D.C. Masonry LLC

I would like to explain to you what happens to concrete when it goes thru different tempature changesConcrete moves and expandsThis causes the cracking that you would see in concreteThere are many factors that attribute to cracks in concreteI have a page report on why concrete cracksMr [redacted] has a concrete deck which we prepared for a coating that was done in the summerYes a crack did occur later on, which we repairedWe were only contracted to repair the top of the deckThe sides of the deck as well as the underside which is above the enclosed garage are not protected from the elementsI cannot be responsible for cracks or other problems that occur after a long hard winterI have no problem fixing the existing crack if it opened up due to poor workmanshipBut after a long winter the crack opened up due to the severity of the cold winter.Thank you [redacted] Owner

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:Good Afternoon,I would like to follow up on a recent complaint I submitted against DC Masonry / DC Construction as I have a couple of additional complaints to mention regarding the service provided.First, The owner stated we did not need to pull up our fence to get the truck/machines needed in the back yard to dig up the existing patio and level the land and that our existing foot fence gate would be sufficientThis left deep tire tracks across most of our lawnWe were told this is common when doing these types of projects and that he would fill the tire tracks and seed itHe did fill the tire tracks promptly; however did not seed it and my husband, ***, had to call him to get him to come back and do itThe seeding was very minimal and we ended up doing it again ourselves to ensure regrowthThe next week as we are anticipating having the concrete poured, we are told we have to take out some of the fence panels to get the concrete truck in to pourAt no time previous was it mentioned that the gate we already had would not be sufficient for this projectIf we had been told up front that the concrete truck would not fit through the foot gate we have (and which the owner personally viewed), we would have pulled up the fence panels from the beginning, thus only have tire tracks in one area of the yardBecause he came in with trucks from two sides of the yard, there is an large area of land running across the entire yard that has been completely ripped up – which is completely unnecessary and unprofessionalWe were having a patio put in to enjoy our yard, and now it is going to look horrible until all the grass fills in or we will have to pay a large sum to have sod put inI understand that was partially inevitable since the trucks had to get in the yard, but we could have avoided a large portion of the yard having to be reseeded if he communicated better about what the process would be like overallSecondly, I wanted to mention that we also asked that the patio be sealed, which we were given a verbal quote of $We found this to be acceptable and so the owner was to come out on 4/29/to seal the patioHe called my husband, ***, to inform him that he could not seal that day because we needed to clean the patio of all dirt and debrisThis was very unexpected because at no point was it explained to us that we were responsible for making sure the patio was clean to be sealedWe attempted to clean the patio that evening as the owner stated he would be back on Saturday, 4/30/to complete the jobAfter spending some time trying to clean the patio, it was evident that we would be unable to get all the dirt off before the next day as it would require a deep cleaning, most likely with a pressure washerAgain, at no point was it mentioned to us that we would need to keep it clean or have it cleaned for him before it was sealedThat being said, with a good portion of the yard around the patio, it had a lot of mud tracked on it over the week and a half after the concrete was poured from when it was supposed to be sealed [redacted] left a voicemail for the owner on 4/29/stating we were unable to get all the dirt off and it didn’t seem like we would move forward with the sealing at this time, but wanted a call back to discuss before making a final decisionThe owner did not show up on Saturday to complete any work, nor did he return the phone call and we have not heard from him since then Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Doug,Thank you for taking the time to speak with *** this morning.We understand you did not want to have our conversation recorded. Due to this, we are sending you this message to follow up per that phone call in the hopes of finding a peaceful resolution to this matterPlease note that all further communication should be sent through the Revdex.com until we can agree on a resolution.First we want to start out by saying the voicemail you left *** yesterday afternoon was extremely disrespectful and unprofessional. We do not appreciate the manner in which you approached the situationWe understand you are upset about us contacting the Revdex.com; however, as your customers, we would think you would approach the situation with more professionalism than that.Also, the voicemail and email sent last night stated that you will be filing a small claims against us if we did not respond to you by the end of the day. We would like to note for the record that we did respond to you per my phone call at 7:p.mand an email was sent shortly thereafter to confirm. We did