Letendre Concrete & Design INC

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This project couldn't have gone better. Shawn and his crew did  a beautiful job and were great to work with. We'll use them for any & all concrete needs we have in the future and highly recommend them.

The job went okay, albeit they delayed the planned start since they didn’t get the underground utilities marked. The real issues started showing up after about six months. 5 or 6 thin cracks developed across the entire garage floor from side to side and front to back. When I called the contractor, Shawn Letendre, to describe the problems he came over to see for himself. Upon his inspection, he stated that some thin cracks were “normal” and he offered no help or suggestions. I disagreed, thinking there should be no cracks in a brand new concrete floor that was done properly. Last summer, when the floor was only two years old, I discussed the cracks with a concrete engineer. He suggested sealing the cracks. I personally ground out the concrete surface along the cracks and installed epoxy sealant. It did a good job to properly seal the floor, but the cracks are more visually pronounced. Now there is a new problem. After only 2 ½ years from installation, the surface of the concrete near the door and in the apron is developing significant “pop-outs”. So now the surface is starting to deteriorate and look bad too. We selected this contractor based on a great AngiesList ranking. We no longer agree with that high ranking.

Simply put:  Letendre Concrete and Design restored my faith in contractors.  They came out quickly, they did very competent work, and while they were not the very cheapest bid we got, they were well below most of their competitors (We called roughly a dozen different companies).  When they were finishing up I told them how astounded I was at their promptness and work ethic, especially for being a small crew.  They said it's just what they do for every job.  There are a lot of different companies here on Angie's List that get A ratings and it's sometimes tough to choose between them.  At least from my experience, Letendre deserves to be in it's own class.  I can't recommend them enough.

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The work was done with exceptional quality and speed, with minimal disruption. They were very flexible and accommodated our schedule. When finished, they had cleaned up everything and restored the lawn around the concrete slabs!
I highly recommend Letendre Concrete & Design!

I called Letendre Concrete to receive an estimate.  I was called back immediately and an appointment was scheduled within 24 hours.
Shawn Letendre stopped by and we discussed the front stoop replacement.  I can read people really well, and knew instantly that he was a professional and honest person.  
Our front stoop was deteriorating at a rapid rate after the 2013 June storm.  I asked for an estimate on front stoop, but also for recommendations.  Shawn gave me his recommendations and an approximate estimate right then and there.  He broke down all of the costs.  He told me he was adding in the cost of footings, but wouldn't know if I'd need them until he started the work.  He said he didn't want me to receive any surprises, which I appreciated.  He said he'd follow-up with an official estimate.  I received the estimate via email within 2 days.
I received the estimate and it was spot-on with what we had discussed.  I called 2 other concrete companies for bids, but no one would call me back.  I did receive estimates right after the storm from no less than 3 concrete companies, so I can honestly say that Letendre beat the others in price.
We set a convenient work date.  They showed up at 7am and started immediately.  I had the opportunity to speak to a few of the crew, and all were just like Shawn - honest, personable and professional.  He has a great crew.  The job took 2 days, which is what I was told.  IT LOOKS GREAT!!  Drive by for a look, 4221 29th Ave S, Mpls.
I had my front stoop with 4 risers replaced, a small patio next to it, the sidewalk leading to the front and a small section in the backyard.  Shawn told me that I had some footings so my cost was reduced a bit.  I wouldn't have known either way, but he was honest and told me at the end.
I would highly recommend this company for all of your concrete needs.  I will use them should I need any concrete work in the future.
Thanks Letendre Concrete!

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They called a day earlier than expected to start work which was great for us.  They had most of the work done by late afternoon even with a change of plans that they proposed which saved me a lot of trouble.  Once the concrete was dried they power washed the steps and similar concrete areas around the house.  The following day they seal coated all the clean areas. A few days later they came back again and restored the area as close to the original as possible by bringing in fresh dirt. The group were all friendly, professional, and very careful not to disturb the surroundings while working.  I would nominate them as a Star service.

