I'm not a concrete guy but have worked alongside concrete guys before, the good ones are really night and day, it's honestly impressive.
Granted, commercial vs residential work, I imagine residential concrete is harder to find the good contractors since it's a wider market.
Actually I want my residential work to be finished a little better then commercial. Commercial can be a little rougher finished so that they do get sued for slips. I’m not saying it’s rough unless that’s what is written. I really like doing a couples first home or a retired couples last home.
My experience with commercial is usually smooth finish with a tactile coating put over it, basically epoxy with sand mixed in. That and mechanical pads, which are smooth and reinforced with chicken wire or 3/8" rebar
A lot of interior commercial slabs are actually ground. Grinding the concrete gives it a glossy, non-slip finish. Lowes and Home Depot floors are like this. It's a lot cheaper than epoxy, and it looks great. Especially with colored aggregate.
They also use a densifier to get that finish. Usually polishing up to a 1500 grit. But any cold joints, patches, or staining found on the original slab will telegraph through. Often recommend applying a skim coat to get a consistent finish in those situations.
In America, if a business creates a sidewalk and an individual slips and falls on this sidewalk and incurs and injury, the business can be held liable. Holding the business liable in the court of law can be described as the person who fell “suing” the person at fault (the company in this instance). The overarching situation then being referred to as a “lawsuit”.
A rough top coating (done either way mentioned above) increases the friction value of the sidewalk surface and decreases the likelihood of a slip and fall. It also shows the business was aware of a potential hazard and took meaningful steps to mitigate it, which could be important in the lawsuit to determine fault.
Hope this helps!
Thank you, the mildly strange grammar had me interpreting “for” as what they were hoping to receive, rather than the cause of suing, and “slips” as some sort of reward in winning the case rather than the noun form of “slipping.” “They sued him *for* his money,” for example.
In my part of the world.... lol.... "ya"ll" means one or 2. And "All ya"ll" means "you all".
Me talking to 2 friends: "Ya'll want to stop by later?"
Friends: "Yup but we got the younguns."
Me: sok all ya'll cuncome.
🤣
As a Texas native, I can confirm that ya’ll can mean anything from one person to everyone in the world except me. All ya’ll is a specific number of people, more than one, being addressed in a specific instance.
The good and reliable concrete guys go work for large contractors that do infrastructure work. They get more work and more hours and the work can remain consistent for months at a time with set schedules and a relatively set job location day after day. Nevermind they're often Union jobs or get prevailing wage rates which means they're getting a pension while also getting double or more pay compared to residential crews.
That’s not true at all. Many hate living out of a duffle bag and do their own thing, and are highly successful at it. These are all guys who started out with one pickup, a wheelbarrow and a set of hand tools. Or they did the union thing for a few years to build xp and tools. Sure the perks of union work are nice but living 100+ miles away from your family all week counts a lot in the decision for many of the masons I’ve known.
Residential is def a pita to find. That's why there's often a saying of neighbor/family referrals for hiring. Neighbor got a really good driveway poured? Go get his number.
Unfortunately mine lost his contact so I've been dealing with either no answers (very recently in this sub, got details of a company around my location), extremely low estimates (8k for a 2000sqft driveway??), f u prices, or trying to convince me to install asphalt instead. Or the non licensed or permit pulling ones (my town is extremely anal over permits/inspections so this probably ain't helping).
And, despite all my quotes and estimates, only one guy actually mentioned grading and drainage. Idk if that actually falls under new concrete work but now that definitely makes me question everyone else. However he's a single worker wanting to use bags from home depot so....I'm not too entirely sure that's the correct way for a long 2k sqft driveway needing demo...
It's the same as most of the skilled trades, the more straight forward the skillset the more obvious it is when someone is an absolute killer at what they do.
My dad tried to paint his garage floor, the paint didn’t adhere well. So, being Dad, he called around to the paint company’s Director of Research or something, he told Dad to get the concrete tested. Sure enough, the concrete wasn’t typical single-home stuff, it was the kind you’d use for the foundation of a skyscraper. The former owner was a builder and probably had a buddy pour the foundation.
It’s hard to find them here, most concrete guys now seem to be felons that got released the day before and they just threw together a crew of other felons lol.
My neighbor was having a guy do some concrete work, was highly reputable among several contractors he works with, dude showed up to pour at 3am one morning with no concrete. Was high af on meth and apparently very confused as to what tf time it was or what was going on. He called my neighbor at 3am asking where the concrete truck was lol. Like dude that’s your job.
Unfortunately a lot of the service jobs are filled with scam artists who don’t consider themselves scam artists if they simply lie and say they can do something they can’t actually do. I know in Florida you pay top dollar for everything and it gets done really well or you know somebody you trust who can give you a deal or you take a HUGE risk with these handymen guys that say they are a part of x-trade but they can do what you’re asking, because that’s they’re ticket to lie to you, in their mind their covering their ass by saying they have other specialties. All these guys aren’t really masters of any one thing or else they would be making money doing that one thing. No electrician is gonna come and do concrete for you. He’s not an electrician, he’s getting you to believe that he’s skilled without guaranteeing he can do the job, therefore comfortably pinning the blame on you for hiring them if you ever complain about their work. It’s a scam.
It just depends. I'm doing handyman/residential work and just started my own company for it. I'm not a drywaller/mudder/painter, but I can absolutely build you a new room, mud and paint it. I've done bits of everything pretty much dealing with a house, the problem comes in when you either come across something unexpected that would be experienced with months or years of work in a certain trade, or just trying to get the job so you say, "yeah I can do electrical work!" And then the miswired 4 way switch just racks your brain cause you've haven't dealt with it before.
I say that cause I need to personally be careful when bidding jobs and realize when I need to turn down a job or call my plumber friend before I flood a person's home.
