Diamond Stone: tiles and slabs that match

Date: 2026-11-11. Revision 1. Drawn in docs/ui-shell-mockup.html under "Website and portal: tiles and slabs that match" and "Matching: how staff do it".

The owner's rule, in their words: "we do not give as blocks. What we ensure is that the final tiles or slabs are homogeneous and match."

This document turns that into a promise a customer can check, the work that backs it, what each screen shows, and what the terms say. Where another document disagrees with this one on what is sold or on matching, this one wins.

1. What changes

Before	Now
Formats: slab, tile, block	No blocks, anywhere. Slabs, tiles, cut-to-size pieces, and finished pieces (steps, skirting, sills)
The opening line: "Inspected slab by slab"	"Tiles and slabs that match." Inspection is how; matching is what the customer gets
Variation was something to warn about	Variation is something we control and show: a range agreed first, then delivery inside it
The customer approved photographs of slabs	The customer approves the range before ordering, and the layout of their own job before it ships
A lot was a unit of stock	A lot is the unit of matching: one job, one lot
Reorders were a reminder message	Spare from the same lot is kept against the job, with an end date

2. Why this is the right thing to promise

Finding	Source
Appearance is "the most contentious aspect" of a stone job; no two people agree on the same mark	Stone Federation Great Britain, 2022
The agreed range is "too frequently" forgotten by the time the stone is laid, and judged by someone who was not there when it was chosen	The same
Sellers' terms mostly protect the seller: "no two tiles are alike", "the order may vary from the sample", no promise that more will match	Published terms of several sellers
European standards do not ask for sameness. They ask the supplier to declare the appearance with a reference sample of several pieces showing the range, compared at about 2 m in daylight	EN 12058, EN 1469 (2004 editions; newer ones to be read)
One Greek supplier makes the layout its service: every tile placed, photographed, bar-coded, and changed if the client asks	Stone Group International
A narrow range costs more: more waste, longer time	Polycor
Grade names (Select, Classic, Commercial, First) are not standard; one quarry's lower grade can be cleaner than another's higher	A UK retailer's guide to Crema Marfil

So the gap in the market is plain: most sellers say "stone varies, check it yourself". A trader's whole value is doing the selecting and matching for the customer and proving it. This is also what a trader can do that a quarry does not.

Not found: any independent study showing that showing variation honestly reduces complaints. Sellers say so; no figure is used in this plan.

3. The word

The owner's word is homogeneous. It is right for what is meant, and it is kept as our internal name for the aim.

In public and in the terms, the plan uses "matched" and "consistent". Decided by the owner on 11 November 2026. The two reasons:

In the tile trade, "homogeneous tile" already means full-body porcelain. A buyer or a specifier may read it that way.
In a dispute, "homogeneous" can be read as "uniform, no variation", which no natural stone can meet. Oman's consumer law requires descriptions to be accurate.

Use	Avoid
Matched · consistent · selected · from one lot · within the range you approved · calibrated · laid out and approved	Identical · uniform · no variation · exact match · guaranteed match · same as the sample

4. The promise

Five lines, each one checkable. This is what the website, the quote and the terms say.

One lot, wherever the quantity allows. Your order comes from a single selected lot, in one finish, at one thickness. If one lot cannot cover it, you choose where the change falls before you pay.
A range you approve first. Before you order, you see the lightest, the typical and the most veined piece. You approve that range.
Delivered inside it. Nothing outside the approved range is packed. Judged as the standards judge it: at about two metres, dry, in daylight.
Laid out before it ships. For a project, your tiles or slabs are laid out, photographed and numbered. You approve the layout. They are packed in that order with the plan.
Spare kept. We keep spare from your lot for an agreed time, so a breakage or a small addition still matches. How much, how long, who pays and where it sits are settings (section 14).
Put right. If a piece falls outside the range you approved, we replace it from your spare, at our cost.

Line 6 was added on 12 November 2026 (docs/CRITIQUE.md section 5). Without it the promise read as a disclaimer: approval as acceptance, no claim once fixed, and nothing said about what we do when we are wrong.

