EWI to be stocked at Minster

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I was in Minster yesterday settling up my account and got chatting to the sales people, apparently Weber will be stocking the Minster branches will EWI stock from next year.

whats everybody's thoughts on this? I asked for some samples of the XP and XM systems to show customers who were interested and they looked at me baffled.

iv asked questions before in the past and been told they weren't stocking any because it was too much hassle.

seems like they don't have a clue about it, I'm not keen on Minster anyway due to their attitude towards small firms and sig are no better to be honest.

so soon, people will be able to walk into merchants and pick up eps boards, basecoats and topcoats and do as they please with them, no control of who they sell to just as long as the sales cash is rolling in for weber.

it worries me that Minster staff don't have a clue about the products they're selling, got the general feeling they don't care either.
 
I also went on the training course at weber ( because I rung up for some gear and was told they don't sell to the general public and you had to do the course ) that lasted long.

on this course we were spoon fed the BS about how you had to buy direct from weber, and how it was important to get in touch with them for assistance on jobs you do, can't see that happening now.

i know DBP stock Jub and k-rend but at least those guys have an idea what they are selling.

this stuff will be on the shelves in wickes in 3 years
 
When i was tendering for a 1300m render it was speced weber.
phoned rep he said phone sig or travis. You cant buy direct.
That was in august. Im still waiting gor their rates.
changed system got quote 2 days later.
 
Never been in favour of merchant selling. It breeds diy work, anyone can do ewi mentality, cheapens the trade and makes for dreadful fit outs.

Direct sales via the approved applicators ( or supported specialised re-sellers delivering trainng and back up such as the PFT's, plasterers1stop, etc) was the last bit of control over quality and integrity of the trade.

Now minster are not a bad outfit at all, and not really a "merchant" to be worried of in the sense they specialise in the plastering/rendering industry. But it does pave the way for future B&Q branches selling to the Sunday club.

How can you charge a decent rate for fitting if uncle billy can get it from B&Q and do it on his day off ?/you see what I mean.

Anyway its not a new thing Encon sell it so do other merchants and I have had the weber system from minster in the past.

As long as they provide a training programme, support, spec sheets etc it could be done properly but usually that goes out the window as its the sales turnover that they will really be interested in.
 
When I have dealt with encon & dbp, they seem to have an interest in you and what your doing, they also know about the products they are selling, I went up to dbp the other week and had a walk around with their manager who showed me what they sell, explained how it works and gave me some bags of jub basecoat to try, also put me onto the jub and k-rend reps and actually looked interested in what they were selling, walk into a minster loading bay and you get screamed at for not being insured, so your fooked if you want to check products before you buy.

When I enquired about having a ewi system dropped at minster they flatly refused it, even though it was from weber, who own minster indirectly.

I have to disagree with you jfe, minster are a poor outfit with poorly trained salesmen, I bought some iwi sheets last year which I was pinning to the wall, did they have a clue about the fixings, no, did they care, nope.

They sent the wrong boards all which turned up 6 hours late, then blamed me for not ordering the right boards, I didn't even get an apology.

If you ask minster anything even remotely technical, they shrug they're shoulders.

Walk into my minster branch and look at the booklets, sound proofing, iwi, insulation, ask them about it, they don't know, isn't one of the first rules of selling to learn about what your selling.

I don't mind it being stocked local, I probably won't touch weber ewi due to the price, but for 2/3 years I was asking minster where they stood on ewi, if they were bothered, now they are going to have thousands of pounds worth of gear stacked high in the back with very little knowledge of what does what, selling to any tom Dick or harry.
 
Dbp are a decent set up, if not organised chaos down there at Bradford, chris and Carl the gaffers know the game inside out. But Merchants don't need to stock loads of gear they can just pull it in with a couple of days notice anyhow. If Minster arnt interested buy elsewhere.encon at Leeds are a good set up to nothing's too much bother. If your issuing warranties on said manufacturers you'll need to be an approved applicator so the the Tom dick and harry thing doesn't kick in.
with out being funny Mac your a small fish in a big pond, over the years you'll build up a rapour with reps, suppliers, maufacturers and relationships build, if you carry on you'll get to the stage where there getting in touch with you, just keep plugging away.ln the Daniel Craig film, as micheal gambon says"welcome to the layer cake son".
 
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I appreciate that owls, I am at the moment looking at learning more skills while I'm youngish.

i don't like the way internal plastering is going, rates are dropping, more people are trying it and are picking it up.

I use to work for an external rendering company EWI & Mono so have experience as have the subbies I use, I'm trying to get the relevant paperwork to be able to complete small EWI jobs pass on the relevant warranties and guarantees and do things properly, I'm not interested in mass commercial work, I also not interested in chasing big money, I'm a 1 man band who takes the same set of subbies on the larger jobs with me (when I have a steady enough stream of work, I will take someone on full-time), during quieter times such as now stick to my regular insurance and domestic internal customers and take time to get other aspects sorted.

if it means I have to spend money on getting approval, have reps check my work, go on training courses around the UK, that's what I'll do, I'm not the type of guy to sit around and be contempt with just skimming/dot & dab work.

To be honest I just want to build a good reputation around sheffield for being a good little plastering & rendering outfit.

it is important to me to do things correctly though, as I say to my customers I can put $hit on wall and make it flat and do a decent Sunday dinner, that's it.

at 19 I was rendering my old mans garage cutting Quoin stones free hand in s&c , I m not blowing smoke up my own arse but it should tell you I have a passion for my job.

ps, don't ask for any pictures :RpS_lol:
 
nothing wrong with that, keep at it eh.
at 27 you've time and health on your side, that's about the age I went at rendering in a big way.
 
weber and sig are the same product made and batched at the same factory just put in different bags, i was also told by the sig "training technician" that if you have a card for one you have a card for the other just by calling up and giving your details. i also agree with what mac says that soon it will be on the shelves in wickes and b&q where anyone can go and buy it, which then in turn takes a specialist trade and makes the materials available to any chancer trying his luck and charging over the odds for a **** job and getting away with it!
 
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