Robert R Andreas & Sons Inc

Awful. Cracking, flaking mess after less than 4 months. The driveway They replaced was actually in better condition than what we ended up with They do NOT stand behind their work if they screw up which they did in our case. I would NEVER use and certainly NEVER recommend. The experience was the worst. Look up their civil cases in cook county as well as dupage county. Take your money elsewhere. Will update review with photos later

They were prompt, professional and I'm happy with the service.

really a great job, would hire again. Team was professional and helpful. Cement looks great.

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uality of work appears good but advice regarding how to solve a drainage problem was not provided and work provided did not entirely solve the problem.  The supervisor was very difficult to communicate with and had an attitude problem whenever I asked him a question  or asked for advice regarding issues with the work.  Workers did not speak English so I was not able to communicate with them.  After working four hours the first day and indicating they would return the next morning, no one showed up.  When I called the office late in the morning to inquire they told me the crew would be there in the afternoon but they never showed.  The next day they arrived and indicated that at the end of the day they would be pouring cement.  This never occurred so the area to be cemented was left framed over the Halloween weekend.  I felt this was a safety risk as small children would be running by the house Halloween night.  Workers left at the end of the day without communicating to me what would occur next.  When I called the office they said it was too late to pour concrete despite telling me in the morning when they arrived it would be poured at the end of the day.

Bobby Andreas and his crew were great to work with, the work performed was first class, and his crew cleaned up in a professional manner.  Could not have asked for more.

No work done.

My wife and I are retired Westchester residents since 2004. We are having a situation with Andreas Concrete company who is registered with the Village. They claim in all there ads to have been in business  for decades, approx 50-60 years.

Claims  in their web site advertising like:  ?Our knowledgeable sales force can assist you with your project from start to finish by applying specific knowledge and expertise garnered from a wide range of projects successfully completed over 60 years of business.?

In their Yellow pages ads they state:

    Your concrete is our science

      Concrete specialists

         Experience and skills to get the job done right the first time.

          Reputation and loyalty created over 60 years

              3 generations of service and expert performance

                Knowledgeable sales force

 

On or about April 24, 2013  we contracted with them to completely remove and replace our complete driveway at our 1814 Kensington home for $10,000. The appropriate permits were procured by me which was No. CON 13-000017 ON 4/24/2013. I dealt with Byron Andreas regards the job review, the estimate, and the creation of the contract. Additionally I dealt with  Bobby Andreas (the job supervisor) who was involved in the on site aspects of the layout, the crews, and the installing of the concrete. Bobby Andreas was on site most of the time for the installation. The concrete was poured sometime during the first part of June. All contractual payments were promptly paid as per our agreement. Too bad I didn?t hold back some money but I don?t like treating people like that. I abide by my end of the bargain!!!

 

SO, HERE?S THE FIRST PROBLEM:

After 5-7 days of drying, the area from the back of the the house and out to the front walk had the usual satisfactory whitish appearance. HOWEVER, on the curved walk coming from the front of the house to the drive had an VERY UNSIGHTLY AND EMBARRISING grayish dark appearance. Additionally all the concrete from the back corner of the house to the garage apron and all across the drive had the same UNSIGHTLY grayish dark appearance. Bobby Andreas inspected these unsightly areas. His EXPERT AND SCIENTIFIC response: ? it needs to dry a few more days. It?s a drying issue.? Several more days morphed into 1-2 weeks. Appearance the same. His next response: ? I don?t know what?s causing this. I?ve never seen this before?. I have checked with others in the concrete business like_____________________________. So here I?ve spent $10,000 dollars, with a company making all kinds of claims as experts, as indicated above, only to hear  ----? I don?t know what?s causing this!!!!!! They should remove all such claims from any advertising as they are shallow, meaningless, misleading,  without substance, and seem to me to be completely false. With 60 years of experience they should absolutely know what might cause this!

 In the last month or so, I consulted with a Mr. Patrik Patel from an IDOT certified company (Construction and Geotechnical Material Testing Inc in Elk Grove ), regarding an issue of expansion joints and in the course of conversation he said the discoloration was due either to a poor finishing job or the mix. More on this later.

 

Wanting to resolve this color issue, and being the nice guy that I am, and thinking that the discolored c/crete in the back part of the drive is not really that visible and not that embarrassing and tolerable, I accepted his suggestion that he redo the curved front walk which was VERY UNSIGHTLY AND  EMBARRASING to us. He suggested I pay $170.00. for the concrete. Wanting to get on with our lives I agreed to the $170.00 They redid the curved walk and all is fine. KEEP IN MIND THERE WAS NO WRITTEN GUARANTEE ------- YET THEY CORRECTED THIS PROBLEM. THIS SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT THEY DO STAND BEHIND THEIR WORK AND WANT TO KEEP A CUSTOMER HAPPY AS LONG AS IT IS NOT TOO INCOVENIENT AND EXPENSIVE FOR THEM.

So we both agreed on a resolution for the ?discoloration? issue on the curved front walk.

More importantly though is his claim that ?I don?t know what is causing the darkening?, was the FIRST LAME EXCUSE to avoid accepting responsibility for a shoddy job. They are a 60 year old company and don?t know what causes this !!!!

 

NOW THE SECOND PROBLEM ? AND SECOND LAME EXCUSE :

Concerns: Work done in non-conformity of city code.!!!!!!!!!

Sometime around mid to late March I noticed multiple cracks in 6 slabs on the north side of the house. These slabs butt up against the concrete house foundation.  Keep in mind the job is only 9 months old. I also noticed THERE WAS NO EXPANSION JOINT ( an east west direction ) INSTALLED NEXT TO THE HOUSE AND AN INCOMPLETE EXPANSION JOINT (running north/south) which should have run about another 6-8?beyond the front corner of the house. The corner brick is breaking off now in this area, causing defacement to our home,  in addition to a 6th slab cracking.

 

 B. Andreas?s response to me for the missing expansion joint along the house was that : ? I told him not to put it in?!!!!!!!!!!! When queried by me on two different occasions, with my wife and son hearing the conversation he said that he didn?t recall who brought up the subject of not putting in the joint --- didn?t recall why it was brought up and didn?t recall why I objected to putting in the expansion joint.? Additionally he said he stated AND CLEARLY RECALLS that he told me: ?If it was my drive Don, I wouldn?t put one in. They cause problems? He then said that I told him: ?Well, that?s good enough for me  - don?t put it in?. It?s strange but he does not have any recollection several key features of this alleged conversation BUT he has a very clear recollection of the ?if it was my house Don, I wouldn?t put it in?. So in view of the fact that he cannot recall 95% of the essential details of this alleged conversation it seems to me , as I hope it does to you, that his story is a COMPLETE FABRICATION AND HAS FOUND FROM REPEATED EXPERIENCE THAT THIS ?STORY? IS AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF SIDE STEPPING HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AND DOUPING PEOPLE.

It would also seem that a responsible contractor with long term experience WOULD NOT WANT TO INFLUENCE a customer to make a decision which would potentially lead to a code violation and installation problems.  If such a conversation took place, which it did not, he made no effort to dissuade me from not putting in the expansion joint.

 

 

If I had decided not to put in the joint along the house, which I didn?t, and it was based on what he claims to have told me regards it causing problems (which he did not identify), then I would have objected (which I did not) to 5-6 other expansion joints he installed. TWO  of which abutted an existing structures. Namely where the new concrete abuts the existing concrete front stairs and secondly where the new concrete abuts the garage floor.  Another reason I would have objected to not putting it in was that it is a CITY CODE. The third reason that I know such conversation never  occurred is that he did not have me sign any type of specific waiver, giving him writt