Case Study: How a Commercial Countertop Specialist Saved $9,800/Month on Large-Scale Projects
A fabrication shop specializing in commercial countertop projects -- hotels, restaurants, corporate offices, and multi-unit residential buildings -- implemented SlabWise Enterprise to manage complex, high-square-footage jobs. Within 4 months, the shop documented $9,800 in monthly net savings, driven primarily by AI slab nesting on large-format commercial cuts and reduced material reorders.
TL;DR
- Shop focus: 70% commercial projects, 30% residential; 85 jobs/month
- Average commercial job: 280-600 sq ft (5-12x larger than residential)
- Material savings: AI nesting saved 15% on commercial slab layouts -- approximately $6,300/month
- Remake reduction: From 3/month to 0.5/month, saving $7,500/month on expensive commercial materials
- Project management: Multi-phase commercial projects tracked from bid to final punch list
- Quoting improvement: Commercial quotes dropped from 45 minutes to 12 minutes
- Net monthly savings: $9,800 after subscription cost
Shop Background
PrecisionStone (name changed) is a 16-employee fabrication shop in a major Southwest metro area. While they handle residential work, their bread and butter is commercial: hotel lobby counters, restaurant bar tops, corporate reception desks, multi-family bathroom vanities, and retail display surfaces.
Team Structure
| Role | Headcount |
|---|---|
| Owner | 1 |
| Commercial Project Manager | 1 |
| Sales/Estimating | 2 |
| Office/Admin | 1 |
| Template/Field Measure | 2 |
| CNC Fabricators | 4 |
| Polishers | 2 |
| Install Crews | 3 |
| Total | 16 |
Job Profile
| Metric | Residential Jobs | Commercial Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly volume | ~25 | ~60 |
| Average sq ft per job | 40 | 280-600 |
| Average material cost/sq ft | $65 | $75 (higher-end materials) |
| Typical timeline | 2-3 weeks | 4-12 weeks |
| Phases per project | 1 | 3-8 |
Why Commercial Fabrication Has Unique Challenges
Commercial projects are fundamentally different from residential countertop work, and those differences expose software limitations that don't matter at the residential scale.
Challenge 1: Material Volume Amplifies Waste
A single hotel lobby project might consume 12-15 full slabs. At $75/sq ft, a 16% waste rate on a 500 sq ft project means $6,000 in wasted material -- on a single job. PrecisionStone ran 60 commercial jobs per month, so waste costs scaled dramatically.
Monthly commercial material at risk:
- 60 commercial jobs x 380 sq ft avg = 22,800 sq ft/month
- 16% waste = 3,648 sq ft wasted
- At $75/sq ft = $273,600 wasted per month
Challenge 2: Multi-Phase Projects Break Simple Job Trackers
A hotel renovation might have 8 phases: lobby reception, restaurant bar, elevator lobbies (3 floors), fitness center, spa, and pool area. Each phase has its own timeline, material selection, and installation schedule. Software designed for single-phase residential jobs forces workarounds that create confusion.
Challenge 3: Commercial Remakes Are Extremely Expensive
When a remake happens on commercial-grade quartzite or large-format porcelain, the cost isn't just the material. It's the project delay, the general contractor's schedule disruption, potential liquidated damages, and the rush shipping for replacement slabs. PrecisionStone's average commercial remake cost was $4,500.
Challenge 4: Commercial Quoting Is Complex
A residential quote has one kitchen or one bathroom. A commercial quote might include 6 different areas with 4 different materials, 3 edge profiles, and volume discount tiers. PrecisionStone's estimators spent an average of 45 minutes building each commercial quote.
SlabWise Implementation
PrecisionStone chose SlabWise Enterprise and completed implementation in 3.5 weeks.
Key Configuration for Commercial Work
| Feature | Commercial-Specific Setup |
|---|---|
| Job structure | Multi-phase project support with per-phase tracking |
| AI nesting | Batch optimization across all phases of a project |
| Quick Quote | Commercial templates with multi-area, multi-material support |
| Customer portal | Contractor/GC access with per-phase status visibility |
| Scheduling | Phase-dependent scheduling with milestone tracking |
| Inventory | Large-format slab tracking with lot number matching |
The most critical configuration was the multi-phase project structure. Each commercial project lives as a parent record with individual phases beneath it. Each phase has its own material specs, measurements, fabrication schedule, and installation date -- but they all roll up to the project-level view for the project manager.
Results: 4-Month Performance Data
AI Nesting on Commercial Layouts: 15% Improvement
Commercial projects are where AI nesting truly shows its advantage over manual layout. When a hotel project needs 12 slabs of the same material, the AI considers all 12 simultaneously and finds cut combinations that a human fabricator working slab-by-slab would never identify.
| Metric | Before | After (4-month avg) |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial waste rate | 16% | 1% (15% improvement) |
| Monthly commercial waste | 3,648 sq ft | 228 sq ft |
| Monthly waste cost | $273,600 | $17,100 |
| Monthly savings (AI portion) | ~$6,300 |
The biggest single-project win: a 14-slab hotel lobby project where the AI's layout saved 3 full slabs compared to the fabricator's manual plan. That one optimization saved $8,400 in material on a single job.
