our professionals: HOME ENHANCEMENT HEROES
Dale Nichols Marble —
Family Owned Since 1975
D
ale Nichols Marble has been in
business in Parker County since
1975 and started with Dale and his
son Mike working out of a garage in
Aledo. Dale asked Jim and Debbie
Marcum to come work for him in
1982. The company grew and relo-
cated to a building in Aledo that they
expanded six times as their business
and Parker County expanded, finally
landing west of the Sheriff’s Posse just
off 180 at 2927 Greenlee Park Trail.
It continues to be a family business
headed by Dale’s son Mike, Debbie
and her daughter Taryn Hard.
The company designs, cuts and
installs granite and quartz counter-
tops for kitchens and baths, cultured
sinks, vanity tops and bathtubs and
showers for bathrooms. “Everything
we do is custom and we do every-
thing at our location and install with
our own installers,” said Debbie. “We
like making our customers happy,”
she said.
Mike takes the opportunity to
educate their customers not just on
the 15-17 product lines that they
sell, but on the entire process. “To
be honest with you there is so much
going on out there. When customers
come to us, they are usually frustrated
to some degree. They get a straight
answer from us and all of the techni-
cal support they can get. We walk
them all the way through it,” he said.
“I have a wall of letters of how what
we did benefitted them. I make sure
they are happy and understand each
phase of the job,” he continued.
The process begins when a
customer walks through the door.
“Normally they already have their
blueprints or plan, we measure the
cabinets and go from there. We do
have a good amount of slabs in the
yard, they can handpick the slabs that
they want,” said Debbie. There are
so many slabs to choose from Debbie
can’t choose a favorite.
When the company started out
they supplied mostly cultured prod-
uct that was used in bathrooms. In
fact, he still has the mold for the
1980s shell shaped sink, but doesn’t
see much call for it these days. “It’s
exploded with options in both bath-
room and kitchen install. We have
adapted and expanded our show-
room. Granite is the biggest seller
but quartz is really coming on,” said
Mike. “I think quartz is probably
going to surpass granite. All the home
improvement magazines that we read
promote quartz over granite because
of the antibacterial quality of it. If you
want something extraordinary the
quartz manufacturers are starting to
get some good looking colors,” said
Mike.
The company continues to be
family owned and operated having
added Debbie’s daughter Taryn to
help customers make their dream
kitchens and baths a reality. Taryn
graduated from Texas Tech with a
degree in interior design and spent
several years following her dad, Jim,
to worksites learning the nuts and
bolts of the business. “Taryn has been
a tremendous life saver. She trained
for a couple of years with her dad.
When her Jim away unexpectedly
in 2015, she as able to step in,” said
Debbie.
“We’re in a great location. Not
only new homes, but a large part of
our business is remodels. It just grows
and grows more each year,” said
Debbie. The people at Dale Nichols
marble are ready to help you with
either a new home or a home remod-
el. “Bring your sketch in and I can
walk you through,” said Mike.
Comfort Experts —
ioneers In Providing Comfort
P
to Customers for 56 years
64
WEATHERFORD — Pioneers in the HVAC industry, Comfort
Experts was founded 56 years ago by a couple of visionary,
hardworking young marrieds, Phillip and Linda Hobson.
“I would do the bookwork while my baby son was in a
play pen next to my desk,” Linda Hobson recalls. That was
1962.
Today, that son, Brett heads up the company with the
help of all of his siblings, his sister Cindy Thomas and broth-
ers Brian and Greg Hobson.
Staff-members say their company “feels like a family.”
Hobson family.
Photo by David S. Irvin