The costly consequences of bad concrete work: when buying cheap concrete service comes at a very high price
Quality over price
Know not to fall into the cheap trap
There are moments in life when we find ourselves wondering why we have made such penny wise pound foolish decisions. It can happen to anyone, especially when we don’t have the right knowledge, which could result in the belief that any solution will do. So as much as a cheap driveway can seem attractive to your pocket, know that it can get expensive pretty fast.
If we can give you one advice on concrete work it has to be: choose quality over cheap service ALWAYS. Cheap solutions can end up being costly for different reasons: they don’t last long, they require maintenance or they end up being inefficient - sometimes all of the above.
When we are talking about important investments - such as your property - some though, research and planning should be put into it. And we tell you why; as much as concrete seems like an easy material to manage (and for the right professional it is) someone without the handling knowledge can run into huge problems... Cracking, discoloration, shrinkage, scaling, uneven unwanted appearance and hollowness could be due to external factors? Yes. But the right professional will be able to tackle these issues before hand so they can, to the best of their ability, prevent them from happening. Other various things can go wrong when inexperience meets unprofessionalism. And when that happens, what was once cheap is now overly expensive, stressful and time consuming.
Price you pay
Things you could end up having to do
Getting a second opinion
Even if you know nothing about concrete, you will know what a bad job looks like. If the finish sucks now, it will not get better. But to conclusively prove what you already know, you may need to find an inspector or professional who is not directly involved in the matter to get a test done. The bad news is that those can take time - and money. Excell Concrete has been called to fix up bad jobs and we can tell you, as much as we love what we do, it always sucks to witness the consequences of an awful concrete work at our clients properties.
Knowing and seeking your rights
Don't let them fool you. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to resolve. You have rights under the law and, if at least the contract was well done it includes repair, cancellation and/or financial claims. The Consumer Guarantees Act says that tradespeople need to work with reasonable skill and competence. If you hire a business to provide a service and it's sub-standard, you can ask them to fix the problem under the Consumer Guarantees Act. If they have not completed the work, they might be in breach and you have rights under both the Consumer Guarantees and the Contract & Commercial Law Act. The thing is you may not want the same contractor that mucked up to fix it.
Holding pay
That could be extreme and possibly a problematic measure, but If you have yet to pay for the whole job one option would be to put the payment into an escrow account so this will not be paid until the job is done to your satisfaction. Again, that could also have some down sides as a layer would have to be involved and could not be an option for you if you already fully paid. So don’t let it get to it, find the right contractor for the job, get a quote from Excell Concrete today and see for yourself what an excellent job looks like.
AGGREGATE tip
If you need to fix some bad job we are here for you, call you now for a consult. Our service is guaranteed as we value excellence, agility and transparency. We will be sure to find you a solution and do our absolute best to fix the problem efficiently.
Bad Concrete Work done at one of our clients home in Southland.