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17 Jul
You may not have been aware, but the slate market has been undergoing a slow but undeniable shift over the last few years. France, traditionally the largest consumer of natural slate in the world, has been showing less and less demand for slate for almost five years now.
Exciting stuff, right? Ok, so it’s no man-on-the-moon news story, but it’s still important, and we’re here to tell you why.
The UK is the second-largest consumer of natural slate, after France. So now that France isn’t taking in as much slate is it used to, that extra supply is flooding over, so to speak, into the UK market. In one respect, that’s a good thing – as the ratio of supply to demand shifts, prices are affected. In this case, that means lower average prices for the consumer, as suppliers compete to offer the best price for their products against increased competition.
That’s market forces in action folks (don’t say we never teach you anything!) and by and large it’s a good thing for consumers. However, this influx of slate shouldn’t be taken at face value.
As you’re no doubt aware, there are strict rules for compliance in the roofing sector. Just last March, BS 5534 became mandatory, and failure to comply can be costly. So far so obvious. But what you might not be so aware of is the fact that a lot of this new slate isn’t fully certified.
Setting aside the more sinister case of deliberately counterfeiting slate, some of this newfound supply just doesn’t have certification. It’s just not there. Not so much as a quarry name. What it does have is a rather alluring price tag – and low, low prices can make men do terrible things.
In the end, however, that short-term gain can turn into long-term pain. Cheap, substandard products just don’t last, and before long you’ll have a slew of angry customers wanting their money back and their roof replaced. Turns out those cheap slates were a lot heavier on your wallet than you thought they were going to be – and they’ve cost you something else too. Your reputation. Good luck getting that back.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. You can still get some very nice slate for a better price than you might have expected. Here at JRC we take pains to ensure the quality of our product. All our slate is BS EN 12326 certified, whether it’s home-grown Welsh slate or one of the newer, up-and-coming Spanish varieties, like our Calidad slate.
To find out more about our capacity to supply high-quality specialist roofing slate, pick up the phone now and call 01282 423 444, or fill out the form on our contact page.