ClassiConcrete

ClassiConcrete was hired to put in a stamped concrete patio.  We gave them 50% down (bad idea).  The patio was installed on September 3, 2013 by the sub-contractor Modern Concrete.  On September 5, the crew came back to remove the powdered release agent, forms, and seal the concrete.  After the concrete was sealed, we inspected the job and realized that there were stamping defects and areas where the concrete hadn?t been finished properly.  The majority of the patio was covered with crusting cracks.  We brought John Mahler, the owner of ClassiConcrete over to show him the significant amount of crusting cracks.  He told his workers to fill the cracks with a slurry of dry shake color hardener and water.  This worked well to repair the cracks that the worker bothered to fix, but the entire patio was covered with crusting cracks and the worker only repaired a small section.  They sealed the entire patio again after poorly repairing the job.  We called John again to have him come out again.  He inspected the work and agreed that they had not done a good job fixing the cracking.  He called another crew to come and repair the work.  About a week after the initial installation the crew came to make the repairs, but they did not use the slurry to repair the cracking.  They pounded on the concrete with hammers to repair the concrete and close the crusting cracks.  While this did close the aesthetic issue of crusting cracks, they created a structural issue of flaking, and chipping.  The integrity of the surface was compromised with the hammers.  The damage was so severe in one case that a chunk 1? x 2? was broken out of the concrete adjacent to one of the concrete cuts.  At this point, we were livid.  The repairs made the concrete worse.  We marked over 100 cracks and flakes and called John out to fix the concrete again.  They poorly patched some of the cracks and flakes.  We called John and he came out and inspected the work and called a guy that specialized in repairs.  He came out and finished the patching, was very obvious and the patio looked like a patched and repaired job and not a one month old quality concrete job.  Not to mention that the concrete had been sealed twice prior to patching.  This significantly decreases the ability for the concrete patch to remain in place.  We brought John out to look at the job again and had a crew come out to stain the patches so that they were less visible.  While the color of the patches was less visible, the texture remained different.  The job looked horrible.  John said that as far as he was concerned, the job was done.  He stopped answering my calls and would only talk to us when we called from different phone numbers.  Areas continue to flake off from the damage done by the hammers.  We contacted the sub-contractor, Modern Concrete and they agreed that the concrete should be replaced.  John conceded and agreed to replace the concrete.  The job was schedule for Friday, October 25.  When no one showed up, I called the subcontractor and he informed me that John had not paid him for the work.  I called John and he said that he would be at our house on Monday, October 28 to pay Modern Concrete and ensure that the concrete was removed and replaced.  The weather did not cooperate and the job was postponed.  Several attempts were made to reschedule the work.  John reverted to not answering phone calls and I finally got ahold of him using another line.  He said that he had changed his mind and would not be replacing the patio.   It has been 12 weeks since the job was started and we have reached a dead end dealing with John Mahler and ClassiConcrete.  The ClassiConcrete web-site states that they warranty their work for a period of one year.  He does not stand behind his work. <br />

He did the work, then the concrete developed chotes, I called him, he came out, and he told me that they would be back to do some touch-up work.  I have called him over 5 times and he tells me that they will come out to fix the problem. It has been over 7 months of consistent contact and they still have not fixed the problem. <br /> <br /> After my complaint, John sent someone to repair the defect and it is repaired to the best of their ability and as well as could be expected.

The quality of work looked good, however small pieces of concrete pulled <br /> up when they pulled up the stamp. We also have large cracks in the sidewalk. John told me that when he did the <br /> work he would push the concrete down, he stated that to today you do not <br /> find that quality. John quoted that his job was guaranteed for a year. <br /> Within a month, cracks were developing in the sidewalk and front step. <br /> After the first call on our concerns, he quit answering his phone and never replied to the email. <br /> I then called using a different phone like one of the previous customers and he answered.  He told me he would be out that day after lunch. It has been three weeks and he has never shown. <br /> <br /> <br />

