Stone or Granite Samples

Builders, Architects, Building Contractors, Interior Designers very often ask for samples of stone or granite that they sense they could be using in their projects.

Over the years, it has so happened that most stone suppliers have also encouraged and adopted this practice of sending samples.

What does this mean? It means that the receivers of samples or prospective buyers actually look at samples and differences between samples of different sellers, and make decisions.

That’s all fine; I raise basic question.

IN THE BUSINESS OF STONE, MARBLE AND GRANITE, WHAT IS A SAMPLE?

Say the slab of a certain type of marble or granite is 8 feet * 5 feet. Means it is 40 square feet of surface area of something is ‘given’ by nature.

If you get a sample of size 6 inches * 6 inches of this marble or granite, does it offer you great idea of the entire slab? Does it offer you a great idea of the entire lot of say 30 or 40 slabs of marble sliced from a block, especially given the fact that this is all nature-created? I am afraid it doesn’t.

Of course, samples are made for surface finishing too. But the efficacy of sampling even for this can be doubted on the very same lines.

And then to think that samples are approved and rejected, and business deals are done, and purchase orders issued…

Builders have been seen to take undue advantage of this extremely flawed process of sampling often. They know it, and they trick the sellers.