Description

On 9/21/24 Micheal knocked on our door. (Paraphrasing all their quotes) “We are in the neighborhood doing work for (neighbors’s name and name) and we want to make you an offer to fix your driveway”. I said great as we wanted the cracks sealed and then the whole re-sealed with tar as is appropriate. I was upsold HARD and told that they would give me such a deal on resurfacing the whole thing. I was pressured into accepting which I am ashamed of. They didn’t remove the old black top but made a big deal about putting down 2 inches of new on top of the old. “It’s less expensive for you and will make it stronger”. I now know that the old should have been removed or at minimum dressed for reception of the new. I asked for additional drain at the top of our drive to direct road drainage into the ditch as the heavy rain comes down our drive and into our garage. Initially they sold me on an installed grated drain and delivered a “better deal” of a berm to deflect water with no reduction of cost. I had to keep a constant eye on them as they would not have contoured the drainage into the down hill drain beside the house effectively. They also, to make matters worse, left an 1.5 inch lip above my garage floor. Remember the additional 2 inches of blacktop over the top of my existing? That would have caused winter rains and snow melt to flood my garage. After they were ‘done’ I was to ‘sign off on the work’, I expressed severe doubts about the quality of the black top and that I knew that the general practice was to dress the old blacktop to receive the new. And ONLY if it was so badly damaged that resurfacing was warranted. Our drive only had cracks and was weathered. The new blacktop was very course and water was draining through it. I was concerned that water would freeze between layers and lift the new from the old as there had been no prep work. I was poo-pooed and made to feel like an idiot. I had to INSIST on a solution to the garage door edge. I spoke with the brother of Micheal (can’t remember his name but he’s a ‘fast talker’) who made a big show about how it was “poor shoddy work” and “all Micheal’s fault” and that “it would come out of his paycheck”. They reluctantly offered to come and install a drain “all very much at our own expense” to tie into the drainage at the bottom of the drive, which has, a year later, cracked and needs repair. All while throwing around dollar numbers and telling me what a great thing they were doing for me because (without admitting it) they KNEW that the drive SHOULD have been prepared before over paving. And finally… there is a cast iron access port to the city’s water works which is within the end of our drive. They left it sunken down that 2 inches which collects water. (I had them at least seal it with tar to prevent it chipping up with water freezing in the depression. I tried to make it ‘good’) The street has this summer been repaved and I have been informed that because the port has been altered, essentially by us, that the city can’t lift it to be level with the deck and that we must pay to have it done. Any damage to the port would be our responsibility. I attempted to contact LWM and P and the number doesn’t ring through. I thought that they had blocked me as they had promised to come and seal the drive after the curing time and I’m sure they were expecting me to call back. Yes, I did have to hound them to get ANY sort of cooperation. However, when I tried another phone the number still drops. I now need to find a reputable company to repair the city’s water works port before it is damaged or breaks someone’s ankle. I advise that anyone, if pressured into making instant decisions, to take that as a clue to step back and take the time to research the company in question for clarity. These guys use well practiced psychological tricks! They worked nearly every driveway in our dead end neighborhood and made so much money via their fast talk. And finally, they didn’t treat their workers very well at all and I had to supply they all with ice water as often as I could as they worked in the summer heat. The workers were constantly told to “HURRY, HURRY, HURRY!” in Spanish. Apologies, my photos of evidence are apparently too large to upload.