Ecodek Vannplastic Ltd
Forum Replies Created
-
Decking expo? Maybe, although we don’t tend to do shows, we use a different routes to market at present and they’re working well for us.
Yes Karl – agree.
Had an interesting conversation with a project manager from a rather large house-builder recently, they were comparing Ecodek to cheaper brand. When I pointed out that the cheaper brand only had a 5yr warranty, whereas ours is 25 years FULL warranty commercial & residential, the guy’s answer was something along the lines of “we don’t care, 5 years is enough for us”. Â Â
Hmmm………..
No Karl, not all. If they’re PVC composite then they are more likely to be ok as PVC has better tensile properties than hdpe or pp. However, that doesn’t mean all PVC composites will be ok. Â What we are seeing with the Far Eastern product is that it contains MIXED waste plastics, namely PP/HDPE/PET. Â Anyone in the plastics industry will tell you that its very difficult to homogenise PP or HDPE to PET. That’s why they are de-laminating, the polymers aren’t mixing and instead, forming separate layers in the product. If I had a balcony made from this stuff, I would be very worried indeed, as should be the distributors, they may well end up with blood on their hands. Â I am going to seek advice as to whether I can name & shame – I have the proof so I’m hoping (in the interest of public safety) I will be legally allowed. Â I dread to think how much is out there…………..One of the main DIY sheds has been selling it too……….
98p per metre!!! That’s ludicrous – our material cost alone is nearly £3/m – just shows what utter cr*p they put in it.
We are currently pioneering a new EU composite decking standard along with a couple of other European ‘quality’ producers.
These things do take time however, so its unlikely that an official standard will be issued for 5 years or so.
In the mean time, we will continue to shout about quality and the benefits of solid decking.
As we are the only UK manufacturer (est 2002), then we might shout about that a little too!
Thanks
Transport costs not looking too bad to be honest I can email you a formal quotation (is you supply me an email address), but suffice to say:
43×3.4m (220 sq ft)Â
43 x 4m (260 sq ft)
stainless screws
Delivery is included but does not include import taxes, customs charges or ISF duty.
Total £2517 – circa $4050
Thanks
Alex
We had a practical demonstration of this some time ago (maybe 18 months). The sales guy had real trouble getting the screw to bite into our composite deck board – his comments were that our board was tougher & denser than any other he’d tried. (He’s probably right, it’s a good quality board after all!)
When the screw was eventually fitted (took him a while longer than with conventional top-down screwing), I felt that it did not clamp the board down sufficiently for us to be able to endorse it for use on our Ecodek composite decking boards.Â
I liked the idea – I’m sure it works on most decking products, but didn’t feel it suited our board partly due to the much shorter distance between screw and edge of the board – with a dense board like ours, this could lead to a hairline crack being generated.
Hi Jesse – let me get you a ballpark figure together including delivery. Can you give me your location so that I can get an accurate shipping figure?
Thanks
Hi Jesse – shipping is not that bad, our extruders are manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio & we regularly ship heavy crates of machinery back & forth for repair. If you have an idea of what volume you require, I’d be happy to get you a quotation including delivery.
We have shipped our product all around the World, but not yet to the US which is undoubtedly the capital of WPC production!
Many thanks
Alex
Hi Jesse,
It looks like you are in the US? Over here in the UK we make smooth deck boards without the embossed/grain effect. The European market appears to prefer a composite decking product that is not imitating wood and not pretending to be something it isn’t, over here, composite decking is an alternative flooring media rather than a wood substitue. (Well, that’s how we see it & we’ve been manufacturing composute decking in the UK for nearly 12 years.) Let me know if I can help further.
Best regards
Alex Collins
Speaking as someone who supplies 1000+ decks a year to decking installers, I see a great spectrum of work standards. Attention to detail on some decks is stunning, but at the other end of the scale, you get some absolutely SHOCKING workmanship. It disgusts me how some of these so called ‘professionals’ get away with it. I’m with you Karl, a training program that gives them a professional qualification is the way to go.
done
Steve Barker said:
Hi Alex
Please can you add me as a friend so that I can send you a private message? Thanks.
We were toying with the idea of a deck design & calculator for our Ecodek site, so maybe interested in a JV? Although I am sceptical as to whether it actually saves any time. The program will only be as good as the information the user puts into it.
Hi Roque, I think its a shame you came in all guns blazing putting down the properties of composites, as that is most definitely ‘negative marketing’ in my book.
Anyway, solid decking is generally more expensive than hollow decking, but not by a lot. However, being that hollow decking is far inferior to solid decking, I don’t think the price comparison is that relevant. Our trade price for Ecodek solid decking is £38/m2 +vat. For that you get boards of any length up to 6m, all our competitors only seem to offer standard lengths (timber products included). We offer bespoke lengths for no extra charge, so this brings your whole project cost down because you are not paying for off-cuts. Good quality composite decking has its (relatively small) part of the decking market just as IPE decking has its own part. Some people will want wood, and some wont. At the end of the day, lets all just market the positives of our products rather than shout about the negatives of others – doesn’t that make more sense?
