For Phil and Rose Anne Bolfing, having a family business means treating everyone, well, like family. It’s a way of life they have pursued for 37 years and is continuing into the next generation.
“Our son is now a partner in the business,” says Rose Anne Bolfing. “He is dealing with the sons and daughters of our original customers, who are beginning to retire. There have been a lot of changes in the Houston area over the years – we have seen construction go up, down and sideways – but one thing stays the same: we treat everyone like family.”
Changing With The Times
Phil and Rose Anne started Bolfing Brothers Marble with Phil’s brother in 1976 as a cultured marble manufacturing facility serving the residential market. In 1980, Phil and Rose Anne bought out Phil’s brother to become sole owners of the company. At the time, cultured marble was a hot product much in demand with builders in the Houston area.
“Through the years the product has changed,” Rose Anne explains. “We started out with cultured marble, then it sort of fell out of favor with the designers. Everybody wants natural stone now. We moved on to that product about 14 years ago and we brought everyone with us. Our manufacturing department became more of a fabrication department. Our employees were committed to making the company successful so they learned new skills, training and cross-training each other.”
Bolfing Brothers Marble, which currently has 37 employees, has some workers who have been with the company for 30 years, and who have successfully made the transition from working with a man-made, poured product to natural stone fabrication.
“In a family business, everybody wears a lot of hats,” says Rose Anne. “People look around and see what needs to be done and they expand their skills and their authority to take over a responsibility, and make necessary sacrifices. They show by their interest and by their commitment that they are willing to do that.”
100% Satisfaction
This “taking ownership” attitude of Bolfing’s employees pays big dividends. “There is a local publication that rates companies using customer reviews,” Rose Anne says.
“They come in and interview you and ask for a random sampling of customers, and then they call and interview them to create the rating. We printed out a list of about 100 customers for the time period they requested, just ran a report in Moraware, not trying to filter any of the results and gave it to them. We received a 100% rating. Everyone they interviewed was happy.”
Rose Anne says it is their faith that holds it all together – their faith, their business and their customers. “We feel like this is what God has given us to do in this world,” she says.
“We make a beautiful product and we love what we do. So, this is what God gave you to do on this earth. You do a good job. You do more than what the customer pays you to do and you pass on your values to your children, your employees and your customers. That’s how we have been here four decades.”
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