Natural paving 2014 - Brochure review

[Tony McC]

Latest brochure review - Natural Paving - may have touched a raw nerve.

Have I been too harsh? Has anyone else had a chance to look at a copy for themselves? The "quality" of some of the installations really worries me, and as NP have decided to really push their own 'approved contractor' scheme this year, I thought this should be brought to the fore.

As I say in the review, I have no problem whatsoever with their products, but the photies and some of the installations are just not good enough.

What do you think?

[mickg]

the brochure looks OK to me and is always well laid out year after year

It's only the likes of us who know the correct way of installing a product and who can find fault with the laying patterns of products in all the manufacturer's brochures but marketing people see it differently, they see a pretty photo and quite often disregard the workmanship and laying pattern

[lutonlagerlout]

the brochure isnt really for us
its for the GP

if it was for us, it wouldnt have any pictures just technical details

they are selling a dream,the dream where kids can sit on the patio playing on their i-thingy or women can do yogi on the driveway,or blokes can walk from the porsche to the door in flip flops

of course in reality it lashes down of rain and then everyone has to go inside
LLL

[Tony McC]

It's the mis-representation which worries me. It sends a message to the general public that work of such a standard is acceptable.

Now, if NP were a budget, pile-it-high-sell-it-cheap trader, I probably wouldn't bother mentioning it (I probably wouldn't bother reviewing the brochure full stop!) but when a reputable company starts to push an in-house approved contractor scheme, claiming they have a group of installers who are better than average, then that claim needs to be tested, otherwise it devalues the good work done by non-members.

It also calls into question the 'vetting' process. If work of this standard is deemed to be acceptable, then what's the point of being a member of the scheme? I'd like to think that most, if not all, of the contractors frequenting the Brew Cabin, and those i deal with ona regular basis, work to significantly higher standards than evidenced in this brochure. Would you really feel comfortable being told your workmanship is only on a par with that shown in some of these photies? I bloody well wouldn't!

I do appreciate that the brochures are targetted at the buying public, and that too is a concern because it is telling those potential customers that this is the standard of installation you can expect. That can't be right, surely!

But apart from the installation concerns, what about the quality of the photies themselves, paying no heed to the way the paving has been laid. For me, too many are bleached or badly composed or taken from a poor angle, and that isn't helping sell the paving, which, as I repeatedly state, is as good as anything else on sale in Britain at the moment and significantly better than a lot of the dross flogged by the budget suppliers and auction sites. That's what narked me - good paving shown in a bad light.

I take your point, Mick, about marketing bods not seeing paving in the same way that we do, but I know for a fact that your mates up in Halifax scrutinise their images for *exactly* this sort of thing, and that's a big part of why they command so much respect.

[mickg]

The 2014 brochure and the new web site has received a good write up from BALI

Natural Paving brochure 2014

[lutonlagerlout]

is landscape hub an independent website?
just curious
I have a global stone catalogue sitting next to me but am reluctant to send it to the gaffer for obvious reasons lol
LLL

[mickg]

its independent but funded by the pro landscaper magazine, its also a well know fact that its the APL hangout too

[lutonlagerlout]

thats fair enough then,I always wonder who is pulling the strings regarding reviews
LLL

[Tony McC]

....and as Natural Paving are paying members of BALI, how independent is the review?

I should declare that Natural Paving sponsor a page on this website, but then so do several other manufacturers/distributors and I never let that influence my reviews, otherwise they become just another worthless advertorial.

While I've been "resting" I've had a handful of emails from contractors on the NP list agreeing with my comments about the quality of the images and the poor control over quality of work shown in the brochure. One contractor has told me that at least two images used in the brochure were taken using iPhones, and he knows this because he was there at the time.

When you look at the quality control in a brochure from the likes of Marshalls/Stonemarket, Brett and Bradstone, you begin to appreciate just how much work goes into making a great brochure. With what we might think of as the middle-ranking brochures, I wonder if the featured contractors are just so chuffed to have their work included that they don't care about the company in which they are placed.

Anyway, I shall continue with my own very opinionated reviews (Brett this week) because I believe they are the most honest published anywhere on the web and I know that, behind the scenes, my comments are usually appreciated but, as one manufacturer said a few weeks ago, they would be more appreciated if I didn't make them so publicly, which I count as a success!

[lutonlagerlout]

I actually flicked through bretts brochure at tea time today and saw the poor sods doing a 4m2 patio and 10m2 of block paving

however overall it looks a big improvement from previous years

as said they missed the boat by 5 years on stone,but i still like their omega 60mm paving over all the 50mm stuff for normal herringbone

it seems quite similar to marshalls,

LLL

[Tony McC]

I've long admired Brett's CBPs and I keep aharanguing them to make more of an effort to get them into northern England so the driveway-buying public up here get more of a choice.

There are a couple of BAIs up this way now (I have their names somewhere - Northwich and Altrincham, IIRC) but we need more.

It seems a good opportunity for someone. If I was still contracting, I'd be in there because the Aura block is like nothing else and I reckon it would command a good price in this part of the country, espcially in the money-belt of south Manchester and north Cheshire.