Masonry Magazine August 2008 Page. 40
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
STAYING AFLOAT
By K.K. Snyder
Keeping a business thriving is no easy task in today's economic climate, so how do businesses in the masonry industry continue to survive? Masonry talked to three companies to learn the business strategies that have brought and will continue to bring them success.
We spoke to the heads of Grout Grunt, Lang Masonry and Hydro Mobile about what makes their wheels turn, from marketing strategies and handling growth to their companies' cultures and how they've been affected by the rising cost of fuel.
A mason for 40 years, Giovanni Agazzi is joined at Grout Grunt by his two sons, Morgan and Steven. The Livonia, Mich.-based company is named for the senior Agazzi's invention some 30 years ago of the Grout Grunt, a device designed specifically for masons to place mixed grout or any other high-density material in CMU.
Today, while they also operate a masonry company, the Agazzi trio comprises the entire staff of Grout Grunt, a small business headed into its fifth year with great potential. They continue to find