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History
THE STORY OF OUR COMPANY |
Alaskan Granite is the realization of the lifelong dream of Alec Turner to create his own company providing a lasting, quality product he and his clients could be proud of.
Alec came to Fairbanks in 1970 at age five when his dad was hired as a geology professor at the UAF Geophysical Institute. From an early age, Alec loved working with his hands, and has always had a reputation for being a hard worker. He worked several seasons at what has been called the “hardest job on earth” – winter crab fishing in the Bering Sea. At sea, he quickly worked his way up from deckhand to chief engineer of his fishing boat.
After a wave over the bow ended his fishing career, Alec became a Fairbanks building contractor and later a siding and rain gutter contractor. He developed an interest in stone fabrication in 2001, and his company shifted into doing more and more granite work, eventually closing the siding business, and selling the gutter business to his partner.
At first, all granite work was done entirely by hand: cutting slabs with a diamond blade skillsaw and grinding and polishing with hand grinders. Demand for the stone work was strong, and the company was able to upgrade within two years to the state of the art, computer-controlled equipment we use today - a first for Alaska - which insures consistent quality control, and enables us to offer top quality products at reasonable prices.
Besides countertops, tables and fireplaces, Alaskan Granite has earned a reputation for larger monuments and memorials in Fairbanks. Our company created the 3800 pound jade memorial to fallen police officers that stands in front of the Fairbanks Police Station, a WWII memorial to the only soldier killed on U.S. soil in Adak, and did the granite work and overall construction of the WWII Alaska-Siberia Monument in Griffin Park, recently dedicated by Senator Stevens and the U.S. and Russian Secretaries of Defense (see News-Miner articles in another section). Alec has recently completed a granite monument to Alaskan soldiers who have died overseas, including the 26 from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. This monument is being donated by our company, and will be installed and dedicated in June, 2008.
Our company has recently become a direct importer of exclusive lines of hand-carved cemetery monuments from India, and designer sinks from Italy. We're proud of the progress we've made in a few short years, and look forward to serving our customers and contributing to the Fairbanks economy in the years to come.
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2421 Hill Rd; Fairbanks, Alaska