And one honest line with it: pieces are matched, not identical, and a later lot may differ. If a job must span two lots, we say so before the order and agree where the change falls (a doorway, a floor, an elevation).

5. What we sell

Format	Detail	Matched how
Slabs	20 and 30 mm. Not thicker (see section 11)	Cut in sequence from the lot, numbered, kept in order; book-matched pairs where the stone suits
Tiles	Sizes as the catalogue lists (for example 60 × 60, 60 × 120, 80 × 80), 10 to 20 mm, calibrated	Sorted into tone groups; one group per room; blended across crates
Cut to size	Pieces cut for a drawing	Laid out to the drawing, numbered piece by piece
Finished pieces	Steps and risers, skirting, sills, thresholds	From the same lot as the floor or wall they meet
Samples	A set showing the range, not one piece	Each sample knows its lot

Blocks are not sold, quoted, listed or mentioned as a product. Sizes above are to be confirmed against what the suppliers actually cut.

6. How it is done

The trader does not cut the stone. The supplier's factory does. What Diamond Stone controls is the choosing, the witnessing, the record and the refusal.

#	Step	Who	What is recorded
1	Define the selection. Each stone has one to three selections (for example Select, Classic), each defined by photographs of its range and one sentence	Purchasing, owner	Range photographs; the sentence
2	Choose and reserve one lot at the supplier for the job, with the spare added	Purchasing	Our lot number; the supplier's own reference (staff only); area; pieces
3	The range goes to the customer: four or five pieces, or photographs of them, in the ordered finish	Sales	Who approved, when, which photographs
4	Sort. Pieces grouped by tone; anything outside the range refused	Purchasing, at the factory	Tone group per piece or per crate; count refused, with the reason
5	Measure. Thickness and size checked on a sample of pieces	Purchasing	Readings against the tolerance
6	Lay out (projects): placed as they will be fixed, photographed whole and in parts, numbered	Purchasing, at the factory	The layout photograph; a number per piece; the plan
7	The customer approves the layout, or asks for a piece to be changed	Customer, in the portal	Approval; each change asked for
8	Pack in order. Crates labelled with our code, the piece numbers inside, and "crate 2 of 5". Sealed	Supplier, witnessed	Crate list; photographs at packing
9	Check on arrival where goods pass through our yard: a sample of pieces against the kept control sample	Warehouse	Result; any difference
10	Deliver with the plan and laying advice: lay out dry, take from all crates, look before fixing	Driver; the portal	Plan handed over; advice acknowledged
11	Keep the control sample, the photographs and the spare against the job	Warehouse	Where the spare is; until when

Small orders (a bathroom, a few slabs) skip step 6: the customer approves photographs of the actual pieces instead, as already planned.

How photographs are taken

Daylight or one fixed light. Dry, never wet. A colour card in the frame. Straight on. The finish that was ordered. A photograph is a guide; where they differ, the physical range sample decides.

What a trader cannot control, said plainly inside the company

The geology; the next lot; what the factory does when nobody is there; how the installer lays it. The answers are steps 4, 8 and 10, and the spare.

7. What the customer sees

Where	What	Words
Home	A part of its own, high on the page: a laid-out floor	"Tiles and slabs that match." "One lot. One finish. One thickness."
A stone	"The range": lightest, typical, most veined, from real lots, dated. The formats offered	"What you receive stays within this range"
How we match	The steps of section 6 as five photographs. Replaces "How we work"	"Chosen, sorted, laid out, numbered, kept"
Samples	A range set, not one piece	"Three pieces, so you see the whole range"
The quote	One line, not a warning	"From one lot, within the range you approved"
Portal: approve the range	Before accepting the quote	"This is the range. Approve it"
Portal: approve the layout	Their own job laid out, numbered; tap a piece to ask for a change	"Your floor, laid out. Approve it, or ask us to change a piece"
Portal: the order	"One lot" and the spare kept	"Spare kept until 14 May 2027"
On delivery	The plan; which crate holds which numbers; three lines of laying advice	"Lay it out dry before fixing"
More of the same	What is left from their lot, and until when	"38 m² left from your lot"
A project page	The layout photograph beside the finished room	The client's own words

Following the owner's rule on confidence: the customer never sees tone groups, refused counts, supplier references or lot arithmetic. They see their range, their layout, their spare.