See above

John came out and price it up (the second time in two years).  When I asked about a time frame to do the work he was several weeks out which was fine by me.  Paid my 50% deposit.  A week or so later he said he had an opening and they were over ripping everything out and got all the demo done, the patio formed and re-bar installed.  This was a Friday.  Saturday they were back and poured the concrete, did all the stamping, and staining, expansion joints, and put in the border.  Sunday they were back to pressure wash and seal it all and were done.  <br /> I had gotten 3 prices and he was the lowest by a couple of grand.  He had good references and reviews on Angie's list so I went with him. <br /> I needed him to come out about 6 months later to fix a chip (caused by me) and he did at no charge.  We are very happy with it.  A hot tub sits on one end and I've not seen any cracks <br /> We've been very happy with it. <br />

The owner, John, was prompt at scheduling an appointment and providing an estimate.  John was friendly and answered all my questions without making me feel rushed or that I was wasting his time.  Once we agreed to have ClassiConcrete do the work, I asked John to provide me with a date and estimated start time, so I could plan accordingly.  Despite asking for this date multiple times, John's crew showed up unannounced and uninformed about what the project is they were supposed to doing (they started moving stuff out of the garage).  After I received a call that they were at the house starting the work and cleared up all the confusion, the crew worked did an overall okay job at pouring the new driveway and sidewalk.  However, once I was able to inspect the work, I noticed they had not moved any of the landscaping pavers, but rather just concreted over parts of them.  I called the owner to voice my frustration with the way the job was completed and ask that he propose a solution.  The owner agreed to visit the project review the issue, but then avoid my calls several days.  Ultimately, he finally sent his crews over to fix the issue about 2 weeks later.  While, overall the workmanship was good (other than the oversight of paving part of the landscaping), the lack of communication from the owner was extremely frustrating. <br /> While I <em>might</em> consider hiring ClassiConcrete again, I would have to set all the expectations upfront.  Plus, I would not agree to pay the remaining balance until I was able to inspect and approve the work. <br /> <br />

I had a horrible experience with ClassiCrete. The owner, John Mahler, initially gave me a high level of comfort that his company could provide the requested services based on his years of experience and his background as a civil engineer. I trusted him to do just that. In addition, he stated that he warranted his work for one year, but if a problem occurred beyond that he almost always took care of it at no charge to the customer.  This gave me the impression of a qualified, caring contractor that I should be able to trust. It went downhill from there. One week after the concrete was installed I called John and asked him to come out and look at it since it appeared discolored and the finishing of the concrete was very poor, showing a lot of trowel marks and other flaws. It appeared that his workmen couldn't get the concrete finished in time and it set up on them quicker than it should have, leaving a shiny dark gray/black and light mottled finish. It looked terrible.  He acted surprised and said he would come to the house and look at it the next day. He didn't show up and didn't call me. I called him after a couple hours and he rescheduled for the next day. He agreed that it didn't look good but suggested giving it two weeks to cure and he would look at it again. I waited three weeks but never heard from him so I called since it didn't look any better. Again, he agreed to come out and look at it but didn't show up and didn't call. This became the pattern for our communications for the next two months until he stopped answering my calls altogether and wouldn't return phone calls when I left a voice message. Frustrated, I tried using my wife's cell phone, right after placing a call with mine, which went unanswered, and he answered. He eventually came out and tested a chemical on a small section of the concrete. It did not do what he had hoped and it turned the concrete brown. He said the brown color would go away but it has not after seven months. He then said that it might be a bad batch of concrete and that he would call his concrete supplier to meet him at the house sometime in the next few days. By this time I felt that he was just making excuses or grasping at straws and hoping this problem would just go away; not the methods of a qualified, caring contractor. I didn't hear anything from him after two weeks so I began calling again and got no answers and no return calls so I called from my home land line and he answered immediately. I told him that I'd had enough of this game and that I had run out of phones that he didn't recognize and that I wanted him to either replace the concrete or return my money so I could have it replaced. Even though he agreed that it looked awful, and he had never seen anything like it, he wasn't ''prepared" to do either. He then offered to put a stamped concrete overlay on all the new sidewalks and existing sidewalks for free. I was not interested in that resolution and told him so, but asked for addresses of recent overlay installations that I could look at just in case I might feel differently upon seeing them. He agreed to provide them but never did. I continued to call him for awhile but eventually gave up. I have never dealt with a business owner that is such a poor communicator. I have absolutely no interest in a concrete overlay, but find it an admission on his part that the quality of his work was so poor that he offered to "hide" it with an overlay...for free. 

