Ultimate Concrete

Review: I [redacted], contracted Cameron Gardner owner of Ultimate Concrete LLC to install two sidewalks and a patio. First sidewalk to be installed beside a garage not connected to the house and a stamped walk runs along the back of a garage connected to the house. First sidewalk just a regular concrete sidewalk and the stamped sidewalk were poured the same day. The first sidewalk poured was off by 3/4". It had too much slant to it. Cameron left his two men (employees) to finish while he went to finish up some work at another job. When he returned my husband confronted him about it. He said they could take it out. Even though my husband was not happy with it he told him to let it go.

The second sidewalk back of the garage connected to the house which joins the patio was poured and stamped the same day as the first one. August 9. 2010. No problem with this walk. Next day Tues the 10th it rained, no work. Resumed work on patio Wed Oct. 11th and finished. After patio was sealed Thurs Aug 12th it was beautiful.

April of 2011 on 8 months later it looked like the day they poured and stamped it with no sealer on it. It was very dull looking. I called Cameron and he said maybe he didn't get enough sealer on it. He came in May 2011 and put more sealer on patio. I showed hi where there was some spotting on patio next to sidewalk. My husband has used a fiberglass shovel to remove snow at the spot. I told him to stop as we didn't go out that way to get to our vehicles. We thought that may have caused the spotting and Cameron said it did. According to [redacted] form [redacted] that was not what caused that spotting.

In the year 2012 more spotting showed up over from the first place where it spotted year before. I called Cameron, he came about August after I had called him in the Spring to put on more sealer on patio and said it should blend back into the color of the patio. You could still see the spotting.

March 2013, even more spotting and scaling appeared over more areas of the patio. I had [redacted] Concrete come out and look at patio. Pictures were taken and said they would let me know something with the concrete. I never heard anything back from them.

About the end of March 2013 I saw Cameron at [redacted] and told him about the problem.

Thurs April 25, 2014 I called Cameron. I didn't hear from him so I called again Mon April 29, 2013. He called me Sat. June 1, 2013. I wasn't home to take his call so I called him back that evening. He said he would come the evening of June 3 a Mon. He was a no show. I called him Fri. June 7.2013 at 6pm. No return call. Called him Mon. June 10th at 5pm form my home phone. Cameron's cell phone mailbox was full and would not take a message. I called him back at 6:45pm the same evening form my cell phone this time. He answered said he would stop and look at my patio sometime during the week and com Sat. the 15th to seal patio. No show, no call. That day June 15th I called at 10:30 am. Cameron got back to me at 11:15am with message saying he would order the powder for the patio. He wanted to know if the patio has been cleaned that he would come seal patio on Sat June 22nd. I cleaned the patio. Sat. came and he was a no show again. Sat June 29th I went to his home to see him as he wasn't returning my calls. Cameron's wife said he was working on another job. He called me that evening said he would come take care of the patio when he got the powder.

August 6. 2013, 11:47 am. I called Cameron he answered said he was pouring concrete. Couldn't talk now. I asked him to please call me back that evening. Said he would return my call. No return call.

August 7th 7:10 am. I called Cameron left a message that he needed to call me back that I had a letter from [redacted] that he needed to read and if he didn't get back to me I was going to proceed further. After he got my message he got back to me half hour later. He wanted me to mail him the letter. I told him I had been instructed not to mail him the letter that he needed to come to my home to read it. He said he would get back with me as to when he could come. Ten minutes later he called me back said he changed his mind that he would be at my house in 10 minutes. He read the letter looked at the patio and said there was never any warranty on the patio. I said to him "Don't you stand behind your work?' He said "Yes he did". He said it looked like only the sealer has come off the patio. I told him according to [redacted] the patio was scaling which meant sealer plus concrete was coming up. He asked me if I was going to mail the letter to Commonwealth of VA Dept of Professional And Occupational Regulation and Revdex.com. I told him not if he resolved the problem. Keep in mind this was August 7, 2013.

August 26, 2013 at 8:15 am I called Cameron and got his answering machine saying subscriber cannot receive any messages try again at a later time. I called back about 8:55 am got same message. I called again at 2:20pm this time I could leave a message. I left a message saying my husband and I hadn't heard from him in almost three weeks and if he didn't get in touch with me by Tues the 27th I was going to mail the letter from [redacted] to the Commonwealth of VA Dept of Professional And Occupational Regulation and Revdex.com. I got home at 6pm he had left a message that he would come this week being the last week of August to as he put it to wrap it up. He called me back to see if I got the message. I told him I had and ask him how he was going to fix the problem. He was going to apply powder to the affected areas, blow it off and seal it. I let him know I hope this would take care of the problem but if it didn't I wanted the patio taken out and replaced. He said he would be here sometime this week.

