Things started out great with Duane V Fafita and Glendale Contractors LLC. He was very attentive and willing to communicate to get the job started. Once the job started it went downhill fast.
We hired them to pour footings for a 20 X 30 garage. The job included tearing out an old driveway, and adding a new driveway / RV pad. I found them using Thumbtack.
I gave Duane V Fafita the plans that were signed off by the city showing where and how everything needed to be done. I informed Duane that he would not need to place any bolts into the concrete but that I would follow up with Tuff Shed and let him know what anchors did need to be placed. The Saturday before they started the project, I sent him a text stating that he would need to insert 4 SSBT anchors into the cement while it was being poured. At that time I also sent the engineer’s images of where the anchors needed to be placed. He responded to that text with “thanks got it.”
They started the project on a Monday August 3rd. They spent 2 days hauling off the old driveway, prepping the ground and getting the footings ready for the garage. Duane said he wanted the footings inspection scheduled for Wednesday August 5th so I got that lined up.
When the inspector came out the footings were not done according to the plans. They were not deep enough, and there were issues with the placing of the rebar that needed to be addressed. They had already returned the digging equipment and so to their credit, they jumped in with shovels to get the footings area ready to pass inspection. Luckily, the inspector was willing to come back out and he signed it off.
In the meantime, even though he had included the cost of the concrete in the contract, I got a message from Duane stating that I needed to call the concrete company and pay them an additional several hundred dollars directly so that they could get the concrete delivered that day (which I did). They spent the rest of that day pouring the concrete. When I got home from work that night, I noticed that the SSBT bolts were not in place, so I questioned Duane about this. He said that it was a “miscommunication on both our parts,” even though I showed him the text message explaining where they needed to go and how he had responded. With Duane’s agreement, I hurried to Lowes, bought the bolts (price was supposed to be included in the contract) and asked them to install them. They said it was too late and got upset with me for asking them to come up with possible solutions.
That evening Duane asked me to get him cash so that he could pay his guys because it would be late, and he wouldn’t be able to get to the bank. Against my better judgement, I paid him the rest in cash, but had him sign the bid/contract stating that he was paid but that he needed to come back and finish sealing the concrete and deal with the SSBT bolts that they didn’t place.
Duane did not communicate with me after he was paid unless I reached out to him. I had to reach out several times to see when he would come back and finish the job, at that point, we were talking about just sealing the concrete. In just a couple of weeks though, the concrete started to crack (deep) and peel beyond what you’d expect with a cure. Pieces of it fell off the foundation and the back end of the foundation has a large settle crack. Worse, the actual driveway that we had not even driven on developed a large crack across several sections and the surface “skin” is filled with holes and peeling back to the gravel underneath in sections.
I sent pictures of the cracks to Duane but didn’t mention the state of the surface. He promised to come and look at it several times, each time he did not show up as promised. We finally got him out to look at the cracks on September 9th. On that day he claimed that he had never seen anything like that before. He admitted without prompting that they had done a poor job with the skin on the surface too. He said that he would come back and tear out all the cracked sections and then he would put an epoxy coating on it to cover up the entire drive way to hide how bad the surface finish was. The cement will not survive the first big snowfall and freeze of the season.
He told me that he would be there on Thursday September 17th and September 18th to tear up the cracked sections and to repour the cement. I arranged to stay home from work on those days. He did not come on September 17th or 18th as promised. He then told me that he would be out October 1st and 2nd to fix the problem. Again, I arranged to stay home and again he did not come out on October 1st and 2nd. He then promised he would be out on October 12th. Yet again he did not come and finish the project. He did not communicate to let me know that he was not coming on those days either. I had to reach out and ask if he was coming.
He has still not finished the project he was paid to do. When I text him to see what is going on, he does not respond for days, then when he does respond, he says I’m harassing him for wanting to know what is going on. He claims to be a man of his word, but I have yet to see this.
