Services

Natural Stone Sourcing & Project Management Services

Practical, executable client-side support for U.S. buyers running natural stone projects in China, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Each of the ten services below has a defined scope, a working method, and written deliverables. We agree which of them apply to your project — and which do not — before any fee is quoted.

Request a Project Review See How We Work

Stone & Supplier Intelligence

Knowing which producing regions, quarries and factories genuinely suit the project.

Services 3 · 5

Buyer Preference & Project Standards

Turning aesthetic intent into standards a factory can execute and an inspector can check.

Services 1 · 2 · 6

Budget & Landed Cost Control

Reading what a quotation actually includes, and what the stone will cost delivered.

Service 4

Production, Quality & Delivery

Following the work on the ground, from cutting through loading and close-out.

Services 7 · 8 · 9 · 10

What We Do

Ten services, ordered the way a project actually runs.

From the first drawing review to the final claim file. Most projects use some of these, not all — the scope is set in writing before work begins.

Service 01

Project Discovery & Specification Review

Review drawings, specifications, quantity schedules, budget, programme and application requirements.
Confirm stone type, finish, size, thickness, tolerance, edge profile and reinforcement method.
Identify approval milestones, open technical questions and commercial risk.
Produce a project requirement summary a supplier can actually work from.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Requirement summary & initial risk list

Thunder Beige marble panels laid out and checked against the cutting list — Thunder Beige marble — moulded wall panels, skirtings and frames laid out and cross-checked against the cutting list before anything is packed. Every piece carries a label tying it to a position on the drawing. This is what a specification looks like once it has been turned into parts.

Service 02

Buyer Preference & Project Stone Standards

Understand the end buyer’s aesthetic direction through reference images, existing samples, design concepts and conversation.
Establish whether the project leans white, grey, warm or cool, and how much veining strength, uniformity and natural character is acceptable.
Separate aesthetic preference, technical defect and permissible natural variation — so personal taste is never written up as a universal grade.
Produce a Client Stone Preference Brief and the project-specific acceptance principles that follow from it.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Client Stone Preference Brief & acceptance principles

Slab-by-slab selection screen showing seven numbered marble slabs with cut pieces mapped onto the veining — Calacatta-type marble, slab by slab. Each sheet is photographed, numbered and the required pieces are mapped onto it, so the veining that will actually be visible is chosen deliberately rather than taken from wherever the saw happens to land. Slabs 05 and 06 carry no cuts here — their movement was too strong for this application, and they were held back. This is the point at which a buyer’s stated preference stops being a description and becomes a set of decisions about specific material.

Service 03

Stone Resource & Supplier Search

Narrow the field using long-standing familiarity with the main producing regions, stone resources, quarries and processing systems of China, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Identify suitable quarries, block suppliers, factories and specialist fabrication shops.
Compare material suitability, capacity, lead time, willingness to cooperate and commercial structure.
Cut down wasted enquiries, repeated explanations and time lost on suppliers that were never a fit.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Shortlist & supplier comparison table

Blocks being measured and marked at a Volakas marble quarry — Volakas marble at the quarry. Blocks are measured, marked and assessed for fissures, colour and yield before they are ever cut. What is decided at this stage sets the ceiling on what the finished slabs can look like — no amount of downstream processing recovers a badly chosen block.

Service 04

Budget, Quotation & Estimated Landed Cost Review

Check what each quotation includes and excludes — pricing unit, wastage allowance, packing and payment terms.
Compile material, fabrication, reinforcement, packing, inland transport, export charges, ocean freight and known destination costs into one view.
Compare stone types, producing regions, sizes, thicknesses, finishes and fabrication approaches against the project budget.
Propose alternatives that are more efficient, lower risk or better value. Final duties, taxes and destination charges must be confirmed by your broker, forwarder or relevant service provider.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Quotation comparison & estimated landed cost review

Nesting plan showing cut pieces laid out on a marble slab, with dimensioned fabrication drawings below — Calacatta-type marble — a nesting plan showing which pieces come out of which part of the slab, with the dimensioned fabrication drawings below. Yield is decided here: how many components a slab produces, how much is waste, and where the veining lands on the visible face. This drawing is also what turns a per-square-metre price into an actual cost for the job.

Service 05

Supplier Review & Factory Assessment

Review factory location, equipment, process flow and relevant project experience.
Assess raw material control, quality systems, real capacity and management responsiveness.
Identify outsourced processes and material traceability risk.
Report findings, open items and recommended controls.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Assessment findings & control plan

Curved grey granite benches and site elements in production on the factory floor — Grey granite curved benches and site elements in production. A factory assessment is not a tour: it is checking whether the equipment, the floor space, the lifting capacity and the people actually match the work being promised.

Service 06

Sample, Range Sample & Mockup Management

Coordinate standard samples, colour and veining range samples, finish samples and project mockups.
Record what natural variation is acceptable and what is not — through upper and lower range samples, approved photographs and written description.
Manage revisions, design-side approval and pre-production confirmation.
Establish the shared basis for later selection, layout and inspection, reducing the risk that delivered stone does not match the end buyer’s expectation.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Approved sample set with upper and lower variation range

A very large circular dark stone floor assembly being dry-laid full size on the factory floor, with workers for scale — A full-size mockup, assembled on the factory floor before anything ships. At this diameter nothing can be judged from a sample board: the coursing, the radial joints, the run of the perimeter band and the way the segments close around the centre only become real at scale. The workers in the middle give the honest sense of the size. It is laid, checked, numbered, photographed and then taken apart again — the only assembly that ever happens twice.