Friday, August 30th, Cameron called me and said he would be at my house sometime this week. Monday, September 2nd he came and dry brushed spots with walnut color finishing powder then blew it off with a air blower. As these spots are all over the patio at different places it took him several hours to finish. After he blew the excess powder off it looked as if the spots showed through. Cameron then rolled the sealer on with a 3/8" paint roller. This was the first time he has rolled the sealer on. He always sealed it with a sprayers. Spots still showed through but not as bad. It was still very noticeable.

April 2014 after winter patio spots reappeared. Called Cameron Wed. May 14th 8:20am. He finally called me back Fri May 23rd at 10:30am. He left message just returning phone call. I called him back left a message to call me after 5pm. I was away for the weekend when I returned home on May 27th I called him. He returned my call Monday May 28th about 2pm. Cameron said he was snowed under in work but would come out some day to look at the patio. He wanted to know what the problem was again. I told him the spots has reappeared. I told him I didn't know what else could be done but if it couldn't be fixed I wanted the patio replaced. I told him we had spent too much money for the patio to look like that especially since the sidewalk that adjoins it did not have the same issue. Told him [redacted] said that I would continue to scale and get worse. I told Cameron I wanted him to come look at the patio when I was at home so we could try to resolve this issue.

August 7, 2014 6:30pm I called Cameron back because he hasn't returned my call. I let him know I wouldn't be calling him anymore that I was going to proceed with letters. I have given him every chance to correct this and have continuously been put off over the past three years.

Cameron Gardner has also tried to say problem was due to fertilizer put on yard. We stayed away from patio and walk when applying fertilizer. Besides how come the problem got worse each year but never affected the sidewalk that would have been the area more likely to have damage. [redacted] said with sealer on the patio and walk it would have affected it.

[redacted] Desired Settlement: Replace patio

Business

Response:

In August of 2010 my company, Ultimate Concrete, LLC was contracted by a client to pour a patio and two sidewalks at their home. Due to the extensive amount of concrete being poured and the nature of stamping large areas of concrete, the job was completed over several days. The process involved in each job I am contracted to complete includes laying out and marking where work will be completed, digging out and prepping for concrete to be poured (which can include reinforcement being placed in the foundation of the concrete), pouring the concrete, finishing the concrete (including stamping), and then returning after the concrete has set to wash and seal the patio or sidewalk. This process is the same for every job I complete and the client in question was treated no differently in regards to that timeline or finishing techniques. At the completion of this job I was paid in full by the client and complimented on the quality of my work. The client indicated in their compliant that the first sidewalk completed for their home was 3/4" off, basically saying there was too much slant in the sidewalk. I addressed this issue with the client and explained to them that concrete placed directly in contact with a home's foundation is required to be poured and set at a slight angle to prevent water from pooling against the home's foundation and leading to a leak or water damage from standing water. The client was satisfied with this response at the time and I left their home with the impression and knowledge that they were highly satisfied with the work I completed.

In April of 2011, almost a year after I completed the sidewalks and patio, I was contacted by the client in regards to some scratching that had occurred on the patio due to the client shoveling snow off of the patio with a snow shovel. I agreed to come and attempt to repair the scratches left on the surface of the patio by the client's snow shovel. I indicated to the clients that the patio would need to be cleaned prior to my coming and resealing it in an attempt to repair the damage that had been done. The client agreed to clean the patio and pay my company to come and reseal and repair the damaged area. While I was resealing the client's patio they brought to my attention some spotting that had become present on one area of the patio. I asked the client if any fertilizer or salt had been spread on or around the patio as this can result in the sealer being broken down and give the appearance of the concrete looking scaly. The client indicated that they did spread fertilizer but that it had not been in contact with the surface of the patio. I reiterated to the client that it would cause damage to the surface of the concrete if fertilizer was inadvertently left on the surface of the patio. The client was pleased with the repair and resealing work that I completed at this time and I was paid in full.

In 2012, two years after I completed the sidewalks and patio at the clients home, I was once again contacted in regards to spotting issues on the stamped patio. I again, in an attempt to ensure that the client was pleased, returned to their home and resealed the patio to cover the spotting that had appeared on the patio during the previous winter. Again, the client was pleased with the end result and in an attempt to retain a good working relationship with the client and to show good faith, I completed this work at no cost to the client.

