The honest premise: almost every failed stone carpet we are asked to look at in the UAE was laid with acceptable stone — the failure was the base, the resin grade or the crew, and all three are decided by the contractor you choose, not by the product. Resin bound is unforgiving of shortcuts and very rewarding when there are none, so the questions below are the ones that separate an installer from a reseller. RBS has made resin bound in-house since the company began and installs with its own crews, so we have a stake in this — but every question is one you should put to us too, and we will answer it.
1. Who lays it — their own trained crew, or a subcontractor?
Ask plainly, and ask who will be on site on the day. Many resin bound “companies” in the UAE sell the job and pass the installation to whichever crew is free, and the base preparation, the mix ratios and the trowelling depth do not survive being handed down a chain. A contractor with its own trained crew can tell you who trained them, how long they have laid this surface and what they do when the mix starts to stiffen in August heat. RBS’s crews are in-house and have laid this surface for 8+ years in the UAE, which is why the people who quote are the people responsible for the finish.
2. Which resin grade — and will they say “UV-stable aliphatic” without prompting?
This is the UAE question. Cheaper aromatic resins amber and haze under direct sun within a couple of summers; a UV-stable aliphatic binder does not. A contractor who cannot name the grade, or who hides behind “premium resin”, either does not know or does not want you to. We produce our own binder for exactly this reason. You do not need the chemistry; you need the word “aliphatic” said with confidence, and ideally a sample that has sat outside for a year.
3. What will they do to the base before laying?
The base is most of the job. Ask what they will check on the site visit — soundness, cracks, falls, edge restraint, how the water leaves at the perimeter — and what they will do if the existing slab is poor. A good answer includes the possibility of saying no: “this base has failed and an overlay would be money buried on top of a problem.” A contractor who quotes from a photo without a base plan is pricing a surface, not a driveway. Does a resin bound driveway crack explains why this matters.
4. What thickness, and is it the driveway build or the path build?
Resin bound is laid at roughly 6–10mm for paths, courtyards and interior floors and 15–18mm for driveways and pool surrounds, and the two are different jobs for good reason. The classic shortcut is quoting the path build for a driveway to win on price; the drive then sheds stones at the turning point within a year. Ask for the thickness in writing on the quote, alongside the rate. RBS resin bound starts from AED 170/m² plus a one-off AED 3,500 mobilization fee per project, whichever build the job needs, and the cost guide explains what moves it.
5. Can they show work that is two or more summers old?
Fresh photos prove that a crew can trowel. Old work proves that the resin held its colour, the base held its shape and the edges held their stone. Ask to see a surface laid two or three summers ago — in person if it is local — and look specifically at the sunniest patch, the edge against the kerb and the spot where the car turns. If everything they can show you was laid this season, the guarantee they offer has never been tested.
6. Do they sell you a kit, or refuse to?
A contractor who also sells DIY kits is telling you something about how much they think the installation matters. The material is the cheap part of a stone carpet; the preparation, the mix discipline and the trowelling hand are what you pay for, and a kit removes all three. We do not sell resin, aggregate or kits — we supply and install as one job — and we would rather say that plainly than lose a job to a bucket.
7. What do they say when resin bound is the wrong answer?
Ask about a ramp, a wall, a kitchen floor or a wet bathroom and listen. The right answers are, respectively, resin bonded for grip (if the two “resin bond” methods blur together, see resin bound vs resin bonded), microcement for the wall, microcement for the kitchen, and usually microcement or tadelakt for the bathroom — not “yes, resin bound does that too”. A contractor who says yes to everything will also say yes to a failed base. Our own limits are written down on the technology page and in stone carpet in bathrooms.
The pattern behind all seven
Every question is really the same question: does this contractor treat resin bound as a surface they are responsible for, or a product they resell? Base, resin grade, thickness, crew, aged work, no kits, and the willingness to say no — a company that answers all seven straight will also answer the eighth, which is the price. Ours is published: resin bound gravel in Dubai, resin bound driveways in Dubai and resin bound in Abu Dhabi, from AED 170/m², supply and install, plus a one-off AED 3,500 mobilization fee per project.
Comparing resin bound quotes? Send them, with a photo of the area, on WhatsApp or call +971 4 587 7086 — we will walk through what each one includes. Ours starts from AED 170/m² plus a one-off AED 3,500 mobilization fee per project, confirmed after a site visit.
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