1victorianfarmhouse

The village had some contractors do some work in my backyard, and the backhoes trashed the concrete walkway between the house and garage. As I was planning to replace the walkway with pavers, it's not such a big deal. But, I am being offered a credit by the contractor of $300 ($6 pr Sq Ft) if I don't have them replace the walkway. I need to check their measuring points as well because I come up with a lot more square footage. My question is whether their offer is fair offer for 50 square feet? I'm 60 miles west of Chicago, btw.

Thanks as always!

vince

oldognewtrick

Vince, how much would it cost to install the pavers you were thinking about?

1victorianfarmhouse

Good question.... I haven't really gotten around to checking on the cost of the pavers. The area in question, though will be covered with a garage I'm making plans to build in the next couple of years, so I really don't want to put anything permanent there at this point.

I like the look of the pavers versus the concrete as there are several walkways around the house, all of which have old, patched/discolored/sunken concrete and also want to reconfigure a few areas.

Part of the reason I'm curious about whether the offer is fair is because I want to build a 16'x20' parking pad next to the current small garage, and would be able to use some of the credit. If, for some reason, that doesn't work out, I have some old concrete stairs that I want to remove and replace with wood (as they were originally) and will need to replace the old and cracked concrete pads with new.

Thanks!

vince

nealtw

If you were going to remove it anyway, any offer sounds fair to me. I would have been talking to him while the equipment was still there, perhaps he would have removed more of your unwanted concrete and saved you a ton of labour later.

1victorianfarmhouse

I agree, but at present there is a large gap in the walkway between the house and driveway. The original contractors destroyed it (and the lawn), so I am entitled to fair compensation regardless of my future plans. I wished the contractors were so reliable as to remove the concrete, instead they left damage and shoddy work throughout the town. Other contractors have been hired to repair the damage they left.

nealtw

I doubt their first offer was their best. Just ask for double and act like you know what you are talking about and see what happens.

BridgeMan

Typical flatwork prices run somewhere from $4 to $7 a square foot. The $6 you were quoted sounds reasonable (provided he removes all of the waste concrete that needs replacing). Pin him down on the specific limits he thinks need removing/replacing--sounds like his quality standards are somewhat lacking, meaning he'd like to leave you with a bunch of junk concrete that most normal people would replace.

1victorianfarmhouse

Thanks guys. I'm pretty sure this guy is a local guy hired to clean up/repair what the original contractor didn't do. I've no desire to drive an unfair bargain, but do want to get as much as I can within reason. I should have this resolved in the next week and will post an update.

vince