Epic Paving & Contracting Ltd

I hired Epic Paving to do a job for me, went over the specifications with the Project Manager, what expectations there would be for the 3-part project: 1) Interlock the backyard and side walk way; 2) lay concrete for a new side walk way (which would connect to the interlock portion of the side walk way); and 3) lay concrete for a new retaining wall for another walkway leading to the veranda. The Project Manager and I went over next steps, paid a deposit, knowing the project would only get started Spring 2018.

Come spring, I had to chase the Project Manager down to get a date for when the project will get started only to hear about “weeks of delays”.

Part 1 of the project: Once the project began, the first red flag went up when they started laying down the bricks. Instead of what was agreed upon to lay the bricks right up to the property line, they chose to do a box situation “because it would look better”. However, the changes were made because it was easier on the labourers. The labourers laid bricks 7” away from the property line! That was part 1 of the project.

Part 2 of the project: This part was to raise the walkway, so you would take a step when entering the property from the sidewalk. This would also separate the walkway from my neighbour’s driveway. However, the Project Manager called me during the day saying for water reasons they could not make it a step anymore but a long ramp. So, now there are parts of the walk way that are flush with my neighbour’s driveway. (Note: One of my neighbour’s cars drove up the ramp within hours of the wood forming being removed from the project! That is how shortsighted the decision was.) The way they did this ramp doesn’t even push the water down either, the water actually pools at the first step into my side walk way. Three other issues with this job: 1) The top landing area of the ramp is crooked, where there is a curve into my property; 2) the end of the walkway onto the sidewalk was not properly shaved down; and 3) the workers broke the concrete on my driveway on both corners. This decision to remove the step, even though it was in our contract, sounded more like a cost savings one. Similar to how they didn’t even use metal rebar to ensure quality and longevity of their concrete pour.

Part 3 of the project: This part of the project was to remove the old wood retaining wall, as it was tipping over and no longer secure and replace it with a concrete retaining wall. I informed the Project Manager before we started the project that after you remove the wood there would also be 2 more feet of wood in the ground that will need to be removed, as this was holding up the home entrance walkway. He said that was common. However, on the day of the work, he complained that there was so much wood!! Seriously? In another call, the Project Manager said they were going to design the edges of the retaining wall to look similar to my other neighbour’s retaining wall. He made it sound like he was doing me a favour, “outside of the standard”, when that was what we first discussed before we started the project. After the concrete was laid for the retaining wall, a worker came by to reset the interlock bricks that was already at the home entrance; this should have been an easy puzzle because the stones would fit in the same spots they were in previously as the retaining wall did not expand from the previous dimensions, but I had to intervene as he was cutting stones in half to place in smaller spaces—it was mind boggling why he didn’t even consider using the already cut stones that already fit without cutting. Mind boggling! Nonetheless, this part actually ended up closer to vision than the first 2 parts. There is a slight curve on one end, so it is not straight, but this is not a big deal.

Up front, the job looks great, but there are these little nuances that make the job look unprofessional, as there was no on-site management; and, also, not following the agreed contract is why I rated this company poorly.