Artisanship Optimized
Templates, modular elements, and strategic workflows can expedite a high-quality terrazzo installation without compromising results.
While terrazzo is a handcrafted, highly customizable material, speed and efficiency are achievable. Installation timelines vary with design complexity—large-scale, simple patterns allow the fastest progress, but digital templates, prefabrication, and strategic workflows can significantly shorten schedules, for even the most intricate terrazzo projects.
Template systems precisely transfer digital designs onto the substrate, providing installers with a full-scale roadmap for divider strip placement. On large projects, templating can significantly trim time in the field, minimize on-site adjustments, and enhance accuracy.
At Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, NTMA’s 2021 Job of the Year, the use of a template system cut layout time by approximately six weeks, according to terrazzo contractor American Terrazzo. This approach facilitated precise divider strip alignment across 120,000 square feet of 10-color epoxy terrazzo.
Prefab and modular terrazzo components such as stairs, wall units, floor modules further enable faster installation, tighter quality control, and less disruption to adjacent construction. In constrained spaces, such as elevators or stair landings, prefab may also offer a practical advantage over the sequential steps of a poured-in-place process.
At San Francisco’s Salesforce Transbay Transit Center, hundreds of both hand-bent and waterjet-cut divider strip elements were preassembled off-site and soldered to expanded metal lath panels, some as large as 11 by 7 feet, then delivered to the site—a strategy that shaved a month off a six-month schedule. Furthermore, fabrication achieved meticulous precision on the intricate strip work that would be challenging to replicate by hand on-site. The project earned NTMA’s 2019 Job of the Year.
Providing crews with ample uninterrupted workspace is yet another key factor in maximizing workforce efficiency and minimizing delays.
“Allowing adequate scope is the key to turning the job over quickly,” explained Joe Iorio, president of T.Yorie Corp. “It’s not a manpower issue, it’s a cure time issue.”
Crews can install about 2,500 square feet about as quickly as 1,000, he said, while 5,000 square feet can push the schedule ahead even faster.
“General contractors are amazed how much time it shaves off: 20–30 percent of working days.” Mr. Iorio reported.
By combining an NTMA contractor’s skilled craftmanship with templating, modular elements, and smart workflow planning, terrazzo installations can achieve faster, more reliable schedules while delivering the precision and artistry that define the material.
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