Tom's Asphalt

John and them were good with me, answered all my questions, did a good job, and got it all done quickly.

The crew showed up late in the afternoon on April 9, 2014 to apply the sealcoating after they had finished another local job. So, essentially, the sealcoat applied to the parking lots here was simply using up the hot asphalt left over from an earlier larger job. Although spread thinly they did not have enough to complete this job so promised to show up at 7:30 a.m. the next day to finish. One crew member showed up but <strong>didn't have the necessary tools</strong> so asked if he could 'borrow' a tank of propane fuel and a saw. Eventually the rest of the crew showed up and completed the parking lots. At first glance it was acceptable, albeit extremely overpriced for the few gallons of sealcoat and load of gravel spread to cover it. <br /> After the crew left we discovered they had taken the saw and the fuel tank with them. Over the next few weeks, we phoned the owner and his son's phones (both listed on the business card) requesting return of our equipment. We have sent registered  and standard mail requesting return, to this date (approaching 3 months later) the items 'borrowed' have not been returned. We have filed a report with law enforcement, who simply phoned the company requesting return of the equipment (but received the same response, essentially 'when we get back that way we will return the fuel tank, but don't remember taking their saw'). <br />  In addition to stealing equipment provided for use on this property by the property owner, the job this company did here is not standard for asphalt sealcoat, as within weeks there were <strong>weeds growing through the thin layer of asphalt</strong>. The concrete parking lots are actually worse now than before the sealcoat was applied. In one area the <strong>weeds actually grow in a straight line</strong> plainly showing where the asphalt sealcoat was not applied to actually cover or 'sealcoat' the concrete surface! They simply sprayed on what they had left from the earlier job whether or not it actually covered the surface and charged $6000 for using up leftovers! <br />  In the letters sent to the company requesting return of the stolen equipment they were informed that weeds were growing right through the layer of sealcoat. There is a one year guarantee stipulated in the contract, as well as parking lot striping. The striping has not been completed and no mention of honoring the one year guarantee! It is doubtful that this family owned and operated company does honor the guarantee. <br /> This father and son company is shady at best. They hand out nice colored business cards and send out mass mailings but are very difficult to find on search engines and review sites. Their contract states "make checks Tom  McDonald or John McDonald" the father and son that run the business. It seems quite fishy that <strong>check payment is made to a person versus a business</strong>, and that they do not accept credit cards (allowing a business owner a small measure of protection). In our case they were paid cash! Their mass mailings also state "family owned and operated for 65 years". Generally, family owned businesses are much more likely to remain reputable! <br />  In my humble opinion a family owned and operated business would : <br /> ...make a genuine effort to do the job right, not spraying ad hoc with no complete coverage spray of  'sealcoat' allowing vegetation to come right through <br /> ... honor their guarantee, especially when it is plainly evident and visible to the neighbors that the job was not done right <br /> ... at minimum return the equipment stolen from the property where they performed a really shoddy sealcoat job! <br /> In addition, the elder Mr. McDonald asked if we knew anyone else that may be interested in their services. I actually sent him over a few blocks to someone that was interested in the service. Lucky for my neighbors that he couldn't find their home!  The point is that Mr. McDonald is quite pushy when dealing with clients, regarding  hurrying through signing of a contract while there are still questions to be answered, as well as pushing for names and numbers of anyone who may be interested. If he doesn't get the contact information quickly and collect on another job promptly the new prospective client is likely to know that the weeds can easily penetrate the sealcoat. A family owned and operated business person would realize that the best  advertising is a job well done! <br />