I hired Kong Crete to resurface my driveway, walkway, and front landing. The driveway was in decent…read moreshape to begin with -- a few cracks, some chips, and an uneven walkway panel -- so this was more of a preventative/curb appeal investment than a major repair. I chose Kong Crete based on their strong Google reviews and Jonas was friendly and knowledgeable during our initial phone call. The base quote came in at $1,967 for the resurfacing with a standard broom finish. I added a brown water-based dye for an extra $250 to help the concrete blend with the neighborhood rather than look like fresh gray construction, bringing the total to $2,217. The contract required a $750 deposit to get on the calendar, with the remainder split across payments before, during, and the day after the work. Worth noting -- credit card payments carry a 3.4% fee and the contract includes no warranty of any kind. What went well: The driveway does look noticeably better overall. The resurfacing gave it a cleaner, more uniform appearance and the broom finish looks good. Jonas was responsive during the quoting and contract phase, and the work itself was completed on schedule in about a day and a half. He also offered some unsolicited but helpful advice about maintaining my rear patio, which I appreciated. To his credit, when I asked him upfront whether resurfacing was a smart investment or if I should save for a full repour, he was straightforward in recommending the resurfacing -- I appreciated that honesty during the sales process. Where expectations weren't met: My main frustration is that several pre-existing defects I was hoping the resurfacing would address are still visible -- small chips, a persistent crack on the landing, and an untouched garage threshold that I thought was included in the scope. The leveled walkway panel has a noticeably uneven surface texture. There's also a significant color mismatch between the landing and the driveway/walkway, which was surprising since both were resurfaced at the same time. Jonas had warned me the resurfacing wouldn't perfectly match the surrounding sidewalk, which I understood, but I didn't expect the resurfaced surfaces themselves to look so different from each other -- especially after paying extra for the coloring. When I raised these concerns, Jonas explained why each issue was either expected or outside the agreed scope rather than offering to address any of them. I'll take some responsibility -- I should have been more explicit upfront about the garage threshold and the landing crack. But as a homeowner paying over $2,200, I was hoping a professional would proactively address visible eyesores that were clearly within arm's reach of the work being done. Communication: There was about a month between paying my deposit and the work being scheduled, which I understood due to personal circumstances. A quick status update during that time would have been appreciated though. After the work was done and I expressed my concerns, the focus shifted quickly to collecting the final payment -- I received multiple invoice reminders within hours on a Saturday while I was at work. It left me feeling like getting paid was the priority, not customer satisfaction. Bottom line for future customers: If your concrete is in rough shape, this resurfacing will be a solid improvement and you'll probably be thrilled with the result. But if your driveway is in relatively good condition and you're hoping to take it from a B to an A, set your expectations carefully. Have a very detailed conversation upfront about exactly what will and won't be addressed -- don't assume anything will be taken care of proactively. There is no warranty included, so what you see is what you get. The work is decent, but I wouldn't describe the experience as one where the contractor went above and beyond to make sure I was happy.

From the owner: Kong Crete LLC services Champaign-Urbana and surrounding areas. With over 25+ years experience,…read morewe’re consistently the top choice for your resurfacing and decorative concrete stamping projects. We also do staining, cleaning, sealing, patios, steps, sidewalks, and driveways. Contact us today for a free estimate on design options and availability. As always a portion of all proceeds goes directly to St.Jude Children's Hospital. “When you want strong crete, call Kong Crete"

Quality of work was excellent! Clint Sommer Concrete did an amazing job on our project. we were…read moreespecially thankful for Clint's design input, he suggested layouts for our current driveway, the new carport drive way and pad that kept the curb appeal from looking like a "concrete jungle." The stamping is beautiful and matches our home perfectly. The crew was efficient, respectful, and kept the job site clean every single day. Their daily communication kept us in the loop the whole time, especially when one is working around Mother Nature. If you want a team that is professional and has a great eye for design, hire Clint!

From the owner: We strive to give a superior finish on every project, at competitive prices. Family owned and…read moreoperated, with 20 years of experience.

