Placed paver patio
Contract read: "To be completed in 4-6 working days." Monday, Day 1: Pavers arrived. Crew of two arrived and excavated a few wheelbarrow loads before leaving within a few hours. Tuesday, Day 2: Crew of five showed up in the morning. Worked for eight hours and completed excavation. Wednesday, Day 3: Crew of five arrived in the morning. Began laying pavers on a minimal layer of crushed concrete/sand (thinner than contract dictated). Rain came around noon and ended after about an hour and a half. Foreman approaches me to tell me that the estimate of square footage was in error and I owed an additional $860 for two more pallets of pavers! I called the owner who stated that, "That's what the computer tells her." During the rain the crew covered work area with several tarps that I provided. Crew left around 1:30 p.m. stating, "We don't want to get sick." It didn't rain again for the rest of the day. Thursday, Day 4: Foreman stated that they would arrive by 8:30 a.m. At 3:30 p.m. I received a phone call from AMC office stating that the foreman was "just around the corner", and the crew was "on its way." At 5:30 p.m. the foreman called me to say that no one would show this day. I had stayed home from work, including several meetings, in order to be here when the crew arrived. Friday, Day 5: Crew arrived on time this day. Foreman called me at work to say that the fire ring could not be laid as per the drawing. The entire fire-ring plan had to be simplified due to this "misunderstanding." Saturday, Day 6: Crew of four came on time! They worked all day and completed the laying of the pavers. Crew was paid by foreman and left. Foreman tells me that the crew was told not to return to my property or else they would be considered trespassing. He aIso stated that AMC would not be using them again. I don't know why he told them this. Their work was very adequate, excellent in some areas . Monday, Day 7: Was told a crew would arrive at 8:30 a.m. I received a call at work from AMC office telling me that there was a death in a company employee's family and it would probably be another no-show day. At 5:30 p.m. a subcontracted crew showed up and finished sanding the joints and "sealing" the pavers. They were on the site until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, Day 8: Foreman arrives, cleans up project area a bit and asks for final payment. The original contract and attached drawing was ignored in several important points. I was held responsible for the discrepancies, but AMC was not...even after taking 8 days to complete. I paid $860 more than the contract agreed. To be kind, I would say that I was mislead several times. My wife lost sleep during this time. We had planned and saved for this patio for fifteen years. Almost two weeks later I am still sweeping sand into unfinished paver joints that are 1" wide. The owners are very friendly people. We hired them because we interacted so well with them. The job is complete. It cost us much more than we had been told it would. It was a very disappointing and frustrating experience. The foreman left on the last day after apologizing several times. The job is complete. It cost us much more than we had been told it would.
