Grable And Son Concrete And Masonry

Description of Work: Larry Gabrle came and asked what we (my Mother and I) wanted done which was to level the ground, excavate the area to be constructed on, and set up forms, pour the concrete and finish the concrete in a uniform smooth/broomed surface. We were going to construct a two car carport which needed a foundation and pour a driveway from the carport foundation to the aproach at the street. When Larry Gabrle began construction he cut out the area where the carport was to be built. There used to be an apartment building there which had been demolished years ago but the ground had never been leveled to the rest of the yard so that area was 8 to 10 inches lower than the rest of the yard. Instead of Larry filling that area up to the existing elevation of the rest of the yard he commenced to setting his forms in the lowest part of where he cut the grass out. I told Larry I did not want the top of the foundation to be below the elevation of the highest point in the yard and that I had already told him to fill that area to match the rest of the yard when he first looked at what we wanted him to build. I told him it was easier to fix this now than later after the concrete had been poured. I did not want the water, grass or dirt to be able to cover the foundation because it was lower than the ground around the foundation. Larry told me told me that all we had to do was edge the grass. Now my Mother was the one paying for this and she had already given Larry $3000.00 up front which I was unaware of. She told me to go into the house before I made Larry angry and he quit and took her $3000.000 with him. I explained to her that we did not want water running through the carport washing mud and debrea through it. But she was scared of Larry keeping her money. I told her to let him go. He was not doing the job like we explained it to him and that he should of filled the area with cushing sand and leveled the yard first before he started setting the forms. I did concrete for over 25 years and even worked at a local concrete company before I retired as Quality Control at Lockheed Martin and I think I know how the work should be done. Larry poured the foundation 4 inches below the elevation of our yard. This is a little deep to edge. He then poured the drive way in 20 foot stages. Each one of them are at a different elevation so the driveway is up and down all the way to the sidewalk at the street. Because he did not excavate and fill the driveway with cushing sand the last two pours was poured at 8 inches thick. The concrete should of been 4 inches thick. Larry used 2 times the concrete than he needed on those final two sections. We had a retaining wall that should of been about 18 inches tall at the street to hold back our front yard and keep it from eroding and he poured it 6 inches tall instead of 18 inches which he refused to fix. And then at the aproach on my neighbors side he should have poured a curb on the driveway to keep the soil from our neighbor's yard from washing in on the driveway. My neighbor had to use sheet metal to stop any erossion to occure. Larry also hit my neighbor's fence with his front in loader in 2 places and walked off with out repairing it. It was not until I threw a fit that he agreed and fixed 1 place which the fence had a rip in it. He tore our water line out of the ground and refused to repair it and my Mother paid $350.00 for a plummer to fix it. Then the next day he let the concrete truck run over the line and now the water line is broken again under the concrete he just poured. At this time he has refused to repair it and re-emburse my Mother the money she paid to have the water line fixed the first time. There are hand prints all over the house which he has not cleaned nor did he clean the debrea left from doing the work. My neighbor helped and swept the street and cleaned up after him. After Larry left I measured the work he did and compared it to what he gave his estimate on (bid on 1658 square foot. and he did 1465 square foot) which left 211 square foot that he did not do. He charged $5.75 sq. ft. so Larry over charged my Mother $1113.25 which he has told me he did not owe a refund. I can go on and on about how Larry Gabrle and Son Concrete and Masonry on how Larry has taken advantage of my Mother. Never-the-less, while I was telling him how he took advvantage of my 70 year old Mother he asked me, "You just do not know how to pay a compliment. Do you?" The concrete foundation was not poured at the proper elevcation, the side of the driveway is not straight, the driveway goes up and down, he broke our water line and has refused to pay for it 2 times, he damaged our neighbors fence and if I had not embarrassed him by telling his wife it would not of been fixed, he wasted materials which my Mother paid for, he charged my Mother for work which he did not do, and the work which he did will have water, grass and mud cover it everytime it rains and he wants me to pay him a compliment....