A-1 Concrete Leveling & Foundation Repair

Service Provider Response

The customer's original problem was that water was being directed into her home's foundation wall because the concrete patio was sloped and sinking toward the home. This was causing water to penetrate into her basement and garage through the wall. It was also deteriorating the concrete block. We were contacted to fix this problem. We concrete leveled all of the areas/slabs and sloped the concrete away from the home. The water is no longer getting into the block wall or inside her home. The problem for which we were contacted and retained has been fixed. In fact the customer praised our work when completed and agreed to provide a positive review. However, after the first rain, it was discovered that one of the concrete slabs had enough of a low spot in it that was created when the concrete was originally poured and finished that puddling of water was now occurring. The concrete was finished incorrectly by a cement finisher years ago. This low spot held water even after we leveled the slabs. This was not a condition that A1 created. This was not recognized until the first rain, which occurred sometime after we completed the job. The dip in that slab was not visually noticeable and would have been impossible to predict post leveling that water would pool on it. Once we were aware of the customer's complaint, the project manager who originally estimated the project inspected the area of concern. In his opinion the client had two ways of correcting this issue. One was to use a surface patch to raise the area to fill in that low spot. This is not ideal on an exterior slab due to longevity and appearance. The other option the client had was to install a drain to reroute the water. If you were to look at Mrs. [Member Name Removed]'s concrete there are two drains on the entrance side but none on the far side of the patio where the water sits. It's not clear why as nothing is different to our observation. So our proposition was to install a drain in the area that lacked one. We gave a quote to perform the work at a greatly reduced cost due to the nature of the situation. The quote was unsatisfying to the customer. Mrs [Member Name Removed] felt it should be done for her for free. We attempted to negotiate terms for a solution but the issue was perceived by the client to be entirely A1's fault. We did not feel that this was the work we were out to correct initially, nor did we have any influence on making the matter worse. This was an additional project that was identified after the original project was successfully completed. We empathized with the customer and tried to come to some arrangement. We were willing to suffer substantial loss to make the customer happy but there was no meeting, not half way, not a quarter of the way, not an eighth of the way, no way. At the end of the experience we felt like we were being taken advantage of and made financially accountable for a situation that had nothing to do with our work. We are sorry that her past concrete finisher did a poor job, but to make A1 culpable for that is in our opinion a little beyond what we are willing to accept.