Santos Lanscaping Inc.

Review: I hired a contractor [redacted] who sub-contracted to Jeff Santos of Santos Landscaping in Scotch Plains NJ. I paid to have an existing driveway and retaining wall removed and replaced in June of 2014. After waiting a full month to park on the newly paved driveway (I was told to wait 2 weeks), I parked my SUV on the lower part of my driveway (property slopes downward). When moving my vehicle the next day, I noticed the truck had sunk into the driveway (about 3 inches in some parts- I have photos). I then communicated this to [redacted] who eventually made an attempt to repair it simply by filling in 5-7 areas with asphalt (similar to filling potholes). The repairs resulted in patched holes that are very visible and not flush with the surrounding areas. In addition, the lower end of the driveway lifted up that winter about 3 inches (I was able to stick my hand underneath), and pulled up part of the driveway drain concrete frame. This continues to crumble, and must now be replaced (this drain was not crumbling prior to the driveway work, and will cost over $2k to replace). After communicating my dissatisfaction with the hole repairs and the broken drain to [redacted] he promised to repair the entire lower end of the driveway in spring of 2015 (I have emails with him saying he would have it repaired). Since then, I have texted numerous messages (which I have saved) to [redacted] and Mr. Santos asking for the driveway to be repaired as promised. I have been told 'in a couple of days', 'a couple of weeks', 'we need to take a look at it' (which I was told has already occurred), but still no repair has been made to date. I believe that the work was not done properly as the driveway is sloped, and a steamroller was not used to compact the base and the asphalt properly (tamping machines were used on the lower half of the driveway).Desired Settlement: I believe the lower half of the driveway should be repaired properly. I have been advised by other professional paving contractors that the repair should involve removing the existing area, and repaving using the proper machinery (steamroller) to ensure the base and asphalt is compacted properly.