Business ProfileforSam the Concrete Man - Chattanooga

On April 16, 2023 I signed a contract with Sam the Concrete Man of Chattanooga. I was told they would start right away with ground work and digging drain lines. Two months later I was still trying to get them to start. Finally one guy showed up with a skid steer and seemed upset he was taken off another job to start mine. That day all he did was move a couple yards of dirt where we wanted a 4' x 18' pad. The next day he showed up and moved a little gravel in the driveway, breaking off a fence post. I made the first payment and he left with the skid steer. I continued to text and call wondering when they planned to come back. Weeks later someone brought gravel and dumped it in the driveway, making it difficult to get our car out of the garage. I had to move the gravel out of my way since I still had no idea when they would continue and complete my project. Finally ***** ********* the owner, showed up and attempted to dig two 4" drain line trenches with a skid steer. It was an area we asked him not to run equipment over because our septic tank and drain field was there. He made a mess of our back yard and backed into our chain link fence, bending a gate post. He initially denied doing it. Then said it was already bent. Finally, he said if I had a come-along he could fix it. When I returned just minutes later with the come-along he had already loaded his skid steer and was leaving. He hadn't even dug the trenches in the correct area. That's when I decided to dig the drain line trenches myself. Weeks later two of his crew, which turned out to be day workers, came to install forms. They didn't have anything to make the curved corners that ***** had quoted. Some of the forms were put in, but they left before they finished forming. One of guys told me they weren't paid do any hand digging. If we wanted the walkway between the garage and house level with the ground we would have to do it ourselves, which my wife and I did. Finally, on July 14th, with only 1 day's notice they came to pour concrete. A small crew of day workers showed up an hour and a half before the first truck was supposed to arrive. So the remaining forms were placed in a big rush. ***** and *****, his partner showed up later and stood around waiting on payment. I didn't see any supervision of the crew from either of them. The 4'x18' foot pad was poured and relief joints were cut in. Then they did the walkway and again drove the skid steer over my septic system. When I asked them to use a wheelbarrow, I was told they didn't have one. The walkway has an annoying side-to-side slope of 3". It could have been done so much better had they taken the time to prepare before the trucks were on the way. Finally, they poured the driveway. No expansion joints were cut, concrete was splashed on my garage siding and the finish is terrible. Instead of a nice brushed finish, there are globs, areas of pitting, lumps, bumps and a distinct line where the two truckloads of concrete meet. One of the workers admitted that they needed more help to do a job of this size. At some point, ***** told me that the whole project would be completed by the following Monday. But it wasn't. We waited the 7 days they recommended before driving on the driveway. Two weeks later on July 28th, 2023, we noticed a crack that runs from one side of the driveway to the other. It looks like it goes completely though the 4-inch pad. At that point, no expansion joints had been cut, despite my requests to finish the job. Another two weeks and several excuses later ***** hired another concrete company worker to cut the expansion joints. By this time, many smaller cracks were showing up. I believe this could have been avoided had they done the ground work properly. At this point, he had not even looked at what he was calling a completed job. When two workers came to remove the remaining forms I was asked if I wanted to keep them, because the day worker that came didn't want to stack them in his yard. So I agreed to keep them. After they left, I found more forms that I had to remove myself. When I asked for the large crack to be fixed ***** said he would do it. But a week or two later told me he wasn't going to do anything else until I returned the forms, which I paid for. In the end, ***** ******** didn't fulfill what was in the contract, run drain lines, provide a level area on the driveway or provide a decent finish. He offered to take off $500.00. Because I had to do much of the prep myself I told him I was taking $1000.00 for all the trouble he caused us. Initially, ***** ******** told me that he was backed by a Nationwide company that would help me if we had problems. We tried calling his parent company "Sam the Concrete Man" in CO. We were told they had no control over what ***** ******** does. This is the worst concrete job I can imagine. Apparently, Sam the Concrete Man has no brand standards. I will never recommend them for any concrete projects.