Bittner Concrete, Inc

Bittner Concrete, Inc reply to ID *** As I stated in my previous response, we fulfilled the terms of our proposalIt stated the price included all labor, materials, demo, haul away and clean upThe proposal clearly does not state backfill and additional topsoilThe customer complained that we did not clean up our "debris"I sent my crew over to his house again approxweeks ago to clean up what looked like excess concrete beside the drivewayThey found very little excess concrete, but picked up some additional decorative stones that were beside the drivewayIt didn't even halfway fill up a five gallon bucketAs to the "trenches" left beside the driveway, you can see from photo #that there is not much difference from the old driveway to the new driveway on the sloping of the bankThere is break in the hosta bed where we were workingWe did the work in December, at the customer's insistenceThe hostas were done for the season thenYou will notice the area in the front yard (Photo 2), that l had previously referred to as where the water company had been workingOther than that area, the front yard grass appears to be growing normallyThe proposal does state ail concrete 5" thickAs you can see from Photo 1, the driveway is sloped and we were working around a large treeAgain, square ft of concrete 5" thick calls for a little under yards of concreteWe poured yards of concrete, it is extremely difficult to have exact 5" grading on a hilly and uneven slope, working around tree rootsSome areas will have slightly more and some slightly lessThat is the nature of the productYou cannot be exactI plan to revise my proposals to note that the concrete thickness will have nominal varations, so as not to confuse consumersAs to the random drill testing, you will see from Photo 3, that the sample was a small drill bit holeThis is not a precise way to measure the thicknessI disagree with the customer's statement that we took the money and ranA piece of handrail on the porch was bent during the demo of the old stepsWe sent someone there after we were done with the concrete to weld and repair itPhoto shows the front steps that were installedWe stand behind the quality of our workmanshipAs you can see from the pictures, we did a beautiful job

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your
reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.This is an unacceptable response to my Revdex.com consumer complaint. A copy of their work Proposal with no articulated verbal response to address my complaints included? Not a single written word? I guess the consumer should not expect much more from a contractor who “takes the money and runs” and doesn’t come back to finish the job yet alone provide 100% of the product quoted. So if a copy of the Proposal is all the response there is for all consumers to review on Revdex.com complaint, let’s break it down in the consumers eye’s as to what the Proposal does state, and what the it does not state
The Proposal does not state the following:
“Contractor is not responsible to backfill all excavated trenches that they dig for placing concrete forms and that they will leave it as exposed excavated trenches along all sides of the poured concrete”. Yet they did leave behind open excavated trenches and refuse to backfill“Contractor is not responsible to remove or otherwise spread out all soil-piles of excavated materials” Yet they did leave behind soil-piles piled up in the yard along both sides of the driveway and along the porch steps
Contractor is not responsible to repair damaged property grounds caused by excavation equipment”. Yet they did leave behind damaged property grounds where the equipment tore up the grass and hosta beds outside of the work areaThe Proposal does state the following:
“All concrete 5” thick ….”. What was installed by evidence of twelve () sample drill test along tire traffic area locations was four (4) samples were 5" thick (33%), eight (8) were under 5" thick (67%), five (5) samples were 4" or less (42%) with the lowest sample being 3/4" thick. The average thickness of drilling samples taken is 1/2" thick which is only 90% of the quoted 5"“Price includes all labor, materials, demo, haul away and cleanup” Cleanup to the consumer would certainly mean that no soil-piles would be left behind, no open trenches would be left behind, and that the job site would, within reason, be returned to an acceptable condition
The bottom line is this contractor uses deceptive practices to take advantage of the consumer any way they can and will walk away from an unfinished job without thinking twice about it if give them a chance. We regret we gave them that chance by taking their word they would “be back to finish up” as we paid them at the end of the day when the concrete was poured
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
This is an unacceptable response to my Revdex.com...

