Philadelphia Soapstone Company LLC

My husband and I had a terrific experience with Philadelphia Soapstone and Marble. Luis, the new owner of the company, stood out from the competition as we shopped around, and not only were his prices the most reasonable, he and his employees were a pleasure to deal with from start to finish, and their expertise was immediately apparent. Anyone undertaking home renovations right now knows that supply chain issues, delays, and considerable cost increases are the norm, but not here. We got what we needed and it was fabricated and installed very quickly. Originally we contacted this company because we were looking for soapstone and it's a specialty material that's not widely available and not well understood. We ended up with a gorgeous slab, and the team was committed to delivering our enormous island in a single piece with no joints, which was no small feat given its size and the number of stairs it had to travel to be installed. Before we settled on our slab, we changed our mind several times about materials, and Luis was helpful in directing us to different slab yards with whom he partners so we could shop for alternative stones and communicated promptly with updated pricing as we shopped. We were honestly difficult and indecisive clients, but Luis was understanding, kind, and patient with us the entire time. I have already recommended this company to a few friends and will use them again without hesitation.

Installed the counter tops and Island, and he did the template for the fireplace. They did a great job on the counter tops and Island, but he would not come back to do the fireplace. He started ignoring my calls, emails, etc.. Although I wound up going with Colonial to get the fireplace done, he still won't return my remaining deposit (over one thousand dollars). I have been hounding him since mid 2017 and just keeps on avoiding me. I now have a attorney involved to get my $ back. It is very strange.

lowest price, fast responsive, on time. did what they said .

he does really good work

They were extremely professional, very timely, the craftsmanship was perfect and very clean.

They were very prompt, professional and everything went very well. I have no complaints. The owner went out of his way to get a particular color stone at a decent price. They did an excellent job! I will recommend them and absolutely use them, again.

I am very pleased with how the whole process went and the absolutely beautiful results. I looked in my area (Baltimore and Columbia, MD) for someone to install soapstone counters. I was not able to find anyone in the vicinity that was as knowledgeable and willing to work with us as Joe, the owner of Philadelphia Soapstone. After several e-mail communications with him, my husband and I took the 2-hour drive to pick out our stone. He carries a slightly harder soapstone (PA Original) than some of the other places we visited, and that was what we wanted. He answered all our questions, and it was clear he was far more knowledgeable than anyone else we had talked to. We chose our stone, he stored it for several months until we were ready for installation. If you are going to use soapstone, it is important to have a knowledgeable fabricator and installer, since it is different from other stones, such as granite, and many fabricators are really not that familiar with it. We found that the price from Philadelphia Soapstone was very close to, perhaps even a little less than, other less knowledgeable companies. After our cabinets were installed (by someone else), Joe came out to the house to make a detailed template of the counter and fireplace and measure for the sink. It did take about 2 weeks for the fabrication. The installation was done professionally and went smoothly. There was a slight issue with regard to the closing of the cabinet door, but it was easily resolved. The installers were knowledge, polite, and cleaned up nicely. The counters are absolutely gorgeous! The fabrication and installation were obviously done by true craftsmen. There is a seam in the fireplace surround that is almost impossible to find because such care was taken to match. The counters were cut to highlight the veining in the stone, and the finish is so beautiful that it practically begs to be touched. Overall, we were very happy with the work and would highly recommend Philadelphia Soapstone.

Another soapstone supplier that came highly recommended from a friend contacted me because they had a templating cancellation (they otherwise had a 5 week backlog) and were able to come complete my template the following day with countertops installed in 7 days. Although Joe from Philly Soapstone was offering a great deal and nearly as quick of a turnaround I had no excuse to back away from the other supplier/installer whose work I have seen first hand and was also the reason I selected soapstone to begin with. I researched Philly Soapstone fairly thoroughly and would have been happy to work with them had the other opportunity not popped up.

