In the summer of 2022 I had Elite NW Construction replace my driveway, side patio, and front porch concrete.
The good stuff:
Very friendly. Competitive bid. Got the job done quickly. Quick to respond when I contacted them, at first.
The less good stuff:
1. They used duct tape instead of painter's tape to secure the plastic shielding to my trim. The tape pulled the paint off in several places. They didn't tell me about it (didn't own up to it voluntarily), leaving it for me to find.
2. One piece of trim was badly damaged. It looks like something heavy smashed into it. They didn't tell me about that, either, leaving it for me to find.
3. I have 2 gates with sliding rods that go into holes in the concrete. The hole they drilled for the front gate didn't line up quite right so the rod wouldn't slide into it without being forced. They didn't drill any hole for the back gate rod. It took 3 times getting them out here to fix it before to get both of them right. How hard can it be to check to make sure the hole is lined up correctly?
4. Within 3 days of the job being finished there was already a crack in one section. Tomasi's response was that concrete cracks and there's nothing you can do about it (i.e. they don't warranty against cracking). It's been less than a year and there's crack all the way down the middle of one of the sections of the driveway. I wonder what's going to happen in the winter when water gets into those cracks and freezes.
5. The new concrete is crumbling where it meets the old sidewalk.
Tomasi told me he would get the paint and the damaged trim fixed. He came out to inspect the problem and we talked about what paint to use - brand and color. A month later when nothing had been done I contacted him and he had forgotten about it. He apologized and said he had been very busy and would get to it. He didn't. The job was finished (except for fixing the damage done) on June 24, 2022. By October the damage has not been fixed and Tomasi wasn't responding to my emails. It's now May, the work hasn't been done, and Tomasi hasn't responded to my recent emails.
Timeline:
June 24 - work completed; payment made in full
June 24-July 5 - I let Tomasi know about the various problems I'd found with the work - the trim paint pulled off, the smashed trim, the gate rods. One of his guys came out a couple of times to fix the gate rod holes. They were still not right.
July 6 - Tomasi came out in person, fixed the gate rod issues, and we talked about the paint. Paint brand and color were chosen.
Aug. 10 - I text Tomasi to say 'it's been a month since we talked and there's been no progress.'
Aug. 12 - Tomasi responded that he had forgotten about my job due to being super busy with other things (no excuse). The paint hadn't been ordered and he had forgotten the brand and color. I told him the brand and send URL to company web site.
Aug. 14 - I texted with color of paint.
Sept. 14 - I emailed Tomasi with 'I haven't heard from you. When are you going to get this fixed? He responded he had people out with Covid and expected to give me a timeline the following Monday (Sept. 19).
Oct. 15 - I emailed 'no word from you. When are you going to come fix the damage your people did?'
Oct. 24 - response from Tomasi - he'll have someone out to fix the damage his people caused when the weather allows.
Then nothing. It was too cold and too wet to paint.
May 2, 2023 - I emailed Tomasi asking when he was going to get the repairs done. It's warm and dry enough.
May 12 - no response yet.
Edit 5/31
Within 2 hours of posting the above review I got a phone call from Tomasi. He apologized for the delay, acknowledged that things shouldn't have taken this long, and scheduled a day to come do the work. Yesterday, two of his guys came and fixed and painted the trim. There's nothing they can do about the cracks, and Tomasi says it's the nature of concrete to crack and they don't warrant for it.
Today he checked in to make sure everything was done to my satisfaction, then asked me to consider removing my review. I can see his point, given the influence reviews have, but it rubs me the wrong way for him to ask for a low rated review to be removed after repairs are done. I have to wonder how many other people have had a bad experience with this and other companies then taken down their reviews, or never posted in the first place, because the problem was later fixed. That doesn't give a fair and balanced view of the company, which doesn't give the customer a chance to make an informed choice.
I did upgrade my rating from 1 star to 2 based on the repairs done. read more