consumer complaint.  A copy of their work Proposal with no articulated verbal response to address my complaints included?  Not a single written word?  I guess the consumer should not expect much more from a contractor who “takes the money and runs” and doesn’t come back to finish the job yet alone provide 100% of the product quoted.  So if a copy of the Proposal is all the response there is for all consumers to review on Revdex.com complaint, let’s break it down in the consumers eye’s as to what the Proposal does state, and what the it does not state. The Proposal does not state the following:“Contractor is not responsible to backfill all excavated trenches that they dig for placing concrete forms and that they will leave it as exposed excavated trenches along all sides of the poured concrete”.   Yet they did leave behind open excavated trenches and refuse to backfill.“Contractor is not responsible to remove or otherwise spread out all soil-piles of excavated materials”.    Yet they did leave behind soil-piles piled up in the yard along both sides of the driveway and along the porch steps. Contractor is not responsible to repair damaged property grounds caused by excavation equipment”.  Yet they did leave behind damaged property grounds where the equipment tore up the grass and hosta beds outside of the work area.The Proposal does state the following:“All concrete 5” thick ….”.   What was installed by evidence of twelve (12 ) sample drill test along tire traffic area locations was four (4) samples were 5" thick (33%), eight (8) were under 5" thick (67%), five (5) samples were 4" or less (42%) with the lowest sample being 3 3/4" thick.  The average thickness of drilling samples taken is 4 1/2" thick which is only 90% of the quoted 5".“Price includes all labor, materials, demo, haul away and cleanup”.   Cleanup to the consumer would certainly mean that no soil-piles would be left behind, no open trenches would be left behind, and that the job site would, within reason, be returned to an acceptable condition. The bottom line is this contractor uses deceptive practices to take advantage of the consumer any way they can and will walk away from an unfinished job without thinking twice about it if give them a chance.  We regret we gave them that chance by taking their word they would “be back to finish up” as we paid them at the end of the day when the concrete was poured.
Regards,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]

Bittner Concrete, Inc reply to ID [redacted]We have never done business under the name of [redacted] was [redacted] and he passed away in 2014. I bought the equipment from his sons and the phone number. We have always been Bittner Concrete, Inc and never represented that we were [redacted].We fulfilled the terms of our proposal. It stated the price included all labor, materials, demo, haul away and clean up. It is standard practice in the industry to remove our forms and clean up our debris. When the customer complained up the "trenches", I drove to his home and inspected the site and my crew had done a nice job grading the slope of the yard to the driveway, The "trenches" he described was the area where we removed our forms. I said that I would gladly send out a laborer with a truck load of top soil to re-landscape the area, but there would be an additional charge of $200 to $300. The home owner wanted to argue with me that this was part of "clean up". I politely told him that it was not. There is no mention of bringing in top soil in our proposal.As to the other "holes" left in the yard, the water company was working on the street the same week and had dug up the yard. .The entire driveway should have been replaced, but the homeowner stated that they were moving and just wanted to replace several pads. As you will see in my proposal, we proposed to replace 451 square ft of concrete. The pads were not square, they varying sizes and several were around a large tree. 451 square ft of concrete 5" thick calls for a little under 7 yards of concrete. We poured 7 yards of concrete. It is extremely difficult to have exact 5" grading on a hilly and uneven slope, working around tree roots.I feel I gave the homeowner a very fair price and gave them what we proposed. The homeowners' wife told by crew that our price was $2,000.00 under their other bids and she was very pleased with the work we did. There was no issue when they paid us, it only came up when the homeowner started filling in the area himself and he didn't feel that he should have to do it. I believe that he thought he could pressure me into doing extra work because I am a woman. He did not like it when I would not do the extra work for free.

Review: Bittner Concrete,INC is also doing business under the name [redacted](same phone number for both). I used Bittner Concrete. The concrete itself looks satisfactory. But they refused to finish the job. The excavated trenches they dug out for forming the driveway and the front steps were left opened and never back filled with all the excavated dirt piled up along both sides of the driveway and along side of the front steps. They drove their excavator machine in areas outside of the work area and tore up large holes in the grass and the hosta beds. They refused to come back and backfill the excavated trenches stating it is considered "landscaping" which was not included in their written proposal. We are furious. I took photos of all the mess they left behind and noticed something else in the process. Being that the sides of the new concrete driveway still have opened excavated trenches the thickness of the concrete was exposed and was clearly less than the 5 inches that was quoted. It measured 3 1/2" and was filled under with base gravel. I had my doubts at this point that all the driveway slabs were 5" thick as quoted so I did random drill samples through all slabs at locations where tire traffic would contact the slabs. Sure enough, out of 12 sample locations, only four (4) samples were 5" thick (33%), eight (8) were under 5" thick (67%), five (5) samples were 4" or less (42%) with the lowest sample being 3 3/4" thick. True con artists scamming the consumer in more than one way. DO NOT USE THESE CROOKS!!!!Desired Settlement: backfill excavated trenches on both sides of driveway and at front steps and top off with top soil, remove excavated material piled up over hosta beds on both sides of driveway, and repair damaged torn up holes in front yard and hosta bed. Also, since the average thickness of drilling samples taken is 4 1/2" thick which is only 90% of the quoted 5" thickness, a 10% refund of $441 is to be offered to compensate for the lesser product installed.

Consumer

Response: