Wonderlawn on BBC Radio
Wonderlawn’s Managing Director Mel, was interviewed by John Acres for BBC Radio Stoke’s Breakfast show.
They discuss the rise in popularity of artificial grass during the lockdown in the UK.
These type of interviews are how we constantly grow our advertising reach for our franchisees.
You can read a transcript below:
John Acres: “This reminds me of when I’d cut my nan’s lawn with a Flymo petrol mower but it is a sound you might well be hearing less and less because more people are replacing their actual grass with fake stuff.”
John Acres: “I replaced my grass during the first lockdown with stones and raised beds and stuff, but more people are getting astro turf which is a brand name, but fake grass for you and in locked down one everyone went crazy for DIY etc. They reckon that the demand for artificial grass from companies in Staffordshire has doubled. Mel Wright is from Wonderland, one of the
companies putting fake grass down in gardens across Stoke and Staffordshire and around the country. Good morning!”
Mel: “Morning John”
John Acres: “Hi how are you doing Mel?”
Mel: “I’m fine thank you.”
John Acres: “Busy by the sounds of it?”
Mel: “Yeah yeah we’re very busy at the moment, fortunately for us.
John Acres: “So is this is this something we’re seeing more in lockdown two or was this the case in lockdown one that you were busy as well?”
Mel: “I think it’s been fairly steady throughout the course of the year. The first part of lockdown, maybe the first couple of months, people were really getting used to the difficult situation everybody was in, but I think as you said a bit earlier, that you know the DIY industry seems to have benefited from from this sort of situation and artificial gross has been no different.”
John Acres: “I’m going to cut to the chase, I want to know how much it costs because that’s what people are thinking this morning. What can you put an artificial lawn down for? Sort of per square foot or meter or whatever?”
Mel: “Well at our end of the market, which is the professional install end, you’re looking at around about 72 pounds a square meter, that would be for the dig out the base preparation levelling the grass install the infills that go in. everything that’s involved in the installation.”
John Acres: “all in?”
Mel: “Well it depends on the size”
John Acres: “obviously that was a stupid question”
Mel: “yeah yeah, but we would install around 40 to 50 square meters which would be a typical size lawn. And we would complete that in one day.”
John Acres: “right okay and what do you think peoples motivation is to do this?”
Mel: “A lot of it’s families with kids who want somewhere for them to play in the winter, you know to kick a ball about or whatever”
John Acres: “Do you think it’s people who are fed up of cutting grass or do you think it’s to do with fashion and the way things look? What do you think is going on?”
Mel: “I think there’s no fashion involved in this, I think it’s exactly as you mentioned before, I think a huge amount of customers buy for a dog. You know they want to get their dog outside without the problems of bringing mud and dirt and cleaning the lawn and all of those sort of things involved. so there’s a there’s a there’s a mix of reasons, but generally it’s it’s lifestyle choice.”
John Acres: “There’s a stigma, isn’t there? Some people think they’re too good for it, too posh for it, don’t they Mel?”
Mel: “Well we have a whole range of customers right from a small two-bed town-house or semi, all the way up to detached properties that are installing five or six hundred square meters alone. So we have a real mixed range of customers.”
John Acres: “And how much looking after do they need?”
Mel: “Well artificial grass isn’t maintenance free, but it’s very low on maintenance, so it may take you five minutes a month to look after a typical size lawn. Whereas a normal lawn will take a lot more than that if you if you’re looking to keep it in good condition and make it usable for the family.”
John Acres: “I’ve got a mate right, he’s got one of these, he’s not got a massive back garden, but he gets the vacuum cleaner out on it!”
Mel: “I’ve seen that a couple of times, but that’s that’s not what we would advise people to do. Hoovering lawns is not a great idea. Usually a stiff brush now and then is all you would need.”
John Acres: “It’s very odd he’s posted a video of it, he’s so odd. listen i know you’re busy thanks for taking some time out for us Mel.”
Mel: “No problem, thanks for having us on!”
John Acres: “Go steady, that’s Mel from Wonderlawn, a company that installs fake grass.”
Thanks to John and the BBC for taking with Wonderlawn.