Buying guide · Perth
How to choose a stone sealing company.
Four questions separate a specialist from a cleaner who dabbles: what product, how it actually protects the stone, what is guaranteed and in whose name, and whether the price is in writing before they start. Ask those four and you can screen any operator in Perth, even if you never call us.
The short answer
Screen them before you book.
Sealed stone looks the same on the day whoever does it. The difference shows up a year or two later, in whether it is still shedding water or flaking and stained. So you cannot judge the job by the finished look. You judge it by the answers to four questions, asked before anyone touches your stone. A specialist answers all four straight. A cleaner who treats sealing as a bolt-on gets vague on at least one.
The screening checklist
- What product will you use, and can I see the data sheet? A specialist names it and hands over the technical sheet. Vagueness here is the first red flag.
- How does it protect the stone: on top, in the pores, or bonded into the surface? This decides how long it lasts. If they cannot tell you, they do not know what they are applying.
- What is guaranteed, for how long, and in whose name? A verbal promise from a sole trader is worth what the trader is around to honour. A registered guarantee backed by the manufacturer is on the record.
- Is the full price in writing before you start? A firm, all-inclusive figure before a drop touches the stone is the clearest sign of a professional.
Use it on us too. The whole point of this checklist is that it works on anyone. Ask us the same four questions and hold our answers to the same bar. If we could not answer them straight, we would not deserve the job either.
The four questions, in detail
What a good answer actually sounds like.
Here is each question, why it matters, and the answer to listen for. None of it needs you to be an expert. It just needs the operator to be one.
What product, and can I see the data sheet?
A specialist names the coating and can produce its technical data sheet. A cleaner who dabbles reaches for whatever penetrating sealer is on the shelf and often cannot tell you the brand, let alone show you the sheet. You are not expected to read the chemistry. You are checking whether they know, and are willing to show you, exactly what is going onto your stone. If the answer is a shrug, that is your answer.
How does it protect the stone?
There are only three ways to seal, and the one they use decides how long it holds. A film sits on top and eventually peels, yellows and has to be stripped to redo. A penetrating sealer soaks into the pores and, in Perth sun and cleaning, breaks down from the inside within a year or two. Our coating is a third class: a mineral sol-gel that anchors into the mineral and pore structure and protects right at the surface where wear and cleaning happen. A specialist can tell you which of the three they are applying. If they cannot, they do not really know what it does.
What is guaranteed, and in whose name?
This is the question most people forget, and the one that protects you most. Ask what is covered, for how long, and whose name the guarantee is registered in. A verbal reassurance from a one-person operation is only as good as that person still being in business when something goes wrong. A guarantee that is documented and registered, and backed by the manufacturer rather than a single trader, is on the record and travels with the work. Ours is a 10-year guarantee, issued by JUMBOGUARD and registered against your job through a Certified Applicator, not a handshake.
Is the price in writing before you start?
A firm, all-inclusive price in writing before any product touches the stone is the plainest sign of a professional. Ask whether preparation and cleaning are included, and whether the number can move on the day. A vague per-metre rate that grows once they are on site is the oldest trap there is. Ours is 16 dollars per square metre all-in, with a 950 dollar minimum, confirmed in writing before you book. No moving number, no surprises when they pack up.
Why question two carries the most weight
The product decides the whole outcome.
You can prepare a surface perfectly and apply it beautifully, and it will still fail early if the sealer itself is the wrong kind for Perth. That is why how the coating protects the stone matters more than any other single answer. There were only ever two old ways to seal, and both put the protection somewhere that wears out fast here.
That is the short version of the wedge. The full comparison of the three types, and which suits which stone, is in sealer types compared, and the mechanism behind why a bonded coating outlasts the other two is in how sealing actually works. Read either before you take a quote and you will know more than most operators do.
One honest caveat
A great answer is not the same as a great job.
