ABLE CONCRETE INC

The work looks excellent and that’s particularly amazing because the topography created some challenges. Their work transformed my property from looking dilapidated to looking well-maintained. It is a joy to walk the professional spacious newly designed paths replacing a tiny one I had before. It is a joy to walk the beautiful driveway, replacing the previous crumbling substrate. I had an especially positive experience with the estimator Mark, who not only wrote up the project in detail and expertly, but also drafted a drawing of the work to be done that blew out of the water anything received by the other companies with whom I received bids. Due to his excellent work, and shepherding the project through to completion, which included several visits, Mark really outdid himself and helped the workers to know exactly what needed to be done. The fact that he kindly came back and fixed up some concrete cracks and holes in my steps really blew me away. He also promised to return with some additional dirt. These things demonstrate the commitment to leave the customer fully satisfied with the best job there can be. The workers were punctual, nice, did each of their aspects of the job professionally, and cleaned up well afterward. I was very impressed with the job and am extremely happy with the results. I highly recommend Able Concrete!

Able uses different crews for different tasks. One crew removes, another cleans up, etc... The removal crew was *bad*. When my project started, there were 32 rose bushes in 2 beds. One on each side of the walk. There are now 17 left. The removal crew drove their fork lift over them (see photo). When I went out to bark about this, not only did they keep doing it, but one of the crew started laughing. My Nest security camera recorded it all. In addition to destroying half of my garden, they threw cigarette butts around my yard (see photo). They also put no protection down on the yard. For example, plywood or rubber mats which other firms who work in our neighborhood do. As such, they rutted my front yard as seen in the photo. When they were finished, the back fill dirt they used was literally from another construction site they were working on. It had chunks of cement, rocks, clay, and roots in it (see photo). Useless to replant anything over. It was worse than nothing. I now have to remove the crud Able left and put in real soil to plant grass on. [Note: I would have gladly paid more to protect my yard (plywood or rubber mats). I also would have gladly paid more for quality soil from Hammond Farms which is close by. And I told Mark this.] What's more, Able poured a step too high, so I had to get K&H Concrete Cutting (at Able's recommendation) to cut 2 inches off the step. Note, there was an orange line painted on the steps that Able put there which marked how high it should be. The people pouring the concrete didn't follow their own plan. This cost me an additional $350 because of their mistake. (See photo.) When I complained to Mark about the state of my yard and garden he said, "It's right there in the quote about using a front end loader." As if I'm supposed to translate that into: "We are going to destroy your garden." Then he said the real kicker: "You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette." This is always the go-to line for someone who's hosed up a project. He sure knew the right thing to say to an upset customer. After that he said, "I guess we're not going to get your next project." Duh. When Landmark did this kind of work for me a few years ago, they used wheel barrows to bring the dirt in and to remove stuff. Their crew was polite, did not litter, and did not destroy my property. What happened was completely unacceptable. [Note: The other crews were just fine. But by that point, the damage was already done.] If there are any questions, I have video footage of the events and more photos.

The demo crew arrived on time and removed the existing driveway. The next day the forms team came out and installed the forms and got them approved. We were rained out the next day but on the fourth day the concrete was poured. On Friday the forms team was back to remove the forms and replace dirt around the new driveway. Very pleased.

better than anyone could have ever suspected. Had some flowering perennials...they saved them...great quality.

Arrived as scheduled and all work performed as agreed. They even filled in around the sidewalk with black dirt and I was not expecting them to do that.

the work was replacing the bad job my builder did a few years ago. my builder used the cheapest contractor he could get and my driveway lasted about 1 year. the builder came back and fixed a few areas but 6 months later it all busted up again. Now I have to replace the entire driveway and side walk. we are not using our builder or his contractors but I'm going with Able Concrete. With Able Concrete Everything went as scheduled and without problems. the work was actually done correctly. new work looks great. crew was professional. there price was the highest bid but they did lower it to match another bid. they did not cut any corners. I know its expensive but I need this to last more than a few months. I was confident that Able concrete was going to deliver and I would get what I was paying for and they did.

Draw a sketch did exactly what he sketched to the t.

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This is a delayed review. Last spring I had Able Concrete replace my blacktop driveway. I chose Able in part based on their excellent reviews on Angie’s List and the fact they were one of the two contractors that actual showed up for the initial meeting when promised. Able was not the lowest bid, but still was competitive and the cost was based on detailed measurements. The lowest bidder did not even measure the driveway when he gave me the estimate. The crew arrived when scheduled. Unfortunately, that spring was our monsoon season. I was very pleased Able. They did not rush the job just to get it done. They waited until the ground had properly dried before laying down the foundation and pouring the concrete. This professionalism produced excellent results. The drive looked great and it held up to our Michigan winter. This spring I had some more work done to my house. The driveway supported some heavy equipment with no problem. I very pleased with the driveway and would strongly recommend Able Concrete.