In 2013, three years after the initial completion of the client's sidewalks and patio, it was again brought to my attention by the client that spotting still existed on their back patio. I explained to the client that I would again come by their home and see what repair work could be done to resolve this issue. I also let the client know that I was currently in the busiest season for concrete work and I would have to work them into my schedule. The client persistently and repeatedly contacted me regarding this issue and I continued to let the client know that I would resolve the issue as soon as time allowed. The client even went as far as to show up at my personal residence on a Saturday morning and inquire to my wife as to my whereabouts and the reasons beh from work. I contacted the client that evening and assured them that I would be at their home as soon as I could and do whatever it took to resolve this issue. After examining the patio I decided the best course of action to take would be to order colored powder in the same color as the patio and apply that directly to the discolored spots and seal in the new color by applying sealer with a paint roller to the damaged areas. Because the powder had to be ordered and because I was currently booked out for concrete work at least four weeks, the client was required to wait to have their patio

repaired. Because concrete work is so heavily affected by the weather, during the spring and summer months, it is not uncommon for clients of mine to have to wait several weeks or even longer to have me complete their concrete work. I did not treat the clients in question any differently than I treated new customers who inquired about work during this timeframe. I am very upfront with all of my customers regarding the amount of time it could take me to initiate and complete my work. I am also very upfront about time delays that can occur because of weather and other issues that are out of my immediate control. The clients in question, as far as I am concerned, were treated fairly in this regard and I completed the repair work required for their patio as soon as I was able to.

For the third time, in September of 2013, I went to the client's home and repaired the spots on the patio. I applied the colored powder and resealed the patio to the clients approval. At the time the repairs were made I spoke to the client about what could be causing the issues we were seeing. The client let me know at that time that they had hired an engineering firm to examine the patio and that the engineering firm believed the patio had been overworked and the concrete was scaling because of that. I indicated to the client that I did not believe that was what was causing the spotting on their patio. The type of spotting that was showing on their patio is usually linked to damage caused by salt or fertilizer being placed on the patio's surface, something that I had already discussed with the client and warned them about. I even demonstrated to the client that the concrete was not peeling up, it

was just the sealer that was flaking off of the surface of the concrete. I also tried to explain to the client that stamped concrete (which is the finish they chose for their patio) is worked very little. You actually must not overwork the concrete or the stamps will be unable to leave a definite impression in the patio. As you can see from the pictures provided by the client, their patio has a very defined stamp stone pattern and that would indicate that the concrete was not overworked and was soft enough to have the impression left in it's surface.

While I was completing the repair in 2013, the client also indicated to me that the only solution they saw for fixing the spotting issue with their patio was for the patio to be demolished and a new patio to be poured in it's place. I told the client that I would not be able to do this free of charge because I do not have a warranty in place for my concrete work and I did not believe I should be held liable for damage caused to their patio over three years, especially since the clients were satisfied at the initial completion of their patio. The client then indicated that she believed that I meant I did not stand behind the work I completed. I told the client that while I did not have a warranty in place for my concrete work that I did stand behind my work by returning to their home every year for the past three years and doing everything in my power to fix a problem that I believed had nothing to do with my

finishing techniques or the materials used for their patio. I indicated to the client that I use the same concrete company, brand of sealer, and finishing techniques for every job I complete and I suspected that the spotting on their patio was due to circumstances beyond my control. I left the clients home with the spots covered and the patio resealed to their approval and no other mention was made to removing and replacing the patio. Again, in an attempt to show good faith to the client I completed this repair work free of charge.

In the beginning of the summer of 2014, four years after I completed the clients sidewalks and patio, I was again contacted by the client and told that the spots had reappeared on the patio during the winter months. The client indicated to me that she would like to have her patio replaced due to the spotting. I decided it was in my company's best interest to allow the client to proceed with whatever legal action she deemed necessary and that I would not agree to return to the client's home on a yearly basis and reseal their patio free of charge. In my opinion I have gone above and beyond to try and resolve the issues this client is having with their stamped concrete patio. I 100% stand behind my company and the work that I complete, in fact in the 8 years that I have owned and operated Ultimate Concrete, LLC, I have never received another complaint of this nature from any other customer. I have repeatedly tried to resolve any perceived issues that this particular customer has with the patio I poured for them in 2010. It is my opinion that this customer's underlying motive is to have their patio replaced free of charge due to the damage that they themselves caused by shoveling snow and spreading either salt or fertilizer on or near their patio the first winter after the patio was poured.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

This letter is in regards to the response to Ultimate Concrete LLC owner Cameron Gardner. I want to start by telling you that my husband did not want me to pursue this matter about the patio. Upon reading Cameron's letter he was appalled by the dishonesty and was in favor of me writing a letter in response.

