JR Anderson, Inc. Concrete

It was a great experience from getting the estimate to doing the work. Andrew Anderson was the point person throughout. He was extremely responsive and was an excellent communicator. I would text a question to him and receive a response almost immediately. He gave me a reasonable price and there were no change orders. He prepared that area for work, respected my lawn and did what he said he would do. He even came back and put topsoil along the walk. His workers were respectful and pleasant and diligent. And my wife and I were elated with the quality of the work. We were so happy with the walk that we hired him to repair and seal the driveway, back walk and patio. He said he could do it on Wed. and ended up doing the work himself in 90+ heat because his crews were on other jobs. I would highly recommend JR Anderson, Inc.

My wife and I had a great experience with Andrew and his team at JR Anderson Concrete. We have an extremely challenging back yard with steep, undulating terrain, a curved retaining wall, stairs and construction access issues to deal with. Andrew's vision for the patio was exactly what we were looking for from the dual levels, firepit area and sitting wall to the colors and textures. He and his team took our dirty, swampy hill that we could never use, and turned it into a legitimate party space with room to fit 30 people comfortably both sitting around the table, chaise lounge and firepit, and standing as well. The addition of our patio means we're able to enjoy the outdoors so much more and all year round. We use it so much it's basically like a whole other room added onto our house. We've attached some before and after pictures to the review to check out. We highly recommend JR Anderson concrete to all of our friends, family and neighbors!!

Big job with drainage needing to be installed under drive-way, as well as replacing the drive-way. Team did a great job with install and clean up. Have received very positive comments from others in the neighborhood.

POSITIVES Patio - Final product is structurally sound, for which I am very pleased. Water drains as desired. The design I provided was followed. Workers - The workers were professional in how they behaved. NEGATIVES Patio - Ascetically I am VERY displeased! I asked for a stamped brick boarder. The lines looked like they were done by kindergarten aged child (honestly, no embellishment in that statement). I have pictures to show it. One brick pattern didn't even have red coloring in it. I asked that all of this be fixed. Mr. Anderson said that since it was stamped and had dried that is would be practically impossible to fix without making it worse. We agreed he would provide me a $250 refund. This was confirmed in writing and a payment date was agreed to. That was over 6 months ago and I still have not received any refund. Pictures can be found below. After receiving a signed contract, work was started. Here is a copy of the email I sent the day after work started: *************************** 7/11/16 I am really starting to question my decision to use JR Anderson, Inc. and my ability to trust that everything will be done correctly and timely. After getting a signed contract and talking about work starting this week, you let me know on Thursday that you had some guys coming to start work on Friday. I busted my butt to get sprinkler heads moved and to install a drain for a down spout Thursday night. I didn’t glue the pipe to make it easier on your guys to work; they could move thing around more easily if it wasn’t glued. I left work on Friday to glue the pipe because your guys were going to start bringing in gravel fill. After gluing the pipe in front of your guys (they even helped), they told you it wouldn’t work (issue #1). You called me on Saturday and told me that you had underbid the job because of the additional patio space I asked for (issue #2) [NOTE: I provide the estimator with a scaled drawing of what I wanted.]. Even though I have a signed contract for the square footage of what your guys made forms for on Friday, in good faith, I was willing to cut back on the size of the patio to the black mark in the attached image (image1.jpg), which is approximately 135 sq ft. I discussed this with Jim (owner of the company) on Saturday. He said that the concrete would be delivered today (Monday, July 11, 2016). While cleaning up my yard yesterday, I found a spot toward in the front where your guys tore out an approximately 6’x2’ section of grass. The big problem is that they just put the grass back in the spot and didn’t say anything (issue #3). I took off this morning so that I could ensure we (me and whoever was going to be in charge of doing the concrete this morning) we were on the same page this morning regarding fixing the yard where the grass was torn out and how to fix the yard where the foundation for the patio was going to be removed. As I stated on the phone with you this morning, no one showed up (issue #4). ... No further work shall be done until we get everything straight in a Change Order. I think it best if everything is in compliance with 18 VAC 50-22-260. Filing of charges; prohibited acts. of Board for Contractors’ regulations. Therefore … I would like a written Change Order, with the following: 1. Any damage to the yard larger than a 6”x6” area shall be fixed with sod. 2. Any damage to the physical structures of the property shall be fixed by the contractor or repaired at the contractor’s expense. 3. The patio size will be reduced to the black like marked and flagged in the image attached to this email. 4. The step(s) between levels shall run along the line in the attached picture marked by the 2”x6” and 2”x2” wood strips. The bend of the step(s) shall be rounded and the steps shall match the color hardened brick patio border. Patio color: beige with brown highlights, sealed with satin finish, Boarder color: Sedona Rust/red (attempt to match the bricks of the house as closely as possible) 5. Top soil will be added to the perimeter of the patio to ease the grade (as currently stated in the contract). Sod will also be added to the area where the patio foundation will be removed (the area between the black flagged line and the outside edge of the mounds of dirt as shown, but not limited to, the attached photo). 6. Estimated completion date. 7. There will be no additional cost assessed to the home owner for these changes. Although I don’t care, it would probably be best if you add a statement to the Change Order and to future contracts notifying consumers of the existence of the Virginia Contractor Transaction Recovery Fund and include information on how to contact the board for claim information. Right now JR Anderson, Inc. is out of compliance with bullet B.9.j, and possibly I, of 18 VAC 50-22-260. Filing of charges; prohibited acts. Please call me after you have read this so we can discuss this further. Thanks. ************************** We were able to resolve all of the issue to my satisfaction, so we proceeded. The patio was finished in timely, with a few minor issues (none worth mentioning). Unfortunately, there were issues afterwards. Below is an email I sent to the owner after the patio was finished: *********************** 7/18/16 As I shared with you on Thursday, I have been out of town all weekend. ... I would have sent this email sooner, but ... Because of what you shared with me on Thursday, I am glad I went ahead and paid you the remaining balance of the contract; however, I hope you are just as motivated to finish everything we have contracted to in a timely manner. Since you caught me when I was in a hurry on Thursday night, I did not get a chance to thoroughly review the patio and the surrounding yard. After doing so, here are the remaining uncompleted tasks. 1. Sod is still needed along the walk way beside the garage form where it currently ends to the edge of the drive way and about another 1.5’ out from the walkway. The part of the yard where the workers took out a large portion of grass also needs sod. [Picture 1] 2. More topsoil is needed where the edge of the deck and patio meet to ease the grade. It will be very difficult to cut the grass the way it is now. [Picture 2 and 3] 3. Remove the 2”x4” form next to the HVAC unit and fix the corner of the patio. [Picture 4] 4. Pressure wash the driveway. [Picture 5] When do you believe these tasks can be completed? I am pleased with the main portion of the patio. I like the pattern, the color is what we asked for and the water seems to drain off of very well without too much of a slope. Unfortunately, I am not at all pleased with the boarder. I wish I had been more specific when it came to the color of the boarder. I know you told me the color was “brick red” and that it was a bold color. The problem is that I was told that it could be made less bold by changing the proportions of the hardener when applied. What is even more displeasing about the boarder is the workmanship. I don’t say this lightly, but is quite poor. Where the boarder meets the driveway, it looks really good. [Picture 6] However, the pattern quality degrades as you move toward the back of the house. There are places where the patio pattern bleeds in to the boarder. [Picture 7] Corners where it looks like the person stamping didn’t know what he was doing. [Pictures 8 and 9] Places where lines are missing, where they aren’t long enough, and where the line spacing is WAY off. [Pictures 10, 11, and 12] I know, and understand, that working with concrete is hard and “exactness” is difficult. But this is not the case with the board. It is sloppy. There is one spot where the color wasn’t even added to a brick outline. [Picture 13] The best analogy I can think of to describe all of this is to have a really nice picture in an ascetically displeasing/poor quality/broken frame – the frame really distracts the viewer from the picture. From a contractual stand point, the color is what it is; but, the workmanship of the boarder is not. Please call me so we can discuss how to rectify this this. I would also like your thoughts on what I can do, physica