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I am very pleased with the walkway and stairs.  This was a huge job. Shawn and his crew had to take out the crumbling stairs and walk.  They then had to dig major holes to put the foundation in.  They put the molds in and then poured the concrete.  The crew was very professional and they worked very hard.  At the beginning, I was concerned at the cost but when I saw the amount of work that they did, they earned that money!!!  I am now receiving many complements from my neighbors.  Shawn and his crew did a beautiful job.

Shawn went above and beyond for us, and the work came out even better than we could have imagined. He came out within a few days of my call to assess the project and sent a proposal the next day. Crystal kept in touch to let us know exactly when the work would start. Shawn answered all our questions and went over the details with us before starting. After the work got underway, he checked with us to make sure everything looked the way we wanted. The worksite was left neat and clean every night and on completion of the job. The pricing was more than fair. We are very pleased with the result and would definitely hire Letendre C&D again!

Besides a standard 'apron' deal I had a custom, specific and tricky job for a cracked concrete floor in a pool shed.
Shawn showed up right on time and provided a reasonable estimate of the custom work, while confirming the apron deal price.
He said he would try to squeeze my project into the following week, but could not garantee it.
They ended up completing on the second week on a two days advance notice.  Communication with Shawn was prompt and clear all the time.
The crew was prompt on the scheduled day, even 10 minutes before 7 am, without bothering us.
The apron started first, with the repair floor following.  At 9:20 a cement truck arrived and they started pouring concrete into apron.
Although concrete repair job required manual work in the confined space, three of them did it skillfully and promptly.  They put rebar armature into the repaired aread and poured concrete mix into that area by buckets, while the apron area was hardening.
At the end they put finishing touches on both apron and the new floor and left minutes before noon.
They even hauled off some of my sand from the old filter.  Aestetically the result was quite pleasing in both areas.
Kudos to Shawn, Brian and the crew for their qulity work, flexibility and promptness.
Did I forget to mention their positive attitude? ;)

Working with Letendre Concrete was great,they removed an old cracked and sinking sidewalk along my garage and installed a new 18'X5' sidewalk.The crew showed up about 8:00 am tore out old concrete pored in new sidewalk cleaned up and finished about 12:00 pm. Very happy with there work.

I did a ton of research on basement slabs, and out of the 4 contractors I interviewed, Shawn was the only one who had all the right answers. During our conversations it became clear why. Shawn grew up in the industry and instead of being comfortable with how things were done he attends seminars, tradeshows and continuing education courses to further polish is trade. 
I always say give credit where credit is due, you won't go wrong here!

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Our last contact of 09/29/2014 was a certified letter my wife and father dropped off at Mr. Letendre's house in person, the original hadn't been picked up from the post office. The last work done on our home was when the curing blankets were removed from our steps on 10/25/2013. The last concrete placed by Letendre Concrete and Design was on 10/18/2013.

We have been trying to reach an agreement regarding the issues with our concrete work for just under a year. As of this point in time Mr. Letendre is not responding to our letters so we are sending this to Angie's List Complaint Resolution Process. We hired Letendre Concrete to install exterior concrete work as part of an addition to our home to house my elderly parents. We have been trying to reach an agreement with the contractor for a year now due to issues with their work that are as yet unresolved.

Our contractor attempted to install nearly 2400 sq. ft. of concrete in one day. The trucks were left on hold and didn?t arrive which Mr. Letendre has admitted to, half our driveway was finished in the dark using headlamps for light. The result is damaged and poor work that doesn?t match what was contracted for. Our steps hold water so badly they have been unusable, our patio is not pitched the way we asked for. It?s hard to believe so much can be wrong, please look at the pictures and make your own opinions.

Our driveway disintegrated and cracked in several places last winter, our steps are so badly formed they were not usable last winter at all. Initially we were told by Mr. Letendre to go ahead and have our retaining wall put in and the concrete work would then be replaced in full with the wall in. Later after asking for this in writing, it was discovered this was not true and our landscaper had to take away our blocks and it is still on hold. We have tried to negotiate with Mr. Letendre but he has been extremely evasive and what amounts to in our opinion as `smoke and mirrors`.  We previously met at our home and reviewed all the issues with the work in person and reached an agreement that Letendre Concrete would replace the driveway in full to match what was originally specified in our contract. In exchange for this we would take responsibility for all other issues. This still required us to pay Mr. Letendre `in full` despite leaving us with significant repair work that we were willing to accept so we could move on with our lives. Mr. Letendre then decided to go back on the agreement he made and refuses to stand by the issues with his work.