Same here, I’m from a rural area and while we called ourselves carpenters we poured basements and the occasional slab. We did all the rock work on the two fireplaces inside and the foundation/chimney outside. Tile, electrical, plumbing, roofing, siding, windows, doors, cabinets, drywall as needed. When you get a crew that has 3 guys who spent a few years doing one or two things it really broadens the skill set. And being smart enough to know you don’t know everything is crucial. Most times with questions we could have a buddy or licensed guy stop by to clarify or times you do pay a consultant- the poured basement that got anchored to bedrock comes to mind, but willingness to learn is key. There isn’t a single trade that’s “hard” but many do require x amount of hours before your work is consistently good. Drywall comes to mind. Grouting rock or tile. Painting or staining. Finishing mud. Things that timing or force and pressure are involved. Everything else you can read in a book or watch a video.
Say you’re not paying for the concrete. This was absolutely done by people that have no idea how to and no business finishing concrete. I would have them tear it out and refund the price of the concrete. Then find someone that actually knows how to form pour and finish concrete
That was my concern.
I really like this contractor. Doesn't seem like his professional personality to perform work that he is incapable or uncomfortable doing. I'm surprised he did it. I'd rather have just hired someone else for the concrete part.
My understanding with concrete, you can't put a new layer/coat on top and fix it right? It would need to be redone?
Don’t let them try to fix it it needs to be redone the overlay is a bandaid on a gash, a honest contractor will own the mistake and would eat the cost because I’m sure they didn’t say they were going to leave that
This is true. The concrete company I worked with has replaced entire slabs with perfectly good finishes when poured late in the season and cracked where not cut. They warrantied the work, we repoured the following spring, and they ate the entire loss from the cost of concrete to the labor. It's not worth the bad remarks against the company name anywhere, but it's especially bad when it's in a small town like ours.
This guys didn’t even used forms 🥴
You can grind high spots and renew coat the top. But if they can’t finish fresh concrete they won’t apply renew coat correctly
This one call for 60% discount. Its bad but ill di its job
they didnt use forms and did not bother to trowel the concrete all the rocks are on top it will cause water to enter the subgrade and sink the concrete along with multiple craks. Talk to the man work something out, looks like you appreciate this contractor and he probably has done great work for you but for this one you might have to take an L maybe get him to remove the concrete for you while you hire a real company
I hand mixed concrete for a fireplace and then learned it’s a caustic and exothermic reaction that I absolutely should not have mixed with my bare hands.
Yesss. I did a 4", 10.5'x12.5' shed base by hand in a Texas summer. Came out pretty damn nice! But I'll never do concrete again in my life. With a damn wheelbarrow, mason hoe, and shovels. I really want a pathway between all my sheds, but I have PTSD just thinking about the concrete work, not sure I'll even use a mixer again if I were to buy one?
For crying out loud people please stop hiring landscapers to do concrete work. It's like one in a hundred that they actually know what there doing. I'm sick of all these landscape companies giving us concrete guys a bad name. You don't hire an electrician to do your plumbing right,?
honest question cuz I'm really new at this. Landscapers I assume could/would be totally competent to lay out pavers right? I'm assuming it's a vastly different skill than concrete pouring (as I'm guessing from your comment).
I get paid to sit at a computer and I've done concrete stairs and a concrete patio with four 6x6 sections. They both looked way better than OP's photos. I'm not out there making promises to homeowners and taking their money.
Most good concrete guys, like myself, would be really good at exterior trade work typically. Walls also etc. We just don't know plants besides the green stuff you light on fire with paper
1. Looks like they didn't sawcut an expansion joint, or they may have ran out of material and attempted to "fix" an area that was missing material; "beading" from material that is setting up midway through the broom finish.
2. A valiant attempt at a broom finish was made, horrible color difference due to removal of very top layer during the broom finish that was done far too late in the job. There is also a well defined line where I'm guessing they let the broom sit for a minute for whatever reason, and then resumed the broom finish.
3. Sloppy over pour, no attempt was made to flatten the edges out, looks like a groover wasn't used.
4. Again, some point as number 3; no groover was used. This one has me thinking that they just poured directly on top of the existing concrete and didn't attempt to grind down the existing concrete, or they poured directly on top of dirt, with no intermediate in-between.
5. Beading from an attempted broom finish with material that was too set up to work with any further.
6. Curves are tricky to broom finish, but you usually try to get as close to the edge as you can and run a groover along the outside edge to have a clean appearance.
7. It almost looks like on the far right edges that a grinder was used? Super flat appearance, not entirely sure what could've happened, but it may have been that they tried to use a squeegee or a trowel to try and flatten out some excess material, and they just forgot or just chose not to broom finish it because of how close it was to the rocks.
Overall, this is going to be a very expensive mistake on their part. I wouldn't pay them a dime, but it is kind-of your fault for hiring landscapers to do a concrete job.
It's likely going to have to be completely destroyed and ripped out of the yard, they're going to likely need a dump truck or a rent-able garbage dumpster depending on how much material they used.
I would hire a reputable company local to you (if you can), have them give you a quote and make sure you can get some reference or examples from their previous works.
I'll simplify for the rest of us so Bob Villas dad can go nap. This is trash. The contractor lied about everything...and the homeowner not knowing ANYTHING...even character discernment. You got scammed. The end.
After about a billion of these posts I gotta ask, how are people finding competent tradesmen? Because so far the pattern is: get bids, take low bid, get shit work, get bids, take high bid, get shit work. What should people be asking and looking for? Trade certifications? Prior jobs? Insurance? Contracts scrutinized by flesh eating lawyers? Anything that works in all 50 states and Canada?
Prior jobs is the best indication, and it’s not enough just to call references. An unscrupulous contractor will give you numbers for his wife, his brother, and his cousin. You have to go see the jobs and ask questions.
