About Us

For the better part of the last decade, we’ve introduced ourselves as the company at the intersection of landscape and architecture. While that’s still who we are, we’re focusing our message on a more important part of our business – you! The real thing that’s allowed us to grow our business is a dedication to customer success.

With our material options and Customworks team, designers and contractors across the country can be inspired to dream big and we’ll work with your teams to build big. Whether your project requires standard or custom, large or small, find out why we say that "successful sites start here!"

Places and People

Union City, CA

The center of our nervous system is in Northern California, where we’ve been working since 1979. Union City (midway between Oakland and San Jose on the eastern side of the San Francisco bay) is where we’ve called home since acquiring a 45,000 sf building in 2016. Our management team, accounting, and part of our sales and engineering teams are located here. We cast, prep and paint FRP here, as well as assemble our self-watering container systems, pedestals and living wall systems. Approximately half of our employees work out of this facility.

Port Orchard, WA

Our newest facility joined us at the beginning of 2017. Formerly FairWeather Site Furnishings, their capabilities in metal forming and wood processing fit right in with the needs of our customers. In addition to the site furnishing products that they’ve produced for over 30 years, we’re now producing pots and planters in weathering steel at this plant. With capabilities including laser cutting, bending (sheet, strap and rod), lathe cutting, and of course welding, grinding and finishing, we have standard and custom capabilities that mesh seamlessly with the rest of our products. We employ around 35 at this facility, including some sales, project management, and engineering staff along with the local production team.

El Paso, TX

The U.S. half of our TexMex connection is based about three miles as the crow flies from the Mexican border, along US I-10. We receive product cast over the border in our Ciudad Juarez maquiladora, prepping, painting, and assembling as required. While this facility has traditionally processed all our GFRC lightweight concrete products (including fountains), we’ve recently begun processing fiberglass here as well. El Paso serves as a convenient shipping point for orders heading east. We currently have 20 employees at this facility, in a 20,000 sf facility on a 5-acre lot.

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, MX

Our Mexican maquiladora is officially Tournesol Siteworks S.A. de C.V., and is a Mexican entity wholly owned by Tournesol Siteworks. Lightweight concrete has been the focus here since it was started by Stonewear in 2005, but we’ve recently begun casting FRP fiberglass as well. Since we’ve expanded production, we recently moved into a 65,000sf facility located in one of the earlier (and more central) industrial parks in Ciudad Juarez. We usually employ about 30 at this location, including a dedicated tooling shop, quality, GFRC casting and prep, and FRP casting and prep.

Processes

FRP Fiberglass Pot & Planter Fabrication

Tournesol Siteworks works in fiberglass for many of its pots and planters. We typically cast by hand or with a pneumatic chopper gun, using forms created in our dedicated mold shops. Once cast, the surface is prepped for painting by sanding and touching up with body filler. Each pot is damp-proofed with asphaltic sealant, then painted with industrial-grade acrylic epoxy. The labor-intensive process results in a uniform, consistent quality finish that is incredibly versatile. We wrote the book on making commercial quality planters that won’t bow or warp when filled with soil.

Wood Fabrication

Whether in furnishings, planters, or as decking and construction material, Tournesol Siteworks knows wood. Our Boulevard thermally-modified wood is a domestically grown and treated 25-year alternative to South American hardwoods, and is available in many of our products. Our wood shop in Port Orchard works Douglas Fir, Red Cedar, Ipe, Tigerwood, and a popular milk-bottle based recycled plastic lumber into our benches, tables, receptacles and even bollards. Custom projects are no strangers, either!

Lightweight Concrete

Alkaline-resistant glass fibers substitute for tensioning rebar to allow us to cast concrete in ½”- ¾” thicknesses for most site furnishing applications. The weight makes it easy to ship, handle and place on site, yet strong enough to hold up to high-traffic. Similar to fiberglass, the process uses a concentric system to spray concrete into purpose built forms. After casting, the surface is patched and treated to create many different finish options.

Metal Processing

Tournesol Siteworks has a wide range of metal fabrication capabilities, including laser cutting, bending, shaping, and cutting. Whether starting with metal castings, pipe, sheet metal or strap, the metal fabrication process goes through many labor-intensive steps. Fixturing and years of welding experience ensures quality and consistency in production. Final surface preparation (grinding, blasting) occurs prior to finishing with a zinc-rich primer and epoxy powdercoat for optimal rust protection. Our team has recently begun working in weathering steel, allowing for a whole new range of finishes

The Tournesol Story

Tournesol Siteworks has over thirty years of creating landscape solutions for urban environments.

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2015

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1976

2017

Tournesol acquires Fairweather assets from Leader Manufacturing, giving Tournesol a total of four manufacturing plants.

2015

Stonewear’s assets acquired, all concrete casting moved to El Paso, TX, facility. Within 24 months employment at the two facilities has increased over 300%.

2013

Vespro’s Root Solutions product line was acquired and added to the drainage solutions category – extrusion production is moved to Hayward.

2012

Introduction of Boulevard thermally-modified wood, one of the first alternatives to South American hardwoods to the commercial furnishings market.

2010

Tournesol partners with Street & Garden Furniture of Brisbane to produce Australian-designed site furnishings in the U.S.

2008

Company is reorganized and takes the name Tournesol Siteworks – the decorative line has quickly outpaced the self-watering irrigation product. Partnership with Elmich of Singapore begins greenwall product line.

2005

Stonewear moves from Nevada to El Paso, TX, and establishes a sister plant over the border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Stonewear is one of the smallest companies in the area to create its own maquiladora plant.

2004

Planter Technology begins selling lightweight fiberglass pots and planters under the Tournesol Siteworks brand.

2000

Planter Technology moves from Silicon Valley to the more manufacturing-friendly East Bay city of Hayward, CA.

1997

Vespro, Inc. started in San Rafael, CA, to manufacture root barrier and drainage products for the commercial landscape marketplace.

1997

First self-watering container irrigation insert is created, moves company towards exterior landscape market.

1994

Planter Technology sold to new ownership group led by Christopher Lyon. Products consisted of "Natural Spring" plastic self-watering planters and liners, mostly for interior applications.

1990

Magnalite moves to Carson City, NV, and changes name to Stonewear. Product line consists of lightweight concrete pots, trash receptacles, column covers and turnkey fountains.

1990

Fairweather is acquired by Leader Manufacturing, and moves to Port Orchard, WA. The product line has grown to encompass a wide range of public-oriented site furnishings, including decorative steel bollards.

1980

Fairweather founded in Tacoma, WA, started creating trash receptacles and benches in powder-coated steel and wood.

1979

Planter Technology founded in Mountain View, CA, as a manufacturer of unique self-watering planters - first sales made to companies maintaining interior plants in commercial applications.

1976

Stonewear founded as Magnalite in Belmont, CA, as a manufacturer of lightweight concrete site furnishings.

Jobs

We’re always looking for qualified individuals to join our team. We’re a small but rapidly growing company in the expanding market for Green Building products. Because we’re a tight-knit group, you need to be a team player to succeed here. We take good care of our people, and folks that fit within the group and perform tend to stay for a long time.

A brief summary of available positions are listed below. Click on Read More to download a pdf copy of a full job description. If this sounds like an opportunity that you’d be interested in, email us at jobs@tournesol.com with a word-formatted resume with the job title in the subject line. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!