Initial contact by estimator for Anderson was February 18, 2016.  Contractual paperwork was complete (with revisions) between February 18 and March 18, 2016.  Anderson required that we pay in advance for 1/2 the quoted price of the job to "secure a spot on the work schedule."  Our check for $3,195.00 was given to Anderson on March 18, 2016.  Unfortunately, the signed contract we had been given earlier did not contain a "start date" or a "completion by date" but stated "To Be Determined" in these spaces on the contract.  When several weeks went by after our deposit check had been cashed with no contact at all from owner, Jim Anderson, or anyone from his company, we began making phone calls periodically to the main office of JR Anderson, Inc. in an attempt to find out when our job was scheduled to begin.  We were never able to reach Jim Anderson at his office.  We asked his office manager, Melinda, if she could tell us our approximate start date and she said she did not have the office work schedule. We also requested that the estimator, Brian *******, get us a start date, but he was not able to do so.  We repeatedly left messages with Melinda requesting her to have Jim Anderson call us to discuss the status of our project.  Jim Anderson never returned any of our phone calls and never contacted us to talk about our project. 

On April 22, 2016, in a conversation with Anderson's office manager, I told her that it was urgent we hear from Jim that day or we would be forced to engage an attorney and terminate our contract immediately.  Jim Anderson did not call back, but he showed up at our home with several men in the late afternoon on Friday, April 22, 2016.  Although possible heavy rain was in the forecast for that afternoon, Jim insisted that he was following the weather and expected he and his crew would have time to complete the prep work on our project.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  Heavy rain about two hours in forced Jim and his crew to stop work.  We were left with a huge mud hole across much of our back yard.  As he was preparing to leave our site, Jim assured us that he and his men would be back on Saturday or even Sunday, if necessary, to finish preparing for the concrete pour that was scheduled for the following Monday morning.  No one from JR Anderson, Inc. Concrete showed up either day; no one from the company bothered to call to let us know anything about the status of our job.  While I don't have the exact day, I believe the crew was back sometime during the following week and did the pour and put sealer on the concrete.  However, we faced another delay on the job when stone for the sitting wall was delayed.  Jim Anderson blamed everyone from the estimator to the supplier for the delay.  When it was finally delivered to our site, the order was incomplete, and the saws the Anderson crew had on hand were not adequate to cut the top cap stones for the wall. (Please note, we made our final decision on the stone selection by March 5, 2016.  We don't know when it was actually ordered for our job.) 

