Surface Design on Concrete

Contractor, while very personable, is unable to perform work as promised. There were constant delays and never-ending personal excuses. When workers did show up they were also very personable, but completely unprepared for the work and never could provide what we wanted, though it was a rather simple job. First problem: it took 1 month to get a job quote, despite numerous promises to provide the quote "tomorrow". Second problem: we asked for a resurfacing of an old concrete patio and wanted it to match new paver stones. Every time we discussed the job, we were told this was no problem, that they were well experienced in this specific work and that we would get exactly what we were asking for. After numerous sample boards, none were even close to the pavers, either in texture or in colors. We began to wonder if they were having trouble understanding us or if they just couldn't do the work with the materials they were using. Third problem: They repaired old cracks in the existing concrete and that appears to have been done well. Time will tell, as this should last forever. They placed a "bond coat" which bonds to the old concrete and allows the application of texture coats on top. Though we discussed the texture coat at least a dozen times, when it was finally laid down, it had large and countless bubble marks that were plain ugly and certainly didn't look anything like the pavers they were supposed to match. Fourth problem: After trying to convince us to accept a ready-made stamp texture, which also did not remotely resemble the simple sandy-textured pavers, they went back to their lab and tried to create more sample boards for our approval. They took weeks to produce these and we never actually got to see them. They did come back, at my insistence, to sand down the terrible texture coat that they had applied. Still no sample boards, and we got so many excuses about other things interfering with their ability to do our job, that we finally fired them. Fifth problem: Now we were left with a partially sanded, very lumpy and ugly texture coat. The only real work that had been accomplished that we could use was the crack repair and the first bond coat. For this we paid $2000. We asked for a refund of at least $1000, and would have settled for less, but got only a story about how much time they had spent on our job. I pointed out that this was not a time and materials contract and that time spent with no results is worthless. I got more excuses about the lack of good employees and the inexperience of one of only two people we had seen on our job. Overall problem: While the company owner, Dan Koloski, is a kind man, he is a terrible business man. He cannot focus on the task at hand and cannot deliver anything he promises. He has only one experienced workman and he uses an old-style material that is very limited in its ability to create simple textures and surfaces. He really is only set up to do stamping with ready-made rubber stamp impressions. He does not have the skill or expertise to do anything customized. I have since spoken with another dissatisfied customer of his, who spent many thousands of dollars, only to have the material bubble, crack and peel a few years later. This is the nightmare you never want to have happen on your patio or surface!