These four questions screen out the operators who do not know what they are doing. They cannot, on their own, guarantee the ones who pass will prepare your surface properly on the day. That still comes down to craft: a full clean so the seal bonds to sound stone, the right coverage, the right conditions. So use the questions to build a shortlist, then judge the finish and the paperwork you actually get. A registered guarantee matters here too, because it is the thing that holds an operator to their answers after the van has left. Naming that limit is the point. Anyone who tells you a checklist alone removes all risk is overselling it.
See it on your stone
Know your material before you ask.
The more you know about your own stone, the sharper your questions land. Start with your material, see how a good coating protects it, and walk into the conversation already able to tell a real answer from a vague one.
Natural stone · optimal
Limestone
Perth's Tamala limestone is soft and thirsty, so the wrong seal shows up fast as flaking and salt damage. Here is what protecting it properly looks like.
Read the guideNatural stone · optimal
Travertine
Porous carbonate stone, a favourite around Perth pools. See how a coating anchors into the pore structure and keeps the colour you paid for.
Read the guideNatural stone · optimal
Granite
Siliceous stone where the coating forms a genuine bond. See how it sheds oil on a benchtop or paving instead of letting it soak in.
Read the guideChoosing an operator, answered
The real questions.
How do I know if a stone sealing company is any good?
Screen them with four questions before you book. Ask what product they will use and to see its data sheet. Ask how it protects the stone: on top, soaked into the pores, or bonded into the surface. Ask what is guaranteed, for how long, and in whose name it is registered. And ask for the price in writing before they start. A specialist answers all four without flinching. A cleaner who dabbles gets vague on at least one, and that is the tell.
Should a stone sealing quote be in writing before work starts?
Yes. A firm, all-inclusive price in writing before a drop of product touches your stone is the single clearest sign you are dealing with a professional. If a price is quoted per square metre, ask what it includes, whether preparation and cleaning are in it, and whether it can move on the day. Ours is $16/m² all-in with a $950 minimum, confirmed in writing before you book, so there is no growing number when they pack up.
What is the difference between a specialist and a general cleaner?
A general cleaner treats sealing as an add-on and often reaches for whatever penetrating sealer is on the shelf, applied fast to get to the next job. A specialist chooses the coating to match the material, prepares the surface so the seal bonds to sound stone, applies it to the manufacturer specification, and stands behind it with a registered guarantee. The stone looks the same on the day either way. The difference shows up a year or two later. If you want the science that explains why, start with sealer types compared.
Does it matter what sealer a company uses on my stone?
It matters more than almost anything else. Most sealers are one of two old types: a film that sits on top and eventually peels or yellows, or a penetrating sealer that hides in the pores and breaks down within a year or two in Perth conditions. Ours is a third class, a mineral sol-gel that anchors into the mineral and pore structure and protects right at the surface where wear and cleaning happen. It is the one and only next-generation sol-gel surface protective coating in Australia, and nothing else works quite like it. Ask which type an operator is putting on your stone, because it decides how long it lasts.
Is a cheaper sealing quote worth taking?
Only if it is genuinely the same work. A cheap quote is usually a cheap penetrating sealer applied fast with little preparation, which is why so many Perth surfaces are resealed every year or two. The saving disappears the first time you pay to redo it, and a failed film has to be stripped back to bare stone first. Compare what is actually being applied, how the surface is prepared, and what is guaranteed, not just the headline number.
Keep reading
Related guides.
Buying
What a sealing guarantee covers
Question three in full: what a real guarantee protects, for how long, and why whose name it is in changes everything.
Read the guideBuying
Is DIY sealing worth it?
Before you hire anyone, the honest case for and against doing it yourself, and where it usually goes wrong.
Read the guideThe science · pillar
Sealer types compared
The three ways to seal stone, side by side, so you can tell exactly which one an operator is proposing.
Read the pillarGet a quote
Ask us the four questions.
We will name the coating, show you the data sheet, explain how it bonds into your stone, and put the price in writing before you book, at $16/m² all-in and registered under a 10-year guarantee. Hold us to the same checklist you would use on anyone.