In October of 2010 I contracted with this company to have some work done and received an estimate of $5800.00. I was impressed with Keith's Company because he told me he was contracted by some of the bigger businesses in the area to do their concrete. I had wanted to get concrete for quite a few years since every winter the area in front of the back steps heaved and cracked and it had basically turned to gravel. The concrete was original to the house which was built in 1932. I had Keith come over and I walked him through the issues I was having. He was very nice and seemed to be competent in his field. He was aware of the issue with the concrete cracking and he assured me that he was using the industry standards as far as ""bag mix"", expansion cuts and joints. He worked with the step company and he explained he was going to put down the correct amount of concrete with the correct grade for the concrete steps that would be delivered and set in place. Kieth worked with Valley Step to get the specs down and the right unit. He also coordinated the delivery with his schedule making sure cure times were observed. At some point in the project Kieth and his crew ran across a wet spot underground and work had to be put off until the earth dried sufficiently. Kieth suspected it was the sump pump saturating the area but the sump pump drains almost to the street and the soft spot was at the back of the house.
The work was done in a timely fashion, not a lot of mess was made except for some over splash on my neighbors garage, which I have had no luck removing and some re-sodding needed on the neighbors lawn due to the Bobcat having to pass over it to finish a job at the back of the garage.
This was in the end of October, We had our first cold weather and frost ONE MONTH later at which time I noticed that the concrete had cracked in a couple of places at the base of the step, the exact place I was getting new concrete to fix. I had a contractor come and look at it and he informed me that an expansion joint should have been cut deeper so it could lift and not crack, This isn't a little crack, one is eight feet long, spanning two sections. It was explained to me that the joints were not cut deep enough so when the steps being as heavy as they are, didn't lift up with the rest of the concrete in that slab it started to crack and now I have a mess. Professionals need to use critical thinking skills when diagnosing and correcting problems.
I called the moment I saw it but it was Deer hunting, then Thanksgiving, then there was nothing that could be done during the winter, then Spring is the BUSIEST time..... So I called one last time after almost 9 months of no resolution and left a message stating that maybe I needed to get a lawyer involved. I did speak to him after that, the same day and apologized for for maybe being a little irate, he said he would come and make it right. Here it is Jan 2012 and I still have yet to hear from or see Keith. I am so disappointed. I own a business in Green Bay, I can tell you if I mess up, I make it right. No one wants to be accused of doing a bad job, but ignoring the problem is not going to make a customer happy, Man up Keith and fix this, that is all I have wanted from the beginning.
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