04/28/2026
I am often asked; how did you get into cutting stone? Here is a little of our story, the story of The Stone Mill.
I was raised in the trades; I am a fourth-generation mason. My father had me on job sites as young as 8 years old, mixing mortar in a wheelbarrow. When I was twelve, I spent the summer laying brick. Did I earn my keep? Not likely, but I did learn how to work and build cool things that last for generations. I went on my own when I turned 27 years old, working mostly by myself.
I started cutting stone for my own projects around 2000 to 2001. I used what I had, a 20” masonry saw. The first shop was the chicken coop. It had a work area of about 10 by 20 feet, and I am probably being generous. Everything had to be carried in and out by hand. Even if we had a tractor or Hi-Lo there wasn’t enough room in the chicken coop to use it.
Our only product in the beginning was Michigan Cobble. I always had a few stray stones in the back of my truck and showed other masons what I was up to. It didn’t take long, and I was selling stone to other masons. Still part time, and in the chicken coop we picked up our first distributor. This is where things started to get interesting.
In 2008 one of the salesmen from Belden showed me a computer drawing of a 20’ arch made from random split field stone. He asked me if I could build something like that. With the confidence that only can come from ignorance I said of course I could. I have never been stumped when it came to building something out of a rock, brick or block. Besides, if the Romans and Egyptians (assuming no alien intervention) could build what they did without even carbide chisels let alone diamond cutting tools, well I should be able to build one arch.
Next, he asked me if I could produce split field stone that is squared up. I told him I knew of an old barn basement that has a lot of that. He said we would need a bit more than that. The home ended up needing about 25 arches in total and over 20,000 feet of veneer stone.
The arches would be built out of boulders the size of mid-sized cars. These boulders would need to be split and shaped to within a half-inch tolerance of each other. Still in the chicken coop, barely knowing how to split a rock with a hammer, let alone splitting boulders the size of cars. We got the job.
We were about two and a half months in with three people working on the first arch when the lead mason suggested that we have a tour of the farm. The job superintendent, the lead architect and the owner of Belden the distributor, as well as the mason. Pricing wasn’t discussed up to this point and we hadn’t billed anything for the first arch. Imagine if you will, a family farm, complete with barn cats and horses and no sign of anyone working, just me, giving the tour and explaining the process of making each arch piece. The architect seemed oblivious to the fact I was the only one there as well as the mason. The other two had a look of panic. You probably have guessed that this isn’t your average house or customer. Yes, a very prominent west Michigan couple, the reason for said panicked look. The architect was amazed and said it was better than he imagined and signed off on it and said keep it up. Next the mason said to the two panic-stricken men, do you want to see where they cut the stone?
I don’t know if you have ever heard a granite stone being cut with a diamond blade, let alone 4 saws running at the same time, in a chicken coup, with a limited work area. If you thought Mr. Belden and the job superintendent looked worried before you should have seen them then. Mr. Baker the mason was grinning ear to ear, he thought it was the coolest thing. They turned to me and asked, how can we get you from here to the barn?
This was during what some folks called the Great Recession. We were behind on everything when this project came our way. I literally didn’t have good enough credit to get a cell phone let alone a line of credit or a loan to fix up the pole barn.
My bride had coffee on and some homemade sweet rolls. We all sat down and worked out a labor rate. Remember now we had three people working on the first arch for 2.5 months and had not billed for any of that time. The first invoice paid to have the pole barn fixed up. Complete with a 400-amp electrical service, in-floor heat and running water, the works. The coop had a working area of 10 by 20 feet, the barn was 40 by 60 feet. We went from 4 men to about 20 in less than a month and now had a loader and fork truck.
As the job was winding down our blade rep told us of a company in Minnesota that made veneer saws for cutting stone. We made the road trip to see this monster and threw the dice and put a deposit on it. The economy still in shambles made it tough to get financing, especially with my questionable but improving credit and being tied to the construction industry. The big national banks said a quick no, but our local bank said yes, and we have been with them ever since.
We have since moved off the farm. Connie and I were really blessed to have the farm and the buildings to get this adventure started. The trouble was that the farm wasn’t scalable. There wasn’t the needed infrastructure to grow the business much bigger than it was. The farm is on a gravel road and has seasonal load restrictions, no three-phase electric to run the equipment, natural gas wasn’t available for heating the building, and more. With our children chasing their own dreams we needed to design the business to sell. There was twenty-six acres that came available right on the highway with all the infrastructure elements that we needed to scale.
Early December of 2023 we moved into our new shop. It is a 100 by 175 foot clear-span steel building. Complete with break room and offices and the biggie, indoor plumbing.
The Stone Mill owns two quarries, three veneer saws and three hydraulic stone splitters.
We are in the best stores around the state and the best architects and builders specifying our stone regularly. It has been a fun run, with a lot of help along the way, many people and businesses being a big part of our story. Who would have thought that we would have come so far and with so little.
It is hard to express our gratitude for the trust so many people have placed in us over the years to participate in their dreams. We thank you and we invite you to become part of the Stone Mill story.