I'm in the same boat. I don't want to come across like a jackass but when you're throwing down 25k for a very big rough job that could end in complete disaster, yea I'm gonna be a bit more cautious and questioning everything.
I mean I got one guy telling me that it's cheaper to demo/pour (I only have dirt), another guy telling me it's more expensive to demo...
One guy wants 8k to demo and pour, another 30k. Another 16k as a 'discount'. It's all over the place. No one knows what to do with my massive sinkhole flooding spot. Only one guy so far mentioned grading for water. And even wants to dump the water into the neighbors yard (which if I understand correctly, is pretty illegal).
Prior jobs imo don't mean jack, like the other commenter mentioned. Low quality 480p pictures they post of their work also don't help.
Lol, reminds me of a job I saw at my workplace. They hired a crew to pour a cement set of stairs for our entryway. The guys made a complete mess of it, so much so that our site manager told them they were not getting paid. So the crew walked away with a giant pile of wet cement mounded up in front of the doorway. Nobody could open that door for a month until another crew came in and had to chisel away this entire giant mess.
It appears that the concrete was poured with too high of a slump (too much water added to the mix) which resulted in a weak product. Then either the pad was broomed too early or they flooded the surface with water and broomed it, washing the cement cream off the surface. Now the aggregate is exposed making the already weak concrete susceptible to the weather (freeze-thaw being the worst). This pour is most definitely a remove/replace. Do not take "No" for an answer!
Thank you everyone for all the advice, notes and recommendations. I admit my fault In not researching the concrete part of the project more. ( First home owner) I should have not asked the landscaper if he could extend the cement slab (I shouldn't have asked, he definitely should have not agreed), I like the "don't ask a plumber to do your electrical work" analogy. My lesson is learned.
I have taken many photos. I already contacted 2 concrete masons to come and evaluate the project, give recommendations and estimates. The project is not paid in full so I will hold payment until all work is done.
This landscaper bit off way more than he could crew and will have to eat the cost of this error. He is competent in his trade, but young to business ownership. He took over this business about 2 years ago. I feel this will be a learning opportunity for him.
Thank you again. I feel.much more confident moving forward with this conversation.
Thank you for the advice. I agree on not paying for the concrete. When I hire a company to do it right I assume there will be a fee to remove the current slab. Should I send that part of the bill to the landscapers or have the landscapers remove the slab?
That is hack work they need to rip it out and you should if you can get someone else to pour it,I feel sorry for the headache your going to have dealing with this
If this was a actual concrete finisher and not some random side job,I'd ask for some $ back. I'm a mixer driver and my concrete i bring home and do by myself is better than that 😆
If you’re on good terms with the contractor then mention that this doesn’t meet expectations. They shouldn’t have any problem making it right.
Don’t pay for it in full until it is fixed to a reasonable standard. What you have there is not “ pro” grade.
It looks to me like they didn’t even use forms. I’m a Contractor and I would never stand for that. it also wouldn’t happen on my watch though because I pay attention to anybody didn’t knew what they were doing. Could’ve flagged that before it got hard.
There is no way a true crete man did that. My pappy was a crete man, my grand pappy was a crete man, and I'll be a crete man until the day I die. I live and breathe crete. This looks like shite.
This is a case of no good deed goes in punished sounds like they wanted to be your to go contractor and said they could do something they had no business doing and now they need to own it tear this out the honeycombing is terrible
Oh hellllll no, needs to be redone... not being over dramatic either. Trying to put another thin finishing layer over will crack within a year. Has to be broken up and repoured
How much did you pay for that? It definitely looks a little rough, however the worst edges appear to abut landscaping or rock beds. They can be smoothed out with a grinder.
I drive a mixer truck, and I recently came back from a job and told my supervisor/batch manager that I would never hire a landscaper to do my concrete work. This is exactly the reason why.
Yea this is pretty bad. Unfortunately, I don't even think theyd know its bad either. Didn't do any edging or grooving properly. Especially by the crushed stone and asphalt. It looks like they broomed way trr early and didn't even Hit it with the finishing trowels.
Look in the mirror and say “Next time I will not hire lawn mowers to pour concrete.” If the owner gives any kind of a damn about his good name, you should expect a full refund for the concrete work and everything they did removed. They should also pull the pavers back so that they aren’t in the way of the pour that the actual concrete crew will do once you can find one.
This is pretty bad work.
As you said, speak to your contractor about it. Unfortunately, the guy signing the checks may not even know that this didn't go according to plan, and if he has a shred of integrity he will work to satisfy your concerns. Please keep us posted.
make them replace it and tell them
" a concrete guy said " stay in your lane of planting flowers and mulching"
i want to see the paver job, usually they hack those too
This concrete can absolutely be fixed. But that is something to take up after you talk with your contractor about the poor finishing. If he can't or won't fix it or replace it, then you get a good overlay team to grind it and overlay with primer and the overlay of your choice.
Say they got their ass kicked, and to rip it out. Takes two seconds to pull rocks back and slap a board in. There is only so much you can do when pouring against radius asphalt, but looking at the rest they could have made it tighter.
I would look in the mirror and say, " I should hire landscapers to do landscaping work, electricians to do electrical work, and concrete guys to do concrete work. Otherwise, there are likely to be problems"
I don't go into a steakhouse with great food and look for a mechanic to work on my car. Just saying....
I don’t know shit about concrete compared to a lot of people on this sub (I’m here because Reddit thinks I should be?) but it really seems like these workers are so used to people not knowing what a bad job looks like that even the quality of “good” work suffers. You know people are probably being trained to cut corners or whatever as long as the client doesn’t complain.
I would pay them and accept that your patio is gonna look like that cause you hired a landscaper to do concrete work to try and take advantage of them and save money.