Service 07

Production Planning & Management

Confirm block, slab or batch allocation and production readiness.
Track cutting, calibration, finishing, fabrication, slab selection, layout and packing milestones.
Check progress against plan and escalate delays early.
Manage rework, replacement and corrective action to reduce communication friction and lost time.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Weekly production progress report & action list

A black and white marble medallion being assembled piece by piece in the factory — A marble medallion being assembled on the factory floor. Each segment is cut, fitted, adjusted and numbered in sequence. Production management at this level is largely about ensuring the numbering survives — a perfect medallion in unlabelled pieces is a very expensive puzzle.

Service 08

Quality Control & Inspection

Carry out raw material, first article, in-process and pre-shipment inspection as agreed.
Check aesthetic quality, technical quality and project suitability requirements separately.
Verify colour and veining range, finish, dimension, fabrication, quantity, labelling and packing.
Provide photo reports, deviation summaries and corrective follow-up — so problems surface before loading rather than after arrival.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Inspection report with photographs & deviation summary

Cosmic Black granite slab being measured and recorded during inspection — Cosmic Black granite under inspection — dimensions taken by hand and recorded against the order. On a dark polished granite, gloss consistency, scratching and edge condition all have to be checked under raking light, because the surface hides nothing once it is installed.

Service 09

Packing, Loading, Customs & Shipping Coordination

Check crate construction, internal protection, labelling and packing lists.
Coordinate loading readiness, China export documentation and customs information checks.
Communicate with your appointed broker, forwarder, carrier or shipping line on booking and shipment milestones.
Compile the shipment record that supports handover, arrival checks and any later claim. Actual transport and customs clearance remain the responsibility of the relevant licensed providers.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Packing record & shipment handover file

Timber crates of slabs, strapped, sealed and marked with crate numbers and piece counts — Finished crates before loading — each one strapped, sealed, and marked with its crate number and the number of pieces inside, with the packing list attached to the frame. If a crate arrives damaged, this marking is what makes it possible to say which pieces were in it and what they were for.

Service 10

Issue Resolution & Claim Support

Investigate quality, quantity, lead time, packing and supplier performance issues.
Gather production, inspection and communication evidence.
Coordinate supplier corrective action, replacement or a workable settlement.
Support the organisation of facts and evidence. We do not act as legal representation.

TYPICAL DELIVERABLE

Issue & corrective action report

Numbered layout plan showing every individual stone piece and its position in a large floor — A numbered layout plan for a single floor — over four hundred pieces, each with its own number and its own place. When something arrives broken, short or wrong, this is the document that turns ‘a few tiles are damaged’ into a specific, provable list of piece numbers. Claim support is mostly a records problem, and the records have to exist before the problem does.

Inside the Factory

What the work actually looks like.

Checking, fitting, measuring and recording — the unglamorous part of the job, and the part that decides whether a container arrives as a project or as a problem.

Absolute Black granite slab being cleaned and checked before release — Absolute Black granite — the slab is washed down and gone over before it is released. On an unforgiving black surface, the check is for pinholes, dull patches and fill, not for pattern.

Carrara white marble vanity tops with sink cutouts being finished and inspected — Carrara white vanity tops with cutouts, drillings and edge profiles complete. Each unit is checked for cutout position, edge consistency and vein direction across the run before crating.

Ottoman Beige marble shaped pieces being dry-fitted together on the factory floor — Ottoman Beige marble — interlocking shaped pieces and curved nosings dry-fitted together. Where profiles have to meet across multiple components, they are assembled in the factory first, not on site.

A circular granite water feature dry-assembled in the factory before dismantling and packing — A circular granite water feature, fully dry-assembled with its drainage perforations and radial joints, then dismantled and packed. The assembly you see here is the rehearsal; the one that matters happens thousands of miles away.

The written record you keep

Standard deliverables across the life of a project, scoped to the engagement. Files are compiled into a project archive you can download at close-out; online storage periods are defined in the service agreement.

Client Stone Preference Brief

Material Suitability & Risk Assessment

Stone and Quotation Comparison

Estimated Landed Cost Review

Approved Sample & Variation Range

Block, Slab & Batch Selection Record

Veining & Layout Recommendation

Weekly Production Progress Report

Pre-Shipment Inspection Report

Packing, Loading & Shipping Handover File

Issue & Corrective Action Report

Scope of Service

What we do not do.

Being clear about the edges of our role protects the project. Where work sits outside our scope, we will say so and, where we can, point you to the right party.

We coordinate freight, customs documentation and booking — we do not carry goods or clear customs. That work sits with your licensed forwarder, carrier and broker.
We do not provide structural, waterproofing, anchoring or installation system design. Those decisions belong to a licensed engineer, architect or installer.
We do not provide legal advice or act as legal representation. We can organise facts and evidence to support your counsel.
We do not operate a testing laboratory. Where testing is required, we help scope it and coordinate an accredited lab.

Inspection reduces risk. It does not eliminate it, and it is not a guarantee. Sampling rate, acceptance criteria and limitations are defined in the service document.
Final aesthetic approval rests with the owner, designer or the person the client nominates. Our role is professional advice, standard translation and execution checking.
Duties, taxes, terminal handling, drayage and destination charges must be confirmed by your broker, forwarder or relevant provider.

Your Stone Office provides project coordination within a scope agreed in writing by both parties. Freight, customs clearance, engineering design, structural calculation, laboratory testing, installation and legal services are the responsibility of appropriately qualified or appointed professionals.

Not sure which of these your project needs?

That is usually the first thing worth working out. Send drawings, specifications, material references, quantities, destination and your current supplier situation, and we will recommend a sensible first step.

Request a Project Review See How We Work