Brian's Quality Concrete Inc

very fast and smooth

The driveway looks great! Very nice job. Also installed a pad and the base for a basketball hoop. We did have a few surprises. The bricks that were use for landscaping don't fit properly now. Had only planned on half the walkway but ended up doing the full walkway (without asking us). Had agreed to honor the 5% off coupon mentioned on Angie's List. But, after the work was done, said he wouldn't deduct the 5% as he had done the full walkway. Lawn/landscaping along the new driveway/walkway was dug up and left on the side. Now we have a lawn repair and landscaping project. In hindsight this should have been obvious to us, just wish we had been forewarned about that. May hire again but would be more specific on making sure the price wouldn't change and if extra work was going to be done, I would need to be called in advance.

Pitch is great, away from house and garage.  Reconfigured our sidewalk to front steps nicely.  Gave us a choice regarding landscaping after, to save money and do it ourselves, or they would take care of it.   We have a 1 car driveway, but 2 car garage beyond our house, and they widened it leading to our garage, so parking is much more comfortable.  It has been 1 yr now, and no major problems.  Very minor few pits they blamed on a tree next door from wood pieces.   The job was complete in about 3 days.  We are very happy with our new driveway.

The employees were very professional and seemed to enjoy their job. They listened to what I wanted and did an excellent job. It did start pouring rain in the middle of the job, and they made sure everything was done correctly after the rain.

All work completed in a timely manner to the agreed specifications. Schedule was flexible within certain parameters and contractor stayed in contact and kept us informed. Price was firm.

.

unknown

unknown

When the workers got to my house,i explained what I wanted. They promptly started work. Even though their work got interrupted by a downpour, they all worked quickly and professionally. I had to leave while they were finishing up the job. The only complaint I have is that my lawn got a little torn up, but with all the rain we have had and with the downpour while they were working, it is understandable that there would be some damage. Maybe a suggestion for the future, if the lawns are very wet, maybe put down sheets of plywood to prevent lawn damage.

Brian followed up with us regarding the service and asked for feedback. We have the best driveway/ patio on our block and people have complimented us on how nice it looks. The price was very fair for the exceptional quality of work .

unknown

They tore up my yard in several spots and have refused numerous calls to resolve this issue.I have several pictures of the damage . We are waiting to see if the city will get involved because some of the damage is on the other side of our side walk
Thank you

William Barbeau

We called Brian and 3 other companies for estimates while the ground was still frozen. He was the first one to show up and to give us a written estimate when he came. Others either called us or mailed an estimate much later. Brian's estimate was in the middle of the price range we received.
He called a day before the job started to say they would be here at noon the following day. At 7:45 a.m. the next morning trucks and crew showed up but told me they were just dropping off equipment. Brian arrived around 9 a.m. and began removing concrete and hauling it away by himself until the rest of the guys showed up at noon. We were most impressed with this! They worked for 2.5 days on our job, putting in long days and taking few breaks. The driveway looked wonderful when they finished with the concrete.
Due to rainy weather, they were unable to apply acrylic sealer until 4 days after the concrete was poured. We called Brian twice about this and he agreed to call before they came for this. I didn't get a call but the young man who came here showed up around 7:30 a.m. and was very professional.
Brian's work is spectacular! We are very picky customers so this is a high compliment.  Our only minor concern was lack of communication unless we initiated it. I realize this is a very busy time of year and it's difficult to keep up with communicating with customers when many jobs are underway. However, I know how important this is to most customers.
I would highly recommend Brian and would call him again for any other concrete that needs to be replaced.

Brian's work was done on time and he did what he said he would do. Our concrete developed a small crack. He said he would come to check on it. After a couple of weeks we called to remind him and he came a couple of days later. He told us he will take care of it, but he wants to see what happens over spring before he rips it all out. I believe this is reasonable and trust that he will do the right thing.

