Choosing the right fabricator for your quartz or granite worktops

We often say that we have the glory job in the kitchen – putting the worktops on completes everything, and nothing makes even basic kitchen units look great like a solid granite or quartz worktop. But finding the right company to put in that vital worktop can seem to be a bit of a minefield.

Over the last 20 years, a rapidly expanding market attracted a lot of start-up firms. This led in turn to fierce competition, especially at the budget end. Many small firms work out of the back of a van or use sub-contracted labour; not all have a good standard of workmanship. Nobody wants to pay more than they have to for granite worktops, but where such a major investment is concerned, the search for the cheapest can be the road to a false economy.

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What to expect from a serious granite and quartz worktop fabricator

A good fabricator-installer will:

  • Be able to offer sound advice on the right product for your budget and colour scheme.
  • Be able to offer a choice of materials which are held in stock, making them more cost-effective.
  • Have a good working relationship with trustworthy wholesale suppliers within the UK who can offer a wider range of granite colour choices.
  • Have a well-equipped workshop where cutting and polishing can be done to a high-standard without making a mess in your home.
    A workshop helps with quality, but also implies stability: deposits paid to – or guarantees received from – “a man with a van” may be worth less than transactions made with a structured company with serious capital investment in its factory.
  • Welcome you to view their material and premises. This is really important. Particularly with some wilder stones, a small samples really can’t give you the full picture of the stone. You need to be able to see slabs. See our article about the benefits and drawbacks of small samples.
  • Have their own templaters and installers. Many companies sub-contract work, with a resultant loss of certainty about the chain of responsibility or oversight of quality. There are great benefits in working with a granite worktop company that looks after the whole job from beginning to end.
  • Give you clear and proper paperwork at all stages of the process. Companies may accept cash, but serious fabricators do not offer a “cash deal” with an implied discount for “losing the VAT”. For an important investment for your home, you want a proper contract and guarantee.
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How to find the right fabricator for you

1 Personal Recommendation

Nothing beats the recommendation of neighbours, friends, family or colleagues whose own kitchens you already know or can ask to see. If you have no friends or family who can recommend a granite worktop fabricator, your regular plumber or electrician can problem suggest a firm or firms: in the course of their work they see a lot of kitchens and worktop installations. Your kitchen company may be able to recommend someone too, but be aware that they may well have some commission tied to their recommendations, so it is it is worth getting a quote direct from a fabricator.

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2 Look for a member of the Worktop Fabricators Federation – the unique body that develops quality standards for our sector

At Affordable Granite we are proud to be founder members of the WFF. While not an accrediting body as such, the WFF is at the forefront of developing best practice in quality standards and Health & Safety in solid stone worktop fabrication and installation. Sponsored by a number of the leading materials and tooling suppliers, you will find WFF members in many parts of the UK. You could do a lot worse than beginning your search for the right fabricator by looking at our Members Map.

3 Customer Testimonials and Reviews

It is worth checking out customer testimonials, possibly on the company’s website. Do they have the ring of being genuine? If a website has images of kitchens, are they only show kitchens? Did they actually fit the kitchens? A lot of websites cull images from all over the place – even ours! It can be very useful to see genuine case studies of kitchens where you can see that the kitchen is a real room and the testimonial ties up with the kitchen shown.

These days, finding customer reviews is easier than ever. There are the trade review sites, like Checkatrade.com where, though companies pay to be included, the reviews come from genuine third parties. And Facebook and Google have their own review programmes that allow customers to say what they think. There is no need to be in the dark about any kitchen supplier or worktop fabricator!

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4 Get the conversation going

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Most of us would get multiple quotes for any major home renovation job. We are aware that the quest for worktops can sometimes only happen when our customers are already punch-drunk with kitchen choices, but we would still advise the traditional “get several quotes” approach. It costs no money and little time to send your kitchen plan and requiremernts to a few companies, and see what happens. Only in conversation with different worktop fabricators will you start to get a feel for the variety and pros and cons of different kitchen worktops  – and for the differences between the companies and what they offer.

5 Trust your instincts

Do your homework, get some quotes, look at the companies, and then think through…

  • Are the staff helpful, knowledgeable and straightforward?
  • Is their advice always cloyingly positive, or are they honest about the cons as well as pros of different products?
  • Do they have a business that you can visit, not just a mobile phone number?
  • Is there evidence that the company is doing a decent amount of business? If you are in a hurry, a lead time may be annoying, but companies with waiting lists are generally further from bankruptcy and more clearly have the respect of the public and kitchen industry.
  • Is there absolute clarity about what is – and is not – included in any quotation you receive?
  • Is the price a good fair price but not too good to be true? Some apparently very cheap offers are the prelude to dramatic price increases on templating. By that stage they have you over a barrel and you won’t have time to go elsewhere.
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We are Affordable Granite, the leading granite installer in Surrey, Sussex and across the South East. We aim to be the best – best in helpfulness and customer service, best in quality of installation, best in health and safety standards, best in overall value for money. For questions, queries and quotes connected with any aspect of worktop installation or kitchen design, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01293 863992 or by email on sales@affordablegranite.co.uk/ .