If there is a question you would like answered that is not listed here, please contact us and we will answer it for you.
Q: What qualifications do you have? Are you registered or licensed?
Incredibly there are no requirements for concreters to be registered; in fact, there is no government body to register with. This is a major problem in our industry. It is the sole reason for the high number of horror stories we hear about, and that you may have heard about also. We are, however, a member of the Master Concreters Association (No. 242) and have been since 2001. We have been concreting for 16 years, and registered for business for 13 years. We have completed well over 1000 jobs and serviced over 1000 families and businesses across almost every suburb of Melbourne. We have concreted well over 100,000 square metres of decorative concrete, and have a pretty handy bunch of testimonials from past customers. You can read them on the testimonials page.
In addition, we have had the pleasure of providing concrete solutions for some of Melbourne’s more prominent buildings and businesses, including:
- Crown Casino Complex
- Westfield Shopping Centres
- Melbourne Exhibition Centre
It has also been rewarding to be able to provide our services to some of Melbourne’s more esteemed education centres, including:
- Methodist Ladies College
- Melbourne High School
- Coburg Special School
- ABC Child Learning Centres… and many other high schools and primary schools across Melbourne
Together, we believe that all of this speaks volumes about our qualifications, manner and expertise.
Q: If my concrete cracks, does it mean the job has been done wrong?
There are basically two types of cracks:
- A ‘normal’ crack where the concrete has cracked due to normal expansion and contraction – these are unavoidable.
- A crack that has occurred because contraction joints have not been placed or have been placed incorrectly – these are avoidable.
Q: If I have colour applied, will it fade?
There are two methods for applying colour:
- Colour hardener, which is the ‘topping’ type and applied to the surface. It is generally rich in appearance and does not fade, or fades very little.
- Oxide, which is the type that is put into the concrete mix. This type of colour does fade, but this is not a fault of the product. By its nature it will ‘pull back’ from its original strength at the time of the pour. The strength of the colour can be manipulated by the amount of oxide used, as well as by applying a concrete sealer afterwards, which will keep the oxide appearing darker in shade.
Q: How long does it take to do a job?
Obviously it depends on how big your job is. The average job for us takes 2.5 days to complete and most jobs fall into this category, but if yours is a large job expect it to take a little longer.
Q: What styles of concrete are available to me?
There are 4 styles of concrete available. Any decorative concrete you’ve ever seen falls into one of these categories:
- Standard finish (with or without colour)
- Slate paving
- Stencil concrete
- Exposed aggregate
There are many ways to add touches to your concrete, so the 4 options can be very adaptable to your needs, as well as the look and feel of your home. In fact we specialise in giving you something different if you want it. Concrete can, and should be, a highlight of the landscape of your home.
Q: I don’t know what I want, can you help me?
Absolutely. We offer free advice over the phone, or we can offer you a comprehensive design and consultation service over and above the quotation process. The service covers: confirmation of measured area, access issues and solutions, evaluation of chosen finish and advice on alternatives, colour schemes and patterns, as well as addressing associated concerns such as drainage, access to services and planning for future needs.
Q: I’m on a budget, can you still help me?
We have achieved great results with customers who have had both small and large budgets. If your budget happens to be small we can still deliver a wonderful end result with some clever cost cutting ideas that we’re sure you’ll be delighted with. However we must say we are not ‘the cheapest’ concreters in Melbourne, and we don’t want to be. The most dangerous thing about our industry is the concreter who is ‘cheap’. Jobs often end in disaster, and we don’t want that for you. An important thing to keep in mind about concrete is that it cannot be manipulated after it has set (which is the same day of the pour), so it cannot be ‘fixed’. Getting value for money is a great thing, but ‘cheap’ is to be avoided at all costs.
Q: I don’t want any damage to my home, are you insured?
Yes we have $5,000,000 public liability insurance and Workcover insurance. All our workers are also ‘Red Card’ compliant, which is a card given for a Workcover course in on site safety.
Q: I’ve heard a lot of bad stories about concreters. Do I get a guarantee?
Yes it’s true, there are a lot of concrete horror stories. For your peace of mind, our services come with a 5-year structural guarantee, quotation & price guarantee, and service & satisfaction guarantee.
Q: I’ve done my research, and there are huge differences in what concreters charge for the same job. Why?
The term ‘you get what you pay for’ is never more true than when applied to the trade of domestic concrete. The price of a job varies from concreter to concreter for a few reasons. Some of the reasons are:
- The quality of the finish, materials used, method of preparation, etc. varies greatly from concreter to concreter. You would be shocked to know the variance in concreters’ experience, skill, materials they use, etc. Skimping on materials is very common in our industry and greatly affects how a job is priced. You could be looking at a concreter work and he could be cutting on materials right before your eyes and you would never know. This is a trick of the trade that almost no customer knows about. There is no requirement for a concreter to meet a set standard of finish set by law; domestic concrete is not a regulated industry. Work practices vary from terrible to fair to very good, and as a result, it’s often reflected in the price quoted.
- The size and experience of the ‘crew’. The size and experience of a crew greatly affects what can be done in a day. Let’s say a job takes crew A one day to complete and crew B one and a half days to complete. Crew B has another half day in labour costs, and labour makes up a large part of the cost of a job. If a contractor has a small or inexperienced crew, he must quote higher to make up for the extra time it will take him to get the job done. This is more common than you may think.
- If a contractor is quiet he will simply drop his price, and if he is busy he will raise his price. The right thing to do, in our opinion, is to quote what a job is worth, no more and no less. But there are very few concreters who operate this way. We are proud to say we never raise our price if we are busy. The price quoted by us is always the fair price we feel the job is worth.
- Contractors ‘build’ the price of a job in anticipation that the customer will ask for a discount, and then reduce the price when asked by the customer as a way of winning the job. This is a silly game as far as we are concerned. We know many concreters who practice this on an ongoing basis. We never inflate the price of jobs, and as a result never have to discount them in an effort to win work, which is essentially just duping a customer.