Prater Concrete

Disappointed and Frustrated?Proceed with Caution I?m extremely disappointed with Prater Concrete in Princeton, TX. While their sales team?especially Ron Prater?is responsive and polished during the initial phase, the quality of service takes a sharp downturn once the project begins. Ryan, the project manager, appears knowledgeable but the crew consistently tried to cut corners. My property was left in poor condition: concrete splattered on windows, leftover materials dumped on my front lawn, and inadequate site cleanup overall. The sidewalk installation was incomplete and poorly planned. They were responsible for grading the land to ensure proper drainage and prevent flooding near my foundation?but that work was left unfinished. The very night after payment, rain exposed the issue. My yard turned into a pond because water couldn't escape. Worse yet, I received no response after reaching out to Ron and Ryan with texts and photos. Ron, who was highly responsive during the sales proc

I highly recommend Prater Concrete for anyone looking to upgrade their patio, driveway, walkway etc...Starting with Amber's estimate and wonderful ideas, through the pouring and then finish work I couldn't have been more pleased. Prater does great work at a reasonable price, are quick but also efficient, and warranty their work as a bonus. The Star medallion was a last minute addition but looks amazing. Coming from WA State, we didn't expect what we received, but we are more than happy. We will definately be using them for our next concrete project!

DO NOT USE THEM!!! THEY DID NOT GIVE ME THE RIGHT SQUARE FOOTAGE! I had them expand my existing patio and stamp it. They did not give me the correct square footage. I noticed after I paid them. I immediately contacted Amber (wife) and she apologized and said I would get a refund. After six weeks of no contact from her, another contractor getting involved and no response from Ryan (husband) I finally texted Ryan to just keep the money because apparently he needed the money more than I did.

the project lasted only for 3 months, it started peeling February and this job was done November. We had a warranty and the person who in charge of the scheduling is very rude.

I hired Prater to replace 600 s/f of driveway and pour a pad for a 10x16 storage building. They screwed them both up. Pathetic, substandard concrete work. The pad was neither square, true, correct size or level. The Tuff Shed folks had a hard time making it work. Ryan Prater would not return a call or text. The driveway has deep grooves down the center. The imprint of whatever machine they were using before it was dry. I regret hiring these folks.

Met with Ron to get an estimate together, he showed up when he said he would and was a pleasure to work with. Paid 10% down and got on the schedule, from there I worked with Rich (great guy) and his crew, they did great work and addressed all of my concerns as they came up. After getting everything ready to pour I noticed that my measurements were 2 feet off and Rich came through and added those two extra feet which meant more dirt work and trouble. They brought their concrete trucks and did the pour, leveling, stamping, antiquing and sealing. Concrete came out looking great, took them two days to prep and pour and one more day for the sealing and antiquing. Great guys to work with, family operation

It went okay and I like the patio; however, the quality of surface was not as good as it could have been done. I don't have a need to rehire them.

I have hired Prater concrete for Patio Stamped concrete including Fire pit with bench. Day after stamped concrete was finished, we saw white patches everywhere. Color and finish of stamped concrete was not uniform. Color was started breaking in most places. As part of the work, a fire pit with bench needs to be build and to date not completed. No response to our calls. I need to call them up, leave multiple messages and wait weeks for any response from them.

The installation team was great and so helpful through the process. They did a good job.

Ryan came and supervised the job as well as doing the final details himself. He suggested changes to my plan that made it much more useful and better looking. Would use again.

It went great. The exact stamp I wanted was not available, but they chose something close enough and offered to make custom etching in the concrete to get it closer to what I wanted ( I decided not to do that) so they really went above and beyond to make me feel comfortable with the choice and I was not disappointed. They should know, they are the experts, not me. I plan on doing some more work next year and I will be sure to use them again.

Prater concrete was great! They were. Very punctual, did exactly what they said they would and the end result was awesome!

Fine, until it all cracked. Owner came after weeks and weeks to "fix" it, saying he'd re-pour if needed but "didn't want to."