not hear back from you until this morning.To recall the events of this project:An email was sent to you on 4/23/with supporting photos regarding some areas of concern with the patioThis included the chipped corner, the unevenness at the garage, and the pitch by the steps that was holding water. You responded to that email with a phone call stating you would come by the next week and complete the project.After you visited the property, we received no notification that the only item addressed was the unevenness by the garageUnbeknownst to us of the concrete pouring process, we were unaware of what the result of patching the area would look like. We did not find out that the pitch had not been corrected until it rained again.In regards to the rounded edges, we had more than one conversation regarding this to determine the best course of action and we stated because the deck tiles we are laying are square, that we would like to have square edges to line up with the tilesAt no point was it indicated this would leave us with a chipped cornerYou stated you would patch this area as well and did not. To us, these issues show that there was a lack of care in the original job completed.In the meantime, *** called you last Friday, April 29th, and left you a voicemail informing you that we were unable to remove the mud/dog prints from the patio. We were unsure as to how to proceed since you would be sealing the patio the day after, Saturday, April 30th You did not return his call; which you admit to receiving in your voicemail to me yesterday.You also did not come to the house on Saturday to perform the work discussed or to come discuss a resolutionWe would like to pose the question as to why you would agree to seal the concrete when you hadn’t fixed the pitch? One would think that all patches should be completed before sealing the entire patio.At the time of filing the complaint with the Revdex.com, it had been nearly a week that we had not heard from youIn a previous conversation in the process, you stated you would be leaving for Florida in a couple weeks and would be gone for a length of time and thus, you wanted to complete any outstanding projects you had. Yet again, you didn’t call back, didn’t show up, and have made zero effort to communicate with us regarding the status of the project.In the email you sent us yesterday, you stated you did not get in touch with us regarding the pitch due to the weather this week and not being able to perform that job at this time due to the rainAt no point was this communicated to us and we were under the impression the work was completed; until it rained.As your customer, we should not have to reach out to you repeatedly in order to receive a status. You, as the contractor being paid for a service, should be communicating with us throughout the entire process letting us know where things stand; especially when work has not been completed.It seems there was some confusion about what the end result of the patio should look like since we are covering it with deck tiles once the project is completedAlthough aesthetics were not a big concern for us, it seems you took advantage of that by not putting the care into it as you may have normally.We were willing to move past how it looked because it would ultimately be covered; however during your period of non-response we were unsure if we would hear from you again before leaving for Florida. As such, we had another professional come and assess the work and discuss options regarding correcting the pitchIt was stated to us that the correct way to fix the pitch would be to rip out the existing concrete and re-pour it; however it could also be patched, but this would likely crumble over time and need to be addressed againThe pitch creates a hazardous situation due to standing water causing mold and rotThis is a huge concern for usPlease note this professional also stated to us that the work as a whole was not completed in a professional manner regardless of the fact that it would be covered with deck tiles.As of the time of writing this response, you have yet to offer to come fix the items we have listed or provide any other resolutionYou have threatened us with legal action, but have not taken action yourself to resolve the problem.Based on the information above, the reason we contacted the Revdex.com is that we lost confidence that you are interested in completing the job as planned before leaving for Florida since we did not hear from youThere is no reason why we weren’t contacted previously to go over the pitch and how that would be corrected.We have resolutions that we would find to be acceptable at this time:You can come fix the pitch within calendar days and provide us with a $discount off the final price seeing as how the job was not done correctly to begin with and will likely cause future issues that have to be addressedPlease note: if you chose this option, a time will need to be scheduled for you to come when *** is not at home as your tone of communication from the last hours has made her uncomfortableWe can hire a different professional to fix the pitch and reduce the cost to have it repaired off the final balance owed to you.If you have any other suggested resolutions, please feel free to share themWe would like to hear back from you through this messaging system as soon as possible.Once we decide on a resolution, we will amend the original proposal to include the changes.Thank you.*** *** *** ***

