Aurora Asphalt & Concrete

I had them install a new driveway at my home. The sales person told me my driveway would look wonderful. It did until it dried and then it started cracking all over the driveway. It is not the smooth driveway I was told I would have. There is a large spot in the middle of my driveway that does not match the rest of it. I was told I could take down the tape that prevented people from driving on it and then there were car track marks. I sent them several emails and left several messages over a few weeks time. No response. I sent my sales person a email and no response. I did not pay the remainder of my bill. In September I finally received a call from my sales person looking for me to pay my bill. I told him I was not happy with my driveway he said he would go out there and look it took him over a week to make it to my house. He then emailed me and said it was normal for the driveway to crack and the big spot in the middle was were they used their hands. The car tracks were from some people spinning their tires on my driveway. I am not accepting this response as reasonable. I should have been told up front my driveway would crack, that they would use their hands on my driveway which does not make sense why they would do that in the middle of my driveway and it will not look smooth and how long I should keep the tape up to prevent car tracks on my driveway. Instead of trying to communicate with me and find a resolution they filed a mechanic's lien against my property.

Aurora installed a concrete apron. The work was done in 2014 and was excellent. The outcome remains excellent now in early 2017. I just forgot to post this rating back then, and thought to do it as I looked up Aurora to quote replacing the rest of my driveway in the spring of 2017.

It went really well. A couple delays due to rain - understandable -

The day of the tear out went well. And then... First, the crews that did this work were subs-contracted and were not Aurora crews. The day of paving, the crew showed up to re-compact and didn't bring any base. Ron failed to tell them that the old had to be removed and 3-4" of new base added. The reason was we had an area that had sunk and this was needed to prevent the same thing happening in the future. The crew left without doing anything. The crew came back later that day with some base and removed about 4" and added the base, but the compacting was light at best. More on this later... So now the paving crew shows up. I expressed my concern with the compaction, so they used a hand compactor and a small roller that was not a vibratory roller or the guy didn't turn it on. Either way, the compaction was poor. When the crew began paving, they were only doing a single lift and began laying about 2" of asphalt. I stopped them as they were about a third of the way on the first pass, letting them know I paid for a driveway with a 3" compacted lift. They let me know that Ron told them it was only 2" PRIOR to compacting. They called Ron and then laid the correct amount of asphalt. Overall, the driveway looked good and thought we were in good shape until the final rolling. The guy doing the rolling asked if the crew did a water test to check for "birdbaths". They had not and due to the poor compacting, we had a large one right in the middle of the driveway. The guy doing the final rolling tried to get it out, including using the hand compactor on edge, doing nothing more than creating a gouge in that area. The area still hold about 1/4" of water. Over the next 2-3 weeks I left no less than 10 messages with Ron, including once when he actually called back and told me he would come out on a particular day just to have him not show up. Frankly I just gave up as I had to get back to my life. I went ahead and paid the bill because I didn't trust Aurora to place a mechanics lien on our home. We are now into winter and have a persistent spot that hold water and is unsafe because the ice. I had scheduled this work in February/March, paid the deposit and had it scheduled for the last week of June. I was told I wouldn't need to be there, but I chose to drive home from vacation to be there. If I hadn't, I hate to think what I would have gotten... At this point, the only way to properly resolve the issue is to tear it out and have it redone. All the excuses in the world won't help, son I don't expect anything from Aurora to resolve this issue when the owner won't return calls. My only option (short of going to court, which will just cost me more time and money) is to tell the story and try to help someone else.

They did the job when they said they were going to do it for the price they quoted and the quality is great.

Everything went well. Work was performed as planned and on schedule.

It went well-they seemed to have a hard time scheduling me in, perhaps that is just the nature of the business. I went longer than I thought with gravel driveway (maybe 3-4 weeks) but end result was very good. I would recommend them to anyone. They were always polite when I would call to ask about date they were coming, and if I was annoying them they did not let me know. The driveway looks great and the cost was certainly acceptable. I would recommend them to anyone needing asphalt driveway replaced!

It was fine. It was good. I paid a little more. It was probably like another $100. My driveway is a little bigger than what the deal listed. It was good work. I think it was just fine. He did the job. They pretty much did what they said they were going to do. They were out on the same day that they said they would be. My interaction with them was basically just on the phone. It was quick and professional. The driveway is good. They were right on time. I would use them again.

Very professional team, they had great ideas to widen my driveway. Also took care of two concrete issues at same time.