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Prater concrete was timely in meeting with me and listened to what I wanted.  I was given good information on my options and the process.  The crew arrived when promised and finished the work on time.  The patio looked great and I was pleased.  My problem came a week later.  The patio showed a small crack in a very obvious location.  I called to ask if they would come look at it, as well as put the trim back on the pillars that they had taken off.  I was told they would come on such and such date.  They never showed.  I have called three additional times, and have been stood up each time.  My little crack is now running the entire length of the patio and my trim still hasn't been replaced.  Their follow up and finish work leaves much to be desired!

Ron Prater was punctual in estimating, explaining and reaching agreement of the job. Weather delayed the performance more than once. During the delays I had to make several calls in order to find out when our revised start date would be. Once started, it went well, except I expressed concern several times that concrete would flow underneath the forms at one location, onto my sprinkler head and lawn. I was assured each time that it would not happen or that it would be quickly corrected if it occurred. After completion and payment and immediately after departure of the crew, I looked again and saw concrete on the grass and surrounding the sprinkler. I called Ron immediately. It was the next day before they returned and corrected the problem. In the end though, it is a beautiful job and I am very satisfied with the result..

We contracted this to be done in August. They were busy and they got to us in about 4 weeks which is what we expected. They poured the addition and when they did they put a color on it that did not match the current patio we have. They poured our original patio which did not have this color on it! They tried to say it was because that patio had faded in the sun but there was never a color on that part of the patio. So now we have good concrete work that has a very distinctive color change form the original. We were not happy about this and called the day the addition was completed. Ryan said they never promised it would be the same color, even though we clearly stated we were going with them so it would match. Ryan said he would fix it just because he liked us but that it was going to take him a lot of time. He said he would be out to do it on several occasions and then would not show or call. After several  texts and phone calls we had to give him a deadline in October to have it done as we needed the patio done for an event. He said he would have it done by then. He came out and did a patch test to see if we liked how the color matched and we were great with the color. However, our deadline came and went and he had more excuses. We had to call again and he came out and put another color on it that was not the patch test color we said would work! So now we have 3 different colors sections. We are so fed up with trying to deal with him. We are now probably going to have to hire another company to come in and fix what he screwed up in the first place. We never asked for a color to be put on the new addition and that was his mistake. He is not a man of his word and his measure of quality work and ours are quit different. Worst customer service ever and empty promises.  We wonder if we need a lawyer as well.

Ryan came out and gave us a quote and we decided that it was a good price.  Contatced and scheduled the work, due to rain delay we started a couple of days late but that wasn't his fault.  Gave us recommendations on color and stamp choice. The crew came out one day to frame, we had to have the ground retreated for termites to avoid our warranty being voided and they poured the next day.  Ryan came out the next day to stain and seal.  We very pleased with the end results. The stamped concrete looks amazing and we could not be more pleased.

Ron Prater with Prater Concrete was referred to me. Ron came out to look a the project and to provide a bid. I told him exactly what we wanted to do - very basic - we wanted to expand our exposed aggregate pool deck and for it to obviously match the deck we had. Ron gave me a quote right there and I told him I would get back to him within a couple days. I decided the quote was fair and that he indicated that it was no problem to do as I requested. Now comes the fun part - I asked when he thought he could get it done and he had no idea but would get with me in a few days after he spoke with his brother Ryan Prater who was in charge of the actual work. Ron apparently just does his bidding. Well next thing I know its been 2 weeks and nothing - I tried to get in touch and it was nearly impossible to get with him to get an answer. He always put me off. I then contacted the guy who referred us and told him I was about to cancel if I did not hear back from them. It took a phone call from him to get a call from Prater and then again I could not get a straight answer - I told him he had until May 10 to have it complete or I was cancelling. It took calls and texts and emails over and over to get Ryan to commit to a day. Well, it was over a month - April 4th was the initial day of meeting so as you can see 5 weeks later he shows up. Now Ryan comes in and looks at the deck, as you see he did not know what it looked like but said what he was going to do could be a little darker - well OK I understand, no problem as long as its the same deck - I understand stone changes etc... over time, however what he poured was pure concrete with large rock mixed in -  not anything you would put around a pool deck - after they exposed it it is like walking on glass - I have contacted him several times via voice message and text - he replied via text that he would have someone out to finish and correct it but it has been 3 weeks and he refuses to respond to text messages and has yet to resolve the problem - I asked about even sealing it and he said he would and still nothing. Too bad I cant attach a picture of the 2 different decks - you would be amazed. Thing is I am not a concrete or pool deck expert by any means which is why I trusted Prater Concrete to meet my request of which I have paid in full for. My next step will be a lawsuit to get this resolved, if thats what it takes - I have been more than patient through this whole process and for them not to correct their job is unprofessional at all levels like I have never seen before. I never threatened, screamed at or spoke ill of etc... I kindly asked that he do his job correctly that we paid for.

