L and L Construction

Review: Contractor messed up some of the grades for concrete installation.The messed up grades created a 15' x 30' puddle almost 2" deep when it rains. I left Contractor know about it immediately by e-mail with pictures of the puddle. He returned an e-mail saying "I will fix it".It is almost 2 months later now and that was my best feedback to date that the problem would be fixed. The season is getting away from us.Desired Settlement: I requested that the area be repaired such that the repair be transparent.Meaning; the drainage plan contracted will be satisfied and no one will every be able to tell it was messed up.Repair plan has to be acceptable to me or I will need to have a 3rd party do the work and recover through the court system.

Business

Response:

1. On approximately 4/17/13, I went out to bid the job in question. I took someone with me to help with measurements. [redacted] ([redacted]) asked for labor price per hour. He would provide all materials. We did not take any measurements because he didn’t want me to. [redacted] was going to mark it all out. He said he would be there helping with the job.

2. Bid was $35.00 per hour per man. Contract was emailed on 4/18/13.

3. I received phone call 5/23/13, that the proposal was accepted.

4. On 5/30/13, I received an email that [redacted] would like to stop in where I was working and see a “cross section of the work as it is being done”.

5. He stopped over to a jobsite in Neenah and gave me the signed contract. He said there would be 3 to 4 days work. He asked for references. He wanted to know my concrete price and salesman’s name. He was going to prepay the concrete and wanted to get my price. He was told that we had another job to finish before his, and I gave him an estimated start date. The other job ran over and he said later that was ok.

6. We emailed references to him and had the concrete salesman contact him to make arrangements.

7. I met with him on 6/19/13, and received the project start check of $1,000.00. I could immediately see the job was bigger than he had indicated. It ended up being a 69 yd pour. He had the jobsite marked out with orange paint. There were lines in the middle that marked where the grade should be.

8. There was no plan on paper.

9. After the first, second and third areas were formed and ready to pour I waited until after the crew left and for [redacted] to come home. We went over the grades and he ok’d them.

10. We poured on 7/3/13, cut on 7/4/13 and came back 7/5/13 to start grading. He came out and started complaining we weren’t moving fast enough. About 11:00 he brought his tractor out and started hauling fill into the area we were working in. He complained because I brought in a couple extra people to help finish the pour. He had been told when he signed the contract that I would be bringing them in and he said that was ok. He said the labor was killing him and he couldn’t afford it. We left at 1:00 because he was upset and he kept ranting which made it very difficult to work.

11. It rained Monday 7/8/13.

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12. I went back Tuesday 7/9/13, and the third pour had been graded. [redacted] had stakes marking the grades for the fourth pour which were not there Friday when we left. It started raining so we cut the day short.

13. I poured Wed 7/10, Thu 7/11 and Fri 7/12/13. I didn’t check anything that he had marked. I just poured because he was complaining it wasn’t getting done fast enough and he indicated he had it marked and staked.

14. When we were finished, [redacted] said everything looked good. I went back Sat 7/13/13, and presented the bill. He was upset at the amount but he paid me $3,500 of the $6,503.44 bill and said he would pay the rest in a month. The contract states that the job would “be billed upon completion and is due upon receipt of bill”. I said that was fine.

15. He emailed later that day that the grade was wrong and there was a puddle in one area. He emailed some pictures. I said I’d fix it and made arrangements to meet with him to look it over.

16. I went over Sat 7/20/13 with my car so my laser level wasn’t with me. I met him and he took his laser level out and set it up. I was trying to determine the best way to fix it and said something to the effect “that it was probably both our faults”. He lost his temper and his wife came running out and told him to quiet down. He then ordered me to leave.

17. I emailed him that I would come back to talk some more when he calmed down. He later emailed me that I would fix it and pay for everything. He claimed that by saying I would fix it I had accepted full responsibility for all costs.

18. I got my attorney involved and he met with him. I proposed to pay for the labor for the repair and he would pay for the materials. Before any repair I wanted to either get paid for the remainder of the job or have it put in escrow. I have no guarantee otherwise that if the problem is corrected I’ll get paid for the job.

19. After examining the area I’ve determined that an area approximately 18’ x 24’ needs to be replaced. This would satisfy his desire that the repair be transparent and correct the drainage problem.

Consumer

Response:

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.

Complaint Detail