Why can’t things go smoothy?  What’s wrong with smooth??

*sigh*

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We had our driveway replaced in early July.  As you can see…it needed to be replaced.

It actually needed replacement when we bought the house about 9 years ago, so it really was time.  I’m pretty sure our neighbor’s thought so, too.

There are so many options for doing concrete these days and some stamped concrete seemed like a good idea.  We did the center without stamping, so it was easier to shovel snow and play basketball on it.  Isn’t it pretty now??

We found the concrete company on Angie’s List, and he had good reviews.  We met with him in the spring and he put us on his work list, we paid the downpayment and were waiting for our late May, early June driveway replacement.

Well, they didn’t rip it out until June 25 and it was supposed to take 3-4 days.  Okay, we knew he would be behind due to the very rainy June we had, so we could understand that.  He didn’t contact us to tell us about the wait and he was supposed to show up that previous Monday for tear out.  No contact until that weekend to say he was coming out on Monday.

I went home over lunch on that Tuesday to pick the concrete colors for the  main pad and the stamped area.  I had to wait an hour for him to show up on my lunch hour (hours??), but we got it figured out and I gave him another check for materials.  Apparently, he has NO float in his business to buy materials.

We ended up giving him two checks before he even completed the driveway.  The first one was a home equity check, and he said it took too long to cash.  Okay.  Well, then we gave him a checking account check.  Again…took too long to cash due to no local branches.  If he had cashed the first one the day I gave it to him we would not have had to wait until that next Monday before they could pour the concrete, which we ended up buying directly with our credit card.

At least we got some points out of the deal.

Had he told us before the job started that he needed materials cost, we would have gladly written him a check. We really didn’t want to have to wait on them.

Then it took over a week before they came back and took off the forms and cleaned up their wheel barrows and other random forms that they left lying in our yard and the NEIGHBOR’S yard.

Again, no contact.  The whole time Brian has had to call him to find out when he was coming.  Most of the time, he did not come when he told Brian he was coming.

This dude is the second generation owner.  I’m guessing his dad has his act together, contacted his clients and got the jobs done in a timely manner (instead of 2.5 weeks for a 3-4 day job).  The kid is going to run the business into the ground.

And Angie’s List is going to get an updated review.

He was trying to get more money out of us for a time, even though we paid more than what was quoted to us.  We haven’t heard from him  lately, though.   Apparently he gave up and/or maybe used some math.  I don’t expect he will have a business for too many years if he can’t figure out how to bid a job and make sure he makes money at it.

At least it is done now, though!