Building and finishing materials

• Natural stone in blocks, slabs cut to 2 cm or 3 cm, and finished pieces. Polished, honed or brushed, bundled by block so a run matches.
• Porcelain and ceramic tile to ISO 13006 and EN 14411, specified by water absorption group and by abrasion class rather than by trade name.
• Cement products and dry mixes, cement to EN 197-1 class, adhesives and screeds with the batch certificate.
• Insulation to the EN 13162 to 13171 family, specified by declared thermal conductivity and by thickness, not by brand.
• Sanitary ware, ceramics and fittings, with the pressure and flush tests stated.
• Cable and electrical goods, with the reaction-to-fire classification the destination building code requires.

Tile is the clearest example. “600 by 600 porcelain, grey” is not a specification: it leaves out the water absorption group, which decides whether the tile can go outside; the abrasion class, which decides whether it survives a commercial floor; the rectification, which decides the joint width; the surface slip rating; and the calibre and shade batch, which decide whether two pallets laid side by side look like one floor.

We write those into the order before asking for a price, and we ask for the shade and calibre batch to be held across the whole quantity. A second shipment from the same factory in a different batch will not match the first, and no discount fixes it.

A quarry sells blocks by the cubic metre. A factory sells slabs by the square metre, bundled by block. A fabricator sells pieces cut to a drawing. Different prices, different packing, different waste and different people to argue with.

If the buyer intends to fabricate, bundle integrity matters more than the unit price, because slabs from different blocks will not match across a run. Most commercial travertine and much marble is resin treated and often mesh backed, which is normal and has to be declared. Stone sold as unfilled that arrives resin filled is a claim. The detail is on the Türkiye corridor page.

Tile travels on pallets and is lost to corner damage; the pallet has to be strapped and corner-protected and the stretch wrap has to be real wrap, not three turns. Stone travels on A-frames or in wooden bundles with the faces separated, and a sealed crate that cannot breathe marks light material with trapped moisture.

Cement products and dry mixes are hygroscopic: they want a liner and they want to be loaded last and discharged first. We write the breakage and moisture allowance into both contracts in the same words, with the same inspection window and the same evidence standard.

Which certificates matter depends entirely on where the goods are going, and this is settled before the order rather than at the border. In the European Union, construction products in scope carry a declaration of performance and CE marking. In the Eurasian customs union the equivalent is the EAC conformity regime. In the United States the question is usually the HTS classification and whether a trade remedy order touches the product.

We agree the classification in writing before the order is placed, because the importer of record is liable for a wrong one and the seller is not.