Elite Member of the Month: Dave Banko – Counterpart LLC

www.counterpartllc.com

Tyler's Speakeasy

 

“Do a good job.” “Do what you say you’re going to do.” “Treat people well”. “Stand behind your work”. These are the driving and proven philosophies behind Dave Banko’s business, Counterpart LLC out of Raleigh, NC.

Dave is no newcomer to owning and running a business, nor is he new to designing and building. With 14 years in the industrial design industry, followed by obtaining his General Contractor’s license, Dave has done everything from designing and building trade show booths to building houses. Many of those homes were filled with granite surfaces. Like many of us, Dave got sick of granite and sick of the cookie cutter mentality of the housing industry. “There is a 3,000 home subdivision near me, I’ve been inside about 15 of those homes, and every single one of them looks exactly the same…right down to the exact same granite countertops”.

He heard about the concrete countertop trend, and decided to look into it. He liked what he found and felt it could possibly be a perfect marriage of all his talents and passions. He was more encouraged and excited about it, when he found The Concrete Countertop Institute right in his own back yard of Raleigh, NC.

Dave is extremely thankful that much of his introduction to creating concrete countertops was through the Institute. He did spend quite a bit of time researching other companies, playing with bagged mixes and bagged concrete before he found the Institute. But, he doesn’t feel he’d be able to produce on those basic tenets of his business philosophy if his business didn’t start with learning to mix his own concrete and to develop his own concrete mix design vs. buying bagged mixes. He feels proper design solutions and troubleshooting simply are not possible if the artisan does not know exactly what is in his or her mix. Dave is extremely concerned with the quality of what he produces – both in its design and its performance. Counterpart is not about pumping out as much product as possible, it’s about the personalization of creating and producing something special for their clients.

Counterpart’s affiliation with CCI did not stop with the class he took at the institute in April of 2007. He now rents 6500 square feet of shop space from The Concrete Countertop Institute and collaborates regularly with Jeff Girard and Lane Mangum – the Institute’s founders. His favorite types of jobs are those that make him think. He loves a good design challenge and enjoys the process of mold and form making and incorporating complex forms in his work. He loves clients that really appreciate the endless possibilities of what can be done with concrete as a medium and those who allow him the ability to “go for it”. The vast majority of his work comes from kitchen and bath designers and architects that are on the cutting edge of their industry and are also sick of the plastic perfection of solid surfaces and fabricated granite. He has found that many of them are also attracted to the custom size and shape abilities of casting concrete.

One of Dave’s biggest challenges is battling the misconceptions of concrete put forth by other “professionals” in the industry who have not had the pleasure of working with trained professionals such as Dave. He remembers specifically a time when he overheard a general contractor vehemently talking a client out of architect specified concrete elements because “the stuff is terrible”. Dave agrees that the biggest challenge our industry faces is the education of our potential consumers and counterparts coupled with the education of artisans producing the product.

The future for Counterpart looks bright. Business is constantly improving and Dave is in the midst of incorporating a complete design service side to his business. He is also working on a furniture line and a line of sinks. He is also very excited that his work can so easily incorporate the “Green” movement. Dave does not like to talk about it in a political sense, he just feels that it is and always has been and always should be our responsibility to future generations to act as responsibly as possible towards the planet. Being locally made and produced, and incorporating as many recycled contents as he can into his designs (including bamboo, sunflower seed shells, and glass, making his furniture designs 85% recycled material), allows his concrete design to fuel yet another passion of his. A solid business model, future plans, and Dave’s passion are sure to keep Counterpart growing and prospering.