It’s a jungle out there!
I guess you can call this post my PSA for the year, and I’m not just talking about leveling concrete but for contractors in general. In our line of work, like may others, you can buy some equipment, take a short two day course and presto you are a certified installer. Now, we all have to start somewhere but I think experience is sometimes undervalued when customers compare proposals. Price isn’t a good measure of competency. An inexperienced contractor could be the high bidder. Maybe they haven’t worked on something similar, so they think the work will be harder than it really is. In this case no harm no foul, you just paid more. On the other hand they could be the low bidder, because they don’t realize the amount of time and material a given job will actually take to do it right. There are a few possibilities with this outcome. First, they figure out the are outside of their realm of expertise and gracefully bow out. Second, they carry on and consider this as additional classroom time. Lesson learned, job finished. Finally, they find a way to cut a corner which may or may not impact the final result and don’t look back. We occasionally buy equipment from failed ventures and their stories are similar. We took the class and we felt prepared. The classroom is where everything works, but the field is a different animal. You have to deal with tree roots, contractors who didn’t follow the plans, and other people who just cut corners. I know our company has seen a lot since 1994, but we still come across things and wonder what were they thinking. I guess this post is a little doom and gloom, but there are things you can do. Get a referral from a friend or another company you trust, get multiple bids, be wary of companies that can fix it tomorrow(no backlog of work), make sure they have insurance, and most importantly follow your gut.
