ENQUIRE SELECTION 0We regularly work with W Songhurst Ltd, and earlier this year they asked us to provide a quote for some insurance work they had been asked to undertake. We arranged for our fitter Simon to visit the property in Twickenham free of charge to see exactly what was required so that we could provide a quote.
The client had silver travertine panels fitted to the floors in the hallway and bathroom, as well as on the walls in the bathroom. There had been a leak behind the panels and they had been removed for repairs to be undertaken.
This is the client’s bathroom before we got to work
When our quote was accepted we sourced some images of suitable silver travertine for the client. Travertine is a form of limestone deposited by mineral springs, especially hot springs. It occurs naturally in a variety of colours, and because it is natural each piece is different – so it’s important to allow the client to see different images of the travertine available.
One of our suppliers, the Marble and Granite Centre, sourced some images for us from a factory in Italy, and the stone was imported especially for this client.
We first visited to measure the property in March, but thanks to the COVID-19 p andemic, we had to put the job on hold. We returned to fit the stone in May.
A work in progress
The flooring took us around two and a half days to fit and incorporated a built-in shower tray. Once the floor was down we allowed it 48 hours to set before taking final measurements for the walls.
W Songhurst asked us to fit the wall in a specific way so that no water could be trapped between the walls and stone in future. This meant that fitting the walls took a little longer and was completed in five days. We also undertook all mastic work so as to ensure a neat finish. As part of the fitting we also drilled holes to allow the client’s existing purpose built sink and shelf unit to be reused.
Aside from the inconvenience of a global p andemic, this was a great job to work on. Our fitters have really excelled themselves with their attention to detail, providing a beautiful yet functional floor and bathroom for the client.
Celebrating 20 Years of Margrasil
2020 is a special year for Margrasil; we are celebrating 20 years in business!
In 1999 founding Director Rickie Leggatt was working repairing cars. One day someone brought a van in for repairs, and when Rickie went to jack it up he noticed how heavy it was. He asked the owner what was inside and he replied that the van was carrying granite worktops for delivery to a client. Rickie got chatting to the customer about granite worktops and became interested in the process of designing and creating natural stone worktops. He decided he would like to look into doing this himself.
Rickie then visited a friend in Brazil who was working in a similar line of business and this really cemented the idea for him. While he loved working with cars, he just couldn’t get away from the idea of this new business venture!
The name Margrasil actually came from the trip to Brazil, and is an amalgamation of three key elements, using the Portuguese spelling of Brazil:
MARble – GRAnite – BraSIL
Margrasil was officially registered as a limited company on March 31st, 2000.
Rickie’s first job was a commercial job for Linden Homes, who we still work with today; we’ve fitted thous ands of kitchens for them in the last twenty years, as well as for many other construction companies.
Starting out with just a few key team members, Margrasil soon began to grow. In 2005 Rickie’s son Damien joined the team – initially just for a summer job during his final year of university. He soon joined the company full time in 2006 and between 2006-2010 the company grew rapidly with a lot more commercial work. This helped us to build a good name for ourselves, taking great pride in always delivering excellent results and customer service.
In 2008 we made our first big purchase of a CNC machine – at the time it was the largest one in the country, built specifically for Margrasil. This was an exciting time as the new machine allowed us to speed up our production whilst also improving quality and management of our work.
In 2010 we moved premises from a couple of old wooden barns in Faygate to a larger unit in Partridge Green, where we still are. We’ve actually just extended our lease on this unit for another ten years; we’ve become a part of the village here and really like it.
In 2012 we bought a new CNC saw which sped up the cutting process even more, and followed this up with further equipment purchases which have allowed us to grow Margrasil from strength to strength.
We’re proud to say that twenty years after we first began, most of our work comes through word of mouth, from people who have been happy with the jobs we have done for them.
We have built up a great team of staff here now; we’re all proud of the work we do. From the small domestic kitchens to larger projects, we love them all. We were part of the team working for Linden Homes on their new development at S andy Lane in Teddington which became an award-winning site which was exciting for us. More recently we’ve been working on a sales studio on the bank of the Thames, right beneath the London Eye which was a great experience for us.
We’re proud of everything we’ve worked on over the years, and grateful for all the great customers we’ve had over the years. We’re looking forward to what the next twenty years will bring us!
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