Finding a good tradesman in my area - Brazilian slate

[Paul756]

Hello folks. I'm new here and feel I should apologise as I don't like joining forums just because I have a problem that I need to air.
Anyway, my son (with my help) has undertaken a big project in his Garden which will ultimately end up with a patio laid with Marshalls Brazilian slate. Without going into too much detail he had a guy in who has done a block drive, stone and brickwork for my daughter and he's good at what he does. (my wife works for the civils side of a well known builders merchant and he's always busy). However, he hadn't laid this kind of stone before and didn't appear to know anything about bonding it with an SBR/cement slurry. Now, despite the fact that he had reservations about how it would bond and the fact that my son had mentioned the bonding issue he laid about 2'3rds of the patio and the long and short of it is that it all had to be taken because virtually every slab hadn't bonded up, so wasn't a dificult job. Despite the fact that my son has paid for the sand'cement and disposal of the waste, he hasn't charged for doing any of the work which involved putting in a brickslot drain and a fair bit of cutting but he won't tackle the job again. My son is now in the position that he has to find someone else to do the job and though my wife knows loads of people, none of them seem to have laid this stuff. (Apologies if this offends, but in Portsmouth everyone wants the cheapest) It seems incredibly hard to find someone who knows what they're doing. There is one company that are good and she's known the guy for 20 plus years but he's fully booked until January. My son has now got the problem that people are understandably reluctant to take over someone elses work. Is there anyone who could recommend someone in this area or has any views on this? Would be greatly appreciated.

[lutonlagerlout]

we are booked till next june paul, and nowhere near you
sadly if you find somebody available soon chances are they wont know what they are doing
sorry
LLL

[Paul756]

we are booked till next june paul, and nowhere near you
sadly if you find somebody available soon chances are they wont know what they are doing
sorry
LLL

Thanks for your reply. Yes, you're right. I'm always suspicious of anyone who can do the job immediately, though we've not even found this to be the case. We've got someone whose work is good coming next week to take a look and who has laid this kind of stone before but he's booked up until December. You must be doing something right if you're booked up until June!!

[r896neo]

Na, he just works that slowly:p

[lutonlagerlout]

its my wallet slowing me down
LLL

[rxbren]

Take the receipts out

[London Stone Paving]

Paul

Try either of these guys. Both will do a very good job and both are Marshal's registered, so will have experience of that particular product

Adapt Landscapes

Aura Landscapes

Steve