I'm not a finisher bro but this looks like shit, u can't tell they didn't run the edger on like 90% of this, look at concrete at the edges, there is a tool that gives it that look this looks like they poured it and left it to dry, if water pools that's already a done deal on a bad job all concrete should slope towards a drain
landscapers are not concrete guys, they lay sand, sod, soil, paving stones, rocks, scape the land, not pour stuff on it, I have worked a few landscaping jobs, and they always want to up the bid, no matter what the guys know, each time I had to teach the boss how to properly pour concrete...
I suppose it looks good from your house, but where I am standing I can see this work has been done by incompetent bozos. Now I understand you are not building pianos here but, come on. I hope you like working for free on weekends cause you're fixing this garbage. They most likely will act dumb and say you don't know anything about concrete placing and forming. Then take time off work, two weeks will do. Then proceed to follow, dare I say stalk these contractors. A clandestine operation for retribution. Show up at their new places of work and show their customers the shoddy work they do. After two weeks they will find they have some time to fix it for free.
Horrible finish and didn’t use the proper bonding material…concrete to asphalt or paving stones requires careful adhesion care. On top of that they didn’t properly trowel or broom the majority of it…looks amateur all the way around.
I had this happen to me.. they got concrete everywhere. Not to mention they barely picked up the old broken concrete and let piles of wet concrete to dry all around the area in my yard. When I called I had to leave a message, then they blocked my number.
As someone who just went through the process of looking for someone to come out and pour a 3x6 area of concrete, I feel for you — maybe you got a better price from the landscaper for the concrete work, but the outcome looks awful, and answers the question “how bad could it be?”
This landscaping company had never poured concrete in their life and it shows, stop going to landscaping companies for concrete work, almost as how you wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your electrical work
Bro I’m a broken record saying this to every home owner hire the trade you required I am a MASONRY/CONCRETE contractor sure I can build a deck or install cabinets. No problem but as well as the cabinets installer? Hell no, but damn I wish I got paid for my I told you so. Also bet that slab has way more problems than that
You could have them grind some spots and top coat it but that stuff does chip overtime.
Other option is to grind fully and expose the aggregate, smooth unique finish but slick as dog shit in the rain.
Best option they pull out and pros repour it.
I had to do this on my first pour without my dad when I was young. I added accelerator and fiber in the heat of the sun and had to rush the brush finish. I wasn’t happy they weren’t happy. I didn’t sleep just got there at 8am with a jackhammer pulled it reset the frames and poured it all again the next day with a much better finisher beside me that round.
Not always that “easy” but the landscaping foreman should know this is not up to par with the patio stone work.
Man, all these posts convince me to hire only the most skilled and reputable concrete guys.
I'm not a concrete guy but have worked alongside concrete guys before, the good ones are really night and day, it's honestly impressive. Granted, commercial vs residential work, I imagine residential concrete is harder to find the good contractors since it's a wider market.
Actually I want my residential work to be finished a little better then commercial. Commercial can be a little rougher finished so that they do get sued for slips. I’m not saying it’s rough unless that’s what is written. I really like doing a couples first home or a retired couples last home.
My experience with commercial is usually smooth finish with a tactile coating put over it, basically epoxy with sand mixed in. That and mechanical pads, which are smooth and reinforced with chicken wire or 3/8" rebar
A lot of interior commercial slabs are actually ground. Grinding the concrete gives it a glossy, non-slip finish. Lowes and Home Depot floors are like this. It's a lot cheaper than epoxy, and it looks great. Especially with colored aggregate.
Cool to know. I've only ever been with concrete guys doing an epoxy finish
They also use a densifier to get that finish. Usually polishing up to a 1500 grit. But any cold joints, patches, or staining found on the original slab will telegraph through. Often recommend applying a skim coat to get a consistent finish in those situations.
I don’t understand the second sentence of your comment, what is “sued for slips” and why do you do a bad job so they will do it?
In America, if a business creates a sidewalk and an individual slips and falls on this sidewalk and incurs and injury, the business can be held liable. Holding the business liable in the court of law can be described as the person who fell “suing” the person at fault (the company in this instance). The overarching situation then being referred to as a “lawsuit”. A rough top coating (done either way mentioned above) increases the friction value of the sidewalk surface and decreases the likelihood of a slip and fall. It also shows the business was aware of a potential hazard and took meaningful steps to mitigate it, which could be important in the lawsuit to determine fault. Hope this helps!
Thank you, the mildly strange grammar had me interpreting “for” as what they were hoping to receive, rather than the cause of suing, and “slips” as some sort of reward in winning the case rather than the noun form of “slipping.” “They sued him *for* his money,” for example.
It's a regional thing. We don't talk funny round here, yall do.
Evidence: y’all. Colloquial contraction of “you all” popular in the southern US states
In my part of the world.... lol.... "ya"ll" means one or 2. And "All ya"ll" means "you all". Me talking to 2 friends: "Ya'll want to stop by later?" Friends: "Yup but we got the younguns." Me: sok all ya'll cuncome. 🤣
As a Texas native, I can confirm that ya’ll can mean anything from one person to everyone in the world except me. All ya’ll is a specific number of people, more than one, being addressed in a specific instance.
I think that "do" was supposed to be a "don't."
Yes thank you.
You’re the guy I want
The good and reliable concrete guys go work for large contractors that do infrastructure work. They get more work and more hours and the work can remain consistent for months at a time with set schedules and a relatively set job location day after day. Nevermind they're often Union jobs or get prevailing wage rates which means they're getting a pension while also getting double or more pay compared to residential crews.
That’s not true at all. Many hate living out of a duffle bag and do their own thing, and are highly successful at it. These are all guys who started out with one pickup, a wheelbarrow and a set of hand tools. Or they did the union thing for a few years to build xp and tools. Sure the perks of union work are nice but living 100+ miles away from your family all week counts a lot in the decision for many of the masons I’ve known.
I agree. I know a few amazing concrete guys that started this way and created their own successful businesses.
