BOWMAN CONCRETE FINISHERS

Contracted to excavate and pour a monolithic concrete slab. Price was competitive with other bids. Was able to start within a few days. Contractor was affable and seemingly professional. I asked him to bring a detailed work agreement/contract BEFORE beginning work. I also explained I wanted this work done by the book and expected him to pull a permit. Neither of which was done. Upon the first day I quickly realized he was seemingly overwhelmed by this simple project. The equipment he had was not properly suited for the task at hand. There were horrible tree roots to grub out however he was aware of this situation prior to starting the job. Moreover the two workers that were working with him seemed to me to be not very bright grunt laborers and frankly i didnt want them on my property. They didnt even have the common sense to bring a cooler of water for themselves. I ended up lending them my own chainsaw to get them through the job. I expressed my dissatisfaction with Mr. Bowman and told him what I expected. I don't think he was listening too well. When pressed about the contract he asked me to go ahead and work something up and he'd sign it. I was flabergasted. The mistake I made was paying almost half of the quoted cost. The following day they were a no show. On wednesday they returned to finish the excavation and prepare the concrete forms. When I got home from work I was again surprised. They were going to use 1x4 forms for a concrete pad that was more than 8 inches deep. Additionally, I strung a masons line in three locations to check the depth of the pad itself (should have been a minimum of four inches) and no where was the pad depth correct. In fact it averaged approx 2 inches thick. And no inspection or permit obtained. I telephoned the contractor that evening and fired him. It was not the professional work I was looking for. I demanded a partial refund of monies paid. In my estimation his work was worth no more than 500-600 dollars, but we settled on 850. 10 days later i recieved a certified check in the mail. I will say that this contractor does seem to be an honorable man, just not the professional contractor I was looking for. I was prepared to go to small claims court and was pleased that he saw reason and just accepted the bad outcome of the situation.