8. What staff see

Screen	Shows
A lot	The stone and selection; pieces and area; tone groups; thickness readings; treatment (resin, filling, mesh); range photographs; who it is reserved for; spare
Sorting at the factory	Piece by piece or crate by crate: in range, or refused with a reason and a photograph
A layout	The photograph; numbers; crates; changes the customer asked for; "send for approval"
Before an order is confirmed	A check: does one lot cover the area plus the spare? If not, it cannot be confirmed without an agreed place for the change
A selection	Its range photographs and sentence; which lots have been sold under it
Spare	By job: how much, where, until when; a reminder to the customer before it is released
A complaint about matching	The approved range, the layout and the delivered photographs side by side

9. Rules the system enforces

Rule	Why
A quote line for a project names one lot, or says in words that it spans two	The promise is "one lot"
An order cannot be confirmed before the range is approved	The range is the agreement
A project order cannot be loaded before the layout is approved	Approval before loading already existed; this widens it
The spare is reserved with the order and cannot be sold to someone else before its date	Otherwise the promise of a matching top-up is empty
A sample is always of the ordered finish, and knows its lot	A finish changes the colour
Photographs marked as range or layout must carry a date and a lot	So they stay true
Filling, resin or mesh on a lot is recorded and stated on the datasheet	The standard requires treatment to be declared
The public site says "matched", never "identical" or "guaranteed"	Section 3

10. Terms of sale

For the lawyer. Replaces clauses 1, 2 and 4 of the list in docs/DOCUMENTS.md.

Clause	Wording in plain words
What we commit to	Supply from one lot, in the finish and thickness ordered, within the range the customer approved
How it is judged	Against the approved range, dry, in daylight, from about two metres
What approval means	Approving the range, and then the layout or the photographs of the actual pieces, is acceptance of appearance
Natural stone	Pieces are matched, not identical. Marks typical of the stone and shown in the range are not faults
Sizes	Thickness and size within the tolerance on the datasheet
Before fixing	The customer lays out dry and looks before fixing. No claim about appearance once pieces are cut or fixed
Spare and later orders	Spare is kept until the date on the order. After that, or beyond the spare, a later lot may differ and we will show it first
Two lots	Where an order spans two lots this is written on the quote, with where the change falls

11. Blocks, and the export rule

A 2019 resolution is reported to bar the export from Oman of raw marble as blocks or as slabs thicker than 3 cm, with exceptions by written approval; a 2025 trade agreement is reported to allow a quota of blocks to India. Neither touches this business as now defined: no blocks, and slabs of 20 and 30 mm. The current rule should still be confirmed once, because it sets the thickest slab that may be exported. On the website, the ban stays only as a fact in the history of Omani stone.

12. What can go wrong

Risk	Answer
The photograph's light differs from the site's	Fixed light and a colour card; the physical range sample decides
Wet stone looks darker	Photographed and approved dry; said on the approval screen
A sealer or adhesive darkens the stone	Said in the laying advice; try on a spare piece
The installer lays crate by crate	Crates numbered, the plan in the first crate and in the portal, "take from all crates"
The job is delivered in phases	The whole lot reserved at order; otherwise a change agreed at a doorway or an elevation
The factory swaps material after approval	Our seal and label on approved crates; photographs at packing; a check on arrival
The customer approves on a small phone screen	Enlarging is built in; a physical range sample is offered for every project
A top-up after the spare is gone	Shown beside the original range before it is sold; never sent unseen
The customer wants a narrower range than the lot gives	Offered as a higher selection, with its cost and time, before the order
Nobody from us is at the factory	The supplier's photographs are accepted only with our label in frame; marked "not witnessed" on the lot

13. Measured

Orders from one lot; orders with the range approved before confirmation; layouts approved first time; pieces refused at sorting; complaints about matching per hundred orders; top-ups served from spare; spare released unused.