We had to hire from afar (Madison), and this is where Angie's List was very helpful! Brian was impressive in that from the start he was very responsive. In the planning stages of the new driveway he was also helpful in giving suggestions. He struck us as knowledgeable, professional, and easy to work with upon meeting him. Anyway, in a nut shell, he poured the new concrete driveway (he had to remove layers of black top dating back to 1934), added new steps to the house, new window wells, and walkway to the front entrance. We are very pleased with the results! We would recommend Brian to others and hire him again in the future. Worth mentioning also, Brian was great at keeping us posted on the progress via phone calls and finished in a timely manner.

When I received a notice that I needed to re-gravel my current driveways from the City of Green bay, I decided to cross a long-listed "to do" item off my home improvement list: replace the gravel driveways with concrete ones. I called Brian and received timely home visit and estimate. When I informed the city of my plans, I was advised that because of changes in city codes I would need to submit my project to the planning committee. Two months later after hearings and review, I was ready to move forward with my project, whose parameters had changed due to the need to add additional footage to my front driveway. Brian provided a revised estimate and we set a target construction date. Brian and his crew arrived as scheduled and completed the work, leaving me a fair sized pile of dirt to complete the fill ins on all three parts of the project once the concrete had firmly set.  Overall he did a very good job at a vary fair price.
  The only down-side to the project was the time it took to deal with the city and the committee schedules. I had originally planned to have the work done by July 25 but Brian was unable do his part until late September. The excellence of Brian's work made up for those frustrations!

Brian came over in November of 2012 to reviewed what we wanted done.  He suggested to wait until spring since winter and freezing temps in Wisconsin are unpredictable.  I contacted Brian due to his already high rating on Angie's list for a bid. I did entertain other bids.  I contacted Brian in late March, accepted his bid and we made arrangements for May.







IMPORTANT.  Be sure to discuss any prep work that would need to be done before Brian and his crew arrive.  When Brian showed up, he mentioned that a fence gate and post, along with a laundry line T-bar post needed to come out in order to get access to the back yard and the patio.  We were unaware that he was going to use a Bob Cat on steroids.  It even had a fork lift attachment and very wide tires.  It was able to lift the fence and laundry posts out, but at a price.  Maneuvering with the machine in our back yard, especially with the wet ground, did do a number on the lawn.  Yet, all the old concrete was removed in short order.







At Brian's review for an estimate, get all the information as to what would be need to be done before they arrive.  Be sure to ask.







Brian's crew was very professional and very hardworking to a man.  From removing the old concrete; prepping the ground with sand, gravel and re-barring (at 24" apart); framing and rounding corners where we wanted them, to the pouring of the concrete with a six bag mix; smoothing and finishing the concrete; all took less than two days total.







Brian even came in under the estimate! 

Overall the job was done perfectly.  They were fair, on time, professional.  I really liked their work.

Overall, I am very pleased with Brian's concrete work.  His product quality is excellent and the end result looks great.  I selected Brian as the best value from five quotes I got for this work.  Before awarding him the job I checked out his work at the Packers practice field and it looked great.  Primarily, the fact that he uses 7-bag mix for all his work, along with his competitive price made it an easy decision.  He asked me if I checked him out on Angie's List and I said 'no', I hadn't even thought about it, but now I'm passing on my review for others to see.   
My advice to others when hiring Brian is to stay on top of communications.  When I awarded Brian the job in late July we agreed on doing the work sometime in September anytime after Labor Day, but Labor Day came and I had not yet heard from him so I figured it was at least a week away.  Then Brian called on Labor Day, said he had another job deferred in his schedule, and asked if he could start the next day.  That surprised me, but we responded and got the areas prepared for him on short notice.  His crew was fast & efficient and got the large job done in two days.  I'm glad I was able to remain on-site almost the entire time so we could discuss & clarify design and execution issues right on the spot. 
Even so, there were some minor disappointments.  I found one of our cedar trees near the back garage damaged and mentioned it but they didn't even realize they had done it.  I had to be proactive on communications in general.  We had not discussed in advance how much grass & sod would be removed or damaged in the process but it turned out to be substantial.  When I asked Brian if he was going to cleanup the displaced dirt he said he doesn't do landscaping.  I am hiring a landscaper anyway but I didn't realize how messy it would be at the end of the job.  The garage walls got splattered with cement mud from the sawcutting and the driveway leading to the back garage was caked in dirt, but they didn't cleanup either area so I spent considerable time doing that.  I'm not necessarily saying they should have performed this cleanup, but I would have liked to know what amount of cleanup I had to do when the job was done.
Bottom-line, the quality of Brian's work definitely is superior and supercedes any disappointments I had in communications.  I would definitely have Brian back to do any concrete jobs for me in the future.

