Shades of Color Inc

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Restoration of my stamped concrete patio finish looked great initially (2012), but deteriorated in some areas in less than a year (Oct 2012 to July 2013). The company was very responsive that time and repaired the area in question, although I did have concerns about the quality of the repair which were communicated. Kim Thrasher, VP of the company, assured me that he personally supervised the repair and that it was done properly, although I question that since I was home during the entire process and never once saw him on site. Fast forward to this year; the same area deteriorated again, much worse this time in all the areas that were repaired. This time, Thrasher focused on excessive moisture affecting that part of the patio. Curious as to why that was not brought up in 2013 when the problem first surfaced, but I was willing to explore that possibility and talk about a fix, using them, if the problem was confirmed. The company offered to conduct a moisture test, my only request was that they conduct one in the problem area, and another one in a non problem area for comparison purposes. Based on assuming that the two tests would take place, I closed a BBB complaint that I had initiated earlier, which I will now re-open. From that point on, the communication became rather acrimonious, I believe due to the fact that I wasn't yet buying in 100% to the moisture explanation and was asking for a second test. Suddenly, any response to me was now a "courtesy", a year warranty was starting to be inserted into email correspondence although I never received anything in writing, a second test in a non-affected area was deemed "irrelevant" even thought the test is relatively simple and consists of drilling a hole and inserting a probe, and suddenly there must have been a problem with the surface of the patio prior to their material being applied (which maybe should have been noticed prior to the work being done?) After all, I was told many times who the "expert" was in this situation. To top it off, they kept waiting and waiting to do the one moisture test due to abnormal rainfall to let the concrete dry out, which made sense........then they conduct the test after 2 or 3 days of significant rainfall, and of course the deteriorated section of the patio showed (surprise) high moisture content. Here was the company's final reply, remember my comments above about the moisture test and something applied prior to their installation. "Based on the moisture test result, and the clear failure of something applied prior to our installation, but well adhered to our finish, it is my conclusion that neither our materials or installation are at fault. It is my recommendation that the peeled areas be treated and touched up as needed periodically, or that the entire system be stripped, and then have the concrete colored and sealed with a penetrating, non-topical breathable sealer. Thank you." Basically, we wash our hands of the situation, so shove off! Unfortunate, all it would have taken was a second moisture test to eliminate all doubt as to the root cause, and we could have started discussing a fix, using them, which I would have preferred since they did the original work.

Patio looks like new again. Once we were able to get the project scheduled, it happened in a timely manner. Kim clearly explained the process that was going to be used, and was responsive to our questions.