We have found our driveway to be only 3.5" thick in large areas, when we contracted for a 5" thick driveway. It does not have the pitch we requested when the job was bid and is missing an apron that was on the specifications my wife and I created for the job. Mr. Letendre has since denied receiving the specifications so he can't be held accountable to the guarantee in his contract that his work will match. My wife and I have a different opinion of events and what has happened here but there is still enough in that the work does not match our contract.

Despite the work not being completed, Mr. Letendre has continued to ask for additional payment even though our contract called for 50% upon contract signing and 50% upon project completion.  We asked Mr. Letendre to put something in writing to have confirmation of what will be done to fix the issues before we could ever agree to pay anything additional but we couldn?t get Mr. Letendre to commit in writing to what he verbally agreed to do.  At one point Mr. Letendre offered a $1000 discount to accept the work as-is.  However, we weren?t going to spend $17,500 to get a sub-par result.  When Mr. Letendre finally did put details of the work he would do to fix the issues in writing, it also included a final payment before the work was done and it didn?t match what we had verbally agreed to. 

After numerous emails and meetings at our house throughout the spring, on May 18, 2014, we finally reached a mutually agreeable resolution with Mr. Letendre.  We weren?t addressing all of the workmanship issues by Mr. Letendre and his crew but Mr. Letendre had agreed to replace the driveway in full.  However, despite our agreement, we received an email from Mr. Letendre on May 23, 2014, that he would no longer be working with us and we were free to work with another contractor to finish the project. 

On June 5, 2014, my wife happened to be home from work and saw Mr. Letendre standing at the end of our driveway with another man.  My wife and father went outside to talk with Mr. Letendre.  The man was Mr. Letendre?s sales rep from Aggregate Industries.  When my wife asked Mr. Letendre why he was at our house since he already said he was no longer working with us, he said he was filing a warranty claim on our concrete with the manufacturer.  My wife asked Mr. Letendre if that meant he was still working with us, Mr. Letendre said he would still work with us to resolve the issues but would have to wait for Aggregate?s report to come back before he could do anything.  I emailed Mr. Letendre to confirm he was still going to work with us to resolve the issues.  Mr. Letendre replied on June 6, 2014, stating that wasn?t what was discussed and we were free to work with other contractors to finish the project.  Once again, we had conflicting information from Mr. Letendre that left us wondering what we were going to do to get the issues with our concrete resolved.  As a side note, we have since been told by the Minnesota Aggregate Association Mr. Letendre was offered assistance from Aggregate Industries to fix our driveway but declined.

We had originally posted an Angie?s List review in January 2014 and took it down when Mr. Letendre said he was willing to work with us to resolve the issues. He has changed his stance on what he was willing to do to fix the issues with his work numerous times and then tried to blame us and make us seem like the ones that can?t make up our minds.  I am unable to put into words the nightmare this whole situation has been.  It?s been a constant upheaval in our lives trying to work with Mr. Letendre to resolve the issues, unable to use our stairs and unable to finish other projects because Mr. Letendre has not fixed the issues like he promised.  At this point, almost a year later, nothing has been fixed and Mr. Letendre claimed customer satisfaction is his #1 priority.  Not from my perspective!

Over the past few months, we have consulted with other contractors as Mr. Letendre suggested.  In doing this, here are the issues in total with our work:

• Work doesn?t match specifications and diagrams provided.
• Front stoop, steps, and transition have incorrect pitch/slope and hold water, have bird baths in them making them unusable.

