Marshalls Register - find a contractor

[waynefeltham]

Hi all

Has anyonde used a Marshalls recommended contractor?

If you're all thinking....eh?...then here's what it says in their brochure:

To find a professional that you can trust, call the Marshalls Register Hotline for your local approved contractors, plus details of the Marshalls unique 10-year guarantee.
FOR INFORMATION CALL
0870 120 7474

I'm looking at having a driveway laid (was thinking of doing it myself but the missus doesn't trust me!) and so I'm trying to find someone who can do the job properly!

Out of interest, anyone know how much I can expect to shell out for a complete job including excavation, and materials etc?

Cheers


Wayne

[84-1093879891]

Have you read any of the main website at all? These questions, and lots you haven't thought of yet (but you will!) are covered in meticulous detail - including the use of these Approved Lists to find contractors and the "going rates" for all sorts of paving projects.

Have a read of that lot, and then come back if you've still got questions.

[waynefeltham]

Hi Tony

Yes sorry, you're absolutely right! I also hate people who post without searching previous posts or other related site pages!!!

Truth be told, I'd read everything on your site I needed to when looking into doing it myself but nothing when I changed my mind and thought I'd get someone else to do it.

I'll take a look at your pages now.

Cheers


Wayne

[griff]

i used a Marshalls contractor, worst mistake i made.

4 goes and still is laying haunching on earth and loose stones / sand.

not saying all Marshalls contractors are bad, but it is certainly no guarantee you will get a good job.

also, if you pay the money and take the guarantee, what does that mean, it means unless the contractor goes out of business, you have to use the same lot who screwed up to repair their mess. it can go on and on.

what is Marshalls view, keep quiet and accept the bad job. oh and dont ask for their guidelines as a reference on how to do the job properly, because there are not any.

best and proven advice is read the applicable parts of this site thoroughly, try to understand what will happen on your area to be paved and use recommendations from other people.

[84-1089053830]

All valid points, which makes it all the more worrying. I have previously asked for someone from the scheme to make a comment on the numerous reports of really crap membrs of their 'register' and unsatisfactory service, but they never bother replying.

I shall, of course, pass on your comments to the Marshallettes and see if one of them wants to explain their policy.

[creativebuild]

hello
i have been trying to get information on becoming a registered contrator, but it seems very hard to find out. Unfortunately the register is really only for people who have done a minimum of 5 paving jobs so not really a guarantee of quality. i have been in business on my own for a year and have done approx 15 marshalls paving jobs (my main work is brickwork, being a bricklayer by trade). i find word of mouth the best way to get work.

[Tony McC]

If you PM your contact details to me (Tel No and address) I'll get the Marshalls' Register head honcho to send some ionfo to you.

I agree, though - 5 jobs doesn't really make a good contractor. What we need is a proper training scheme, and I had hoped that BALI, who have been handed the hot potato of training for paving, would make a better job of it than the last crowd, but I've spent the last two months fruitlessly trying to get BALI's appointed head of training (who admits to having no experience of the paving trade) to explain their plans. It now appears my questions are too complex for them to answer and they've stopped talking to me.

Hey ho! Yet another money-making scheme rather than a training program, I fear.

[Ambrose]

I was thinking of joining BALI last year, but came to the conclusion that what good would it do me? except for having a smart logo on the side of my van and on my letterheads etc? it appears to me that where a majority of people in the trade have actually heard of BALI, when ive mentioned it to public clients of mine in the past 90% havnt even heard of them! ive took on several paving jobs this year and 5 of which were using marshalls products which the client asked for (out of there own catalogue) not once did they ask me if i was a marshalls approved contractor.
If a client is after a contractor to carry out paving / landscaping works for them, then i personally think that 'word of mouth' reccomendations off friends, neighbours, family etc - is more benneficial than just ringing up an 'approved contractor' from one of these companies!

[Paverman Dan]

Hi all

Has anyonde used a Marshalls recommended contractor?

If you're all thinking....eh?...then here's what it says in their brochure:

To find a professional that you can trust, call the Marshalls Register Hotline for your local approved contractors, plus details of the Marshalls unique 10-year guarantee.
FOR INFORMATION CALL
0870 120 7474

I'm looking at having a driveway laid (was thinking of doing it myself but the missus doesn't trust me!) and so I'm trying to find someone who can do the job properly!

Out of interest, anyone know how much I can expect to shell out for a complete job including excavation, and materials etc?

Cheers


Wayne

$100 a square foot. Now, when can I take a look at the site and see if I can do better? :p

Some, but not most, manufacturers in the States have Authorized Contractor/Installer programs.

I dont know how they work in the UK, but the important thing for the homeowner here to know is that they are NOT a guarantee of the AC's worksmanship; the designation is simply an "authorization" by the manufacturer that they went though certain training programs, and meet certain legal, experience, and licensing requirements.

So if the AC screws up or Copperfields from your job, and you call the manufacturer to complain, while they should follow up on your complaint for you, dont expect them to offer much redress.

In most cases, ACs are required to guarantee their workmanship for a certain amout of years, and follow up on leads in a speedy manner.

Overall, depending on the manufacturers, the programs range from the cream of the crop to "how many can we sign up for the least amount of effort?".