Cameron writes in his letter that in 2010 he started construction on the patio which took a period of 3 days to complete. When finished like I stated in my letter it was beautiful when completed and I was satisfied. After the After the winter the patio showed some spotting where the patio meets the sidewalk. He said due to my husband shoveling snow at that particular spot that it scratched it. It was spotted not scratched. There was a fiberglass shovel used and according to [redacted] that couldn't do that kind of damage. Before he resealed it in May of 2011 not even a year later the patio has the appearance like it did after it has been poured before putting sealer on it. It looked dull and flat. I accepted the way it looked after he sealed it again but was not satisfied because the spots still showed through the sealer. I had hoped it wouldn't get any worse and gave him the benefit of the doubt.

2012- more spotting occurred. Like he said he sealed it again and said I was satisfied. I was not satisfied and at that point told him if this continued I wanted the patio take out. I paid him $50.00 in cash for sealing it. I had bought the sealer at [redacted] prior to him sealing it. I still have half a bucket of sealer. He said in his letter he didn't charge me. The only time he wasn't paid was the last time he attempted to fix the patio. My husband and I told him to send us a bill and he never did.

2013-after numerous calls he told me when he would come work on the patio but was a no show and didn't call me to let me know he wasn't coming. Finally I called and left a message on his phone that I wanted him to contact me because I had a letter I felt he may want to read. He immediately called me back and wanted me to mail the letter to him. I told him I was informed not to do and I made this clear to him. He said he would let me know when he could come read it. He hung up and in a matter of moments called me back and said he'd be at my house in 10 minutes. The rest you can read in my past letter. He finally got the powder and proceeded to try to fix the problem which I truly believe he knew it wouldn't fix it. He said in his letter he as very upfront with all his customers about time delays because of weather and other issues that are out of his control. If that's the case there's no excuse for promising to come do work and not show up or call.

Cameron said in his letter the problem with the patio was due to fertilizer being applied to the yard. What happened to the excuse that the first spots were due to shoveling snow at the one particular spot. I assure you this is not the case because if any particles got on the patio they were swept or blown off with a blower. According to [redacted] that with sealer being on the patio this would not affect the patio. What Cameron did not explain in his letter was why the stamped sidewalk was not at all affected. That sidewalk was more exposed to the yard than the patio. The stamped sidewalk was the only thing in the whole job that turned out good. As you can see in the pictures spotting, scaling occurred over halfway up the patio.

The first sidewalk poured next to the disconnected garage (just plain concrete) was the one Cameron left his men to do the job so he could go finish up another job. This sidewalk was off by one and a half inches. I stated in my first letter it was off by three fourths of an inch which is acceptable not one and a half inches. My husband was not very happy with this as it was too much of a slant. My husband told Cameron he didn't have to take it out as it would cost much to do so and just to let it go. I have included pictures of this along with patio pictures.

I didn't feel he went above and beyond the call of duty as he stated in his letter. He continuously put me off and the only thing he did until 2013 was to keep spraying sealer on the patio each of those two years which didn't resolve the problem with the continuous spotting & scaling.

Several times when I called him he wouldn't return my calls. I realized he recognized my name and number. Once I went to my mother's house to call him after calling him ten minutes earlier. Not recognizing the name and number he answered the call. Another time same thing and I called him from my sister's house and he answered. A third time I called from my work phone. Again he didn't recognize the number so he answered. Tell me this wasn't avoiding my call and putting me off. I paid him $5,950.00 in full for a job that went bad. Yes, I am very upset. one of these problems were due to anything we did wrong. Just read [redacted]'s letter. I want Cameron to pay for the removal and replacement of my patio.

[redacted] &[redacted]

Business

Response:

In August of 2010 my company, Ultimate Concrete completed a stamped patio and sidewalk for the client. At the completion of my work, as stated by the client, the patio "was beautiful when completed and I was satisfied". Over the winter of 2010 the client's husband shoveled snow off of the patio and sidewalk and in the spring of 2011 I was called to repair the damage that action caused to the surface of the patio. A fiberglass snow shovel should be used with caution on stamped concrete because the shovel has a metal edge that can cause damage to the sealer on the surface of the concrete and in turn to the concrete itself. The client did not deny the use of the snow shovel at the time I made the repair & even acknowledged causing the scratches and surface damage. At no time did the client express to me any concern over the quality of my work or the materials used. She simply called me to fix cosmetic damage that was caused by shoveling snow from the patio that winter. I resealed the patio in order to fill the scratches and the client was pleased with the final result. This was the only repair work that the client was charged for and I was paid to complete this work.