The job came to a complete stand still until JUNE 29, 2016.  During the period between April 22 - June 29, 2016, we were again left with no contact at all from Jim Anderson to let us know when or if ever he would be able to complete our project.  During this period, we worried daily about how to proceed.  We constantly talked about consulting an attorney, or the need to hire another contractor to finish the job Jim Anderson had started.  In one last attempt to get satisfaction from Anderson, we made another call to his office on June 29, 2016 in the early morning.  Jim was not in the office.  Another message was left with Melinda similar in tone to our April 22 message ---i.e. "if we do not hear from Jim today, we will engage an attorney to take whatever action necessary to void our contract and get our money back from JR Anderson, Inc."  No call came from Jim; he showed up at our house at 2:00 pm with several men.  I met him at his truck and asked that he come inside to my office to talk about where we stood on the job.  During the very frank conversation that followed, I reiterated to Jim how displeased we were with his total irresponsibility on our project.  We told him there was absolutely no excuse for his refusal to return or calls or communicate with us in any way with status reports or to answer our questions.  He said he totally agreed with our comments; he apologized profusely and said, "this is not how I run my business."  I questioned Jim seriously about his ability to fully complete our job that day -- if he was not going to be able to complete everything that day, we did not want him to do anything more.  He assured us that he could finish everything in a few hours and everything would be completed when he left that day (June 29, 2016.)  I then said, "Now, let's talk about the money."  Jim said, "Yes, I was just going to tell you that I am going to give you a big discount to try to make up for your hard feeling about how I have handled this job."  "in fact, Joette, I'm going to let you tell me how much the discount should be."  At that time, I told Jim that we did not want to give him another penny.  Jim agreed to these terms and said that he would waive the entire remaining balance on our account,  We requested, and he agreed to provide a statement showing our account/contract as "PAID IN FULL."  Jim's last words to us as he left the job were that he would take care of getting us a "paid" statement as soon as he got back to his office.

That was June 29, 2016.  Fast forward to Saturday, August 6, 2016.  We received a letter from Jim Anderson.  It was not a statement showing that he had waived the balance due, but instead, a "DEMAND FOR PAYMENT" letter in which he give us 14 days to pay the remaining balance or he would take us to Hanover County District Court to sue for monies owned.  We had no choice but to consult with an attorney and we are now in the process of resolving this matter without going to court.  I have filed a formal complaint with the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation - Contractor's Board - and we are awaiting the results of their formal investigation.

Obviously, the entire experience dealing with Jim Anderson has been more than upsetting, or a mere inconvenience.  It has cost us time and money far over and above the amount of his contract.  In our opinion, people considering this contractor should proceed with extreme caution.  It has been our experience that  Mr. Anderson can not be trusted to keep his word or manage his business with integrity and professionalism.

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It only took eight days from the time I wrote the deposit check to completion. Every person I came into contact with was qualified, professional and just good people. The price was very fair and the  finished product was excellent. JR Anderson Concrete exceeded my expectations in every respect.

unknown

Overall the work went quite well and as I expected it to. Was supposed to take 2 weeks and it took 3 months. Quality masonry work. Cut a few corners, but nothing unacceptable. Slight concrete color mismatch, but received compensation for the mistake. Overall a good job. definitely need to micromanage these guys though to get exactly what you want.

The company is a joy to work with. Very professional in all aspects. I look forward to using them again on my next project.

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unknown

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Absolutely fabulous to work with and I highly recommend them to anyone wanting concrete work.

Perfect. Only took two and a half days Drainage works . Finish is excellent. Everyone loves it.

unknown

The project went as planned. It did take a little longer than I expected, but it was weather depandant. I found the owner of the company (Jim) to be detaled oriented, especially around  quality control of concrete stamping. His crew was very professional and careful to leave my landscaping in good conditiion especially with all the heavy equipment required to perfom the job. 

It was a very smooth project.  He quickly removed and hauled off the previous cement and replaced it.  It's a really nice piece of work and has improved the look of the property.
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He had finished the work when it was getting a bit dark out, and the next day I noticed there was a little cement splatter on the wooden porch steps.  I phoned and asked that he come back and clean up the splatter.  He promptly returned and did some cleanup.  At some point he saw me spreading bags of mulch and automatically jumped in and started mulching (I was preparing for the showing and sale of my home).  In the end, he did more of the mulching of the front and back yards than I did, and never asked for a dime for helping.  I feel that he cares not only about his work and his product, but about his customers.