Remake Reduction: From 3/Month to 0.5/Month
AI template verification caught specification errors on commercial templates that are harder to spot than residential ones -- partially because commercial measurements are more complex (curved reception desks, waterfall edges on long bar runs) and partially because the consequences of errors are larger.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Remakes per month | 3 | 0.5 |
| Average remake cost (commercial) | $4,500 | $4,500 |
| Monthly remake expense | $13,500 | $2,250 |
| Monthly savings | $11,250 |
Multi-Phase Project Management
Before SlabWise, PrecisionStone tracked commercial projects using a combination of spreadsheets, email threads, and their project manager's memory. The move to structured multi-phase project tracking produced several measurable improvements:
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Average project phases managed simultaneously | 35 | 45 (took on more work) |
| Missed phase deadlines per month | 4-6 | 0-1 |
| Time spent on project status meetings | 8 hrs/week | 3 hrs/week |
| GC complaints about communication | 3-4/month | 0-1/month |
Commercial Quoting: 45 Minutes to 12 Minutes
Quick Quote's multi-area, multi-material quoting templates reduced commercial estimate preparation from 45 minutes to about 12 minutes. The system pulls material prices from inventory, applies the correct markup tier based on project size, and generates a professional proposal document.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Average commercial quote time | 45 min | 12 min |
| Weekly commercial quotes | ~12 | ~12 |
| Weekly quoting time | 9 hours | 2.4 hours |
| Weekly time saved | 6.6 hours |
Contractor Portal Adoption
General contractors and commercial project managers adopted the customer portal faster than any other customer segment. Within 6 weeks, 90% of PrecisionStone's active GC partners used the portal to track project phases.
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Daily GC/PM status calls | 8-10 | 2-3 |
| RFI response time | Same-day to next-day | Real-time (via portal) |
| Document sharing method | Email attachments | Portal with version control |
Financial Summary
| Category | Monthly Impact |
|---|---|
| AI nesting material savings | +$6,300 |
| Remake reduction | +$11,250 |
| SlabWise Enterprise subscription | -$349 |
| Previous software cancellations | +$275 |
| Net monthly savings | ~$9,800 (conservative) |
Excluded from this total: value of recovered quoting time (26 hours/month), project management time savings (20 hours/month), and the revenue from taking on 10 additional project phases per month.
What Makes Commercial Fabrication Different in SlabWise
Lot Number Matching
Commercial projects often require color consistency across all pieces. SlabWise tracks slab lot numbers and flags when the AI nesting suggests mixing lots within a single project phase. This prevents the visible color variation that causes commercial rework.
Volume Discount Rules
Quick Quote applies automatic volume discounts based on total project square footage, not per-phase pricing. A 500 sq ft hotel project gets the volume rate even though individual phases might be 50-80 sq ft each.
GC-Friendly Reporting
The customer portal generates phase-specific progress reports that match the format general contractors expect: milestone dates, completion percentages, and material delivery schedules.
FAQ
Can SlabWise handle projects with 8+ phases?
Yes. There's no limit on phases per project. PrecisionStone regularly manages hotel projects with 6-10 phases, each tracked independently with its own materials, schedule, and installation crew.
How does the AI handle matching slabs across phases?
The AI nesting engine respects lot number constraints. When you flag a project as requiring color consistency, the system only nests cuts from the same lot number, ensuring visual uniformity across all phases.
Is SlabWise only for commercial shops?
No. PrecisionStone handles 25 residential jobs per month alongside their commercial work. The platform manages both project types with appropriate complexity levels for each.
How do volume discounts work in Quick Quote?
You define discount tiers based on total project square footage. A project totaling 400 sq ft might get a 5% material discount; 800+ sq ft might get 10%. The system calculates discounts at the project level, not per phase.
Can GCs see all phases of their project at once?
Yes. The contractor portal shows a project-level dashboard with all phases listed, their current status, and upcoming milestones. GCs can drill into any phase for detailed information.
What if different phases use different materials?
Each phase has its own material specification. The AI nesting optimizes within each material type, and the project view shows the complete material breakdown across all phases.
How does PrecisionStone handle change orders?
SlabWise tracks change orders at the phase level with version history. When a GC modifies specs mid-project, the changes are logged, requoted through Quick Quote, and the affected phase schedule updates automatically.
Does the 15% waste improvement apply to all material types?
Results vary by material. Dense, consistent materials like quartz tend to see the highest improvement because the AI can optimize more freely. Natural stone with unique veining patterns may see 8-12% improvement due to aesthetic constraints on cut orientation.
See How SlabWise Handles Your Commercial Projects
Start a 14-day free trial and build a multi-phase commercial project in SlabWise. Run the AI nesting on an upcoming large job and see the material savings before you commit. No credit card required.
Sources
- SlabWise customer data -- PrecisionStone (anonymized), 4-month review
- Natural Stone Institute -- commercial fabrication benchmarks, 2025
- Marble Institute of America -- commercial project remake cost data
- Stone World Magazine -- commercial vs. residential fabrication comparison 2025
- Freedonia Group -- U.S. commercial countertop market segment analysis
- ISFA -- commercial fabrication shop operational survey