Over my 16 years of installing artificial grass I have seen companies offering all sorts of warranties on their products.
‘The only company to offer a lifetime warranty’
‘Buy my grass and receive a 20 year warranty’
‘We offer the best grass warranty on the market’
‘Buy my grass and we will give you a lifetime warranty and a free trip to the moon’
Maybe you haven’t seen this last one but I am sure you have come across some of these offers.
Here I am going to give you my opinion on the majority of artificial grass warranties and what the chances are that the company will act on the said invisible piece of paper. In essence I am going to show you why you don’t choose your artificial grass installer based on Warranty alone.
For me personally, I buy my artificial grass from the manufacturer who in turn gives me a warranty. I have had nothing in writing from them as to what is actually covered, however I know from my long term relationship with the manufacturer they will back me on any issue. However all they physically would do is reimburse me for the piece of grass that is faulty.
You may think this is fantastic customer service on their behalf but that is the easy bit.
Cost to me of replacing the grass
Having received the new piece of grass from the manufacturer I would then have to:
– Pay my team for the additional work
– Order a skip
– Remove the old grass
– Replace timbers if required
– Add aggregates and rescreed
– Lay the new grass
So you can see that the installation companies are likely to bend over backwards to avoid having to go through this process. And they do …
20 year warranties amaze me
Offering a 20 year warranty is amazing..why?
Ask yourself what are the chances of this company being around in 20 years?
What are the chances of you being able to prove that the fault you are claiming in the 19 years the grass has been down was an actual fault in the grass and not just wear and tear? Read the small print of the warranty for other exclusions.
I know the real reason companies offer these long warranties – to sell. Many people actually decide to choose their artificial grass installation company based soley on the length of the warranty offered! The companies that give these long warranties don’t even lay the grass correctly ie no sub base so I know exactly what the grass will look like in 6 months let alone 20 years.
I personally offer 5 years warranty on the product and a 5 year workmanship warranty
No paperwork is handed over but for me personally its all about trust and more importantly word of mouth. Bad news can travel very fast on social media these days and when you are so reputation orientated as we are at Perfect Grass this is something we want to avoid at all costs. I am also confident that my product will look great in 5 years time as we always make sure there are more than enough aggregates under our installs and we put in fixings around the perimiter to stop any issues.
Warranty of Works
This brings me on to my final point which relates to the warranty on works. I recently came across a local company who offer a 10 year warranty on their works. Fantastic you must think. They must be really sure on the standard of the works they do to offer this.
No is the answer it’s complete tosh. This company puts in no fixings and certainly no sub-base just a thin layer of fine aggregates and that is it.
They are a new company claiming to be experts. I would suggest to them they open up a warranty hotline to get ready for all the calls claiming the product they laid 6 months ago has a few issues. Good luck with the response I say!
In summary warranties aren’t worth the paper they are written on and the only solid thing you have is the trust of the installer fitting your product. So don’t choose your artificial grass installer based on the length of warranty alone. Instead this is the best way to choose an artificial grass installer. This post details the questions you should be asking your installer and the things you should be looking out for. Good luck!
For a no obligation quotation call us on 020 81664168 or us our quotation form.
This is so true, we see this all the time as well out here in Arizona. And just because you’ve got a crazy warranty doesn’t mean you’re actually good at laying it down properly! So glad someone made a post about this. I hope it reaches the audience that needs it!
I wish I’d read your blogs before I chose my artificial lawn installer. I think I would have come to you. I’ve had my lawn down just three years and one side has lifted up and the aggregate underneath has washed away, the wooden frame that wasn’t attached to anything has rotted and the other side of the lawn has also started to shift. The installer doesn’t want to know and won’t even come out to take a look . I was give a 10 year warranty at the time but it is only the manufacturers UV guarantee and there is no guarantee on materials. We’ve had 2 specialists to look at the lawn and both have said it hasn’t been fitted correctly. Base is uneven (It has not been compacted properly)
Granite dust has not been used to finish the base.
Base has sunk in many places
Pile direction of the grass is wrong. (should face the house)
The wood used to tack the grass down is rotting. (wood is not needed in the installation)
The grass is not flush to the edges
The weed membrane is in the wrong place (should be placed below the aggregate) – we have a dog which they knew.
The edges of the grass have not been tucked in.
The only response I’ve had is that ” well it’s been down for 3 years what do you expect” –
Can I please ask – do you think they are being reasonable?
Hi there sorry to hear this. In a word no they are not being reasonable.
The problem is nowadays there are too many of these people about and anyone can lay a lawn so it looks good for now.
The problem being it is about the longevity of the area that’s why we go into such detail of getting our groundworks correct, because they last.
Firstly did they use type 1 sub base? If not this is why it would have dipped a lot in a short time.
The membrane should always go underneath for dogs however not a lot of installers know this.
The timbers we use are treated 3 by 2 and they are concreted in place, with a membrane underneath, free draining aggregates on one side and then wrapped round with the grass. We know timber rots but expect to get at least 6/7 years out of them before they deteriorate.
The warranty is one the biggest grey areas that people really don’t understand, there are some companies offering 20 years and the amount of people who book their install on the back of this rather than concentrate on the standard of groundworks being fitted.
My advise to you is to return to the fitter and tell him you have had a couple of companies round to look at it and have been told it is totally unacceptable.
Feel free to email me some photos of the area, maybe showing underneath if you can and I can advise you from there.
best regards
Hi Gavin, i really like your post as you told mostly grass installer companies offer long warranty and give cheap rates but they don’t know behind of this warranty and low rates they just wasting their time and money, so my personal opinion always avoid such kind of person and companies being a Artificial grass installer company owner i never give my customers only few year warranty.
Regard: Joseph
Hi mate I agree, we give 5 years on our work and grass. I would rather give the customer something actually worth something where we will act and correct anything, rather than a promise that is worthless.
Regards
Great posts gav keep them going