Buying guide · Perth
What does a sealing guarantee actually cover?
Most sealing guarantees are worth less than the paper they are printed on. A real one covers the sealed surface performing as described for a set term, names who stands behind it, and states how they will put it right. Here is what to look for, and why ours is registered to your job and backed by JUMBOGUARD.
The short answer
A guarantee is only as good as what it names.
If you want the quick version: a sealing guarantee is worth something only when it does three things. It sets a term, so you know how long it runs. It names who stands behind the coating, so there is a party to hold to it. And it states the remedy, so you know exactly what happens if the seal fails. A line on an invoice that says "guaranteed" and nothing else does none of that. Ours does all three: a ten-year term, JUMBOGUARD standing behind the coating, and a defined remedy, all registered to your job.
A term
How long it runs
A date you can point to. Ours is ten years. Without a stated term, "guaranteed" means nothing, because there is no period it has to hold for and nothing to measure a failure against.
A named backer
Who stands behind it
Not a promise one contractor makes alone. Ours is issued by JUMBOGUARD, which stands behind the coating itself, through Extera as a Certified Applicator. A named party is a party you can hold to it.
A defined remedy
What happens if it fails
Not a shrug. Ours is spelled out: if a registered seal does not perform as described, a certified applicator re-treats the affected area. You know the outcome before you ever need it.
The trap to avoid: a guarantee that promises the world and names nobody. "Lifetime", "permanent", "never fails" all sound generous and mean nothing, because there is no term, no backer and no remedy behind them. The generous-sounding word is not the point. What is written under it is.
Why most are hollow
The guarantee that vanishes when you need it.
The typical sealing guarantee in Perth is one sentence on the bottom of an invoice. It reads well on the day. The problem shows up eighteen months later, when the seal has worn off and you go looking for someone to honour it.
- No term. "Guaranteed" with no number attached cannot be enforced, because there is no period it was ever meant to hold for.
- No named backer. The promise rests on one operator being reachable and willing years later. Plenty are not, and then the paper is just paper.
- No remedy. Even where a claim is accepted, "we'll take a look" is not a defined outcome. A real guarantee tells you what gets done and by whom.
- No record. Nothing is registered anywhere, so there is no independent trace of what was sealed, with what, or when. It all lives on a lost invoice.
Covered, and not
The honest boundaries, in plain English.
A guarantee only means something if the boundaries are clear. The definitive terms live on your certificate; this is the plain version, and it is the same list on our main guarantee page. Naming what is not covered is the honest part, so here it is up front.
Covered
- The coating's repellency doing its job: the treated surface keeps repelling water and oil-based contamination better than an untreated one, for the registered term.
- Workmanship of the application by Extera's certified applicators.
- Registration and documentation for your job, tied to your address.
- The remedy if a registered seal fails to perform: re-treatment of the affected area by a certified applicator.
Not covered
- Physical wear, abrasion, scratching or scuffing.
- Etching or damage from acids, alkalis or impact.
- Weathering or fading of the surface material itself.
- Staining from spills left uncleaned for too long.
- Surfaces not prepared to spec, or unsuitable substrates.
- Deposits coming back: the coating makes them easier to remove; it does not stop them landing.
On top of your rights: this guarantee is provided in addition to your rights under the Australian Consumer Law and does not exclude, restrict or modify them. A guarantee can add to those rights. It can never take them away, and you should be wary of any that tries. The full version is on the guarantee page.
Why we can back it
A ten-year guarantee needs a coating built to earn it.
You cannot register a decade-long guarantee against a sealer that wears off in a summer. The reason ours can carry the term is where the protection sits. The category only ever had two ways to seal, and both put the protection somewhere that fails fast in Perth. Ours puts it somewhere that holds.
On porous stone and concrete, MineralProtect is a mineral sol-gel that anchors into the mineral and pore structure, protecting 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 like it. That is why a decade-long guarantee is honest to register against it, where it would be a fantasy on a sealer that hides in the pores or peels off the top. Two clocks make it work: one coat performs for about one to three years, and the guarantee runs the full ten over the top, kept performing by re-treatment on a rhythm we track for you.