We love our countertops! Joe did a perfect job. Our kitchen was renovated 2 years ago and the countertops have been wonderful. we looked at other soapstone dealers but chose philadlephia soapstone. their product seemed to be harder than other soapstone providers. I cook alot and love the counters. great for rolling pastry dough. hot pots on the counter are no problem. Maintenace is a piece of cake. we loved the kitchen counters so much that a year later we had them installed in our powder room. I would go to Philadelphia Soapstone again in a heartbeat. couldn't be happier with the product. Not to mention that we get a ton of compliments on them!

After the counter tops were installed I applied a wax/sealer that was recommended by both Joe and my installer. After I put it on I was left with two issues 1. Two small but bright patch marks appeared near the sink that looked like they were covering up some pock marks or gouges in the stone. Before I applied the wax/sealer they were not noticeable because the colors were a close match. 2. We started noticing rings left behind anytime I put a glass down as you would with a wooden surface. Also anytime standing water was left behind a mark would remain, and would not come out with any amount of wiping, and scrubbing with the abrasive side of a sponge will leave marks behind. After speaking with all three parties (Joe, Fabricator and Installer) of course nobody was willing to admit they were the source of the gouge marks. His email correspondence with my contractor regarding the source of the marks was very rude and unprofessional. My Installer has agreed to try some different methods to fix them and if it doesn’t look right will replace it. My issue with Philadelphia Soap Stone is this. After emailing and calling Joe about my problems he just flat out refused to give us any help or guidance in fixing the issues. He told me that this is what I get for using a third party for the install and that if I used him I wouldn’t have had any problems. He said that if the surface was prepared the right way the rings would not appear and that the filler used for the gouge marks and seams was not the right stuff. He flat out refused to tell us how to properly fix the marks and seams and how to reapply the sealer/wax because it would be “helping the competition” and that I needed to take it up with my installer. He also said he was doing me a favor by even talking to me, and that I was not his customer. I disagree. If he was a decent person he would want to help us get the job done right. Instead he continued to stand behind his policy that he does not advise other installers/fabricators. He sold us a slab made his money off us and walked away. After this experience I would not recommend soapstone to anyone unless you are willing to either live with rings and water marks all over it, or to never put anything wet on it. I’m not yet convinced that reapplying the sealer is going to fix the rings/water marks. Furthermore if you still really want soapstone I wouldn’t use Philadelphia Soapstone unless you use them to fabricate and install because he is not going to help you out after you buy it, and if there is an issue with it you will be left with 3 people pointing their fingers at each other. As I mentioned my installer will be coming back to try and fix the marks and seams and to refinish it with the sealer/wax. I will update the post once that work is done as well as post a separate review of my installer’s service.

They did a very good job. They were timely. They were precise. Everything was done exactly as it was supposed to be. You can barely see where the seams are at. They were professional. They completed the work in about four hours. We were happy with the price.

It went well. They were professional. They were fast in their response.

Very Good experience. They know what they are doing.

Soapstone is great. Don't get caught up in the granite "hype."

We had been to their location twice to check out soapstone and look at their selection. As we got closer to the start date for our project, we called Joe two or three times to try to get a sense as to when would be the best time to come pick out an actual slab for our counters. He was never clear with us as to when would be the best time to come (e.g. he couldn't tell us when he would receive his next delivery of slabs). What was problematic for us was that he had said (in two separate phone calls two weeks apart from each other) that we should contact him in "another couple weeks." Then, when we called him most recently, he informed us that his shipment had arrived a few weeks prior and he only had a few slabs left. We would have greatly appreciated him calling us to inform us when the slabs arrived. We decided not to go with this company. While his prices were competitive, we decided to go with a competitor due to the fact that Joe attempted to raise the price by $10/sq.ft. at the last minute due to the fact that he had sold out of the product we were interested in. He had also seemed overly concerned that an initial phone call from our designer would somehow reduce his overall compensation for the job, despite her assurance that she was calling to simply confirm pricing information. Overall, we found Joe to be somewhat challenging to work with. The soapstone product itself is beautiful.