Nick Scotti Concrete Contractor

Review: Nick Scotti's quote was the most expensive of five quotes we obtained. He came with the self-confidence of being in the business for 30 years and knowing everything. We hired him for the price he asked. By the time he was finished we realized that not only there were things he did not know, but he did damages that caused us a lot of problems and money. He replaced a rainwater pipe under the driveway with a thin pipe not designed for this purpose. Moreover, instead of replacing the entire pipe under the driveway, he kept half of the existing one that is close to 50 years old and very brittle. He did not glue the connection and deformed the pipe. He left mud and gravel inside the pipe. We realized all this when water started backing up from the gutter and checked the pipe with a camera. We also found out that there was water leaking from the bad connection. When we informed him about the problem, he came at home unannounced with a friend plumber, refused to accept responsibility, and was rude and offensive. This is what we got after providing complementary coffee, doughnuts, bagels, pizza for five days for him and his five workers, as well as having him and his wife for dinner at our house. Now we have to take care of fixing the pipe under the driveway by ourselves, which is very expensive. Moreover, after 30 years in the business he doesn't know how to dye concrete. Our whole driveway has white spots from efflorescence. He had no clue what the white spots were and said that they will go away after sealing. Of course they didn't and now we have to remove the sealer and take care of the spots ourselves. Also, he mixes the sealer with xylene to increase the quantity at a reduced cost. We are still waiting for the sealer in the joints to dry.Desired Settlement: N/A

Business

Response:

Review: Mr. [redacted] installed a very expensive stone patio for us 7 years ago. Every since the installation I have tried to get in touch with Mr [redacted]. I think maybe I had one conversation seeing him on a job at [redacted] and he said he would come by and look at the patio. At that point and time my problems were not as major as today. But needless to say he should have returned my phone calls. That is just poor customer service. I paid him $40,000.00 to install our patio, I think he could at least provide some customer service. I have tried to call his establishment many, many times in the past few years, not return calls. Tried to email him no response. I just recently spoke with a neighbor that said he did the same thing to her. Provided the work then she could never get in touch with him again.

The stone patio he installed we have run into several issues that Mr. [redacted] needs to address. The stone is not level in various place and water is laying in those area causing water underneath in a room. He also did not bring the stone out over the brick on the edges of the patio which is causing major water in a room below. At this point a lot of the stones and mortar is crack with is causing water in the room below. I have sealed this patio every year, this should not be happening.Desired Settlement: I think Mr. [redacted] needs to address the problems we have run into because of the installation of the stone patio. He needs to come out and reevaluate what he can do to solve the water problem we are having because he did not design parts of the patio the way it should have been. If he cannot provide us with the service he needs to financially pay for a 3rd party, which I will provide to cover the expense of his mistake.

I really enjoyed working with Mr. [redacted] at the time. I am so disappointed that it has come to this but when you have customers spending this type of money you have to provide some type of customer service.

Business

Response:

First of all let’s start and say this patio is 8 yearsold. Within the first year of ourinstallation (2007 and 2008) we did return phone calls and met with customerand did our best to satisfy customer. We have just recently heard back from herwithin the last 2 worst winters that [redacted] has not experienced in 30years. Of course you will have some stones and cracking of mortar joints comeup after that type of cold and severe temperatures. And 8 winters gone by. This is routine maintenance that a home ownerwill have with a stone patio.We believe that the issue of water coming in a roomunderneath is happening for two reasons the concrete base and brick walls whichwhere not installed by our company. Weplaced the stones on the existing concrete base. The base was not sloped (for water to drainoff) at ALL and we tried to slope as much as possible with the mortar bed thatour stones were laid in. Also the bricksthat were used again installed by another contractor were very porous andrequire a certain type of sealer to prevent water being absorbed through thebrick. This customer needs to complainwith the general contractor that installed the addition and laid the patio baseand outside brick walls. As far as the uneven areas, its natural stone and youwill have that. We went into detail with Mrs. [redacted] about keeping up with aproper stone stealer every year to try and maintain water from coming in. The numerous times we did return to visit thesituation the owner omitted it had not been re- sealed. Our company sealed the first winter and afterthat it was the customer’s responsibility. We feel that we did supply customer’s service to Mrs. [redacted]to the best of our ability for the work that was performed by our company andgave her a quality job. Are excellentrating with Revdex.com reflects that

Review: My driveway was replaced in August of 2009. In March of 2010 (7 months later) I discovered that it was spalling. (flaking/chipping/falling apart)I contacted the contractor, Nick Scotti Concrete, who told me that there was nothing wrong with the driveway. I then contacted both Mr. Scotti and [redacted] concrete. Both Mr. Scotti and the owner of [redacted] concrete came to my house and looked at the driveway.They both told me that nothing was wrong with the drive way. Mr. [redacted] told me that it was spalling because I drove on it with my salty car. I only use half of my driveway in the winter, but both halves had the issue. He had no explanation.They both told me that there was nothing wrong and it was normal. I look at my neighbors cement driveways that have been there for 20+ years and they do not have any of the issues of my driveway.I am literally watching my $10,000 driveway crumble away. I thought that this would be a once in a lifetime replacement. That it would add re-sale value to the property. Now, it will detract from the future value of the house.I would like them to admit that it was a bad load of concrete and refund my money or replace the driveway.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of my money or to have the driveway replaced.

