PaverPro

Hired Paver Pro as a general contractor for paver and painting services (this company uses at least one other name in the Jacksonville market, Painting2Perfection). The good: Eric Olds provided capable services as a painter. He provided exterior painting for two exterior walls faces and painted two faces on the back of the house as well as a small area around a garage entry for a total of $600.00 He provided four hours of inside painting for an additional charge of $100.00. The painter was competent, timely and completed his work as promised. He was the only provider associated with this contract to do so. The okay: Olds quoted $850.00 to clean, sand and seal an 1150 square foot pool deck. The job was completed over several days over a one week period. The employee charged with the job was assigned to multiple jobs and would complete this job in several hour installments, between higher priority jobs in the PaverPro portfolio. With the exception of one call back for a small area that was not cleaned, sealed or sanded (resolved by the provider), the finished job met expectation. The bad: PAVERS: Olds quoted 240 square feet of new paver installation for $1950.00 for a driveway extension. He quoted an additional 100 square feet of paver installation for a patio extension for $700.00. Two significant problems with this contract: The quality of the driveway installation is below expectation. The pavers are installed at the end of a driveway abutting a public roadway. Storm water flows over the extension. It is not clear that the installation/sanding is properly completed - it appears that much of the polymeric sand has washed away, so much so that Eric's employees questioned in earshot if the sanding had been completed. A fill that I was told would be installed between the pavers and roadway remains uninstalled. It remains to be seen if the paver installation and sanding has been done in a way to withstand reasonably expected periodic flowing water from rain events. Olds had problems managing all of his subs: Delivery of crushed aggregate substrate, pavers and a demolition dumpster were completely random and disruptive to the timing and quality of the job. Finishing equipment (cleaner/buffers) provided by his installers failed on multiple occasions and led to work stoppage and delay. Second issue: Olds quoted 100 sf of paver install for a patio extension. He installed just over 64 square feet and stated he just didn't have the bricks to complete to contract. While the quality is good, it will require a second contractor to complete the missing portion of his job. When challenged, he stated he bought 400 sf of brick for the job (we do think his casual labor may have stolen a portion of his purchased bricks - they were unsupervised by Olds). He declined to refund a pro-rata portion of his fee for the shortage and he did not offer to make good on the original quote. With the exception of incomplete cope on the drain surround, the brick work is excellent. TRAVERTINE ENTRY: Olds quoted $1,050.00 to replace a travertine front entry installation with new travertine. Olds provided a job below expected quality in fit and finish. His installers ran out of materials (cement) to place the cut stone and installed broken stone. Olds corrected the most egregious errors (he purchased additional cement to place/replace mis-installed and broken travertine). The job will require a second stonemason to correct the fit and finish of the installation as well as install grout and caulk to replicate the original installation. Because of sloppy handling of cement during installation, a handyman repair of the paint on the stucco entry is required. We attempted to resolve these problems at time of installation with the installers/subs provided by Olds. As they were non-English speaking, we were unable to do so. TIMELINESS: Olds quoted the job March 12th to be completed by May 1st "weather permitting". He missed. FULL DISCLOSURE: We contracted a $350.00 driveway sealing service which (by mutual agreement with Olds) we will not be paying for and which Olds/PaverPro will not complete. The installation of the sealant was attempted if in a half-hearted way. The initial work was stopped when the installer advised Olds had not provided sufficient sealant, and when he returned he misapplied (over-spraying vegetation and mulch on the driveway surface or omitted significant areas of the driveway. The cost of this service has been subtracted from the contract. Olds' subs installed a broken paver in our drive. As his subs apparently kept any overage, Olds has been unable to replace the broken paver. We have by mutual agreement with Olds retained $250.00 due to PaverPro on completion of the repair to the new installation. Our decision to use Olds' company was driven in part by his presentation at the Jacksonville Home Show, his representation that he completed most if not substantially all of the pavers installed on private homes in a local subdivision, The Plantation, as well as his representation of major "show place" projects in metro Atlanta and north Georgia (e.g., Kenny Rogers estate). I suggest you do a better job of checking references than I did.