HIGH STANDARD SERVICES

The best thing I can say about them is that they went looking for everything they could do to make it a great job and then they did all of them!

Mike and the crew at High Standard Services are one of the best contractors I have ever used. My new half concrete/ half asphalt drive looks fantastic. The price was very reasonable and slightly less than my other estimates. The workers were extremely courteous and accommodating. The work was done with quality in the time frame promised and when the new driveway caused me to raise an existing paver walk to my house a few inches, they went beyond the work requested to insure make sure the walk was level with the driveway, drained with the contour of the driveway and as good as new. I give High Standard Services an A+

Excellent workmanship and communication. Great to work with. Would hire again.

I am very satisfied. Responded to my question promptly. Service was great. Quality of work was as anticipated. I definitely will hire in the future.

Looked good when finished in October 2012. By spring 2013 a hairline crack showed up and is getting larger. Called and left message to call me but said nothing about the crack. In three days Mike called back. When I told him about the crack he said he would be out around 4 the following Monday. He never came and multiple calls after that did not get response until I said I was giving them a chance before commenting on Angie's List . Got a call back and Dave came out. He said cement cracks. That's it. I asked if sealer might stop it from getting worse and he said he would send his cement guys out. They never came. Mike called back and said he would be sending someone to seal it and so far no one has come out. I am watching the crack grow these past months. We have cement steps and sidewalks that are 20 years old and they are in perfect condition with the exception of the piece taken out of the sidewalk while they were installing the cement drive! They also said they would patch that and have not done so either.

He was very professional. He was one the lowest prices of all the companies I spoke with. The driveway looks excellent.

Started out great. Competitive, but not the lowest, price, references and "hey, I live in the neighborhood, so I'll get to drive by every day." After completing the job, we were asked not to drive on the driveway for 3-4 days, which we didn't. Within 30 days, the driveway had become uneven and wavy, had settled in multiple sections deep enough to hold rain water (and ultimately snow, ice). Repeated calls to High Standard (Mike Petrando) and their office manager were ignored or commitments made, but without any follow through. Finally connected, and Mike agreed the driveway apparently settled -- suggesting that they'd perhaps not graded the subsurface adequately and even inferring that "someone" must have driven on it before it had time to cure. We know that wasn't the case, and no way would the mulitple points of settling be atributed to driving on the new driveway. Mike suggested trying infrared patch, vs removal and replacement of the driveway, and made arrangements with a third party do do the work. The only problem at that time was that there were so many areas of the driveway that had settled poorly and Mike apparently only contracted for repairing one section. Bottom line, after much discussion, he came back out and authorized the additional repairs. The driveway looks like a patchwork quilt AND it is now settling and cracking again. To top it off, High Standard never paid their contractor for the repairs. We have an affadavit from the contractor attesting to the agreement and the fact they never were paid. They, too, experienced no response to their phone calls or inquiries, including assertion that the bill had been lost.
We finally decided to pay the third party, despite the fact the repairs were due to faulty workmanship by High Standard and the agreement to repair them at High Standard''s cost. This added $1600 to the cost of the driveway, and High Standard has never reimbursed us for the additional costs, nor have they addressed the continuing deterioriation of their sub-standard work. Bottom line. This is the worst experience possible and reaffirms all of the horror stories of working with contractors.
High Standard Services,28w580 High Lake Road, West Chicago IL 60185. If they're still in business, they should change their name to reflect their business model: to "No Quality Services"

After work completed, rain revealed puddles from uneven application, which seemed to  worsen over time. Repeated calls were ignored.

Everything was wrong with them. They let us wait for two weeks. Then it rained and it got worse. Then they said it was our fault and they charged us more. We paid them because I was afraid. The inspector came twice because it was not done right. The curb is not finished and it wasn't specified in the contract. Now we jump over a big thing instead of something small to get into the driveway. The inspector said he couldn't tell them if they were not here. In very little handwriting it says that if what they found under the driveway is not what they expect, they are allowed to charge you more and they said it wasn't what they expected. I want people to be aware and somehow we will fix it in the future. It is not a good company. The original price was supposed to be $550 for a double driveway. They removed the old concrete. I don't like surprises and the whole time was badly handled. Everything was wrong.

Mike Petrando prepared a very professional estimate and oversaw the work. The workers were very well trained. And the work was done largely on schedule. Last week was a rainy week, and the team had to work when it wasn't raining. They finished on Friday, and the results are just what we wanted. The bill was what had been agreed to, and we are very pleased. Mike was easy to deal with and available through the entire project.

Signed contract to have new expanded asphalt driveway with concrete apron and sidewalk work. Kept having to contact sales agent in order to correct errors on work agreement. Required numerous phone calls and had the contract rewritten twice before I was satisfied. After removal of old surfaces and prep work for new, city inspector failed the work as not being to code. Gravel bed was not proper grade. Reluctantly, the contractor accomplished a rework of the gravel base and completed the new installation. Only after work was done, the contractor billed me for an amount greater than was agreed upon. They did not provide the level of customer service I had hoped for. They failed to rework the street side curb so that it would blend with the new expanded apron, or at least give me the option of having it done. My new apron is split with half at street level and the expanded half with a raised curb.

Very dissatisfied. I can wax poetic about the inferior service and the unprofessional behavior from start to the end of the whole project which took over 7 weeks to complete. The stamped concrete was done by a ''subcontractor'' who was rude and used foul language. The final concrete product had no wire or fiber mesh. Phone calls unanswered several times. The stamped concrete looks so terrible. Pits, pock marks, concaves. They had no regard for small children and did not cordon off the work they were doing. I had to hire a lawyer to negotiate a discount for the shoddy work. The customer service was so inept. What a disappointment.

Below average experience. Never sealcoated new patch as promised despite 3 reminder calls by me with promises to "take care of it". Showed up for original work on time. Said I needed extra gravel after excavation was started. Price for gravel was above market price I've heard from other people having similar work done.

MIKE SAID THEY WOULD DO THE WORK FRIDAY OR MONDAY, AND INDEED THEY CAME ON MONDAY. WORK WAS DONE EFFICIENTLY AND NEATLY. THERE IS A MINIMUM CHARGE ON ANY JOB OF $500, WHICH FOR OUR JOB DID NOT SEEM UNREASONABLE, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING ALL THE HEAVY EQUIPMENT INVOLVED. THEY CAME TO ESTIMATE THE JOB AFTER WE CALLED A SECOND TIME, OUR FIRST CALL WAS APPARENTLY FORGOTTEN.