PATCO CONCRETE

PAT O'LOUGHLIN PROVIDED A FREE ESTIMATE & CAME WHEN HE SAID HE WOULD INITIALLY. THEN HE SAID BECAUSE IT WAS A SMALL JOB, HE WANTED THE $400 IN CASH & WOULDN'T ACCEPT A CHECK. THEN PAT WANTED HALF OF THE CASH BEFORE HE STARTED. THE FIRST THREE-QUARTERS OF THE WORK THAT HE DID WAS PERFORMED OKAY. THEN AS SOON AS THE CONCRETE WAS FINISHED, BUT NOT DRY, PAT WANTED THE BALANCE PAID. I INSISTED THAT HE STILL HAD TO COME BACK TO REMOVE THE FORMS & CLEAN UP. HE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD RETURN THE NEXT DAY, BUT HE NEEDED THE MONEY RIGHT THEN TO PAY BILLS. THEN HE BECAME VERY AGITATED & STARTED PACING UNTIL I AGREED TO PAY HIM. PAT O'LOUGHLIN & HIS HELPER NEVER RETURNED THE NEXT DAY AS PROMISED. WHEN I CALLED FOUR DAYS LATER, PAT AGAIN PROMISED HE WOULD RETURN THE NEXT DAY TO TAKE CARE OF FINISHING THE JOB. IT IS NOW 12 DAYS AFTER THE CONCRETE WAS POURED, HE WAS PAID IN FULL, & HE HAS NEVER CALLED OR COME TO FINISH REMOVING THE FORMS, FILLING IN DIRT, & CLEANING UP.

GENERALLY POSITIVE. A BIT TOO ANXIOUS AND DEMANDING REGARDING PAYMENT, BUT THE WORK WAS COMPLETED WAS OF GOOD QUALITY.

CAME BACK AND COMPLETED THE JOB WITHIN A WEEK AFTER GIVING ESTIMATE. DID A NICE JOB. A LITTLE MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD SPEND, BUT IT WAS DIFFICULT FINDING SOMEONE TO DO A SMALL JOB.

PAT OLOUGHLIN WAS GREAT TO WORK WITH. HE WAS VERY PROMPT, CALLED WHEN HE SAID HE WOULD, AND SHOWED UP TO WORK AT THE DATE AND TIME HE AGREED TO (UNLESS IT WAS RAINING). OUR NEW FRONT STEPS AND WALKWAY LOOK FANTASTIC, AND WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH OUR EXPERIENCE.

I THOUGHT PAT AND HIS WORKMAN WERE POLITE, ON TIME, FRIENDLY, ANXIOUS TO PLEASE AND INDUSTRIOUS IN GETTING THE JOB DONE. I'LL USE THEM AGAIN WHEN NEEDED.

ESTIMATE WAS ABOUT $900 LESS THAN ANOTHER (WHO ALSO SAID THAT HE PROBABLY COULDN'T DO THE JOB 'TIL NEXT SPRING, AND GETTING IT DONE ASAP WAS A PRIORITY). THERE WERE A FEW DELAYS DURING THE JOB, BOTH WEATHER AND LOGISTICAL (COMPRESSOR, CEMENT TRUCK)), BUT NOTHING MORE THAN A LITTLE FRUSTRATING. AT FIRST I WAS A LITTLE MIFFED THAT THEY DID NOT REFILL THE TRENCHES LEFT WHEN THE WOODEN FORMS WERE REMOVED, BUT I USED THIS TO MY ADVANTAGE FOR PLANTING BULBS. THE DELAYS AND TRENCHES ARE THE REASONS FOR THE ''B'' RATINGS, BUT I WOULD NOT HESITATE TO CALL THEM AGAIN. GENERAL CLEAN-UP WAS GOOD; I ONLY FOUND A FEW CHUNKS OF RUBBLE THAT HAD BEEN COVERED IN A PILE OF LEAVES. THE NEW SIDEWALK LOOKS GREAT, AND SEVERAL NEIGHBORS HAVE REMARKED ON IT (THOUGH THIS MAY BE MOSTLY GRATITUDE, SINCE IT WAS EASILY THE WORST SIDEWALK ON THE BLOCK FOR YEARS). I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO SHOVELING IT THIS WINTER -- FOR ONCE, IT WON'T BE A BONE-JARRING EXPERIENCE.

HE DID THIS WORK IN 2 DAYS AND WAS $1,100 DOLLARS CHEAPER THAN THE CLOSEST ESTIMATE I RECEIVED.