The Brew Cabin

I'm hoping to canvass a bit of opinion here.
I'm thinking about opening a small yard in west london specialising in the finest quality york stone flags, graded cathedral quality in quantity, palleted in 10 sqyds. I can get the supply of quality stone but I'm concerned about demand - it seems indian sandstone is all the rage now. I'd have to charge £70 sqyd to make it worhwhile.
Anyone got any thoughts ? Thanks

You're up against some stiff competition. I know stockists/suppliers based in the North of England that regularly ship premium grade reclaimed yorkstone flags into London Village for around 50-60 quid per square metre, in full loads. The flags may well then sell for 70 quid per yard to small purchasers, but you've a lot of handling costs to deal with.

It could be a nice business but I'm not sure just how profitable it would be without extensive advertising in some of the more upmarket publications. Most of the trade will continue to buy direct from the north, I'm afraid, but it may be that, if you can get quantity discount along with the quality, you could grab some of that work.

Thanks Tony. Appreciate the comments. I've always found it tricky to find decent stone within London, the usual suppliers in the SW area are a bit hit & miss on the quality and I'm sure I can surpass that. I'm planning to keep costs down by via cheap storage & retailing by a minimum of one pallet (10 sqyds) which is how it will be supplied, to minmise movement and advertise direct to the landscaping trade. I've always assumed that landscapers source their materials locally rather than go up north

Small landscapers probably do source their flagstone locally, but the bigger orders are often direct. I get asked on an almost weekly basis to recommend dealers/suppliers up here in t'north who can supply reclaimed stone for projects in the SE. The potential savings that can be made by buying 'direct' seems to attract a steady flow of interest.