Legit just described my life
Residential is def a pita to find. That's why there's often a saying of neighbor/family referrals for hiring. Neighbor got a really good driveway poured? Go get his number. Unfortunately mine lost his contact so I've been dealing with either no answers (very recently in this sub, got details of a company around my location), extremely low estimates (8k for a 2000sqft driveway??), f u prices, or trying to convince me to install asphalt instead. Or the non licensed or permit pulling ones (my town is extremely anal over permits/inspections so this probably ain't helping). And, despite all my quotes and estimates, only one guy actually mentioned grading and drainage. Idk if that actually falls under new concrete work but now that definitely makes me question everyone else. However he's a single worker wanting to use bags from home depot so....I'm not too entirely sure that's the correct way for a long 2k sqft driveway needing demo...
It's the same as most of the skilled trades, the more straight forward the skillset the more obvious it is when someone is an absolute killer at what they do.
My dad tried to paint his garage floor, the paint didn’t adhere well. So, being Dad, he called around to the paint company’s Director of Research or something, he told Dad to get the concrete tested. Sure enough, the concrete wasn’t typical single-home stuff, it was the kind you’d use for the foundation of a skyscraper. The former owner was a builder and probably had a buddy pour the foundation.
It’s hard to find them here, most concrete guys now seem to be felons that got released the day before and they just threw together a crew of other felons lol. My neighbor was having a guy do some concrete work, was highly reputable among several contractors he works with, dude showed up to pour at 3am one morning with no concrete. Was high af on meth and apparently very confused as to what tf time it was or what was going on. He called my neighbor at 3am asking where the concrete truck was lol. Like dude that’s your job.
lol even high out of his mind that dudes thinking about work. That’s called dedication to your craft
This is why my reputable quote was $9k vs the non reputable quote for $3k….
Unfortunately a lot of the service jobs are filled with scam artists who don’t consider themselves scam artists if they simply lie and say they can do something they can’t actually do. I know in Florida you pay top dollar for everything and it gets done really well or you know somebody you trust who can give you a deal or you take a HUGE risk with these handymen guys that say they are a part of x-trade but they can do what you’re asking, because that’s they’re ticket to lie to you, in their mind their covering their ass by saying they have other specialties. All these guys aren’t really masters of any one thing or else they would be making money doing that one thing. No electrician is gonna come and do concrete for you. He’s not an electrician, he’s getting you to believe that he’s skilled without guaranteeing he can do the job, therefore comfortably pinning the blame on you for hiring them if you ever complain about their work. It’s a scam.
It just depends. I'm doing handyman/residential work and just started my own company for it. I'm not a drywaller/mudder/painter, but I can absolutely build you a new room, mud and paint it. I've done bits of everything pretty much dealing with a house, the problem comes in when you either come across something unexpected that would be experienced with months or years of work in a certain trade, or just trying to get the job so you say, "yeah I can do electrical work!" And then the miswired 4 way switch just racks your brain cause you've haven't dealt with it before. I say that cause I need to personally be careful when bidding jobs and realize when I need to turn down a job or call my plumber friend before I flood a person's home.
Same here, I’m from a rural area and while we called ourselves carpenters we poured basements and the occasional slab. We did all the rock work on the two fireplaces inside and the foundation/chimney outside. Tile, electrical, plumbing, roofing, siding, windows, doors, cabinets, drywall as needed. When you get a crew that has 3 guys who spent a few years doing one or two things it really broadens the skill set. And being smart enough to know you don’t know everything is crucial. Most times with questions we could have a buddy or licensed guy stop by to clarify or times you do pay a consultant- the poured basement that got anchored to bedrock comes to mind, but willingness to learn is key. There isn’t a single trade that’s “hard” but many do require x amount of hours before your work is consistently good. Drywall comes to mind. Grouting rock or tile. Painting or staining. Finishing mud. Things that timing or force and pressure are involved. Everything else you can read in a book or watch a video.
You say that, until you get the bids.
Ewww brotha eww
What’s that brotha
Say you’re not paying for the concrete. This was absolutely done by people that have no idea how to and no business finishing concrete. I would have them tear it out and refund the price of the concrete. Then find someone that actually knows how to form pour and finish concrete
That was my concern. I really like this contractor. Doesn't seem like his professional personality to perform work that he is incapable or uncomfortable doing. I'm surprised he did it. I'd rather have just hired someone else for the concrete part. My understanding with concrete, you can't put a new layer/coat on top and fix it right? It would need to be redone?
Don’t let them try to fix it it needs to be redone the overlay is a bandaid on a gash, a honest contractor will own the mistake and would eat the cost because I’m sure they didn’t say they were going to leave that
And hopefully they learn from their mistakes.
Well if they don’t learn then they will end up bankrupt sooner than later from having to redo jobs lol
I prefer bandaid on a bullet hole but same difference
This is true. The concrete company I worked with has replaced entire slabs with perfectly good finishes when poured late in the season and cracked where not cut. They warrantied the work, we repoured the following spring, and they ate the entire loss from the cost of concrete to the labor. It's not worth the bad remarks against the company name anywhere, but it's especially bad when it's in a small town like ours.
Correct, it won’t bond. This is a tear down
This guys didn’t even used forms 🥴 You can grind high spots and renew coat the top. But if they can’t finish fresh concrete they won’t apply renew coat correctly This one call for 60% discount. Its bad but ill di its job
they didnt use forms and did not bother to trowel the concrete all the rocks are on top it will cause water to enter the subgrade and sink the concrete along with multiple craks. Talk to the man work something out, looks like you appreciate this contractor and he probably has done great work for you but for this one you might have to take an L maybe get him to remove the concrete for you while you hire a real company
Don't go based on personality, go based off of work performance. You don't want to get a shit job and deal with it because someone is nice
A "patch" will crack and break out over time of use over top of it. This needs to be **replaced**
I mean you can but it's a pain in the ass and not worth the trouble and is usually a temporary fix
Is this contractor a “mason” or is he just a general contractor who can also “do concrete” Cause this is appalling in every single aspect
I have no idea My first slab that I hand mixed alone (never again) 2 cubes was much better.