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: When my wife and I first met Mr. [redacted] at the [redacted] we explained our problem to him and he came to our house to assess the problem and provide a quote. Our home is about 90 years old and the original deck (approximately 30' long by 10' deep) was, at some point, covered in concrete which over the years developed cracks causing water leaks into our garage. I asked him if it would be best to remove the secondary application of concrete decking and apply a new concrete deck or what would he recommend. He assured me removing the existing deck wasn't necessary and that he could "waterproof" our existing concrete deck with his skills at working with concrete, preparation of the deck and the applications of the products he uses. He never mentioned before, during or after completing the job, as he expressed in his rebuttal, how concrete will continue to crack due to extreme weather conditions. Contrary to his response, he was contracted to repair the cracks on the deck and one of them did go to the edge. How could he expect to do a thorough job if he didn't repair this edge as well? The edge of the deck he refers to is approximately 4 inches thick and the underside is barely an inch deep. The rest of the deck is within the garage below which is heated throughout the winter. I understand expansion and contraction of materials, but again, he shouldn't assure someone of his ability to waterproof something if he ultimately knows it will fail.
At this point I don't want this contractor to return to my house as I feel he is incapable of doing a proper job. I would still like to receive a refund from him so I may find another contractor to redo the job he didn't complete. I'm also hoping the Revdex.com can protect other possible customers from using this contractor due to his lack of follow through and appropriate skills. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Good afternoon [redacted]This is a response to the [redacted] complaint. Before the job was started My [redacted] told me he was putting a deck tile system over the concrete patio. I went over the deck system with him and I told him we should pitch the concrete away from the house and garage. After we poured the...

concrete, I received a couple days later a text message showing 3 areas of concern. 1. ½” chip on the corner of the concrete patio closets to their bulkhead. 2. Next to the garage foundation was an area about 12” X 3” that needed a very thin skim coat 1/16 “. I didn’t do the pitched area because I wanted to go over the process and make sure that it was going to be acceptable before we did the repair. I am very shocked that this couple filed a complaint with the Revdex.com without talking to me first. The last message I received from Mr. [redacted] was a voice mail telling me he couldn’t remove the dogs foot prints from the patio. He wanted us to seal the concrete. My concern is that this couple is making excuses so they don’t have to pay the balance owed to my company. The raising of the area in question so it will pitch from the bottom step is a very minor fix. We usually tool the edges of the concrete to give it a nice rounded look. He indicated to me that that was not necessary. As for the rough look on top of the concrete, I told him we were going to broom finish, which give the surface a rough non-slip appearance. Over time with foot traffic, if he decides not to have his vinyl deck tile over the concrete, the surface will eventually ware over time. We have been pouring concrete for 25years and very rarely have a complain t like this.Thank youDoug C[redacted]OwnerD.C. Construction Services

Good afternoon [redacted]This is a response to the [redacted] complaint. Before the job was started My [redacted] told me he was putting a deck tile system over the concrete patio. I went over the deck system with him and I told him we should pitch the concrete away from the house and garage. After we...

poured the concrete, I received a couple days later a text message showing 3 areas of concern. 1. ½” chip on the corner of the concrete patio closets to their bulkhead. 2. Next to the garage foundation was an area about 12” X 3” that needed a very thin skim coat 1/16 “. I didn’t do the pitched area because I wanted to go over the process and make sure that it was going to be acceptable before we did the repair. I am very shocked that this couple filed a complaint with the Revdex.com without talking to me first. The last message I received from Mr. [redacted] was a voice mail telling me he couldn’t remove the dogs foot prints from the patio. He wanted us to seal the concrete. My concern is that this couple is making excuses so they don’t have to pay the balance owed to my company. The raising of the area in question so it will pitch from the bottom step is a very minor fix. We usually tool the edges of the concrete to give it a nice rounded look. He indicated to me that that was not necessary. As for the rough look on top of the concrete, I told him we were going to broom finish, which give the surface a rough non-slip appearance. Over time with foot traffic, if he decides not to have his vinyl deck tile over the concrete, the surface will eventually ware over time. We have been pouring concrete for 25years and very rarely have a complain t like this.Thank youDoug C[redacted]OwnerD.C. Construction Services

