Get matched with top decorative concrete pros in Stowell, TX

"The plan on this job was to protect the pool from collecting debris with a plastic tarp. In the demolition process, the crew damaged several coping bricks. The framing, rebar, concrete pour and stamping went otherwise OK. They were late removing the tarp due to needing to work on the brick, and it later rained, covering the tarp with water. Joe offered to cover the coping brick damage, sending a guy at the end of other jobs to chip the broken bricks out over the course of the coming week. He damaged a finish tile. Also, the number of “damaged” bricks seemed to increase as we went along. We were not able to remove the tarp when anticipated due to the additional coping demo, and it stayed on over the rains leading up to the 4th of July weekend. Joe's original plan was to clear any water from the surface of the tarp with a submersible pump, removing the debris along with the tarp. This did not work due to the amount of water that had collected. He cut the tarp to remove it, with the debris falling in the pool. After a few days of brick chipping, I started asking for a new schedule. Joe told me to call the office. I asked this question repeatedly, sharing my frustration with the way the job was going. She eventually told me to talk to Joe when he arrived with the crew on July 9. When he appeared on the 9th, he went back to check on his guy and quickly went back to his truck. I flagged him down to give him a spare finish tile and ask my scheduling question. He drove away while I was talking, indicating that he had to get to another job. I waited for a while, then called the office to complain about being disrespected and still not having a schedule. I was angry on this call, but did not yell or use profanity. Joe returned to my home later that morning. I opened the door when I saw him. He came at me with balled up fists calling me names and threatening to beat me. He felt I had been inappropriate with the “seventy year old woman” who answers the phone at the office. He threatened to beat me again, called me some more names, and walked of the job. I have a recording of most of this interaction from my Ring doorbell camera. This was an $8000.00 job. I have paid everything save $650.00 that was due at the end. I will likely incur expenses that exceed this amount in having the work completed, if I can get a contractor to finish the job. Additionally, my pool service company indicates that they will charge $1500 to clean the construction debris and another $1500 to restart the pool. There will be additional expense in replacing the water to be drained in the cleaning process. So if you don't mind a contractor that bullies his way out of a job with threats of physical violence when things go south, Houston Solid Concrete is for you. Otherwise, steer clear. They only get 1 start because 0 is not an option."

"Darien came and explained what would be done. She was even able to include two small areas as a bonus. The contractor that did the work was very informative, cooperative and helpful giving me ideas that added to the beauty of the area. The work was done in a very professional manner. I am pleased with the outcome."

"It was a smooth experience. Jason and his crew did an excellent job. Always on time and came to work. If he said they will be there at 7:30 a.m., they were there started working. Jason handled getting the permits required by the city and met with inspectors. Quality job and no issues after the work was completed. Would definitely recommend and hire again for any future jobs."

"Working with Tom Ruddell was great. He was knowledgeable in his craft, timely, and most importantly, honest about balancing our needs versus wants to maximize our modest budget. I would definitely consult him again about future projects. Thanks, Tom!"