Aurora put a new patio, step and walkway in my back yard this summer. Within 4 weeks of the install, the concrete began to crack. Attempts to get Aurora to fix this were met with repeated claims that it was not covered by the warranty. The cracks have continued to get worse and I have continued to send updated photos to Aurora showing them this and continue to be met with a "sorry, not covered" response. The concrete is deteriorating, separating and now beginning to have chunks fall out of it. This is all within summer and a mild fall. I am honestly dreading to see what it looks like after a winter of water getting in the cracks and expanding and contracting. I understand that all concrete cracks, but the way the area was prepared and joined was poorly done. I have had some second opinions on this and they are in agreement that this should not be cracking like this so soon. On top of that, my lawn was left strewn with empty Mountain Dew and Gatorade bottles and dirty shirts. I went with Aurora based on decent reviews on Angie's list and the fact that they gave a very reasonable quote for the work. I really wish I would have paid a bit more for work that wouldn't be falling apart within weeks and a company that would stand by their work. You can see photos from 4 weeks after they did the work through today. Do yourself a favor and pay a little more for someone that stands behind their work.

Went to google maps to give estimate. I would refer them to a friend.

I had a big deal to fix the cracks and stuff in my driveway. He came in and said it would not be worth doing that because it was in too bad of shape. So we didn't and then the next year I had them come back and put a new driveway in. I was very happy with the work, it just wasn't for the big deal. I was impressed that they told me not to waste my money trying to fix the old driveway. Instead they said not going to do this. We did not have any contact until the following spring, this spring. Then I said, okay, let's do a new one. So the reason I went back to them was because they were very honest with me about the Angie's List big deal.

It worked out well. They did the work, close to what I was told. I know they were busy so there was a bit of a delay. But they were good about calling back when we had any questions.

Excellently. See answer above. This was GREAT to get done, so I don't have to face another winter with my snowblower throwing rocks from the old deteriorated asphalt! Photo is before they came to cut expansion joints, which were done later - perfectly !

Smoothly! The first team removed the bad concrete, then the second team came and poured the concrete. It was a beautiful job.

Quality of work: Very good. The finished product looks good and closely matches what I asked for. Price: from what I can tell from other estimates I received, also very good. Concrete was substantially more expensive than asphalt, but I agree with the estimator that it's likely worth it. Communication: unfortunately, mostly poor. The estimator (Adam) was terrific, even coming back a second time to address some questions I had. The two-person demo crew (Drew and T.J.) were also very communicative, asking me how I wanted specific aspects done. Their demo of the old materials was swift, precise and clean; completely satisfactory and professional at this stage. On the other hand, the crew who poured the new materials was distinctly uncommunicative, even when I tried to ask questions. Though they seemed to interact a lot with each other while prepping and pouring, they seemed unprepared to answer my questions and concerns with anything more than one-word (insufficient) answers. Very frustrating! The two-man crew who came back a day later to put saw cuts into the driveway was right in the middle--somewhat communicative. Clean-up: good to very good (just a couple areas of cement **** to clean up, and some cement splash on the brickmold around the garage door). More about communication: I also experienced trouble trying to make phone contact with the company, both before and during the work. Out of a dozen phone calls I made, only four were answered, and one promised call-back (to me) never happened. I was notified just one day in advance of the demo work, and I got less explanation of what to expect in the rest of the process (over the phone, in advance) than I would have liked. I was also surprised, after the the work was done, that when I called to ask a question about "sealing" the driveway (something the invoice said was included--though the sawing guy wasn't sure if it had been done...), I was told that the driveway was only "quick-sealed", and that I should go purchase and apply a professional sealer (although the person on the phone cautioned me that it is now too late in the season--too cold--to still apply this important step. Knowing just that single piece of info might have made me commit to the project earlier than I did...). And finally: I really expected that, with a very positive Angie's List rating, somebody from the company would contact me once the work was done and the invoice was in the mail, to double-check that I was 100% satisfied. No such contact has been made. So, all in all: very good work, good price, below-average communication (except from the estimator and the demo crew, who were terrific). If everybody in the company communicated as well as the estimator and the demo crew, I'd be writing a completely positive review.

Aurora replaced my concrete driveway (with concrete) in October, 2016. The new driveway has endured two winters so far and it looks just about like the day it was poured. Remember...there are two kinds of concrete, concrete that is cracked and concrete that will crack. That said there is one very small hairline crack and about 12 places where aggregate has popped out. After investigating I concluded that both conditions are common and to be expected. The crew was friendly and didn't mind my questions while they were working. They were VERY efficient and definitely knew what they were doing. Most impressive to me was the way they were able to slope the new driveway away from the house to keep water runoff from draining toward the foundation. The new driveway is 1,325 square feet. All in all Aurora did an excellent job and I highly recommend them. The cost was less than I expected.

