How Landscaping Product Warranties Should Impact Your Buying Decisions

How landscaping product warranties should impact your buying decisions

Many of the hardscaping (stone) products your landscaping professional installs on your property come with manufacturer warranties.

Manufacturers never want to eat the cost of a broken or faulty product, so if your product manufacturer includes a warranty, you know it expects the product to last substantially longer than the warranty period.

That’s good for you!

Three of our biggest stone product suppliers offer great product warranties:

• Unilock
• Permacon
• Techo-bloc

Here’s what you get with each.

Unilock warranty

Unilock was the first concrete paver manufacturer in North America to offer a lifetime guarantee. With over 10 billion stones installed across North America, it was a bold move to initiate in the industry. It was a testament to the quality of the product.

Unilock provides a transferable lifetime guarantee on the structural integrity of its:

• Paving stones
• Slabs
• Retaining wall units
• Natural stone

…for residential use.

Any materials installed and maintained to the manufacturer’s guidelines that prove defective are replaced without cost to the consumer.

Because it’s natural stone, color matching cannot be guaranteed, and the installation is subject to your installer’s warranty (something you can always ask your landscaper about upfront).

All you have to do is register your stone product within 60 days of your dated proof of purchase and your warranty will be honoured forever.

You can complete your registration on the Unlock website here.

Permacon warranty

Permacon guarantees the structural integrity of its concrete landscaping and masonry products for fifty (50) years from the date of purchase of the product.

It’s not as long as the Unilock warranty, but few homeowners stay in the same location to outlast the warranty themselves. 50 years is still an excellent warranty.

The warranty applies to normal, non-abusive use of the product, and covers any abnormal deterioration of surfaces that may be caused by the use of sodium chloride for de-icing pavers, slabs or steps.

It is also transferable to any new property owners for the duration of the warranty. Like Unilock, you will have to discuss installation warranty with your contractor.

Techo-bloc warranty

Techo-Bloc also offers a transferable lifetime warranty on the structural integrity of all paving stones and retaining wall stones it manufactures.

The warranty comfortably covers any disintegration or decomposition from  natural causes and the abnormal deterioration of the surface due to the use of sodium chloride (NaCl) such as de-icing salt.

As with other leading manufacturers, Techo-Bloc doesn’t provide warranty coverage for the installation – that’s up to your landscaper.

Techo-Bloc also provides detailed guidelines to get the most from your product installation, so your installer is more likely to deliver the end result you hope for.

You can find that information here.

How can you be sure your manufacturer will uphold its end of the deal?

Reputation and word of mouth are extremely important to manufactures of stone landscaping products.

Competition in the industry is fierce, and bad online reviews can substantially hurt a manufacturer’s profits.

It’s in the manufacturer’s best interest to go above and beyond in all warranty claims.

We have worked with each of these manufacturers for years, and they’re leaders in the industry for a reason. Warranty claims are always handled quickly and professionally.

We have never received a complaint about the warranty process from any of our manufacturers.

When in doubt, give us a call to talk about the product you’re interested in. You’ll get an unbiased opinion and alternatives if you don’t feel totally comfortable with the product you’re looking at.