Business

Response:

I have been back to inspect this property since the complaint was made with the gentlemen from [redacted] and we both have come to the conclusion that this spalling has occurred from the road salts that are used during the winter months and also from customer driving her car on it. The bulk of the spalling is occurring on the pads closest to the street. Obvious spalling from the plows throwing snow and salt when they are plowing the streets. Mr. [redacted] from [redacted] was at the premises on March 26, 2014 and have taken pictures of salt laying on the driveway. Pictures were also taken of the rest of the concrete including the steps and in front of garage where there is NO spalling. These areas were poured at the same time. Therefore not supporting the claim that it was a bad load of concrete. If that was the case you would see spalling throughout the project. I will be sending out a 21 page packet supporting all of our findings. We can recommend that the customer applies a Heavy Linseed Oil application to the driveway this fall to help protect the driveway from future extensive pop ups.

Consumer

Response:

I completely disagree with the assessment made by Nick Scotti and Mr. [redacted].

First of all, they should have had the courtesy to let me know that they were going to visit my home and have had the courage to face me. Obviously, they do not want to confront me face-to-face because they are embarrassed by the poor quality of my driveway.

Second, it is true that there are more popouts toward the street, but there are popouts all over the driveway. This includes the pad on the steps, which he says have no popouts. There are also popouts on the pads in front of the garage doors. I do not drive on the left side of my driveway in the winter and there are popouts all over that side as well.

Third, "from the customer driving her car in it" It is after all a driveway. The expectation when I hired Nick Scotti was that I was replacing my driveway on which I would drive, daily, in all weather conditions.

Fourth, why is my 4.5 year old driveway covered with popout/spalling marks - which started within 6 months of the driveway being poured - while my 45 year old cement garage floor does not have a spot on it. My salt-coved car drives into the garage and all of the snow and salt melt onto the floor. If I follow Nick Scotti's logic, my garage floor should be ruble.

Fifth, it cannot be helped that salt from the road makes it way onto my driveway. I regularly shovel and sweep the snow from my driveway. At the most, the salt and snow are on the end of my driveway for a matter of hours, not days.

If Nick Scotti and Mr. [redacted] are in agreement that the cement is not at fault, then they should not have been reluctant to have the concrete tested when I asked 4 years ago. At that time they assured me that the popouts/spalling would not get any worse, that the damage was the result of a bad winter and me putting salt on the driveway. I do not use salt. I have a 1 gallon jug of calcium chloride the I bought in 2010 and still have not used the entire jug.

When the driveway was finished, I jokingly commented to Nick Scotti that he did not put is company seal on the driveway. Now I know why. He must have know that the cement was inferior from the beginning and is probably glad that his name is not permanently marked on my driveway.

Personally, I think that Nick Scotti did an OK job replacing my driveway. I feel that the problem is due to a poor aggregate mix in the concrete causing spalling/popouts. It is unfortunate for Nick Scotti to bear the burden of the poor concrete provided by [redacted]. It is unfortunate for me that neither of these companies will stand behind their work.

Regards,

Consumer

Response:

I have received the packet of information explaining popouts and why they occur. If the guidelines suggested were followed, then my driveway would not have the problems it is having.. To me it is obvious that there was poor aggregate in the cement on my driveway.

The pictures provided are of poor quality and I cannot determine what most of them are. Page 15 clearly shows my steps and a large popout on the top pad. This is were Nick Scotti said that there were no popouts. Page 13 shows my whole driveway which clearly has more popouts on the end near the street. He did not include any close up pictures of the pads near the house, I have attached those. You can see that there are popouts on ALL of the pads, even those closest to the house.

Using Nick Scotti's logic, I examined several other driveways on my street, two of which were installed by Nick Scotti. These driveways are subject to the same weather and salt conditions and have more cars drive on them than my driveway. None of them have popouts like mine. And one of them is over 30 years old.

My $9,500 driveway started to fall apart after 6 months and neither Nick Scotti nor [redacted] will step up and admit that it was either poor workmanship or poor concrete. The saying thick as thieves comes to mind. Blaming me for driving on my driveway is INSANE!!! I didn't read the small print that stated that I had to wash my car prior to driving on my driveway.

Regards,

Business

Response:

If Ms. [redacted] would like to prove that she received a faulty material she can proceed with having the concrete tested herself. We stand behind our workmanship and material.

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.

If you look at my driveway you can see that something is wrong. Either it was poor quality concrete or poor quality workmanship. There is no way that a new driveway from a reputable contractor would be falling apart like this. If they won't stand behind their work, I guess there is nothing that I can do but to continue to complain about them.

They understand that it would be several thousand dollars for me personally to have the driveway tested. At that point, I am better off having the driveway replaced by another contract who will stand behind their work.

Regards,