PHIL ALBERT CONCRETE

I bought a house from the owner of this company in 2/2007. The owner and/or his son run the company which is an installer of Increte brand concrete products. This house had 3500 sq ft of colored, stamped Increte brand concrete product installed in 2004 or 2005. Driveway, lanais, pool deck, all were done in Increte. Six months after buying the house, the sealant on the concrete began to oxidize and peel up in spots. Over time the sealant turned milky white (over red concrete) which looked horrible. In November of 2007, I contacted the prior owner to inquire as to whether they would be interested in re-sealing it. I got a prompt reply back that their son now ran the business and he would call me about bidding the job. However, the son did not call me promptly about bidding the job. I did not get a written estimate until 2/18/2008. The estimate was $1750. I had one other Increte installer bid the job and they wanted $3500. I do not recall how long it took from bid to start of work, but it was not prompt. There also was little effort on the part of the company to communicate regarding the job start or progress. I had to call too often to determine when it would start, how it would progress, and when it would be done. The real problems began a few months after the job was done. Within 6 months the sealant was oxidizing, whitening, and coming up again. I first called to have them come and look at the job in August of 2008. After months of excuses and no effort to fix the problem, I started calling other Increte installers. Finally, I spoke with one who told me that the manufacturer of the Increte sealant had changed the chemical composition of the sealant and that the new sealant was not compatible with the old sealant which had caused the oxidation. I called with this information and asked what would be done to resolve the problem. There were more excuses and delays and even the suggestion that another Increte dealer was working with a chemist to come up with some additive or new sealer to go on top of the old oxidized sealer that would re-emulsify it and make it look good. I was tired of excuses and was not willing to have them experiment the resolution of their problem at my home. After months of haggling they finally said they would reseal it for free if I paid to have the concrete soda blasted down to bare concrete. They did not feel they should pay for it since the manufacturer changed the formula. I was outraged by being asked to pay to fix their poor job, but after a year of haggling I wanted it done. I agreed to pay my half of the soda blasting: $1250. The soda blasting started 3 months after it was promised. It was supposed to take 3 days and took 2 months. It was not done professionally. Baking soda was everywhere on my house and my neighbor's house. My neighbors complained, resulting in delays. The soda and concrete dust ruined my pool and killed my lawn and shrubs. They discounted the soda blast fee $250 after this.