"Pros: 1516’s workers and subcontractors did an outstanding job. They were super friendly and always asked us how things looked and even had inside jokes with my husband. We are so pleased with the look of our new patio. I would highly recommend Master Electric who was their electrical subcontractor. Very nice people and got their work done quickly! Cons: In short, we are extremely displeased with the owner, Erik, and how he treated us with disrespect, belittlement, and lack of professionalism. This is where the 1 star rating comes from. If you want more details, please continue reading below. Unfortunately, we did not feel this same way regarding the owner of 1516 (Erik). At our first meeting, everything went over smoothly. It was like the honeymoon phase of remodeling. I told him everything I wanted: new patio cover, privacy wall, and wrought iron fencing around the patio to keep the dogs in, and he said he could do it all! When we received the proposal, we noticed the measurements were off on the patio cover. All our other bids along with the plot survey said 16X20, but 1516’s stated it was a 16X17. Of course we brought this up to both Erik and his wife, Kris, because we didn’t want a short patio, especially since engineers get involved for the building. We begged Erik to come out and re-measure. He assured us his measurements were correct and he told my husband he didn’t trust other people’s measurements. After awhile, he finally agreed to come re-measure but told us that he would cover the cost if it was wrong since it was his mistake. We didn’t even ask him to cover the difference, so we were in shock but he assured us that the measurements were right. Sure enough, a week later he showed up and re-measured and he was wrong. It was 16X20. Sooo sorry for this novel but this is where we started being treated unfairly. Once the material was delivered for the cover, we started asking Erik for pictures of the privacy wall and wrought iron fencing that was going to be put in since no “specific details” were in the proposal regarding these two line items. He started getting very short with my husband, wouldn’t provide details, ignored his phone calls & texts, and would just show up without even letting us know he was here. I even called his wife, Kris, to ask if we had done something wrong and she said he was just stressed but loved working with us. He did ask us to pay extra for part of the privacy wall for materials, even though no details were specified in the proposal on what the wall would look like, what material would be used, height, etc. We were told that he had already estimated the cost of materials and labor and that our extra addition was not part of his plan. I was a little irritated because we were paying for this patio remodel, which I would think we would get to pick out what we want our patio to look like not him. As for the wrought iron fence, we had told him earlier on that it would need some type of dog barrier because we have a 10 lb dog that could easily fit thru. When we started suggesting ordering a custom fence, he threatened us that if we went custom, he would decline the fence portion of the job. The only reason why he accepted it was because we wanted the patio cover. We immediately just went with what was easier for him because we wanted the job done. On the last day of the patio cover remodel, we had asked Erik if he could have his guys come back out because 1) they had put footprints in the concrete parts around the columns and 2) our vinyl siding was missing J channeling on the new addition and didn’t flow well from the original part of the house. We also found out later that day that his workers had cut and capped the wires to our existing floodlight so it was no longer operational (Erik even confirmed this was true). A few hours after sending that text with the mistakes that should be fixed, we received an unpleasant text from Erik. He immediately rejected the fence portion of our proposal saying he was not doing it anymore, wanted the final check, and was done with us. He said we were super ungrateful because he had given us so much from quoting us a 16X17 patio, which was really a 16X20 patio, even though from the beginning, he said he would cover that measurement mistake. We had no idea that weeks down the road, this was going to bite us in the butt. We never once had asked him to cover it. He made that call. And we had no idea that asking his workers to come back to fix a few mistakes/errors was going to end in an uproar. He threatened us saying he was going to turn us in to a collection agency if we didn’t pay him the last check for the patio. We never once said we weren’t going to pay his workers for the outstanding job they did. He told us that our patio slab was already cracked and ugly so why would a few footprints matter. As for the J Channeling, he said the inspector didn’t say anything so we wasn’t going to cover that. And as for the floodlight, he wasn’t going to pay the electrician to come back out. Here is his exact response, “Partner, if you’re willing to pay the my standard rate of $40 a square ft on a 16X20, you can have me back for 1 whole day addressing every obstacle brought forward today: concrete, “c” flashings, & even flood lights not in my contract.” Erik was very disrespectful in every text message, belittled us, and reminded us how unimportant we were by constantly telling us he had bigger and more important jobs in the Seabrook area, like his $76,000 patio cover project plus that he made $4 million in sales last year, so he was pretty sure he knew what he was doing. It hurts my heart knowing that a company whose title is 1516 (after the Acts 1516 verse) could treat other people this way. My husband and I have saved copies of all the emails and text messages of Erik’s awful behavior. He wouldn’t answer his phone or come talk to us in person, but persisted that it be by text to record everything. His tone was scary, his words were hurtful, and there was no reasoning with him. My husband stayed very professional and respectful through the whole conversation and was still disrespected with every text that Erik sent back. We paid Erik for all the work his contractors & subcontractors completed, but were left with an incomplete patio project aka the wrought iron fence and the 3 mistakes we wanted fixed. We have had several projects completed on our home, such as, new plumbing, upgraded kitchen, drainage system, new floors, and much more, and have never dealt with someone like Erik."