That is the short version of the mechanism. The full explanation, why the beading you can see is not the same as the protection you cannot, is in what a seal does, and what it does not, and the chemistry itself is in how sealing actually works.
One honest caveat
A guarantee protects the coating, not everything.
Here is the line worth reading twice. A sealing guarantee covers the coating doing its job. It does not turn your surface into something indestructible, and any guarantee that implies it does is the one to walk away from. No sealer stops acid etching a benchtop, stops a heavy object chipping stone, or stops a spill left for a month from staining. Those are not the coating failing; they are the surface being damaged by something the coating was never built to resist. A guarantee you can trust is honest about that boundary up front, on the day you sign, not buried in fine print you only find at claim time.
See it on your surface
What the guarantee protects, by material.
A guarantee is only as real as the surface it is registered against. Start with what you are sealing, then get the honest read for it.
Concrete · optimal
Exposed aggregate
The driveway that came with a film that whitened and peeled, and a "guarantee" nobody honoured. This is the seal that bonds into the surface and carries a registered ten-year term.
Read the guideNatural stone · optimal
Limestone
Perth's Tamala limestone is soft and thirsty, so a worthless seal shows up fast as flaking and salt damage. See how the coating anchors in, and what the guarantee actually covers on it.
Read the guideGlass · optimal
Frameless glass
The shower screen and pool fence where GlassProtect keeps hard water lifting in one wipe instead of a razor blade. See what the coating does, and what a guarantee on glass means.
Read the guideGuarantees, answered
The real questions.
What does a sealing guarantee actually cover?
A guarantee worth having covers the sealed surface performing as described for a set term, names who stands behind it, and spells out how they will put it right if it does not. Ours covers the coating's repellency doing its job, the workmanship of the application, and a clear remedy: re-treatment of the affected area by a certified applicator. It is registered to your job and backed by JUMBOGUARD. It does not cover damage you cause, acid etching, physical scratching or the stone weathering on its own, and no honest guarantee claims to. The full boundaries are on the guarantee page.
Why are most sealing guarantees worthless?
Because they are a sentence on an invoice, not an instrument. There is usually no term, no named party who stands behind the product, and no defined remedy. When the seal fails a year later, the one-person operation that did it has often moved on, and there is nothing to enforce. A guarantee only means something when it names who backs it, ties itself to your specific job, and states exactly what happens if it fails.
Is a guarantee the same as my consumer rights?
No. Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law apply to every job whether a guarantee exists or not, and a guarantee can never take them away. A good guarantee sits on top of those rights and adds something they do not give you on their own: a defined term, a named backer, and a specific remedy. Ours is provided in addition to your consumer law rights and does not exclude, restrict or modify them. Be wary of any guarantee written to look like it replaces them.
What does "registered to your job" mean?
It means the guarantee is logged against your address, the exact surfaces sealed and the coating used, then issued to you as a certificate. It is not a generic claim printed on a flyer. If you ever need to rely on it, the job is already on the record with JUMBOGUARD, tied to your property, rather than resting on whether a contractor is still around to remember it years later.
Does a ten-year guarantee mean one coat lasts ten years?
No, and anyone selling you a coat that lasts a decade untouched is not being straight. There are two clocks. One coat of MineralProtect performs for roughly one to three years depending on the surface and how hard it is used. The guarantee runs the full ten years over the top and covers the sealed system performing as described, kept performing by re-treatment on a rhythm we track for you. Running a little late does not switch it off; a lapse only affects a claim to the extent it actually caused the problem. The two clocks are explained in full on how often you should reseal.
Keep reading
Related guides.
Buying
Choosing a sealing company
The questions to ask, the red flags to walk away from, and how to tell a real specialist from a bloke with a sprayer.
Read the guideBuying
How often should you reseal?
The two clocks in plain terms, and the ten-second water test to read your own surface instead of guessing.
Read the guideThe science · pillar
What a seal does, and what it does not
The full picture behind the guarantee: why the beading fades first, and how a reseal tops up without stripping.
Read the pillarGet a quote
Sealed once, and registered.
We prepare and seal your surface with the right coating for the material, at $16/m² all-in, registered under a 10-year JUMBOGUARD Performance Guarantee. A guarantee with a term, a named backer and a defined remedy, tied to your job. Not a line on an invoice.