One method, done properly
We are a two-man paving crew working across Perth, and we lay every job wet on a full bed of mortar. That single decision is most of what there is to know about us, because it is what the rest of the work follows from.
We are a two-man paving crew working across Perth, and we lay every job wet on a full bed of mortar. That single decision is most of what there is to know about us, because it is what the rest of the work follows from.
A two-man crew
The person who comes out and quotes the job is the person who lays it. Nothing is subcontracted and nobody is sent instead.
Wet lay, every time
Full mortar bed under the whole underside of every paver, over a compacted base, with the joints grouted solid.
Two Rocks to Mandurah
The coastal corridor and inland across the metro. Outside it, ask anyway, and we will tell you honestly whether the travel makes sense.
One number, not a stone price and a labour price
We quote supply and lay together, so what you get is the number for the finished job rather than a stone price with the laying to be argued about later. What moves it is the material and the shape, and we will tell you which before you commit.
Dry lay sits pavers on screeded sand with sand in the joints. It is faster on the day and cheaper to quote, and that is the whole of its case.
On a Perth block it is the wrong method. The sand under it consolidates, the sand in the joints washes out, and within a couple of seasons the surface starts to rock, dish and spread.
We know this in more detail than we would like, because about half of what we do is lifting somebody else's dry lay and laying it again properly.
It is slower, it costs more on the day, and it is the reason we are not back on the same job in three years. That is the trade we make on every quote we write.
Water has to leave the paving. That is decided before a single paver is laid, not patched afterwards.
Every paver is bedded into wet mortar across its whole underside. No voids, nothing to rock, nothing for water to sit in.
Coping is cut to follow the pool, tapered piece by piece. Forcing straight units around a radius is what opens joints.
Joints filled properly so sand cannot wash out, ants cannot get under it, and the surface stays one piece.
New pool surrounds, coping, alfrescos, courtyards and driveways make up one half of the year.
The other half is paving that has already failed: taken up, the base corrected and compacted, and laid back down on mortar. It is the least glamorous part of the trade and it is where you learn what actually goes wrong.
That is why the rest of this site talks about the base as much as it talks about the stone. It is the part you cannot see, it is where the money either goes or does not, and it is the only reason one paving job outlasts another that looks identical.
The relaying half has a page of its own.
It saves everybody a visit, so it is worth saying plainly rather than after the fact.
If what you want is not what we do, we will say so on the phone rather than turn up and talk you into something else.
Measurements, a photo of the area and the material you have in mind. If it is a job for somebody else, we will say that too.