The biggest issue is politics- there are going to always be that handful of contractors who feel there are others with the same "authorization" that should be excluded because they are not as qualified as them, in their eyes, or worse yet, are competitors.

And for the manufacturer, it is very costly and time consuming to maintain a quality program, and it is a lot easier to sell to one dealer than to 10 contractors, which is why it is not very popular with many manufacturers here.

[lee]

I was thinking of joining BALI last year, but came to the conclusion that what good would it do me? except for having a smart logo on the side of my van and on my letterheads etc? it appears to me that where a majority of people in the trade have actually heard of BALI, when ive mentioned it to public clients of mine in the past 90% havnt even heard of them! ive took on several paving jobs this year and 5 of which were using marshalls products which the client asked for (out of there own catalogue) not once did they ask me if i was a marshalls approved contractor.
If a client is after a contractor to carry out paving / landscaping works for them, then i personally think that 'word of mouth' reccomendations off friends, neighbours, family etc - is more benneficial than just ringing up an 'approved contractor' from one of these companies!

Here here ambrose!
and you wont have to shell out the cost of membership!

No disrespect to the marshalls scheme until someone like poor griff gets a bad job done.....somehow the whole scheme falls apart there after.....

word of mouth...the best directory you will find....

[Tony McC]

I've just had a 'phone call from the Marshallette in charge of the their "Register" and he is reading this thread, but company policy makes it well nigh impossible for him to reply to anything without having it agreed and ok'd in advance by a dozen different committees and PR executives. Such is corporate life - I never could take to it!

However, comments from contractors and homeowners regarding the scheme, its aims and ideals, its pluses and minuses, the good, the bad and the indifferent are more than welcome and hopefully they will be passed on to those with some real power in these matters.

[lee]

Bizzare as it seems, i had a marshalls representitive come to one of our sites had a chat about some new products available... whilst chatting he asked if I was prepared to 'join the scheme' and i mentioned this forum and the posts of this topic.. he told me that they have some newly appointed quality control inspectors for my area (gloucester was the nearest inspector) and they were focusing more so on quality of workmanship for their registered members.

Good for them!

you know, i do like the glossy big brochure you get when you join the marshalls register...
Ill give it 5 mins in my van before its used as a seat cover!






product - Indian sandstone, 'olde black'
pointing - dragon cement, yellow sand - black rock

[moira]

i wonder if you can advise me - i run a small blockpaving and gardenlandscaping company that we are thinking of expanding for more commercial projects. One of the sites that we have visited on the internet is "interlay" which seems to indicate that for the larger commerical projects that companies are looking for some kind of professional standard. We sent of for the application form and the papers (these do appear to be very similar to marshalls) and wondered if anybody else had found 1. a professional trading standard is now being required for working commercial projects 2. Are companies looking for an interlay registered blockpavers? your advice would be welcome

[Tony McC]

Lee - every time I speak to Marshalls about their Approved Layers scheme, they have "just" appointed a whole new batch of inspectors, but then they aren't forthcoming about the names and qualifications of these inspectors. Further, until they release information on how many sub-standard contractors have been booted off the list, it carries little credibility in my eyes. The big problem is that the scheme is fee-based, and there is a natural incentive for a list organiser to keep as many contractors on the list as is possible, in order to maximise profitability. This is an inherent, and possibly fatal, flaw of all such lists.

Regarding the Ring-binder they provide once you've handed over your several hundred quid, I feel it is inadequate. It does not provide anywhere near enough information on the various disciplines it attempts to cover. I'll willingly admit it is better than nowt, but it's a long, long way from being as comprehensive as it ought to be.

Moving on to Moira's questions about Interlay, I have even more severe reservations about that useless bunch of self-congratulating waste-of-food tosspots. Time after time after time I have asked Interlay to discuss training, recruitment, standards and a whole host of other issues, and time after time after time, thay have failed to return phone calls, or to reply to emails. They are supposed to represent the contractors in this industry but they don't - all they do is promote themselves.

How many contractors have ever even had a visit or a phone call from Interlay? They are doing a massive disservice to the industry and they don't seem to like it when someone with half-a-brain criticises them publicly or to their face, as I have done on a number or occasions.

I confronted them again following the External Works exhibition in April of this year, and their appointed man (I'll spare him the embarrassment of printing his name) promised they would be in touch with me to discuss a number of issues, not least of which is their abject failure to promote the average contractor. That was April: this is August, and have I heard from them? Have I buggery! Too busy patting each other on the back, attending big dinners, and telling each other what fine fellows they are. Wankers!

The decent contractors in this industry deserve a decent trade organisation. It should be Interlay, but it isn't. The words piss-up and brewery spring to mind.



So, Moira, when it comes to most commercial projects, what matters most to the main contractor is cost, not quality. Occasionally, on some prestige schemes, quality will be taken into consideration, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Membership of Interlay, or any other Trade Body, is no guarantee of quality. You best tool to prove your worth is a well-presented portfolio of previous works and testimonials from other main contractors.

Many of the larger contractors are not even aware of Interlay. I am asked every week to siuggest or recommend contractors for various projects throughout these isalnds and never once have I been asked if the names I put forward are members of Interlay. I'm sure Interlay like to think their name carries some weight amongst site agents and contracts managers, but if they actually asked around the trade once in a while, instead of commissioning expensive Focus Group Opinions, they'd find that they are virtually unknown.