1st, met with John on time, as promised, and reviewed the driveway, walk and stoop to figure the best solution to repair and resurface. <br /> After contract was signed, workers arrived on time with all tools and supplies needed. This was the hottest week of summer and I must say the workers performed beyond my expectations to complete. <br /> Very satisfied with result and would highly recommend ClassiConcrete.

First we inquired about how much dust there may be.  We were advised that it is almost a dustless process.  Wow, that was an incorrect statement.  We had dust everywhere. <br /> They did grind down the floor.  The crew leader, Johnny advised after the floor was ground, that he didn't expect the floor to be able to hold a stain as too much aggregate was now exposed as we had unlevel floor.  This would have been nice to know that this was a possibility before they started, but was never discussed with us.  We were hoping for a brownish high polished floor, what we have a grey concrete color polished floor. <br /> I have asked the owner, John on more than one occasion for the details of the products used, as we might be able to seal the floor which might give it more color.  However, John has only replied that he has a product Bellatrix, "that might be the ticket." With the lack of communication I can't have John do anything else to our floor.  All I want is the name of the products used on the floor.  His crew leader, Johnny has advised that the stain was Sierra Acid Stain.  John, the owner has advised that they used a hardener as well.  We have asked for the manufacture / brand of the hardener but he has yet to provide it.  I don't know how someone stays in business with these poor poor communication skills. <br /> The job was over promised.  I have attempted to get information from John so that I may be able to try and improve the look of the floor, but I can't do anything without knowing all the products used on the floor.  <br />

John gave me what I thought was a decent estimate that was in line with everyone else. He gave me a date for the work to be completed, but they didnt arrive on that date. On that they that they didn't arrive, I had cancelled an appointment to stay home that morning. When I called him, he was in Iowa working at his other location. When I let him know that I had cancelled an appointment to be here for the work, he said "Did we inconvenience you?" in an unfriendly tone. The crew came to do the work on a weekend. John is not a good communicator at all. John had told me that he was going to resurface the floor. I did not understand what that meant and assumed it was putting in new concrete because he did not explain it. I saw that the crew was just chopping up the floor and going to fill in the cracks. When I stopped them and contacted John, he said he had it noted down as resurfacing. When I explained to him that the he did not explain what resurfacing meant to me, he got upset and said I had to pay more. He first said the job would cost an extra $800. When I declined it, he offered the work to be done at an extra $400. After the job was complete, it was done nicely. When I advised him how many companies on Angie's List offer discounts to members, I asked what type of discount he offered. He said that he would add some decorations to the sidewalk and that was done. Also, when I saw that dirt needed to be replaced in the trenched along each side of the driveway and sidewalk, he said I would need to call someone else. I had to pay another contaractor $300 for the dirt to be filled after they finished the driveway and sidewalk. The work took three days and he only stopped by once to oversee the job and that was when we had the arguement over the garage floor. The product and quality of service was good, but the communication was bad. The workers did a good job and they worked hard. However, I would not recommend this company to someone else as I felt that dealing with John was not appropriate. He didn't offer good customer service in what I see in terms of what I feel is appropriate customer service for what a person would normally expect. <br />

The service turned out fair to good. Their pricing was fair but make sure you are there to watch over the work.

