His heart's in stone

It was Bob Capoferri's stepfather who taught him how to lay brick, block and tone and how to turn his hands into a livelihood.

Capoferri used that training to start his own custom tile business in 1982.

Today, what started as a one-man-in-a-pickup-truck-operation has become Capoferri Marble Crafters USA, a Trainer-based company with vendors around the world and nearly 200 people on the payroll and a fleet of 32 trucks.

The company fabricates and installs marble, stone and tile flooring, countertops, showers and fireplace surrounds in high-end homes. Company sales have grown between 45 and 55 percent in each of the past three years. Revenue is expected to increase another 25 percent this year.

Capoferri is the president and CEO, but he didn't always see himself in the business.

For a time, he entertained entering law while studying at Penn State. Impatient to get married and start a family when he met his then-girlfriend, he returned to Delaware County and joined his stepfather's business.

And it wasn't long before his ambitions outgrew it.

"I saw early on that it would be difficult to expand that kind of a business. My stepfather was set in his ways and it was a small company and would stay a small company," said Capoferri.

Hooking up with local plumbers, he started Capoferri Tile and Marble, which did tile and stone floor installation. In 1988 he started Marble Crafters, the fabrication component of...