ABLE CONCRETE INC
About us
ABLE Concrete is a flatwork contractor.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Removal and replacement of residential driveways, curb, drive approaches, gutter and loading dock installation., porch caps and patios including stamped/decorative finishes. We also provide commercial concrete services including parking lot resurfacing/replacement, sidewalks
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
---|---|---|
74% | ||
5% | ||
11% | ||
5% | ||
5% |
I was so confident that I'd be satisfied with Able doing the work that I didn't call any other concrete company for estimates. Afterall, Able does so many driveways and got A's on Angie's list. Why wouldn't I be satisfied?
I winced when I got their estimate, but I had no idea what a job like this would cost and, thinking I was hiring the best, I decided it must be worth the price. And by the way, Able stuck to their estimate; no surprises.
But when they got around to starting the job, communication and timeliness was a problem. The first crew came in the afternoon, 2 hours earlier than I was told they would. They did their part and left. No one on the crew told me that they were done and when I could expect the next crew to come.
The next day no one showed up in the morning, so after 1pm I called Able to find out when the next crew would come and just as they answered the phone, the second crew showed up. I went out and talked to one of the crew about not knowing if they were coming today are not and he said that a guy named Ethan at the office was supposed to call and tell me.
Again, the second crew left without letting me know that they were done or when the next crew would come by. And I didn't get a phone call either. The next day I had to run errands, so, since the first 2 crews had come by in the PM, I hoped that the third crew would come in the PM, too, when I would be back home.
But about noon I called my neighbor and he said that the crew was at my house and pouring the concrete. They had come about 10:00 - about an hour after I'd left the house.
But at last the driveway was done and looked great and I was so happy about it that I brushed aside the time/communication problems. At that point I would've given Able an A rating like so many others have done. But I decided to wait until spring to see how it held up over the winter.
And sure enough, in April I discovered 2 hairline cracks in the cement. One goes almost the whole width of the driveway. The other is a 6 inch crack that cuts across a corner of the next concrete segment.
I called Able about it and Mark came to look at it. He said it cracked because there was too much pine needle debris in between the two segments, but that the segments were tight enough against each other that he was confident that the crack would not get any larger.
Since the crack was not big enough to be covered under their warranty, I was stuck. I'm no expert, but I suspect that the crack occurred because the crew did not cut away enough of a tree root that was under the cracked segment.
So I can't give Able an A like so many others have done. But yet I've never had any other concrete company do a job for me or someone I know so that I could compare notes. May-be hairline cracks are not that unusual even on new concrete.
Update: After I wrote this review another gentleman came out and looked at the driveway. He said that we should be getting a monetary settlement or a new driveway because it was not salt damage. He said that he would have to bring someone from the concrete company out to look at it and it would take about a month to figure out what they were going to do. About 3 weeks later 2 gentlemen came out and looked at it again. When they were here they did not bother to let us know they were here. I was expecting them to come to the door when they were done but the next thing I knew they were getting in their truck & left. That was in July.
It is now almost the end of Sept. Every time I call the office I have been told that the gentleman that is handling our case is out of the office. Today I was told that he has been slammed the last couple months. I can respect that but I can guarantee that if we owed them money that they would not give us 6 months because we have been busy. In fact the day the last crew was here one of the gentlemen was at my door before they left with a bill and wanting a check.
I will not call back again. We are considering legal action.
Update October 30, 2015
We received a letter from Able a couple weeks ago saying they would be replacing our driveway at no cost to us. They started working on it today.
When Steve, the owner, came out this month to check the crack, he said "Yup, you've got a hairline crack but there's nothing we can do about it." He stated that it's inevitable that concrete will crack (which he admitted is why you put in relief cuts, so it cracks on the relief cut and not elsewhere), and he hoped the fibers in the concrete would hold it together so it wouldn't break up because of the crack. He then stated that perhaps it cracked because a heavy truck had driven into our driveway. When I told him we didn't allow any heavy trucks to drive in our driveway, and that we are home most of the time, so likely we would have seen that if it happened, he just shrugged it off. For Able Concrete to honor their warranty, the crack has to be 3/8 inch wide - a gaping crack.
He also admitted he was out checking many other people who had called about cracks that had developed in work Able did last
fall (to which our response was "what does that tell you about the quality of the work you did last fall?"). He eventually offered to extend our current warranty by one year, which we find unsatisfactory. When we received the extended warranty in the mail today, he extended it based on the date we signed the contract to have the work done, which was more than a month before the date
the work actually began. So the one year extension we were offered is actually for 11 months and not the promised 12 months. Steve obviously knows that they don't actually do the work until several weeks after the contract is signed so we have to wonder why he based the extension on the date the contract was signed and not when the work was actually done. We will not be recommending Able Concrete to anyone.
Work began when scheduled. They removed old porch cap, replaced several feet of footings and built the new porch.
Details: 1951 house, old driveway, porch was crumbling and the bricks uner the porch cap were falling out. Ugly and messy. After removing the porch cap and bricks, access to the basement 'fruit cellar' was evident and the cellar ceiling had to come off to repair all the cracked and broken porch and cellar footings. They explained the work in detail. Every time they came into the house, they covered their shoes and made sure their hands were clean. Really! They left a propped temporary cellar ceiling, and tarped and 'caution taped' and barricaded the front porch area for safety. A corner of the driveway was chipped during porch removal due to using heavy equipment; they immediately rang the bell, explained and showed us the problem and had a ready and acceptable solution. All was handled exactly as I could have hoped. Cement for porch was wheelbarrowed up the drive and to the porch, as specified in their bid document. A brick that had fallen off a corner of the house was tucked back in, no charge.
When the job was done, they swept the fruitcellar and then took a bucket and WASHED the fruit cellar floor. Unreal!
The job is perfect and we've had no problems. They came by several days later to inspect and make sure we were happy.
This is a family run company, and their employees want their customers to be happy which was clearly evident during the entire project. Every employee was polite, friendly and excellent.
Licensing
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