O'Donnell Paving & Landscaping, Inc.

Unsatisfactory results of a paving job performed last fall. We had depressions in the asphalt pavement immediately in front of our dumpster. This was caused by the weight/tires of the heavy dump trucks that would come on our property to empty the dumpster. The area that was repaved was 11' x 85'. The contractor quoted us as follows: Cut out area approx. 11' x 85'Dig out and remove materialsAdd hard pack. Grade and compactAsphalt pave approximately 3 inchesApproximately 935 square feetAs instructed, we did not allow the trash to be collected for at least a week (9 days).Obviously, in retrospect, the job was clearly inadequate to prevent depressions in the asphalt. We were depending on the expertise of the contractor to outline the correct solution.He is now claiming that he recommended to dig down 4 feet. This is an absolute false claim. There were 3 of us present from [redacted], and we all agree that there was never any mention made of excavating to 4 feet.IF this HAD been his recommendation for properly executing the job, we obviously would have agreed to have him quote that way.Desired SettlementHe did such a poor job, that we don't want him back on our property again. We want what we paid for the work, [redacted] refunded.As an aside, this spring, and before the snow had completely melted, he was asked to quote on some additional paving in our parking lot.When he was broached about the poor work he had previously done, he said that he would "take care" of it, if he got the job he had recently quoted on. Of course we declined the offer, and that's when he came up with the claim that he had recommended a 4 footexcavation for the job in question.Business Response On [redacted] 2014, a quote was prepared for the customer to repair the asphalt in front of the dumpster because the asphalt had depressions from the dumpster truck tires. The owner met with ONE person (not 3 as stated in the customers complaint) and measured an area of 103 feet by 33 feet equaling 3333 square feet. The customer then asked him to measure a smaller area of asphalt as they were looking for a lower price. The owner came up with an area of 11 x 85 and a contract was sent accordingly. When the owner met with the customer, he informed them that he would like to dig further down then 10 inches. He also informed them that if they were looking for a lower price, he could dig out the standard 8-10 inches of material, add hard pack and repave with 3 inches of asphalt. The customer agreed to the standard dig out depth and signed a contract accordingly. Work was completed on this project on [redacted] 2014.On [redacted] 2015, the customer called our office and asked for a second estimate for a completely different area of the parking lot. The customer had frost heaves in one specific area of the parking lot (separate from the dumpster area), and the owner of our company met at this time with 3 people representing the customer. The owner of our company then stated that it is possible they may have around 4 feet of frost underneath that area of pavement since we had such a cold winter. In no way did this refer to the work that was already completed on the dumpster area. In no way did our company recommend to dig to this depth underneath the dumpster. This was a completely separate conversation about a completely separate scope of work. On [redacted] 2015, we received a phone call from the customer stating that the work that was performed on the dumpster area was insufficient. The owner of O'Donnell paving spoke directly with the customer on the phone in front of two office employees from our company. The customer was the one who at this time asked the owner of the company about the "4 feet" recommendation. The owner of the company then stated to the customer "4 feet? I never said anything about digging four feet for that area. I asked you if you wanted us to dig down further and you said no because the price was too high". The customer seems to be confusing 2 separate conversations about 2 separate areas of the parking lot and 2 separate estimates. A signed contract from the customer states "O'Donnell Paving is not to be held responsible for frost heaves, cracking, standing water, backing up of pavement, unstable soil conditions or restoration of disturbed areas" We can not force a customers hand to sign a contract that is over the price they want to pay, and or sign off on any recommendations that are made. We did the exact work that was on the signed contract. We can not be held responsible for a decision on the customer's end.Consumer Response We are not satisfied with the contractors response to our claim. We can't even agree as to the no. of people who were present when the contractor visited our site.There was NEVER any discussion about how deep the excavation should have been. The only discussion we had was how much asphalt should be removed. The contractor wanted to remove a section of asphalt 33 ' wide. We only wanted to remove an area slightly wider than the depressions in the asphalt.We now have depressions in the newly paved area, because the contractor misjudged the scope of the job. He did not dig down nearly enough to correct the situation.Shortly, we will be filing in Small Claims Court for the $3500 we paid for the job.For the [redacted] - Facilities CommitteeFinal Business Response In response to the customer's rebuttal, I will reference our first response. Our company obviously disagrees with how each conversation went, and still believe the customer is confused about the separate conversations held for the 2 separate estimates. The facts are that the customer made a decision for a standard dig out depth, signed a contract for it, and the work was completed as outlined out in the contract. As indicated in our first response, the customer was looking for the lowest cost possible to repair the dumpster area. Again, we can not make our customers pay for work they do not agree upon. We did the exact work on the contract. Our standard is 8-10 inches of digging, and the customer was told that. We have been in business for 18 years and rarely have any issues with paving work. The owner of our company did not at all ignore any call or concern this customer had. The owner spoke to the customer on the phone on [redacted] 2015 and felt that the customer was confused about their previous conversations. The owner of our company in good faith, told the customer that we would fix the dumpster area free of charge even though we did not feel we were responsible for it, if we were to work on the second area of the property. This was a good faith attempt to remedy the situation. The customer refused and told the Revdex.com they would not let us back on the property. There is nothing we can do at this point other than to forward any information we have for the customer to our lawyer since a small court claim will be filed by customer.