I contacted the owner, John for an estimate and he came over the very next day to give me a bid.  I got 6 bids and he was the only one who did a drawing and was one of 2 that gave me what I consider a formal written bid.  I asked  to enlarge my porch and John explained from an engineering perspective why that was not a good idea which I appreciated because he could have just done it and charged me more.  I also appreciated that he was trying to work with me and we were able to salvage part of my stairs and the approach to my driveway which lowered my overall cost.    I felt his bid was very reasonable and was in line with 3 other bids for the job.  He also noticed part of the approach where a corner was broke and added that to the bid as well to fix.  John asked for 1/2 payment which I did not have at the moment and he accepted 1/3 payment until I got the rest.  Within a few days I had the rest and John scheduled the crew to start.  Juan and his crew came on Sat am and tore out the porch and prepared the molds for the porch.  The crew returned on Monday and tore out the driveway and prepped for pouring on Tuesday as well as poured the porch and retaining wall.  <br /> On Tuesday, when I noticed that part of the retaining wall was not poured  as John had drawn on the quote, Juan took care of it right away and had his crew build the mold for that part as well.  That same day, the rest of the retaining wall and driveway was poured.  The crew was very efficient and seemed to work well together.  When part of my brick came out near the retaining wall, the crew fixed that for me as well.  They refinished my steps and sealed the driveway and I believe they actually refinished my approach because it looks shiny like the refinished porch.  They crew was very polite and courteous and you could tell they took pride in their work.  I was also impressed with how well they cleaned up the work space after finishing.

After reading reviews we decided to use this company.  After signing the contract and giving 1/2 payment to John Mahler, owner, we asked to be given advance notice when they would start the job so we could be home. We told this would happen.  <br />  On Thur Aug 30 we were called and told they would be arriving in a few hours.  Not much notification so I explained we would need to wait or they could start some of the work that day but needed to leave a portion of the driveway open. I was told that would be great and they would be coming later that day or call if not able to.  No one showed up nor did anyone call.  I called later that night and left a message but still no call back.  I then called on Tues Sept 4 and left a message.  The subcontractor called back and said they would be here that afternoon.  I was very happy with Juan and his crew, very nice group of guys.   Their equipment broke down and the concrete had been ordered to arrive at 4pm so they all worked very hard and fast to pound out concrete and pick up the pieces by hand on a very hot day. <br /> After the stamping was nearly completed I spoke with Juan regarding the pattern.  It was not the pattern we showed John that we wanted.  We showed John 2 pictures in his brochure of what we wanted.  John wrote down the wrong pattern name.  However we decided what had been done would be okay.      Next problem was the sealer.  We told John many times we did not want a shiny/glossy look.  He told us several times  "what ever we wanted was fine".   I mentioned this to the subcontractor crew as well that we did not want a shiny/gloss sealer.  When the sealer was applied it was very shiny. Almost a plastic look.  <br />   I called John and asked to meet with him.  He came over in the morning and  I explained some of the problems we were having.  #1: Not calling to say the crew would not be here as first told.  #2: Pattern error in stamped concrete. #3: Sealer finish incorrect. <br /> #4: Broken backhoe left in our street with oil leaking for 2 1/2 days as well as the equipment trailer even though crew went to start other project. <br /> #5 The caulk color being used on the driveway made it look worse than before the work was started. It looked like a giant white spider web running up and down our two driveways and once again a gloss sealer was used.   <br />   Regarding the pattern error I showed John the pictures in his brochure that we selected with him.  John said that page was confusing in the description and he would need to have it corrected for future brochures.   <br />   Regarding the gloss sealer John would bring another crew to take off some of the shine.  At 4:30pm that day John returned with another crew that were to take up gloss sealer.  We were much happier with the stamped portion after this was done. <br />   Regarding the driveway caulking John said once it cured it would "fade away" (note: 20 days later it still looks bad) <br /> We still had the front porch to be completed but I told John if he only has gloss sealers I did not want the porch sealed and take the risk of the gloss look.  He said that was our choice but we still had to pay even if we had it done or not. <br />  When I brought up the fact that we could have required the stamped pattern redone due to his error, John raised his voice and said "You signed a contract for Vegas stone" and walked away to his car and drove off.  I called him later to ask if he was coming back to finish our discussion and resolve the problems. He said he would after his 5pm appointment.   He did not come back nor call back until I called again the next morning and left a message. <br />   On Saturday morning we returned home and saw a crew member reapplying the gloss sealer on the stamped concrete.  He said John had not told the subcontractor's crew to not apply this again.  We called John and he came over later that afternoon.  He said he would have another crew come back over on Monday to remove it again.  We also again discussed not having the porch work done since we do not want the gloss sealer applied. <br />  After waiting all day  Monday no one came nor did anyone call to say they weren't coming.  I called John Monday evening to find out why no one came or called. <br /> The next morning the crew came by and once again took off the wrong sealer.  John was outside for a few minutes with the crew but did not come to the door to talk with me. He then drove away.   The crew came back in the afternoon to check on how removing the glossy sealer looked.  Even this employee said the natural look was much better than the plastic gloss look.  But then to my surprise I was told they would be working on the porch to "try out different stains" per John's instructions.  We knew nothing of this to be done. <br />   By this time my husband and I decided to just pay the last half of the contract to be able to just end any more dealings with this company.  1 1/2 day job was now in the second week.  My husband called John to tell him this and John agreed to reduce the amount due by $50.00 for not doing the porch.  John said he would mail a revised bill which we still have not received. <br /> Through all of this John did not once apologize for all these problems or errors.  Most of the problems were due to communication between John and his subcontractors so many of the mistakes could have easily been prevented by John.  <br /> Regarding the subcontractor, Juan and his crew.  With some training on minor details, I would consider to hire them on their own as I felt they do care about their work and the success of their side of this business. <br />