It went really well.  Better than I was expecting and the look really updated our home.   I wish we could have done this a long time ago.I am keeping Ryan's phone number just in case we need some more work.

Our original walkway to the front of the house had broken in two and needed to be replaced.   We had several companies come out and bid, but chose Prater Concrete because he had a solution to our problem.  According to Ryan Prater, the builders did not use rebar, nor did they support the slope of the walkway.  He gave us a very detailed explanation of what he would do to prevent this from happening again.

Once the new walkway was put in, it was beautiful.  But as I mentioned, it didn't take but a couple months for a crack to start and for the walkway to eventually break.  Realizing that this could still be partly due to our sloping lawn, we contacted Ryan to ask that he come out to see the walkway.  He immediately became defensive saying that nobody would guarantee that concrete won't crack.  We should have realized then it would be a difficult time with Ryan.  We had not mentioned it was his fault, nor that we expected him to replace the walkway free of charge.  The only thing that was mentioned was that the concrete walkway had broken in half, and could he please come out and look at it.

My husband emailed him the information he requested and he said he would be by soon and get back to us.  After four weeks, my husband contacted him again.  He said he had been busy, but that he would try and get out in the next week.  Needless to say, we did not hear from Ryan for quite a while.  We went back and forth for months on end without him every stopping by or contacting us.  We finally called him and set up an appointment for a specific Saturday.  At this point we had no intention of Ryan touching our walkway, we just wanted to hear from him why he thought the walkway broke in two.  We were home the entire day, but Ryan never showed up.

Ryan Prater's work is aesthetically beautiful.  We have since had a reputable Angie's List landscaper/hardscaper out to assess the situation, and although our sloping lawn would be an obstacle to work around, the walkway should have been done differently.  So I chalk it up to a 50% our fault, 50% Ryan's fault.

I just don't understand someone who treats their customers with such little regard.  I think his immediate defensiveness in the beginning speaks volumes for how he feels about his own work.  Whether he simply doesn't care about doing a good job or lacks the skills doesn't matter.  He has our money and we have a broken walkway that will need to be redone.  Prater Concrete is the sole reason for our joining Angie's List.  At least I can thank him for that.

Ryan installed a stained/stamped concrete patio in my backyard. It was beautiful for a few weeks and then I began to see issues with the color of the stain. I called the landscaper and Ryan came back out to look at the issue. He used some type of cleaner and resealed the patio to correct the issue. Within a few weeks the problem was back. I again notified the landscaper. We tried again with the same process to correct the issue. The same thing happened - it looked good temporarily but then the discolorization reappeared. Ryan tried to blame the issue on fertilizer or some other chemical getting on the patio. I assured him that was not the case.

Over time, the issue continued to worsen. The color began to fade, the myserious stains got worse and the patio color faded and it will not clean well. I noticed a few small cracks in the slab so I called the landscaper the next summer and mentioned my dissatisfaction with the color as well. He suggested  contact Ryan as he would stand behind his work.

I contacted Ryan 3-4 times by phone. Each time he indicated he would be out to take a look and attempt to correct but he never came out.