Contacted Brian for an estimate on extending my current patio.  He was very responsive, prompt and professional.  The work was completed in the timeline I was given, and it looks great!  I would happily recommend Brian's Quality Concrete, and would certainly use them again myself.

All of my driveway on my new construction home had been poured with the exception of the apron.  My original experience with Brian was phenomenal.  He came right out when I called for an estimate, was extremely professional while I showed and described to him what I was looking for, and I looked forward to doing business with him. 

Later, I called him back to schedule a time to have the work done.  Just as before, he was prompt in getting to the job site.  I met him when he arrived and went over again what I wanted; match the width of the existing part of the driveway all the way to right near the end, and then angle out on both sides.  This was so I could have coverage in front of the mailbox to make life easer shoveling, snow blowing, etc. 

I went in to my house to work (I work from home) and that afternoon was alerted by one of the crew members that the job was complete.  I glanced out, and thought it looked fine.  I couldn't inspect further as I was still at work. 

Shortly thereafter, I went out to inspect the work and found that the driveway was not done at all like I asked.  Each side of the driveway was to match the other, but they didn't.  One side was rounded off  right at the end (in front of the mail box) and the other was angled straight out to the road beginning about half way up the apron.  I immediately called Brian to tell him what I was looking at.  His response was essentially, "That's what you asked me for" and "You were inside, so you should've said something... can't do anything about it now."  Nobody would want their driveway to look like this!  I asked that he come out so I can show him what I'm looking at and he agreed.  I paid the bill anyway because I felt Brian was a contractor I could trust.

Ultimately, once he was paid, he wasn't coming back.  My mistake was paying him prior to getting him to come back.  I originally considered not paying him at all, but I'm not looking for a freebie, I just want the job done as I asked.  I waited and waited and never heard from Brian nor did I receive a visit, partial refund, or anything else to signify that the job was botched.  What started out as an incredibly positive experience turned out to be inredibly negative.  I will not do business with Brian's Quality Concrete again and will not be recommending them to anyone.

In response to the company's response:

Brian was not onsite from start to finish.  I was not asked about the forms prior to the concrete being poured.  I went outside twice, once when Brian and his team first arrived (to show them again the way I wanted it poured) and a second time after the job was done.  Had I been asked to inspect the forms prior to it being poured, it would've never been poured that way.  I called Brian right away to relay my dissatisfaction with the job that was done.  Had he still been onsite, I would not have had to call him.  Also, I paid the bill immediately after receiving Brian's word that he'd stop back out.  Any implication that my complaint had anything to do with money, in my opinion, misleading (to say the least) and displays an unfortunate lack of accountability on the side of the contractor.

They are a good company and treated us very well.  Their workmanship was good, but they made one mistake and they came back to fix it.  I will use them again in the future.

.Overall, we are pleased with the responsive action taken by Brian in making sure that we were satisfied with
the job done by his employees.

Brian was the only concrete guy who quickly responded to my call about replacing the steps and gave me a verbal estimate, which was exactly what he finally charged me.  His estimate of when the work would be done was off by about two weeks, but weather sometime delays that sort of thing.  The guys took out the old steps one day, poured the new steps the next day, and replaced the railing the next week.  I am very satisfied.

Brian was one of three quotes I got.  He was the least expensive and used 7 bag mix.  He always answered his phone and was nice to work with.My only thing I would improve was the sod that he ripped up could have been laid back down a little better.  It took me 2 or 3 hours of struggle to put piles of dirt along the new driveway back.