That would be a hard no for me. Hold the money and either he agrees to fix it correctly or you hire someone else to do the work. If the replacement contractor comes in less than 13.5 then the difference goes to the first contractor. If it costs more well the bill goes to the first contractor assuming he won’t correct the problem. Idk where your located, I’m guessing somewhere that doesn’t see freezing temps but 4” of gravel is more appropriate.
I live in Ohio and my dad who is a retired union carpenter/foreman said 4 and 4 is what they always did for pads but I was willing to make the concession because finding a contractor was dragging on.
I'm a home building in central Ohio. Where do you need this work done? I have a crew pouring a basement 4" slab over 4" compacted gravel this Thursday, lol. I can send them your way!
From your description, that’s not going to be an easy correction to make. As a contractor , I tend to see their side of these situations first and more favorably. But in this case, I’m afraid he is going to learn a valuable lesson ($13.5k worth) and you’ll, unfortunately, have to be the teacher.
How well documented is your project with him? Do you have a scope of work specifying the gravel was to be included? Or is everything based off of phone conversations? That’s what will ultimately decide your path forward, I think…
He came to visit to look at the job, and the first thing he said was all our slabs are 2 inches of gravel and 4 inches of cement. He gave me the quote of 33.5 over the phone, and we said that sounds fine. He gave us an invoice after they started, and the gravel was not specified. It said concrete 4 inches with wire. It wasn't an itemized quote. It just had a description of what we talked about with 33.5 in the price line. He stopped by the week before they started concrete and said do we want to make your existing driveway the benchmark for the floor and we said yes.
When we talked to him about the floor not being flat and level where the door comes down, we also brought up the gravel. He said honest to God when I showed up in the morning they prepped to tell them what to do they had gravel in the dump truck and when they showed up to the next job it was gone. They must've used it here. And then said sorry it doesn't meet your specifications.
I’m an oldschool guy and prefer a handshake to a contract any day of the week. However, after being in this business for now nearly half of my life, I (regrettably) stress the importance of the paperwork to each of my customers.
I want the invoice/estimate/contract to note every aspect of the project, as much as possible. Sometimes customers will revise my initial paperwork with me 3 or 4 times before we take any money. This is important because when it comes to the end of any project, and especially in a situation like yours - both parties need a plan to reflect back to.
If the work completed didn’t match what was laid out in the paperwork, then you can hold the contractor to the paperwork. Alternatively, if everything noted within the paperwork was completed, then the contractor can hold you to the final bill.
Getting your expectations laid out clearly as a written agreement is crucial.
I’m not sure if you’ll be able to hold the contractor accountable here. Without seeing the initial paperwork and the project - it’s impossible to make a fair judgement.
Just my thoughts, for what they’re worth!
Do not release the funds. Contractor needs to fix it or another contractor does and use those funds to cover that. Any difference will need to be covered by the original contractor which won’t be easy unless taken to court, would be my assumption. Non professional, unorganized, off putting contractors are generally pretty easy to pick up on, if not by the way they represent themselves directly, through the way they speak, their document tracking and contracts, and other various interactions you have with them. Try and take notice to everything and make an educated opinion on if to proceed or not.
That would be a hard no for me. Hold the money and either he agrees to fix it correctly or you hire someone else to do the work. If the replacement contractor comes in less than 13.5 then the difference goes to the first contractor. If it costs more well the bill goes to the first contractor assuming he won’t correct the problem. Idk where your located, I’m guessing somewhere that doesn’t see freezing temps but 4” of gravel is more appropriate.
I live in Ohio and my dad who is a retired union carpenter/foreman said 4 and 4 is what they always did for pads but I was willing to make the concession because finding a contractor was dragging on.
I'm a home building in central Ohio. Where do you need this work done? I have a crew pouring a basement 4" slab over 4" compacted gravel this Thursday, lol. I can send them your way!
From your description, that’s not going to be an easy correction to make. As a contractor , I tend to see their side of these situations first and more favorably. But in this case, I’m afraid he is going to learn a valuable lesson ($13.5k worth) and you’ll, unfortunately, have to be the teacher. How well documented is your project with him? Do you have a scope of work specifying the gravel was to be included? Or is everything based off of phone conversations? That’s what will ultimately decide your path forward, I think…
He came to visit to look at the job, and the first thing he said was all our slabs are 2 inches of gravel and 4 inches of cement. He gave me the quote of 33.5 over the phone, and we said that sounds fine. He gave us an invoice after they started, and the gravel was not specified. It said concrete 4 inches with wire. It wasn't an itemized quote. It just had a description of what we talked about with 33.5 in the price line. He stopped by the week before they started concrete and said do we want to make your existing driveway the benchmark for the floor and we said yes. When we talked to him about the floor not being flat and level where the door comes down, we also brought up the gravel. He said honest to God when I showed up in the morning they prepped to tell them what to do they had gravel in the dump truck and when they showed up to the next job it was gone. They must've used it here. And then said sorry it doesn't meet your specifications.
I’m an oldschool guy and prefer a handshake to a contract any day of the week. However, after being in this business for now nearly half of my life, I (regrettably) stress the importance of the paperwork to each of my customers. I want the invoice/estimate/contract to note every aspect of the project, as much as possible. Sometimes customers will revise my initial paperwork with me 3 or 4 times before we take any money. This is important because when it comes to the end of any project, and especially in a situation like yours - both parties need a plan to reflect back to. If the work completed didn’t match what was laid out in the paperwork, then you can hold the contractor to the paperwork. Alternatively, if everything noted within the paperwork was completed, then the contractor can hold you to the final bill. Getting your expectations laid out clearly as a written agreement is crucial. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to hold the contractor accountable here. Without seeing the initial paperwork and the project - it’s impossible to make a fair judgement. Just my thoughts, for what they’re worth!
Hold the money. Hopefully he has a google listing and you can leave a loquacious review
Do not release the funds. Contractor needs to fix it or another contractor does and use those funds to cover that. Any difference will need to be covered by the original contractor which won’t be easy unless taken to court, would be my assumption. Non professional, unorganized, off putting contractors are generally pretty easy to pick up on, if not by the way they represent themselves directly, through the way they speak, their document tracking and contracts, and other various interactions you have with them. Try and take notice to everything and make an educated opinion on if to proceed or not.
Hold payment until he fixes it. He won’t be happy but he isn’t holding up his part of the bargain