K & R CONCRETE & PUMPING

They said they were licensed, bonded and insured. However when we asked about pulling county permits, they told us it would be cheaper to do that ourselves. When I checked further, I found that they could NOT pull these permits because they do not have a contractors license, only a pasco county business license. Also, they are not bonded, only insured. We also found that if the homeowner pulls the permits, the homeowner is repsonsible for all liability with regards to the workers breaking water, gas, sewer or power lines...as well as if they don't perform the work according to original survey specifications. No wonder they were less expensive. They were not forth coming with this information, I had to do the research myself, they even sent me copies of their business license and liability insurance, omitting the bond as well as contractors license. They kept saying that it would be cheaper to do ourselves. This was not a pleasant experience.

I called K & R Concrete & Pumping and talked with Rhonda. She was very informative and said that she would have Tim Johnson come out to see and talk about the job. He did and I felt that he could do the job. He would have one helper. The next day, Rhonda gave me a telephone quote followed up with a paper copy in my mailbox within a couple of days. I soon scheduled the work for about a week out and reconfirmed everything the day before. All of the work would be done in one day. On the agreed upon day, Tim and helper Shawn showed up at the appointed time. (I would recommend that you ask for Shawn to be the helper as he was very attentive to any suggestions that I had.) Tim and Shawn did the preparation work and were ready for the pumper and its two man crew. I saw that the perimeter expansion boards were not wide enough to reach the old floor in all locations and not wanting direct contact between the new concrete and cinder block walls or slab, I raised the issue and suggested that duct tape might do the job of extending the boards to the floor where there were gaps. Shawn happily took the suggestion and tapped up all those locations needing the extra width. I really appreciated that from Shawn and noticed how attentive he was on other tasks as well. When the pumper crew arrived, they set up the pumper (towed by a pickup truck) and all the piping. Then the concrete truck arrived and the concrete pumping began. After about one hour of pumping, the room's floor had been capped, and Tim began the finishing of the top surface. The concrete truck left. After the pumping crew cleaned their equipment they left. Tim and Shawn worked hard at cleansing with water from the garden hose and brooming a part of my back patio that had some of the concrete spilled and foot printed onto it so it would not be ruined. Tim and Shawn finished all of their work, I gave Tim a check for the contracted work and also gave Tim and Shawn small tips in envelopes with their names on the outside. I said thanks for a job well done. I would suggest that the homeowner ask Tim Johnson to introduce all workers, that arrive at the property, to the owner who will be occasionally walking around and inspecting.(I intend to be introduced to all workers in any future contracting.) I?m sure that he would be willing to do this. Communications are immediately established and it is easier to discuss any work details that are later observed. I would also recommend that (as another contractor prescribed) that any residual concrete either be taken away from the finished home site or a hole be dug at a convenient location and residual concrete be pumped into the hole and any water flushing occur at that hole. Remember, there is aggregate in concrete that cannot be flushed away and that is why the hole is a good technique to receive the residual concrete. In my case, I had the residual from the water cleaning of the pumper left on a Florida soil parking place n