Comment from Olive, Sedberry

My name is Sedberry Olive. We are a mid sized family owned quartz and natural stone fabrication company in North Carolina. We work in the fabrication of countertops for new construction and existing renovation work for 30 years. I believe this tariff and its actions would decrease the availability of quartz products to the consumer by raising the prices on entry to mid level products for kitchen and bath countertops in people's homes. Builders have budget constraints and they simply will not put upper level quartz in a home that is not a customer specific custom build. The extra cost is not reflected on the home appraisal; therefore would not add to the homes value from a mortgage standpoint. A homebuyer would have to bring the difference to the closing for an upper level quartz. We support American made quartz whenever we can. There are other products made in South Carolina and Georgia that are not supporting this bill because they still need to import entry level quartz to supplement their offering to have a lower priced option. I ask that no additional tariff's or quotas be placed on imported quartz. This will cause a rise in the cost of builder options potentially to the point that quartz will not be cost effective enough to be used many sectors of the construction in America. This would jeopardize many America fabrication companies and American jobs. The investment in advanced CNC machining and tooling to properly fabricate is a large investment relative to the cost of countertops. This poses a risk to the companies who have made this investment if the market declines for our quartz countertops. Thank you G Sedberry Olive Olive Glass and Marble