Road's Paving, aka Roads Paving

I have used this contractor before for smaller seal coating and paving jobs. A least Anthony Joseph George, sole proprietor, carries worker's compensation insurance, unlike many competitors who claim exemption with the CSLB because they have no employees but then show up with "helpers". (The property owner is liable for worker's compensation if a "helper" is injured on the job under those circumstances.) Anthony George works with his two sons, other relatives, and maybe some unrelated employees, who, according to the CSLB, are covered under Anthony George's worker's compensation policy. In previous discussions a year or more ago, Anthony George had recommended Petromat and another layer of hot mix asphalt as the ultimate answer to my cracking problem. I subsequently read up on Petromat and agreed that it would be a good solution to my cracking problem. On 9/22/14 Anthony George's two sons stopped by to drum up work. They wrote up a proposal which I accepted to lay Petromat and a 1.5 inch layer of hot mix asphalt on my entire driveway starting October 1 for $35,565.75 payable $30.000.00 in cash and $5565.75 credit for my Chevrolet pickup truck that I had been wanting to sell. On 9/24/14 I sent an email wanting to somewhat reduce to the area to be paved and son Alex George responded by emailing a revised proposal for $31,730 with a $5565 credit for my truck and $26,165 cash, which I accepted and emailed back on 9/25/14. Thinking that we had a deal, I scraped a lot of dirt from the edges of my driveway with my tractor in preparation for the paving work, which left things unsightly but necessary if the paving work was going to proceed. Then on 9/29/14 the sons returned with their father, who rejected the deal that his sons had cut, saying that the credit for the truck was too high and the price for the job was too low. He reduced to credit for the truck to $2500 (which I rejected, keeping the truck), and increased the price for the job to $34,400 with a $3440 deposit on 9/29/14 and a progress payment of $3440 at the end of October 1. I gave him a check for the $3440 deposit on September 29. On October 1 they came as scheduled and put down some tack and Petromat. They only covered about 80% of the driveway with Petromat. I went to the Internet and downloaded detailed instructions for installing Petromat. Discrepancies between the instructions and Roads Paving work included: 1) The recommended spread rate of 0.2-0.3 gallons per square foot for the tack material was more than twice the less than 0.1 gallons per square foot that Roads Paving was using, based on my measurement of the tack material tank, which Anthony George said contained all tack material for the job and would not be refilled. 2) The recommendation was smooth side up and fuzzy side down, but Roads Paving installed it smooth side down. 3) Roads paving left big gaps between pieces of Petromat, while the instructions said to overlap joints 1-3 inches with tack between the layers. The gaps between pieces of Petromat were so large that only about 80% of the old asphalt was covered. Also the instructions said to place the Petromat to within 2-3 inches of the edge of the old asphalt, while Roads Paving typically left more than a foot between the edge of the Petromat and the old paving. 4) The instructions said to apply the 1.5 inches of hot mix asphalt the same day that the tack and Petromat was put down, while Roads Paving applied the hot mix asphalt the next day over most of the job. Anthony George's response when I pointed out the above discrepancies was that I should not believe what I read on the Internet, and that he was experienced in laying Petromat and knew how to do it properly. I also pointed out black tack over spray on our stone work early on and gave pieces of plywood to Anthony George for his people to use to avoid any more over spray, but we got more over spray after that. At the end of October 1, Anthony George asked for a progress payment of $7000 even though the contract called for only another $3400. I gave him a $5000 check which, like the earlier $3440 deposit check, was cashed at my bank. On October 2, trucks with hot mix asphalt started coming. I asked the driver of the first truck where the asphalt was coming from and he showed me his paperwork. I called the supplier and explained that I was concerned about being required to pay for the hot mix asphalt twice pursuant to a delivered material lien. I was told that the material was being sold to a contractor with excellent credit for delivery to my job. The name of their contractor with excellent credit did not match the name of my contractor, however. With that, I told Anthony George that, after another $6000 progress payment to him I would have to make my check for the balance on the job payable to Anthony George and the hot mix asphalt supplier. Anthony George then became agitated, and did not calm down until I told him that I would be reviewing him on Angie's List. Then he agreed to have the material supplier email me the invoice, so that I could write a check for that amount to the hot mix asphalt supplier and the balance to Anthony George. The asphalt job looks very good. I am just concerned that I will not get the full benefit of the Petromat because it was probably not installed properly. Since the contract did not specify how the Petromat was to be installed, I paid the full contract price including the check to the hot mix asphalt supplier.