I contracted with this company to remove original brick from the front area of my house and to…read morereplace it with contemporary stone. There are numerous areas that look substandard, but the part that is most problematic is the area in which stones have completely fallen off. This is a zero-traffic area of my porch, so there is no reason stones should be falling off. Upon reaching out to inquire about the warranty, as it has only been 2 years since the work was performed, and sharing several photos of the fallen stones, I was informed that they only warranty their work for 1 year. Well, thousands of dollars and only 2 years later, I did not expect for stones to independently fall off my house. Now, I have to pay another masonry company to fix Millikan's error. Poor workmanship and customer service.

A short decorative brick wall had mortar cracks from age and weather. Millikan answered our…read moreinquiry promptly, came out soon and replaced mortar with color-matched new mortar in several places. They were responsive, knowledgeable and very reasonably priced. We plan to have them back to seal the wall before winter.

We had these guys out to pour our front sidewalk, and they did a great job! The truck was on time,…read morethe concrete was perfect, and the driver even helped us with the job. The best concrete company by far.

From the owner: Ready-Mix Concreteread more

I hired DBJ to do some work around my front porch and outside foundation. They were quick,…read morefriendly, and the price was good. I highly recommend them!

From the owner: 4th generation masonry contractor 15 plus years of masonry…read morerestoration experience.

I cannot recommend Matt Nelson & Nelson Builders enough. I wanted a modern, completely custom home,…read moreand he executed it perfectly. He was able to take my Pinterest photos and bring them to life. He was also able to explain why some of the things I thought I wanted would cause issues I hadn't event considered. I always felt that the timelines, prices and options were very clear -- I was never surprised. We met with many builders before constructing our home, and Nelson Builders was the only one I felt could make it happen. We've been living in our home for more than a year, and I love it even more than the day we moved in!

Last spring we made a joint decision to build our first home. We searched reviews and spoke with…read morecouples who have taken on the same adventure we were about to be a part of. We were slightly discouraged reading other builders reviews and hearing horror stories from friends of ours who had decided to build their homes as well. During our search we came across Nelson Builders. We were immediately impressed with their website and spec homes that we viewed. We also found multiple friends of ours who live in Nelson Builder specs homes and are happy with their experience. We dug deeper into online reviews of this company and found nothing but positive comments. This was not the case for multiple other builders we researched in the area. We set up an appointment to meet with Matt Nelson and were immediately impressed with his attention to detail and the passion he showed about helping us develop plans for our dream home. After we put our deposit down and the building process began, we feared we would quickly feel overwhelmed with all of the decisions that needed to be made. Nelson Builders uses an application that you can access on your phone or desktop which keeps you up to date on the building process, allows you to make selections, and communicate with the owners seamlessly. This communication tool was a huge positive attribute for us because we were not living in the town our house was being built in so we could not visit the job site as often as we would have liked. However, we were able to get updates and see pictures and videos of our home during all stages of the building process through the website. We write this review to give our honest opinion about our experience so that other individuals can make a well informed decision for such a huge investment. As mentioned previously, we were mentally prepared for catastrophes to occur during the process, but we did not experience any. During the building process, Matt met with us regularly to make sure that we were happy with everything and made adjustments accordingly. For example, halfway through the build, we decided we wanted to change flooring of the entire first floor. Matt made sure that the material was delivered immediately so that the floor had the appropriate time to acclimate before being completed and still kept us on track with our move in date. There are many other examples that we could give about the time and effort that Nelson Builders put into our home. If you want to have a high quality home built in a timely manner by an enthusiastic team, then we strongly suggest you choose Nelson Builders.

Our AC went out and Classic Plumbing was here within 2 days to replace our whole system for us…read more They put in a new AC and furnace and were done by lunch. Cannot recommend them highly enough!!

Tuned up my 40 year old AC without any sales pressure. The condenser motor only was replaced…read more Also cleaned the burners on my boiler to where the air doesn't "whoosh" at ignition. Chuck Thompson is a pro.