14. Decisions for the owner

The public word: settled. "Matched" and "consistent" in public and in the terms; "homogeneous" stays internal.
Who does the layout: the supplier's factory with our person present, now that orders go direct from the factory (decided 12 November 2026). Our own yard only for a supplier whose stock we hold.
The spare: settled on 12 November 2026 as configurable: how much (default 5 %), how long (default six months), who pays (default: included), where it sits (with the stone: at the factory for a supplier who delivers direct, in our yard for one whose stock we hold). Each can be set per stone, customer or order, and the quote says what applies. See docs/REVIEW.md section 12.
Selections: how many per stone, and their names.
Layout for every order, or for projects only (proposed: above a set area).
Formats and sizes actually offered, stone by stone.
Whether an outside inspector is ever used. No prices were found; quotes would be needed.

15. Sources and limits

Read directly on 11 November 2026: EN 12058:2004 (preview); EN 1469 and EN 1341 in translation of older editions; Stone Federation Great Britain, inspection of finished stone work (2022); a trade journal on quality control and sampling by ISO 2859-1; Polycor on ranges; Stone Group International on its layout service; one seller's terms and laying guide; a retailer on Crema Marfil grades; Oman Observer on the 2019 resolution; a trade report on the India agreement; a law firm's summary of Oman's consumer law.

Not confirmed: the 2015 editions of the EN standards; the tile standard EN 12057 (seen in summary: calibrated tiles to half a millimetre); the American guides; any British wording on blending; inspection firms' scope and price; typical spare percentages (trade habit, 5 to 10 %); standard tile sizes (market practice). No measured colour tolerance for marble was found, and machine sorting is reported to work less well on stone than on ceramic, so the eye and the range stay the test.

16. After the critique (12 November 2026)

From docs/CRITIQUE.md:

The promise has a sixth line, the remedy, and "one lot" is "wherever the quantity allows". If a second lot is found to be needed after the advance, the customer may cancel with a full refund.
The layout step is called "See your floor before it ships". At that step the lot is shown beside the range that was approved.
Who approves. An approval link can be forwarded, and records the approver's name and firm. For small orders the customer may choose "pick for me, within the range". The time allowed is written on the quote.
A large layout on a phone: a tap looks closer at a 3 × 3 group; a second tap chooses a piece; previous and next step through; a numbered list is the other way.
The spare is never sold back. At its end date it is delivered, or kept longer, at no charge.
Laying advice is on every crate label as pictures and on a card in crate 1, in the installer's languages. The receiver signs "counted, not inspected for appearance".
The customer is never shown refusals, a note that one piece differs from its neighbours, or what is being hidden.
Seals are numbered and logged, and appear on the approval and the delivery note. "Witnessed" can be set only from a staff phone at the place.
The factory is paid for the stone only (decided 12 November 2026). Selecting, laying out, packing to our rules and keeping the spare are part of what that price buys, and the purchase terms say so. A timed slot for each layout keeps the factory's floor free.
Inspection before the balance is chosen per order by our people: photographs and video, a live video call, in person at a neutral point, or at the factory.

17. Settled by recommendation (12 November 2026)

A range shows three pieces. A job is laid out above 40 m², and always when cut to size; below that the customer approves photographs of the actual pieces. Each is a setting (SETTINGS.md section 10).

18. On the public website: one point, not the headline (12 November 2026)

The owner found the website "too much into match". The promise stands; its volume on the site is reduced. Section 7's rows for the home page and "How we match" give way to docs/WEBSITE.md section 30: stones lead, and consistent supply is one of five points under "Why Diamond Stone", a "Variation" part on each stone, one of seven services, and its own page for those who want the detail. The quote, the portal and the staff app are unchanged.