Which products are euivalent to which products - Lost with all the choice

[dannahaz]

Hi, newbie here with a really dumb newbie question.

I'm trying to choose block paving for my driveway. I've spent months looking at other people's driveways for inspiration, have studied this website and manufacturers websites, tried the online visualisers, have brochures... and I've visited a couple of paving centres and discovered that "in the flesh", the blocks are absolutely *nothing* like the manufacturers pictures: the colours aren't representative, and the textures aren't the same. (I mean, look at the Marshalls brochure pic for Elite Heather, in their brochure it looks like it has a hint of purple; in real life it's more like mud brown).

To save me going round in circles, has anyone got a kind of "comparison" sheet, where I can see a matrix showing which Manufacturers blocks are broadly the equivalent of which other manufacturers blocks? I'm mainly interested in Marshalls, Bretts and Toppave.

This means that I could discount large numbers of products in one go, and then concentrate on the - hopefully - few that I might really be interested in.

And does anyone have a pro/con type thing? For example, let's say I was looking at Marshalls Tegula Deco vs Bretts Theta Cobble (they look the same sort of thing to me), do you have anything which compares the quality (or price, or anything to help me decide).

Thanks for any help you can give

[Tony McC]

I have something along those lines, but it's not for publication partly due to a combination of legal and commercial reasons, and partly due to the sheer size of project, which labours under the name of "Wotblock?"

In terms of quality, there's nothing to choose between the three manufacturers you mention. Different contractors will have their own favourites from your shortlist, but it is you that has to choose. The only scientifically valid comparison is quality, and all those manufacturers have ISO 9002 systems and manufacture to the highest standards applicable. Colour, texture, size, style, etc., are all subjective, so can't really be compared fairly, and just to further complicate matters, colours and textures of the same block vary depending on where it was manufactured. F'rinstance, the Marshalls' brindle manufactured at, say, Sandy, is distinctively different to those from Ramsbotty, Eaglescliff or Falkirk.

All of which leaves you with price and guarantees. Who offers keenest price, best guarantee terms, and best standard of after-sales service?

You've narrowed it down to three: time to be a bit more decisive!