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I was very pleased to know that they recycle all of the concrete. The drainage system works great and the water doesn't pool in my driveway anymore. They crew was extremely professional. They really knew what they were talking about. Not everyone can do the drainage work but he knew exactly what he was doing. Everything turned out so well and we are extremely with the outcome.

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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.

I called and asked whether I would be available on Sunday afternoon for someone to come out and look at it.  I made arrangements to be home and NO ONE SHOWED, nor did anyone call.  When I finally reached someone, they asked if they could come over right then.  I consented.  The price was what I thought it should be and I consented to have them perform the work.  I asked them to be careful around some planters and not to mess up my yard.  The patio was installed very nicely, but they clobbered the planters and completely messed up my yard with the Bobcat.  The owner was right there requesting payment even before I could check out their work.  To be fair, they did restack the planter and smooth out the yard AFTER I demanded that they do so.  Some other things I didn't appreciate was the owner's criticism of other's work - - I didn't find that professional - - I didn't ask for his opinion.

At first it went well and we were very pleased. Then in the spring we noticed some crumbling. I called the office and the receptionist asked me if it was happening where we parked. I was kind of surprised by the question and asked her what difference does that make. She told me that everyone was very busy & she would get someone out as soon as she could. Well it took over 3 weeks for someone to come out & look at it. The gentleman that came out told my husband it was due to salt. We did not put any salt on it all winter. He said it was from salt that was in the melt off from our cars. But my husband showed him spots on the driveway that cars were not parked & there was never any salt on it. It is scaling & crumbling but not as bad. The gentleman said he would go back to the office & see if there was anything they could do. It has been almost 2 weeks & we have heard nothing from them. Our warranty says it is for scaling & cracking for 1 year. Our year is just about up.

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.

Update on 4/24/2015: Although we were very pleased with everything at the time of the installation (September 2014), by mid-April 2015 (7 months later) we had a hairline crack in the driveway approximately 9 feet long that extended on a diagonal from one side of the driveway to the middle of the slab that meets the sidewalk. After the driveway install we followed their care instructions to the letter, and even waited more than 2 additional weeks before parking a car on the driveway, and kept the driveway roped off from traffic for a full 30 days.

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.

They did a wonderful job. At the beginning of the job they made a suggestion about how to build the porch, which we did and now we love it. There were three or four guys there at a time and they were there for about four days. When they were done I could not even tell they were here. They cleaned up everything. They were very careful around my flowers. I cannot say enough good things about them. I love the work they did.

Overall, the services were performed well. The only concerns that we had were the cleanup (which was not done).  That is, items were left and were not properly cleaned up on completion. For example, the water hose was used but it was not wound back up onto the reel; the edging was removed and simply left on the grass.  These issues spoiled what was a fairly good experience.  To be honest, we tried to secure bids from several concrete firms, only to find that they either did not respond or responded too lately.

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THE GOOD: ? One can drive over the driveway ? We were told that if anything goes wrong, we shouldn't worry because ABLE is a large company with many years in the business and will stand behind its work. ? The various crew workers were courteous.
THE BAD: ? Problems did occur and ABLE has not taken care of any of them, big or small ? The company representatives became rude when I insisted they make good on their warranty ? They did not cover the garage opening with a plastic sheet (as a number of other companies routinely do) to prevent leaving the garage full of dust ? The problems remaining are: 1) the whole driveway displays spottiness on its surface (the degree of the problem seems to change with weather conditions) (see picture); 2) there is about a two-foot wide strip across the whole width of the driveway that is inconsistent with the finish of the rest of the driveway, and which makes it look like it was patched even when new (see picture). 3) the flared entrance at the bottom of the driveway is not symmetric as specified in the contract (one side is approximately 10 inches too narrow ); 4) in the cold weather season a frost heave raises the driveway over one inch (see pictures below).

They responded very promptly to my call and were very willing to work around  an already scheduled basement waterproofing job.  Their work was carefully done.  My front porch and steps had always looked horrible, but they completely rebuilt them, and they look beautiful.  I've had several compliments from neighbors about how nice the driveway looks.  The workers were very careful with my brick walkway, and actually took the time to match the size and pattern of the bricks that they had removed to get to the steps.  Clean-up was excellent.  Working with this company was a great experience, and I would highly recommend them.

Process went very well. The township was slow to issue permits and ABLE worked diligently to speed the process along so to complete the driveway before we left for vacation. The only part of the process that I felt could have been improved was the initial consult, in the sense that I did not have a good sense of exactly how the process works (for example, that they installation of the new driveway would take four days, each day for a different step of the process) until later than I would have liked. That said, we are ultimately very satisfied customers and would use ABLE again.