The truth about the Decorative concrete industry

The company STONE FX LTD was registered just a few years ago after initially being run as a "trading as" business under the name DE-BUITLEIR. We saw a huge hole in the industry which was there for a very long time and after some research (not too much), we took the bull by the horns and investigated further.

The decorative concrete industry in Ireland was very limited with just a few companies offering a few products here and there to a select few who basically didn't bother to take it any further. I'm not surprised either and I dont blame them in the slightest because they believed the rubbish they were fed just as I did myself.
If you mentioned stamped concrete, imprinted concrete, patterned concrete, pattern imprinted concrete, stencilled concrete or just decorative concrete, you got a blank stare and immediately lost any interest you had gained in the first place.

My first experience of the decorative concrete industry was 6 cubic metres of grey gravel, sand and cement that came in a lorry and they called it concrete. We were expected to use a wheel barrow and place this "concrete" in pre determined locations and then work it so that we could hopefully get some sort of colour on the top and then use a thing called an imprinting mat to put a pattern on the top as if by magic. Surface preparation was another thing we hadnt a clue about so we just guessed our way through the whole process.
Let me tell you this and spill the beans on the myth, It was a joke and we fell for it, hook line and sinker.

The guy who showed up to "train" us had been trained himself by a company who still operate today. They boasted "comprehensive training" and "instructional video" for £20 blah blah blah.Well this is what I was led to believe and as I say, I swallowed it, paid the money for the video and then to add insult to injury, I parted with more money for tools and materials. Boy did I grow up fast after that.
(Here's a fact you might want to consider...... If I send you a video or dvd of, lets say someone called "TIGER WOODS" playing golf and you watch it for an hour or two and then again the day after and perhaps a few more times over the next few weeks, DOES THIS MEAN YOU CAN PLAY GOLF LIKE TIGER WOODS?) Just as I thought.
Anyway back to the guy who was" training" us.He charged us £200 (punts) for 2 hours and then legged it. We found out why shortly afterwards.
The concrete went as hard as flint as we had prepared it incorrectly, put the colour in at the wrong time and imprinted it at the wrong time by beating the life out of it with a "so called" flat metal plate with a handle on it. We learned our lesson hard and there and then I swore to learn it right.

The materials available to me here in Ireland were nothing but rubbish and were sold at a premium price because there was no competition. I bought and tried every companies materials and still couldn't find what I needed to complete an installation of pattern imprinted concrete to my satisfaction.

I decided to look further afield and it was only then that my eyes were well and truly opened to the absolute rubbish we were being sold here in Ireland and the under handed dealings that went on in relation to Imprinting mats (stamps). When I next used colour surface hardener it was from a company in the UK and what a pleasure that was. No red streaks in the black colour surface hardener, Powder release agent that came in a bucket and not a bag and was so easy to cast across the surface and sealer to finish the job that was so easy to apply that I could have cried.
Apart from the massive difference in the quality of the products I imported, I was also educated on the correct methods of application, the proper procedure for surface preparation, the technical aspects of pattern imprinted concrete and above all, I learned that there was so many different tools available and all designed to make life a hell of a site better and easier for me.
I attended a training course in the UK and to tell you that it gob smacked me is an understatement.
Training in Ireland was done in small sections by a couple of men and we stood there and watched and oohed and aahed as the process unfolded before our eyes. We were never invited to participate or to get our hands dirty. We didn't know any better. We were told that we could do about 40 to 60 square metres in one day and get paid very handsomly for it. More lies, as it takes more than one day to finish any imprinted concrete job. (pour the concrete and finish it using the correct methods, second day on site, you wash it off and on the third visit, you seal it. The whole process could take a month if truth be told)

As I was introduced to the correct methods in the UK, I was thrown head first into an actual installation of pattern imprinted concrete which was to look black with a london cobblestone effect. 8 cubic metres of concrete for the first pour and a further 8 cubic metres for the second section and ALL in one day.
I thought this was an impossible task until I saw the number of imprinting mats and the methods used from the first minute we arrived on site.
Everyone had a specific job to do but everyone knew everyone elses job also (in case someone was out sick or otherwise not available). I decided to bring what I had learned, back to Ireland and to set up my own business to further educate new people and existing contractors in the correct methods of installing pattern imprinted concrete.
Please dont get me wrong here either, as I've never once pretended to know everything about concrete or that I knew all the technical aspects associated with it because I believe that this would be the rock I would perish on.
From the very beginning, I've gathered the industry's most professional people around me so I could give not only good service but also top quality advice and back up.

At this point I must say avery big thank you to just a couple of people without whom I couldnt have moved forward in this business.
Andrew Goord of PICS ltd in the UK for opening my eyes to the "shenannigans" that go on and for his invaluable advice.
John Linley of PICS ltd for all the technical know how and back up
Mandy in the office and all the other wonderful employees who helped along the way.
Thank you all.

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