Contacted this company to get an estimate for removing my asphalt driveway and replacing it with concrete. I had seen their trucks in my area earlier in the week replacing a neighbor's driveway. I received their estimate, which looked reasonable, but before signing it I asked my lawyer to review it. Be aware that the contract has issues. Specifically -paragraphs 1, 7 and 11.
Paragraph 1 - while it is fully understandable and reasonable that material and labor costs can potentially increase before the work is done, they provide no breakdown in the contract between labor and materials. If they request an increase, you have no idea what they are basing that increase on. Therefore, you should ask for a breakdown of labor costs vs material costs.
Paragraph 7 - According to the law, it is the company's responsibility to notify Julie, not the customer's. And the company is responsible for any damage caused to utilities, not the customer. The customer has no way of knowing where the utilities are or how deep they are. Julie will give you and the company that information, but it's not up to the customer to monitor the company's work. Therefore, paragraph 7 needs to be stricken.
Paragraph 11 - the contract asks for payment on completion so the customer is being asked to accept the work before the concrete is cured and can be driven on. At that point, the customer has no idea if there are defects. Therefore, paragraph 11 needs to be stricken or modified to say that final payment is due once the cure period is over, and the work has been deemed acceptable. The verbiage in Paragraph 3 also needs to be modified to reflect that payment is not due on the completion date, but rather when the concrete is cured and is acceptable.
Beware of signing anything before you ask for a legal opinion. I asked the company to modify the contract accordingly and they declined. Therefore I am taking my business elsewhere. read more