John and his team did a great job.  They were professional, prompt and efficient.  The new stamped patio looks great and we are very pleased with the project. <br />

<p>From first contact on this was a very positive experience. Not only was John very prompt in contacting me, but he was able to accommodate my scheduling request. John also provided very reasonable estimates compared to three other companies. The crew showed up on time, set up quickly, confirmed the plan, were pleasant with the neighbors and worked very hard despite the extreme heat. The retaining wall, walk and two flights of stairs were completed within the week. John came to ensure that it was satisfactory when completed. The company is professional, efficient and hard working. They did their best to accommodate my requests and to make sure the results would be safe, lasting and attractive. Would strongly recommend to others. </p> <br /> <br /> <br />

John came out and gave us an estimate on a Thursday evening.  He was very prompt, and was nice and was very knowledgeable about the issues we were having with the existing patio.  He recommended that was install a concrete patio rather than a wood deck to solve our drainage issue.  He gave us an estimate at the end of the meeting and told us his crew could get started within 8-10 days. <br /> Juan, John's right-hand man, and his crew came out to get started on a Monday morning and were finished by Thursday afternoon.  They were very professional and hard-working, sometimes staying until 7pm to finish their current task.  Overall we were very pleased with their work.  The patio looks great and we love the way the stamped concrete looks. <br /> We would definitely use them again for any future projects (maybe our driveway in a couple of years). <br />

Wonderful experience!  The pool-deck application is stunning!  We had it dyed to match the house color.  I love it!  The guys worked quickly, did a great job, and cleaned up completely.

They were very prompt. We had service and it was installed within I think three days of the bid; we loved that. They would make little suggestions for improving things and not add on a lot for the cost. Their work was top notch; it was of very good quality. They were very efficient. We felt like the price was really much better than any other quote we got. We were very happy with them. In fact, we kept their name because we are thinking about having them do some more work for us some day in the future. They were wonderful. 

<p>Contacted John, he came over on weds. night, looked at what I wanted, gave me a estimate of $700, which I agreed to, they came and </p> poured the patio on the next day, it was excellent service.

John was quick to respond to us for an estimate / repair on our driveway caused by a previous contracting company. He was honest and helpful and was able to schedule a crew very quickly for the work. His team, while on site, was professional and clean. They also kept me informed of their progress and showed me the results throughout the work. I would highly recommend their services and will likely also ask for there help in the future for our back patio!

I found them through Angie's List.  I thought that they were great.  They worked till they got the job done.  They were here before 7'O clock in the morning until late in the night.  I would give an A++ for their punctuality and professionalism. 

Classic Concrete was great to work with.  They cooperated well with the plumber that was installing the drains.  The finished floor is beautiful and just what we asked for.  They showed up when they said they would and finished as promised.  John was also good to make last minute changes without complaint.

Everything went great!

They were responsive. We liked the looks of their product. They were easy to deal with and their price was about the same as everybody else. It has only been 6 months but so far, so good. We have been trying to get hold of the company to ask them a question but we haven't been able to reach them.

They did a very good job. They were on time and finished the project on time.