Glendale Contractor Reviews
Things started out great with Duane V Fafita and Glendale Contractors LLC. He was very attentive and willing to communicate to get the job started. Once the job started it went downhill fast.
We hired them to pour footings for a 20 X 30 garage. The job included tearing out an old driveway, and adding a new driveway / RV pad. I found them using Thumbtack.
I gave Duane V Fafita the plans that were signed off by the city showing where and how everything needed to be done. I informed Duane that he would not need to place any bolts into the concrete but that I would follow up with Tuff Shed and let him know what anchors did need to be placed. The Saturday before they started the project, I sent him a text stating that he would need to insert 4 SSBT anchors into the cement while it was being poured. At that time I also sent the engineer’s images of where the anchors needed to be placed. He responded to that text with “thanks got it.”
They started the project on a Monday August 3rd. They spent 2 days hauling off the old driveway, prepping the ground and getting the footings ready for the garage. Duane said he wanted the footings inspection scheduled for Wednesday August 5th so I got that lined up.
When the inspector came out the footings were not done according to the plans. They were not deep enough, and there were issues with the placing of the rebar that needed to be addressed. They had already returned the digging equipment and so to their credit, they jumped in with shovels to get the footings area ready to pass inspection. Luckily, the inspector was willing to come back out and he signed it off.
In the meantime, even though he had included the cost of the concrete in the contract, I got a message from Duane stating that I needed to call the concrete company and pay them an additional several hundred dollars directly so that they could get the concrete delivered that day (which I did). They spent the rest of that day pouring the concrete. When I got home from work that night, I noticed that the SSBT bolts were not in place, so I questioned Duane about this. He said that it was a “miscommunication on both our parts,” even though I showed him the text message explaining where they needed to go and how he had responded. With Duane’s agreement, I hurried to Lowes, bought the bolts (price was supposed to be included in the contract) and asked them to install them. They said it was too late and got upset with me for asking them to come up with possible solutions.
That evening Duane asked me to get him cash so that he could pay his guys because it would be late, and he wouldn’t be able to get to the bank. Against my better judgement, I paid him the rest in cash, but had him sign the bid/contract stating that he was paid but that he needed to come back and finish sealing the concrete and deal with the SSBT bolts that they didn’t place.
Duane did not communicate with me after he was paid unless I reached out to him. I had to reach out several times to see when he would come back and finish the job, at that point, we were talking about just sealing the concrete. In just a couple of weeks though, the concrete started to crack (deep) and peel beyond what you’d expect with a cure. Pieces of it fell off the foundation and the back end of the foundation has a large settle crack. Worse, the actual driveway that we had not even driven on developed a large crack across several sections and the surface “skin” is filled with holes and peeling back to the gravel underneath in sections.
I sent pictures of the cracks to Duane but didn’t mention the state of the surface. He promised to come and look at it several times, each time he did not show up as promised. We finally got him out to look at the cracks on September 9th. On that day he claimed that he had never seen anything like that before. He admitted without prompting that they had done a poor job with the skin on the surface too. He said that he would come back and tear out all the cracked sections and then he would put an epoxy coating on it to cover up the entire drive way to hide how bad the surface finish was. The cement will not survive the first big snowfall and freeze of the season.
He told me that he would be there on Thursday September 17th and September 18th to tear up the cracked sections and to repour the cement. I arranged to stay home from work on those days. He did not come on September 17th or 18th as promised. He then told me that he would be out October 1st and 2nd to fix the problem. Again, I arranged to stay home and again he did not come out on October 1st and 2nd. He then promised he would be out on October 12th. Yet again he did not come and finish the project. He did not communicate to let me know that he was not coming on those days either. I had to reach out and ask if he was coming.
He has still not finished the project he was paid to do. When I text him to see what is going on, he does not respond for days, then when he does respond, he says I’m harassing him for wanting to know what is going on. He claims to be a man of his word, but I have yet to see this.