Concrete on 3 panels in the center of the driveway was damaged when adjacent concrete was poured, raised lip on the panels that holds dirt and water (and ice in the winter) ? already cracking.
• An initial coat of curing and sealing compound was not applied to all concrete surfaces per the contract. Cure was not applied within 1hr as is required.
• Broom finish on concrete is inconsistent ? panels have stripes- Irregularity of work causes the work to be cosmetically poor.
• Some control joints on the driveway were filled in with concrete during the final finishing.  Subsequently, the control joints had to be dry cut with a saw a week later.
• Driveway slab at garage threshold was not installed at the correct level.
• Second coat of curing and sealing compound has never been applied per the contract. Value is approximately $1800 of incomplete work.
• Contract included installi

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Shawn came out for the estimate within a few days. He was very thorough in his estimate. I had read reviews on Angie's List about his attention to detail and how he and his team are very meticulous about clean up. That was important to me. Shawn and his crew showed up on time and quickly had the old sidewalk dug out and were putting up forms before I knew it. The guys were all very personable and willing to answer any questions I had. They were very professional and did a fantastic job. Shawn even had the leaf blower out blowing off dirt that was left anywhere around the work area. A few days later they came back to remove the forms and brought dirt and rock to fill in around the edges. Once again, Shawn made sure there was NO debris left anywhere. I have never hired such a conscientious company. I will ONLY have Letendre Concrete and Design do any future concrete work for us.

I got a bid from Shawn for our front step and walkway last fall however we were not able to have work done until this summer.  Shawn honored the bid from last fall which was great.  We had numerous contractors to our house this summer (roofing, siding, door install, and concrete work through Letendre).  Shawn was by far the most professional and communicative with us through the process.  Crystal, his office assistant, was fabulous and returned calls on weekends and evenings.  Due to the wet summer, our job did get delayed by 1 month, however Shawn consistently kept us updated as to when he would be out. I really appreciated his calling me to keep me updated vs having to call contractors to find out what's going on as I had to do with the other contractors.   Shawn is very personable and laid back.  His team did a great job installing our new steps and wider walkway. We have had many compliments on his work.

This was our second time to the dance with this company. Details? I couldn't tell you this time as I saw Shaun only briefly as he was leaving by the time I got there. Long story short, his office called to work us into the schedule, and I accepted after hours via their answering service. About 230, I got a call from Shaun wanting the garage door code to complete the work. I don't usually do that with any contractor, but the last go around went so well, I had no reservations. I was home within an hour, and, as stated, was just in time to see Shaun headed down the street to his next gig. I flagged him, paid him, got the instructions for the curative process, all good. They came back the next day and removed the forms and seeded any grassy areas that needed it.
 I can't stress enough that this company is first class all the way and will get ALL of our concrete work from this point forward. I must say this in closing. Working with concrete is a hard and dirty business let alone any demolition that must be done before the actual concrete work. This is the second time I have given Shaun a demolition/replacement job where NO foot print was left behind save for a few square inches of border grass. Prompt, clean, and professional!
Hiring this company is a NO BRAINER!

 Shawn came out to my house with in 24 hours of my call, we went over what I was looking to have done.  He explained the whole process of the work to me and got me a price with in a day.  I decided that the price was fair and scheduled the job.  The day of the job Shawn and his crew were right on time and very friendly.  They did a great job, the finished product looks great and I couldn't be happier, they even back filled around the sidewalk and seeded after they were done.  I would definitely refer anyone I know.

I got 3 bids.  Shawn recognized the well room under the front steps right away and was the only one who was not bothered by having to do the install over the old well room.  The other bidders shook their heads when they realized what was involved & really did not want to tackle this project (and their pricing reflected that reluctance).  I had confidence in Shawn's ability to do the work & appreciated his advice.

The guys arrived right on time.  The front steps are over my old (disconnected) well so they had to shore up the base before removing the old front steps.  This was completed as well as removal of back steps.  The old broken sidewalk was also removed along a garden.  New front and back steps and a new patio extension were then installed.  I was concerned about drainage from the new patio so it would not drain into my driveway.  It happened to rain a couple of days after the install and the drainage away from the driveway worked very well.  All work was accomplished in 1 day, and they returned a few days later to clean up the little chunks of concrete and back fill with topsoil the areas where the molds had been.  They even seeded the new topsoil! 

I highly recommend Shawn's team.  They are hard workers and they will do a great job for you!.