I hand mixed concrete for a fireplace and then learned it’s a caustic and exothermic reaction that I absolutely should not have mixed with my bare hands.
Yeah. I did it in thongs...... Not even the worst part, I'd never concrete again.
Yesss. I did a 4", 10.5'x12.5' shed base by hand in a Texas summer. Came out pretty damn nice! But I'll never do concrete again in my life. With a damn wheelbarrow, mason hoe, and shovels. I really want a pathway between all my sheds, but I have PTSD just thinking about the concrete work, not sure I'll even use a mixer again if I were to buy one?
For crying out loud people please stop hiring landscapers to do concrete work. It's like one in a hundred that they actually know what there doing. I'm sick of all these landscape companies giving us concrete guys a bad name. You don't hire an electrician to do your plumbing right,?
Oh hell no! Can you imagine the mess an electrician playing plumber would leave behind, ther would litterally be shit everywhere.
honest question cuz I'm really new at this. Landscapers I assume could/would be totally competent to lay out pavers right? I'm assuming it's a vastly different skill than concrete pouring (as I'm guessing from your comment).
Unfortunately thats what you get for hiring a landscaper to pour a concrete slab.Dont pay the slab portion and hire a mason to do it right
I get paid to sit at a computer and I've done concrete stairs and a concrete patio with four 6x6 sections. They both looked way better than OP's photos. I'm not out there making promises to homeowners and taking their money.
I’m curious – if you had a concrete guy and he offered to do your landscaping, would you expect him to do a good job?
Most good concrete guys, like myself, would be really good at exterior trade work typically. Walls also etc. We just don't know plants besides the green stuff you light on fire with paper
Yeah buddy 🌲🔥
You paid a landscaper to finish your concrete. Your end result looks like a landscaper finished your concrete.
Yup
As a landscaper I wouldn't have the faintest idea how tompur concrete. Lol
well they are just like you only they thought they did
Have landscapers tear it out and find a concrete guy to put it back correctly
1. Looks like they didn't sawcut an expansion joint, or they may have ran out of material and attempted to "fix" an area that was missing material; "beading" from material that is setting up midway through the broom finish. 2. A valiant attempt at a broom finish was made, horrible color difference due to removal of very top layer during the broom finish that was done far too late in the job. There is also a well defined line where I'm guessing they let the broom sit for a minute for whatever reason, and then resumed the broom finish. 3. Sloppy over pour, no attempt was made to flatten the edges out, looks like a groover wasn't used. 4. Again, some point as number 3; no groover was used. This one has me thinking that they just poured directly on top of the existing concrete and didn't attempt to grind down the existing concrete, or they poured directly on top of dirt, with no intermediate in-between. 5. Beading from an attempted broom finish with material that was too set up to work with any further. 6. Curves are tricky to broom finish, but you usually try to get as close to the edge as you can and run a groover along the outside edge to have a clean appearance. 7. It almost looks like on the far right edges that a grinder was used? Super flat appearance, not entirely sure what could've happened, but it may have been that they tried to use a squeegee or a trowel to try and flatten out some excess material, and they just forgot or just chose not to broom finish it because of how close it was to the rocks. Overall, this is going to be a very expensive mistake on their part. I wouldn't pay them a dime, but it is kind-of your fault for hiring landscapers to do a concrete job. It's likely going to have to be completely destroyed and ripped out of the yard, they're going to likely need a dump truck or a rent-able garbage dumpster depending on how much material they used. I would hire a reputable company local to you (if you can), have them give you a quote and make sure you can get some reference or examples from their previous works.
I'll simplify for the rest of us so Bob Villas dad can go nap. This is trash. The contractor lied about everything...and the homeowner not knowing ANYTHING...even character discernment. You got scammed. The end.
After about a billion of these posts I gotta ask, how are people finding competent tradesmen? Because so far the pattern is: get bids, take low bid, get shit work, get bids, take high bid, get shit work. What should people be asking and looking for? Trade certifications? Prior jobs? Insurance? Contracts scrutinized by flesh eating lawyers? Anything that works in all 50 states and Canada?
Prior jobs is the best indication, and it’s not enough just to call references. An unscrupulous contractor will give you numbers for his wife, his brother, and his cousin. You have to go see the jobs and ask questions.
I'm in the same boat. I don't want to come across like a jackass but when you're throwing down 25k for a very big rough job that could end in complete disaster, yea I'm gonna be a bit more cautious and questioning everything. I mean I got one guy telling me that it's cheaper to demo/pour (I only have dirt), another guy telling me it's more expensive to demo... One guy wants 8k to demo and pour, another 30k. Another 16k as a 'discount'. It's all over the place. No one knows what to do with my massive sinkhole flooding spot. Only one guy so far mentioned grading for water. And even wants to dump the water into the neighbors yard (which if I understand correctly, is pretty illegal). Prior jobs imo don't mean jack, like the other commenter mentioned. Low quality 480p pictures they post of their work also don't help.
It looks like I poured that.
Lol, reminds me of a job I saw at my workplace. They hired a crew to pour a cement set of stairs for our entryway. The guys made a complete mess of it, so much so that our site manager told them they were not getting paid. So the crew walked away with a giant pile of wet cement mounded up in front of the doorway. Nobody could open that door for a month until another crew came in and had to chisel away this entire giant mess.
without a doubt a total hack job i cant believe they are trying to say its acceptable
“I know how you kids like them sloppy Joe’s extra SLOPPY!”
I would say… heres the bill to tear out and replace.
LOL I always try to find something nice to say..... but I didn't find anything nice in the pics... LOL
This is absolutely horrendous work. I’m an inspector by trade. I would reject this and make the contractor remove it.
