These two spotlights focus on excellence in commercial projects. Trostrud Mosaic and Tile Company of Wood Dale, Ill., won the Commercial Grand Prize for the Headlands Technologies relocation, and David Allen Company nabbed the Large Commercial Achievement of Excellence for an expansive casino project.
Let’s take a closer look at these award-winning projects and the contractors that brought them to life.
Trostrud Mosaic and Tile Company:
Commercial Grand Prize
Reflecting on the Headland Technologies Relocation Project, Project Manager Todd C. Tollakson said despite the wide array of challenges, the resulting installation is “one of the most elegant installations I have ever been part of.” He added, “The prep, layout, and installation requirements—aligning radius cuts, stair heights, and floor pads to soffit reflections—made this job exceptionally complex.”
Indeed, prep was the first major trial: achieving the 1/8” in 10’ flatness standard, critical for large-format tile. Floor height variations exceeded 2” in some areas, making self-leveling unfeasible for much of the space. Instead, the crew used trowel-applied patching, establishing elevation points from reception through the 120’ corridor to the open atrium and freestanding staircase. Trostrud connected these points with screeds, creating a gradual, flat ramp while maintaining elevation transitions at elevator sills, glass partitions, and connecting corridors. Similar precision was required in the atrium to meet the staircase and ensure ADA compliance.
Reception areas featured three radius-cornered floor pads using accent-colored tile, requiring tight radius cuts and alignment with ceiling soffit reflections. The freestanding radius staircase—spanning 6’ with treads varying from 13” to 18” in width—was a centerpiece. Each tread and riser was fully tiled, demanding exact field adjustments to maintain alignment across the curve.
The four unisex restrooms were the only areas suited to self-leveling. These feature interlocking hexagon marble mosaic floors, with 3”x12” handcrafted wainscoting topped by a quarter-round trim. The cafe includes a full-height 1” hexagon mosaic backsplash, while 30’ away, the atrium showcases a two-sided feature wall clad in full-height 1”x1” hexagon marble mosaic.
In total, the project required 1,731 man-hours and stands out for its technical demands and meticulous detail. “I’m extremely proud of the finished product and grateful to Derek Lauderdale (Foreman) and Tony Reiter (Gaffer) for their leadership and craftsmanship throughout the installation,” Tollakson said.
David Allen Company:
Large Commercial Achievement of Excellence
This monumental casino project spanned 350-plus hotel rooms, a pool, spa, theater, restaurants, and a casino. Each area features a full kitchen, bar, support areas, and restrooms, along with numerous large-scale patron restrooms throughout the facility. A special twist is that this project needed to be completed on a severely compressed schedule.
Installation of over 133,000 sq. ft. of premium finishes included granite, marble, quartz, zellige tile, encaustic-look tile, thin brick, book-matched GPTP, numbered glass mosaics, 35,000+ sq. ft. of industrial epoxy-set quarry tile, and 13,500+ sq. ft. of terrazzo featuring a waterjet-cut “wave” pattern.
Executed between April and November 2024, the project delivered over $5.5 million of work in just seven months—under a schedule compressed by four months.
Accomplishing this lofty goal required up to 60 craftspeople on-site, directed by a CTI superintendent, general superintendent, and multiple foremen, all working long shifts with limited downtime.
The Operations Team used multiple software programs to keep the project on schedule, to ascertain products were matched with their destination locations, and to keep pace with design or material changes. These included:
- On-Screen Takeoff, which created a 2,721-line Excel workbook.
- Autodesk, which managed GC project documentation.
- Measure Square, which was used for shop drawings and room-by-room installation scheduling by SKU.
- Procore, which enabled real-time field updates and design changes.
- Spectrum and Plexxis, which handled accounting and billing.
Every surface receiving tile, stone, or terrazzo was surveyed for substrate suitability. Many required correction—especially in repurposed shopping mall areas with damaged concrete. Over four truckloads of flowable mortar were used to bring slabs into tolerance. These prep tasks, although not in the original scope or schedule, were essential and consumed early schedule time.
Crews tiled the pool deck in just five days after the concrete pour, using a rapid-curing epoxy vapor barrier. Hotel floors required sealing and additional prep due to unsealed Gypcrete and elevation variations.
Despite constant design changes and substrate challenges, the team completed over 100 field work orders, and was consistently praised by the GC, owner, and design team for its expertise, problem-solving, and commitment to quality execution.
Lesley Goddin has been writing and journaling since her first diary at age 11. Her journey has taken her through a career in publishing and publicity, landing her the editor position of TileLetter and its special publications in 2006. Her goal is to educate, inspire, recognize and encourage those in the tile industry -- especially the tile and stone contractor.