Every spring for the past three years I have received a call from the client regarding spotting on the stamped patio. I have tried to resolve this issue by resealing the patio numerous times and also attempted to apply a colored powder to the spots in question. The client indicated in her letter that I made these repairs knowing they would be unsuccessful. On the contrary, I employed techniques to repair the spotting on the patio that were taught to me in numerous stamping seminars, from experts in the field of concrete, in the hopes of resolving this issue for the client. The technique of applying a colored powder was done because I believed, and was taught, that this would restore color to the damaged areas without leaving a drastic change in color on the surface of the concrete.

In response to the letter submitted by [redacted] of [redacted], it is my belief that his assumption that the concrete on the patio was overworked and this caused the spotting in question is completely unfounded and false. In order to come to this conclusion, Mr. [redacted] would have had to have been present at the time the concrete was poured to test the slump and the air in the concrete delivered to the job. Mr. [redacted] would have also needed to be present at the time the concrete was finished in order to declare that the concrete was damaged due to finishing techniques. As stated in my previous letter, stamped concrete is worked very little. In order to get a definite impression of the stamp pattern, the concrete must be soft enough for the stamp to be firmly pressed into the surface. If the concrete was overworked, the finished product would not have a distinct and defined pattern. In the pictures provided by the client, it is clear that the patio has a defined stamp pattern in the surface, which would lead to the conclusion that the concrete was soft enough at the time the stamps were applied, and therefore not overworked. Furthermore, the same finishing techniques were used on the stamped sidewalk that was poured in conjunction with the patio. One would assume the same damage would be present on the sidewalk if finishing techniques were actually the cause of the damage seen on the patio.

It is my belief that the damage seen on the stamped patio was initially caused over the winter/spring of 2010/2011. I believe that in addition to the damage caused by the snow shovel, some type of chemical (either salt to aide in snow/ice removal or fertilizer spread over the yard) was left on the surface of the concrete and ultimately led to the sealer on the concrete being damaged and caused the spotting that is seen in the pictures provided by the client. If the damage was caused by any action I took in placing and finishing the concrete, I believe the damage would be uniform over the patio and sidewalk and the progression of the damage would not have coincided with the arrival of spring each year. I believe I made every effort to repair the patio to the client's satisfaction even though I believe the damage caused to the patio was completely out of my control and not caused by any of my direct actions.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

In August of 2010 Ultimate Concrete completed a stamped sidewalk and patio for me and I was satisfied when completed.

In April of 2011, only 8 months later the patio was dull and scaling (spotting) appeared. My husband had used a fiberglass scoop not a fiberglass snow shovel with a metal edge as Ultimate Concrete claimed. We showed him what was used and I mailed you pictures of the fiberglass scoop used. There was only one place where this scoop was used and that was where the walk ends and the patio begins. I saw my husband removing the snow and told him to stop as we never go out that way to get in our vehicles.

In 2012 more scaling (spotting) appeared about four feet over from the first scaling. The problem just got worse. In 2011 and 2012 Cameron came and resealed it but, this did not cover the scaling and spots and I told him then that something else had to be done even if it meant replacing the patio. Cameron said in addition to the damage done to the patio that salt and fertilizer was what caused the problem. Like I said in my past letters no salt or fertilizer ever came in contact or got on the patio. We never use salt around our home. and if any fertilizer got on any of the sidewalks and patio it was swept off quickly. If this was the case why wouldn't the same scaling appear on the stamped sidewalk. He has yet to give a good reason or explain that. The stamped sidewalk was the only good part of the whole job.

In response to Ultimate Concrete's commit about Mark [redacted] of [redacted] assumptions that the concrete was over worked and caused the surface scaling was completely false. Mr. [redacted] has seen this several times on other patios.

Mr. [redacted] has a Masters in Geothermic and Materials testing. His findings were that the results of the rebound testing performed in areas of scaling and other random locations indicated that he concrete compressive strength is in excess of 4,000psi. Some restraint cracking was noted neat the north end of the slab and is most likely related to the practices of bonding concrete to brick veneer. Based on the sporadic scaling observed we conclude that this problem is associated with finishing techniques used during construction. The scaling observed is not related with over application of fertilizer or de-icing salts. If this were the case, scaling would be prominent throughout the slab surface with respect to cause. We expect the scaling to progress and continue to mar aesthetic appeal; therefore, we recommend immediate action to be taken to definitively arrest the scaling. If all fails, demolition and replacement may be an option. This was the findings of [redacted].

Upon trying to find out the cause of the problem with the patio I was referred to Mr. [redacted] by a representative of a concrete business. I truly believe he knows his business. I truly believe he knows his profession as he had been in business for a very long time opposed to Ultimate Concrete being in business for only twelve years 2002-2014 and he questions Mr. [redacted]'s knowledge of his findings.