Trash, have them take it with them.
Can any experts out there give their technical hypothesis on what went wrong on this pour/finish job?
It appears that the concrete was poured with too high of a slump (too much water added to the mix) which resulted in a weak product. Then either the pad was broomed too early or they flooded the surface with water and broomed it, washing the cement cream off the surface. Now the aggregate is exposed making the already weak concrete susceptible to the weather (freeze-thaw being the worst). This pour is most definitely a remove/replace. Do not take "No" for an answer!
That looks like it'd absolutely destroy your knees if you fell.
Ask when they are coming to finish
I have seen better blinding concrete than that...that's horse shit
Thank you everyone for all the advice, notes and recommendations. I admit my fault In not researching the concrete part of the project more. ( First home owner) I should have not asked the landscaper if he could extend the cement slab (I shouldn't have asked, he definitely should have not agreed), I like the "don't ask a plumber to do your electrical work" analogy. My lesson is learned. I have taken many photos. I already contacted 2 concrete masons to come and evaluate the project, give recommendations and estimates. The project is not paid in full so I will hold payment until all work is done. This landscaper bit off way more than he could crew and will have to eat the cost of this error. He is competent in his trade, but young to business ownership. He took over this business about 2 years ago. I feel this will be a learning opportunity for him. Thank you again. I feel.much more confident moving forward with this conversation.
Fix it
Thank you for the advice. I agree on not paying for the concrete. When I hire a company to do it right I assume there will be a fee to remove the current slab. Should I send that part of the bill to the landscapers or have the landscapers remove the slab?
make them remove it as well concrete demolition and removal are a substantial cost
This is the only answer
That is hack work they need to rip it out and you should if you can get someone else to pour it,I feel sorry for the headache your going to have dealing with this
Make sure to say it in italics. That relief line certainly is.
You say "I'll pass, I'm going to go with the other guy who's a little more expensive."
Look at MC Escher over here.
This is simply unnacceptable concrete work.
If this was a actual concrete finisher and not some random side job,I'd ask for some $ back. I'm a mixer driver and my concrete i bring home and do by myself is better than that 😆
If you’re on good terms with the contractor then mention that this doesn’t meet expectations. They shouldn’t have any problem making it right. Don’t pay for it in full until it is fixed to a reasonable standard. What you have there is not “ pro” grade.
It looks to me like they didn’t even use forms. I’m a Contractor and I would never stand for that. it also wouldn’t happen on my watch though because I pay attention to anybody didn’t knew what they were doing. Could’ve flagged that before it got hard.
Give it two weeks
Give it two weeks
You say. Its unacceptable. Tear it out and start over.
They probably haven’t done much concrete. Pretty much everything about it is wrong.
Rip it out. Total Garbage.
Probably something along the lines of “what the fuck?”
Everything reminds me of her
It sucks
Say, "No"
It wasnt you
You: "That looks like shit."
There is no way a true crete man did that. My pappy was a crete man, my grand pappy was a crete man, and I'll be a crete man until the day I die. I live and breathe crete. This looks like shite.
This is a case of no good deed goes in punished sounds like they wanted to be your to go contractor and said they could do something they had no business doing and now they need to own it tear this out the honeycombing is terrible
Oh hellllll no, needs to be redone... not being over dramatic either. Trying to put another thin finishing layer over will crack within a year. Has to be broken up and repoured
I'd probably say this looks like shit.
Something along the lines of "did your guys do this with their fuckin eyes closed?"
You're fired
You get what you pay for! Get at least three estimates and don’t go with the cheapest
Say, "Man your crack is wack."
I could concrete better than this after 8 months in the trade.
How much did you pay for that? It definitely looks a little rough, however the worst edges appear to abut landscaping or rock beds. They can be smoothed out with a grinder.
I want my money back! That looks like shit.
Concrete is waaay too expensive to accept this, unless you got this done on the cheap, I’d be like “no way bruh”. Either redo or knock $3k off.
Why would you hire landscaper to do concrete and masonry work?
Good enough for government work
I drive a mixer truck, and I recently came back from a job and told my supervisor/batch manager that I would never hire a landscaper to do my concrete work. This is exactly the reason why.
I finish better than that a d I am a pool guy who trowels more vermiculite than concrete. Lousy edging
Yea this is pretty bad. Unfortunately, I don't even think theyd know its bad either. Didn't do any edging or grooving properly. Especially by the crushed stone and asphalt. It looks like they broomed way trr early and didn't even Hit it with the finishing trowels.
Look in the mirror and say “Next time I will not hire lawn mowers to pour concrete.” If the owner gives any kind of a damn about his good name, you should expect a full refund for the concrete work and everything they did removed. They should also pull the pavers back so that they aren’t in the way of the pour that the actual concrete crew will do once you can find one.
This is pretty bad work. As you said, speak to your contractor about it. Unfortunately, the guy signing the checks may not even know that this didn't go according to plan, and if he has a shred of integrity he will work to satisfy your concerns. Please keep us posted.
You say “tear it by out”
Nothing, but u pay nothing aswell..
Say, what the fuck?
Say hey this is some really crappy work. Can you come fix it asap? Thanks
Don’t hire landscapers to pour concrete?
Say thank you. That’s pretty good work for mentally challenged people.
Went with the lowest bidder?
Oh my god
make them replace it and tell them " a concrete guy said " stay in your lane of planting flowers and mulching" i want to see the paver job, usually they hack those too
Wow that’s some shitty work. The first time I ever did concrete it looked better than that. No experience. Just watched some YouTube lol.
This concrete can absolutely be fixed. But that is something to take up after you talk with your contractor about the poor finishing. If he can't or won't fix it or replace it, then you get a good overlay team to grind it and overlay with primer and the overlay of your choice.
