Concrete Driveway removal and installation
I asked the owner, Ray Mang, to keep the driveway he poured for me several inches away from the property line which he did, and to pitch the concrete away from our garage and house which he also did. But after the job was finished, it rained that night and the next day there was a puddle about 5 or 6 feet in diameter in front of the garage. Standing water like that is going to collect mosquitoes in the summer. The winter freeze/thaw cycles will destroy that part of the driveway, not to mention make it a slip hazard for the elderly like me and my wife. I was furious and stopped payment on his check. I argued with him for a half an hour while he kept blaming the screw up on the garage! Then he said he would drill a hole in the middle of the puddle for the water to drain! How dumb is that? The water will just freeze and thaw under the slab and break it apart. He offered to redo that part of the driveway for the cost of materials, but not until the spring. Given all the other problems with the job, I told him I didn't want him screwing up anything else, and I gave him a choice: "Take $500 off of the $10,950 contract, or get a bad review on Angie's list." He didn't hesitate to choose the bad review. I gave him the balance of the contract amount and hope never to see him again. It's probably going to cost me another $2,000 to fix the ponding. Other problems with the job: • We signed the contract in the 3rd week of July when he said he would start work the middle of August. (I needed the job done before September.) Mid-August came and went. I kept calling him; he kept giving me excuses. He and his crew finally showed up on August 30, and finished on September 4. • He assured me that he would be on the job site to keep an eye on his crew. It's his job to manage them, not mine. But he was often absent. At one point I showed a crew member where I wanted an expansion joint, and he got testy with me, "Don't tell me how to do my job," he said. Excuse me, I'm paying almost $11,000 for this. I think I have a right to tell you where I want the joint. • The control joints for a 4-inch concrete pour should be at least 1-inch deep. He assured me, they would be. Guess what. No surprise, they're only 3/4 inch deep and even 1/2 inch in spots. Now, there is no guarantee that the concrete will crack along the joints like it is supposed to. In a few years, there will be random cracks and slabs of concrete pushed up from frozen water below. • Some of the control joints weren't cut long enough. • After the initial cure (about 4 - 8 hours) a seal coat is supposed to be applied to keep the moisture in the concrete from evaporating so that it can harden completely. (The longer concrete is wet, the harder it gets.) Ray showed up a day and a half after the pour and sprayed the sealer unevenly so that parts of the driveway are soaked in sealer and other parts have little or no sealer. This is going to lead to uneven curing which will lead to cracking. • The initial contract was for $8,950. After the old driveway was removed, he told me that he had measured incorrectly at 1350 sq ft, but the driveway was actually 1600 sq ft. I measured the job at 1550 sq ft. Fair enough. We added an extra $2000 to the contract. The guy can't even measure right. In general, if you want a poorly done job that's not going to last, and a long list of excuses and broken promises, Ray's your man.
