Vlad S Construction

I signed the contract for the garage rebuild on August 26. 2009. Steel reenforced concrete walls were built inside the collapsing walls of the garage so as to not disturb the neighbor's patio that was supported by the garage wall. The driveway and sidewalk that were already in bad shape were pulverized by the construction equipment driving over them. I told the contractor that I wanted to replace the driveway and sidewalk using the original quote in the contract. They immediately began tearing up the driveway and sidewalk with no signed contract. After the original flurry of activity and my driveway and sidewalk were a sea of mud work virtually stopped. Weeks went by where occasionally someone would show up and l lay some block then leave. There was no date in the contract as to when the work would be completed. The garage roof was finally poured in October. The driveway and sidewalk were poured in November. Work stopped again. There was no door on the garage and there were many details that were not finished I was promised the garage would be finished by Thanksgiving. The garage door was installed in December. Work stopped again and tools and trash were left sitting in my yard over the winter. The contractor was insisting that I pay the balance of the contracted price when he poured the driveway. I refused and insisted I would keep $5000 until the job was complete. I finally got the contractor to sign an agreement that all the work would be completed by April 30, 2010. That date came and passed with no work done. Over the winter major cracks developed in the driveway. There were no expansion joints in over a hundred feet of concrete. The contractor said he would remove some of the concrete and pour another layer of concrete over the cracked driveway. He said he would be done in two weeks. I received citations from the City of Pittsburgh because no permits were filed to rebuild the garage or replace the sidewalk. I was also sited by the Allegheny County Health Department for the excessive dust created when the workers spent two weeks removing a 15 x 15 foot piece of concrete with an electric jackhammer. When I finally threw them off the job on June 19, 2010 the contractor was still begging for more time to complete the the driveway fix and the garage. Now I have to sort out the legal issues with the City. Make amends to my neighbors for property damage and inconvenience. Find a reputable contractor to replace the driveway and pull more money from my retirement fund to pay for it. It's a shame, but he contractor actually did a good job on the garage and the sidewalk, but the aggravation of dealing with them caused me months of lost sleep. The work was sloppy with concrete splattered on our house and the existing patio. Concrete was also splattered on our neighbor's house and patio. Grass was killed in the yard where they cleaned equipment and left lumber and forms for weeks. The driveway fiasco was caused by the contractor's stupidity of pouring the concrete with no expansion joints and then trying to fix it on the cheap. The contractor saved me a lot of money by not tearing down the garage walls and having to rebuild my neighbor's yard and patio, but it looks like it was a false economy.