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:Good Afternoon,I would like to follow up on a recent complaint I submitted against DC Masonry / DC Construction as I have a couple of additional complaints to mention regarding the service provided.First, The owner stated we did not need to pull up our fence to get the truck/machines needed in the back yard to dig up the existing patio and level the land and that our existing 8 foot fence gate would be sufficient. This left deep tire tracks across most of our lawn. We were told this is common when doing these types of projects and that he would fill the tire tracks and seed it. He did fill the tire tracks promptly; however did not seed it and my husband, [redacted], had to call him to get him to come back and do it. The seeding was very minimal and we ended up doing it again ourselves to ensure regrowth. The next week as we are anticipating having the concrete poured, we are told we have to take out some of the fence panels to get the concrete truck in to pour. At no time previous was it mentioned that the gate we already had would not be sufficient for this project. If we had been told up front that the concrete truck would not fit through the 8 foot gate we have (and which the owner personally viewed), we would have pulled up the fence panels from the beginning, thus only have tire tracks in one area of the yard. Because he came in with trucks from two sides of the yard, there is an large area of land running across the entire yard that has been completely ripped up – which is completely unnecessary and unprofessional. We were having a patio put in to enjoy our yard, and now it is going to look horrible until all the grass fills in or we will have to pay a large sum to have sod put in. I understand that was partially inevitable since the trucks had to get in the yard, but we could have avoided a large portion of the yard having to be reseeded if he communicated better about what the process would be like overall. Secondly, I wanted to mention that we also asked that the patio be sealed, which we were given a verbal quote of $508. We found this to be acceptable and so the owner was to come out on 4/29/16 to seal the patio. He called my husband, [redacted], to inform him that he could not seal that day because we needed to clean the patio of all dirt and debris. This was very unexpected because at no point was it explained to us that we were responsible for making sure the patio was clean to be sealed. We attempted to clean the patio that evening as the owner stated he would be back on Saturday, 4/30/16 to complete the job. After spending some time trying to clean the patio, it was evident that we would be unable to get all the dirt off before the next day as it would require a deep cleaning, most likely with a pressure washer. Again, at no point was it mentioned to us that we would need to keep it clean or have it cleaned for him before it was sealed. That being said, with a good portion of the yard around the patio, it had a lot of mud tracked on it over the week and a half after the concrete was poured from when it was supposed to be sealed. [redacted] left a voicemail for the owner on 4/29/16 stating we were unable to get all the dirt off and it didn’t seem like we would move forward with the sealing at this time, but wanted  a call back to discuss before making a final decision. The owner did not show up on Saturday to complete any work, nor did he return the phone call and we have not heard from him since then.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I would like to explain to you what happens to concrete when it goes thru different tempature changes. Concrete moves and expands. This causes the cracking that you would see in concrete. There are many factors that attribute to cracks in concrete. I have a 6 page report on why concrete cracks. Mr...

[redacted] has a concrete deck which we prepared for a coating that was done in the summer. Yes a crack did occur later on, which we repaired. We were only contracted to repair the top of the deck. The sides of the deck as well as the underside which is above the enclosed garage are not protected from the elements. I cannot be responsible for cracks or other problems that occur after a long hard winter. I have no problem fixing the existing crack if it opened up due to poor workmanship. But after a long winter the crack opened up due to the severity of the cold winter.Thank you[redacted]Owner

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: When my wife and I first met Mr. [redacted] at the [redacted] [redacted] we explained our problem to him and he came to our house to assess the problem and provide a quote. Our home is about 90 years old and the original deck (approximately 30' long by 10' deep) was, at some point, covered in concrete which over the years developed cracks causing water leaks into our garage. I asked him if it would be best to remove the secondary application of concrete decking and apply a new concrete deck or what would he recommend. He assured me removing the existing deck wasn't necessary and that he could "waterproof" our existing concrete deck with his skills at working with concrete, preparation of the deck and the applications of the products he uses. He never mentioned before, during or after completing the job, as he expressed in his rebuttal, how concrete will continue to crack due to extreme weather conditions. Contrary to his response, he was contracted to repair the cracks on the deck and one of them did go to the edge. How could he expect to do a thorough job if he didn't repair this edge as well? The edge of the deck he refers to is approximately 4 inches thick and the underside is barely an inch deep. The rest of the deck is within the garage below which is heated throughout the winter. I understand expansion and contraction of materials, but again, he shouldn't assure someone of his ability to waterproof something if he ultimately knows it will fail.At this point I don't want this contractor to return to my house as I feel he is incapable of doing a proper job. I would still like to receive a refund from him so I may find another contractor to redo the job he didn't complete. I'm also hoping the Revdex.com can protect other possible customers from using this contractor due to his lack of follow through and appropriate skills. 
Sincerely,
[redacted]