the industry’s best practices. Read more about Superior Tile & Stone’s Five Star Contractor designation in this article in Tile Letter magazine.

TCAA “Trowel of Excellence” for Superior Once Again

Posted on January 8, 2015 by dina

What a great way to start the New Year! Superior Tile & Stone is thrilled to announce the renewal of its Trowel of Excellence certification.

The Trowel of Excellence recertification means that Superior has once again demonstrated these qualities:

Superior knowledge and craftsmanship
Sound business practices
Adherence to the highest industry standards

Check out the official “Trowel of Excellence” letter sent to our CEO, Tommy A. Conner, from TCAA Executive Director, Carole Damon.

Happy January!