How do I pick who to have my Vancouver marble and stone polished by?

Do I need a professional? Or can anyone do it?

Well, in my personal opinion as a third generation architectural stone professional, you should have a professional who’s very well versed in stone do your polishing and refinishing, and even if it sounds pricey up front to choose the highest quality professional you can find, it will still be much much cheaper to polish your natural stone or marble rather than replace that stone.

Isn’t Marble super difficult to polish?

Against popular belief, and the amount of products available to make it look frightening, marble is not actually the hardest stone to polish. Marble is quite soft, so it is still easy to do some pretty hard to repair damage if you try to polish or refinish natural marble with 0 idea of what you’re doing; but if you’ve held a polisher for more than 5 minutes you can likely get through polishing marble to an OK degree. Now, if you want high gloss with no swirls and a perfectly even gloss across the whole piece, you’re going to need a pro who’s been at it a while.

Granite and Quartz is the literal hardest stone to polish

The harder the stone, the more skill and specialized tools you need to get the job done right. Among all stone refinishing and polishing pro’s that I’ve ever met or read from, Granite is widely considered to be the hardest natural stone to refinish or polish as the stone is just incredibly hard. When we consult the “Moh’s Hardness Scale,” gypsum (drywall) is labeled as a 2/10 hardness. A diamond, on the other hand, is a 10/10 hardness; then right in the middle is limestone and marble at a 4-6/10 hardness depending on the piece, and granite comes in at a whopping 8-9/10 hardness, just shy of a diamond. To get a perfect shine on a piece of granite takes years and years of experience, learning how to polish by feel more than by visual cues.

What kind of qualifications should the professional I pick have?

If you have natural stone and marble in your home or business that is in need of care, or polishing and refinishing, you should pick a professional based on 3 qualities. 1.) Experience, how long has the professional and their team been working with stone; a Vancouver professional like Craig and Company Contracting LTD has 100+ years combined experience in their stone care team with knowledge passed down across 3 generations, making them a great choice for marble and stone polishing. 2.) Do they have a “Master Stone Restorer” from the Natural Stone Institute or MB StoneCare on staff? A quality stone care and restoration company like Craig and Company will have one of these on their staff to watch over the other technicians, and perform the most delicate or complex of jobs themselves, as well as imparting this crucial knowledge to their junior staff over time to become master stone restorers themselves. 3.) Finally, do they have a portfolio of work which can visually show the different materials they have worked on, or is their site and social media filled with generic stock photos as they haven’t had much experience of performing the work themselves.

Should I ask to see the professionals Red Seal?

Unfortunately, architectural stonework as well as natural stone and marble polishing, restoration, and sealing, is not a red seal trade. The only masonry trade which can earn an interprovincial Red Seal from the ITA in British Columbia is structural Brick and Block Layers. This makes it more difficult for home owners and business owners to choose a quality company to trust with refinishing and polishing their stone and marble in Vancouver, but there are a few trustworthy companies available so long as you have done your research into each one. Craig and Company Contracting is by far the leader of the pack for natural stone and marble refinishing companies in Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland.

How much should a stone and marble polishing company cost?

The most professional and high quality candidates will perform the best job for you, but the years of practice and learning to build these skills will cost you a premium. A maintenance polish will likely be performed at a flat rate, or “by the square foot” which depending on the company and how busy of a season they’re in will cost you anywhere from $2-$6 a square foot for light refinishing / maintenance polishing. A deep refinish, or removal of large lips, and fixing of deep scratches or chips, will cost you substantially more; some companies will charge this out at a flat rate of anywhere between $8-$15 a square foot all the way up to $30 a square foot for the most heavily damaged and complex jobs. However, the most likely scenario with a deep refinish or polish on natural stone and marble is that the company will charge you by the hour and for any materials they consume. The average high quality stone polishing and refinishing company in Vancouver, British Columbia is going to charge $150-$250 Hr for one or two technicians, with costs going up slightly when they must add a helper or labourer and the cost likely doubling every time another truck and set of equipment is added.

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