|  For years, Rhodes has been producing stunning projects. "The most common projects we encounter are kitchens and baths, which include vanity tops, kitchen counters and islands, tabletops, custom-cast sinks and tubs, shower basins, backsplashes, and tiles for floors and walls," he says. "Kitchen counters still exceed all other residential fabrication orders."
While residential projects make up about half of his workload, Rhodes also cites an impressive commercial client list, including more than 60 Pottery Barn stores throughout the United States and Canada; more than 30 Illuminations stores; a retail store at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas; Jamba Juice; Levi's; NBA Store in New York; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Bank of America; and Apple Computers.
Going National
All along, Rhodes has fine-timed his concrete mix to be more workable and more durable. Finally it became time to roll out Buddy Rhodes Concrete Mix. The first step he took was hiring Jim Mason, a former account manager with Burke Concrete Accessories, to build national distribution. In five regions of the United States - the West, Sunbelt, East Coast, Central US. and Midwest Rhodes and Mason intend to have a blending facility and a distribution warehouse to facilitate timely and cost-effective deliveries to their distribution network.
One of the biggest steps taken has been to hire topnotch trainers to instruct contractors in using the mix. On the west coast, Tom Ralston, president of Tom Ralston Concrete, will hold training at Buddy Rhodes' Studio in San Francisco and at distributors' facilities across the west coast. On the east coast, Bob Harris, president of the Decorative Concrete Institute, will train in Douglasville, Georgia, at the Decorative Concrete Institute and at distributor's facilities along the east coast. Both Ralston and Harris are respected concrete-industry veterans, are speakers at the 2004 World of Concrete trade show and are prominent members of the American Society of Concrete Contractors.
Rhodes and Ralston's first Concrete Countertop Seminar was held in San Francisco on December 13-14, 2003. Participants learned about making forms, molds, various types of reinforcement, mix design, color, sanding, polishing, sealing and finishing countertops. Castin-place, precast and "hand-pressed" techniques also will be taught in future workshops, in addition to batching the Buddy Rhodes Countertop mix.
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