Everything went well. I knew from talking with some of the workers (and by looking out the window!) that the rain this year had caused some issues getting jobs completed exactly on time. Of course, there is nothing anyone can do about the weather - this year being on pace to become the wettest year for Minneapolis in recorded history. But Aurora got it all done, professionally and courteously. Attention was paid to detail, things were always nicely cleaned up, and the workers were efficient and personable. Right now we are waiting, for another day or so, for the asphalt to set enough to begin using the driveway. By the way, Steve, the sales guy, was also very personable and helpful in discussing our options during the "quote" process. We did get one other estimate from a highly rated company on Angie's List. For the exact same dimensions, Aurora came in $700 less on their quote.

Work was good and I was very pleased with the customer service and response. The price was as quoted and the workmanship/quality service was excellent. I would refer them to my neighbors and friends.

I contacted and made a down payment on August 4, 2016. The salesman told me they would come during the week of August 15 to remove the old concrete and asphalt, remove any additional dirt, then re-establish a solid base of 4 to 6 inches of recycled concrete base, level it and compact it for the asphalt. He said the asphalt would be installed the following week, allowing time for the base to settle. The crew came during the week of August 4 removing the old asphalt and concrete, spread a little gravel material then left. It looked to me that the 4-6 inches of recycled concrete base had not been installed. So i took a shovel and dug a couple dozen test holes to see if I was mistaken. It turns out I was right. The base that was there was the sandy dirt that had been under the apron since it was first installed back in the seventies. I had no problem digging any of the test holes because of the light sandy soil. I called the salesman to ask why the base had not been installed as we had discussed and as was specified in the contract. He told me the workers had determined that the existing base was adequate as is. I told him that that was going to be unacceptable. He said he would have to talk with his boss. His boss called me and told me that the sandy soil was a better base than the 4-6" of compacted recycled concrete base. I explained that I had done a couple dozen test digs with a shovel and found the base to be very soft and easily removed. I also indicated that every new asphalt job I had seen done in our new neighborhood had been done with a compacted 4-6" recycled concrete base as well as every asphalt road job I had seen installed. He continued to argue with me until I told him nothing less than what was in the contract would be acceptable. So he finally relented to what was specified in the contract. Besides his attitude, I found it troubling that neither him nor his salesman ever offered to deduct the cost of not moving the extra dirt, installing, leveling and compacting the 4-6' of recycled concrete base that was in the contract. I was around when that work was finally done and it involved nearly 3 hours of labor of two men as well as the time it took at a later date for the base to be compacted. So nothing was done during the second week of August 22. The crew came to complete the preparation work during the third week of the project, the week of August 29. They did not return to finish the job during the fourth week and finally came on Thursday September 15, fully five weeks after they started the project. I will grant that there were some rainy days during this five week period, however if the prep work had been done per the contract the week of August 15 the weather the following week would have allowed them to finish the project during the time the salesman told me it would be done. The work itself was fine, but having to argue with the owner about having the job done as contracted and then being put off for an additional three weeks caused me more angst than I care to ever experience. Aurora however was Johnny on the spot with the bill, which I received two days after the project was completed.

Went with another company. They provided a quote quickly and professionally.

It went pretty well. The work was well done and the new driveway looks great. The guys doing the work were very professional Our only "complaint" is that there was not quite enough communication with us on Aurora's part about when work would be done. They scheduled the time without consulting us first. The work was done in two parts: removing the old driveway and then installing the new one on another day. Wish we had been ASKED if there were any limitations or concerns. Our driveway is along an alley where garbage and recycling bins are located. Fortunately, they did not schedule us on trash pickup day!

Aurora came quickly to rip everything out - however, it took over 6 weeks to get them to come back to our the asphalt - their argument was weather. They did a horrible job pouring the apron and the walkway. They came back to rip out and redo the apron after we showed them pictures of curvy lines, one side being about 6 inches inches long than the other side of the apron, and uneven/cracks - but the walkway needs to also be replaced because it is mis-colored, misshaped, and spotty. It looks nothing like the re-poured apron (which looks nice). We expressed concern immediately about the issues with the walkway, however, we were repeatedly told it would turn bright white and the spots would go away in 30, maybe 60 days. It has been almost 120 days and absolutely no change. It is quite the eyesore leading up to our house. It is not anything that anyone would pay money for. After Aurora refused to respond to our questions regarding the walkway, we will have to take further steps to recover our money for the walkway. I am assuming that this was just one of those rare defective projects, I can understand that, but what I can't understand is the refusal to make it right. That is what is a true sign of a good company versus a bad one.

Great. Very helpful in helping me make a decision about how to do the work. Nice people and easy to talk to. I would hire them again.

Fantastic, very easy company to work with and they did great work!