Cale Wagner continues family’s concrete and stone craftsmanship
Cale Wagner can genuinely say he’s a chip off the old marble block, or perhaps more appropriately these days, off the piece of concrete.
The Columbus native is a third-generation craftsman of stone surfaces, with his family having launched a marble company in 1978, which became Duncan Marble and did tons of business until the retirement of his parents in 2011.
Wagner, 34, who had worked in the venture since his teens, instantly lamented that it was entering the history books, so he decided to stick with it and renamed the business Duncan Surfaces. Today, he works out of the same shop once operated by his family on 10th Avenue, although the property is now owned by someone else.
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The Ledger-Enquirer visited Wagner at his workplace recently, discussing his job, why he likes handling concrete, and the task of keeping his hands-on skills going through another generation. This interview is edited a bit, with an expanded version at www.ledger-enquirer.com.
A: How long have you been doing this?
Q: My whole life it seems. I officially started, I guess ,when I was 15. It’s almost 20 years now.
A: You couldn’t give it up when your family retired?
Q: This is all I had ever done. I didn’t want an office job because I love building things with my hands. Everything that I do is custom made. So I just changed the name to Duncan Surfaces. I knew that I was going to keep something going. We had concrete when my parents retired, but it had just gotten started.
A: Is marble still part of it?
Q: I still do the cultured marble, like showers and the vanities, the cultured marble vanities for bathrooms.
A: And it’s just you?
Q: Pretty much. I put in a lot of hours down here.
A: You do residential and commercial?
Q: Everything. You saw the Omaha Brewing Co. job I did. I also did the bar in Epic that lights up and flashes, that’s mine. I’ve done 501 Hair Salon downtown, Fountain City Coffee, the Concrete Company, their offices eight years ago. I just did a lawyer’s office over on Whitesville Road. I do a lot of outdoor kitchens.
A: Do you prefer doing residential or commercial?
Q: It doesn’t matter to me one bit.
A: Is one customer pickier than the other?
Q: A lot of builders like commercial better because they want you in and out so they can get started making money. But residential, yeah, they’ll start picking stuff. Most of my customers just want something different, because granite’s everywhere. It’s in every gas station, hotel and restaurant. It’s just been around for a while. Concrete’s kind of the next thing, and there’ll be something else come along after that.
A: Concrete is the trend?
Q: Uh-huh. A lot of HGTV shows are doing it. Some people don’t like the busy look of granite. Concrete’s real personal. I can do a lot of things that you can’t do with any other product. Anything that I can make a mold of, you can cast it out of concrete. But it is time consuming. A lot of people think about how much a sack of concrete at Home Depot costs, but that’s not what I’m using. I have a couple of different styles. It’s really considered composite concrete, or engineered concrete, I think, is the technical term.
A: What’s an average day like for you?
Q: I’m a one-man operation, so I’m flying around everyday and all day. I’ve got to measure it, I’ve got to make it, I’ve got to install it, collect the money.
A: What do you enjoy the most?
Q: The hands on. I love creating stuff. I originally got into doing some furniture and things out of wood and incorporating concrete. I wanted to bring a new dining room table (down here to show you) that I just made for our house, but my wife said no. I made a nice wooden base for it and put a concrete top on it.
A: Is concrete durable?
Q: It’s pretty strong. Of course, concrete is always curing. But my stuff is very strong. That’s a sink right there that I made last night. As soon as you leave, I’ll start grinding on it to get it ready.
A: Walk me through the process of making something from concrete?
Q: You go out in the field and measure. I would rather go over new cabinetry. I hate to go over old countertops because you don’t know how the walls are doing. It’s nice to go in and make templates, because I don’t like to cut my concrete. I want to make the exact form out of strips of wood and then I’ll come back and build a mold in whatever size, shape or curve. I will build that one day and the glue will set up overnight, and the next day I’ll cast it. I cover it up and let it dry for a day or two, let it cure, and then I pop it out and determine if its getting polished, sometimes all the way to exposing glass, or leaving it unpolished like the chair over there is. There’s a little bit of acid washing there. You can also stain concrete ... All edges and sides, like with the sinks, are all done by hand. There’s a lot of labor to it.
A: Anything really unusual you’ve done?
Q: The biggest volume-wise would be the brewery. It was in 11 pieces and took two weeks. One of the funnest was 501 Hair Salon downtown. I built their work stations, and they’re a 38-inch tall bench … (shows a photo) that’s 10 feet long and 38 inches tall and it’s all one piece. There’s no other product, even wood, you can do that with.
A: Do you stay maxed out schedule wise?
Q: It’s up and down. It can be feast or famine. Either I’m slammed and I’ve got 10 projects in here, or I’m sitting here going, I hope something comes up … This industry always slows down around the holidays. Of course, people aren’t ready to start redoing bathrooms or kitchens or building something new at that time of year. These last two months have been really good.
Q: But I do want to find a couple of products to make for retail, stuff where I do a mold and am constantly making them and putting them (in stores or shops) somewhere with a price tag on them, instead of always waiting for custom work to come in. When I am slow I could be doing planters or chairs or anything decorative.
A: Is the back-office administrative stuff a chore?
Q: That’s the worst part. I pretty much do it all. It doesn’t take much; I’m not a huge operation. I worked for my parents a long time and saw how it was done. Of course, they were a lot bigger operation. We probably had up to 15 employees at times ... But I’m organized and know how to keep things in line and on task, which is what I have to do because I’m by myself. It’s time management and all of those kinds of things.
A: You are the last of your family to do this type of work possibly?
Q: A third generation. That’s why I didn’t want to give it up. When my parents closed down, I was like, no, this is all I’ve ever done. This is what I enjoy doing. I just enjoy creating things. That’s the biggest thing with concrete is the possibilities really are limitless. A lot of customers will come to me and say, hey, here’s a picture I found on the Internet, can you do this? Most of my jobs are like that. I don’t even keep a ton of samples around because people bring me a piece of tile or a picture of something and go, hey, can you do that?
A: You can look at a picture and know exactly what to do?
Q: So far (laughs)
A: Has anything ever stumped you?
Q: Not yet. I can still call on my dad if I need to ... (When Duncan Marble was operating) He was the brains behind every thing. He was a craftsman as well, a carpenter. He built a lot of things in our home out of wood. He, in his head, can see how things are built.
Cale Wagner
Age: 34
Hometown: Columbus
Current residence: Fortson in Harris County
Previous jobs: Working with his family’s business, Duncan Marble, before his parents retired in 2011. He renamed it Duncan Surfaces
Education: 1999 graduate of Hardaway High School; earned bachelor’s degree in business management from Columbus State University in 2004; earned welding certifications from Columbus Technical College
Family: Wife, Wendy, and daughter, Savannah, nearly 2 years old, and a golden retriever named Layla
Leisure time: Takes care of his baby; works on his new house; plays golf and spends time on property in Harris County; enjoys going out of town and eating out regularly
This story was originally published April 9, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Cale Wagner continues family’s concrete and stone craftsmanship."