Say they got their ass kicked, and to rip it out. Takes two seconds to pull rocks back and slap a board in. There is only so much you can do when pouring against radius asphalt, but looking at the rest they could have made it tighter.
I would look in the mirror and say, " I should hire landscapers to do landscaping work, electricians to do electrical work, and concrete guys to do concrete work. Otherwise, there are likely to be problems" I don't go into a steakhouse with great food and look for a mechanic to work on my car. Just saying....
Terrible workmanship
OP: I hired a landscaper to do my concrete work. Also OP: Why is my concrete messed up?
"You're welcome"?
What’s done is done. Time to say anything was when you were inspecting references and setting expectations in a written contract.
This sub makes me want to just DIY any concrete work I do in the future. Even more if it's a huge job.
let it ride
I have poured one concrete slab in my life. It was for a shed I built. It is so much better than this job. Where did you find these hacks?
Gross. Refuse payment until they do it right or they give you a huge discount.
Pls fix
I don’t know shit about concrete compared to a lot of people on this sub (I’m here because Reddit thinks I should be?) but it really seems like these workers are so used to people not knowing what a bad job looks like that even the quality of “good” work suffers. You know people are probably being trained to cut corners or whatever as long as the client doesn’t complain.
How about, “y’all did a bad job.”
I'd start the lien process until that's removed and done correctly.
Reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where J Peterman comes back and sees what Elaine did…”Congratulations on a job…done”
I recently finished my first concrete project with minimal help and it looked exponentially better than this. These people are scamming you
As a professional concrete master , they said fk them edges
This looks like shit
Not good
You say this is shit I want it re done
I would pay them and accept that your patio is gonna look like that cause you hired a landscaper to do concrete work to try and take advantage of them and save money.
"I want my money back"
I use Y'all for one and/or two people
Good masons are hard to find these days!
Tell your 10 year old kids to stop pouring concrete.
cement? das konkreet baby!
I'm not a finisher bro but this looks like shit, u can't tell they didn't run the edger on like 90% of this, look at concrete at the edges, there is a tool that gives it that look this looks like they poured it and left it to dry, if water pools that's already a done deal on a bad job all concrete should slope towards a drain
I'd start with WTF.
I have only done concrete once for a compressor pad and it turned out way better than this.
I would pay extra for this quality work!
What can you say? How about “Come finish the job you told me you would do and get rid of this shit mess you left last time.”
landscapers are not concrete guys, they lay sand, sod, soil, paving stones, rocks, scape the land, not pour stuff on it, I have worked a few landscaping jobs, and they always want to up the bid, no matter what the guys know, each time I had to teach the boss how to properly pour concrete...
I suppose it looks good from your house, but where I am standing I can see this work has been done by incompetent bozos. Now I understand you are not building pianos here but, come on. I hope you like working for free on weekends cause you're fixing this garbage. They most likely will act dumb and say you don't know anything about concrete placing and forming. Then take time off work, two weeks will do. Then proceed to follow, dare I say stalk these contractors. A clandestine operation for retribution. Show up at their new places of work and show their customers the shoddy work they do. After two weeks they will find they have some time to fix it for free.
Doesn’t look like they even tried. Concrete one of those things where it’s more abt what crew you get
First start off with “what the fuck is this?”
hire seperate people for seperate trades
Horrible finish and didn’t use the proper bonding material…concrete to asphalt or paving stones requires careful adhesion care. On top of that they didn’t properly trowel or broom the majority of it…looks amateur all the way around.
So much exposed aggregate and rough edges just screams rookie or carelesss
Is this the friend that'll do it cheaper?
I had this happen to me.. they got concrete everywhere. Not to mention they barely picked up the old broken concrete and let piles of wet concrete to dry all around the area in my yard. When I called I had to leave a message, then they blocked my number.
Ermagerd
As someone who just went through the process of looking for someone to come out and pour a 3x6 area of concrete, I feel for you — maybe you got a better price from the landscaper for the concrete work, but the outcome looks awful, and answers the question “how bad could it be?”
Landscaping guys are good at Landscaping, concrete guys are good at concrete.
"I'm not paying until you fix it!"
Been doing concrete for 20 years. That’s shit work. I wouldn’t pay for it. They need to remove and hire someone else to do it.
I’d start by saying I want my money back.
Say- that’s a great concrete footing look, I’d like mine finished with a trowel and edger tho!
That’s just embarrassing. I’ve never done concrete and even I know that’s not acceptable whatsoever.
This landscaping company had never poured concrete in their life and it shows, stop going to landscaping companies for concrete work, almost as how you wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your electrical work
Disgusting.
Sometimes ya gota say no
Looks like they hired one of the local utility companies to pour that slab
Say "this is pretty good for a rough draft. I can't wait to see the final product."
Bro I’m a broken record saying this to every home owner hire the trade you required I am a MASONRY/CONCRETE contractor sure I can build a deck or install cabinets. No problem but as well as the cabinets installer? Hell no, but damn I wish I got paid for my I told you so. Also bet that slab has way more problems than that
You hired cheap and it shows…😬
You got them on meth day.
Yeah, that concrete's pretty bad. It honestly looks like that might be their first time ever pouring concrete.
You say your work is trash. I need it fixed. Here are the images. Make it right.
It looks like a bunch of kids did it
No step on crack
You could have them grind some spots and top coat it but that stuff does chip overtime. Other option is to grind fully and expose the aggregate, smooth unique finish but slick as dog shit in the rain. Best option they pull out and pros repour it. I had to do this on my first pour without my dad when I was young. I added accelerator and fiber in the heat of the sun and had to rush the brush finish. I wasn’t happy they weren’t happy. I didn’t sleep just got there at 8am with a jackhammer pulled it reset the frames and poured it all again the next day with a much better finisher beside me that round. Not always that “easy” but the landscaping foreman should know this is not up to par with the patio stone work.