Gerry Sargent Excavating

I had deferred maintenance on an uphill dirt/gravel driveway for three years due to financial reasons. Because oil trucks and other delivery people (including UPS) refused to come up the driveway for safety reasons, it had to be done whether or not I could afford it. Not only was the driveway uphill but there was a drop on the one side of it. The other issue was that on the other side of the driveway, water flowed down from the hill creating puddling and ice in the winter. 

I contacted several excavation companies and handyman types just to fill the holes with something so that I could get through winter (I live 2 hrs. north of NYC) and get oil and safe.  

I was given Gerry's name from a cleaning person (rated A on this site) as someone well known in the community for being reasonably priced, reliable and known for quality work. 

When I met with Gerry , he was clear that just filling holes wouldn't do the trick. I was concerned because of cost. He seemed very professional and knowledgable about what to do (I have lived with this driveway for over 15 years and he was correct in the needs). The price he quoted me was very reasonable and frankly EVERY other quote was at least 50% more and two quotes were two times the price. I also assumed he was going to do minimal drainage work and basically fill the holes.

Gerry arrived on time with a much larger piece of excavation equipment than I expected which was great as he was able to do a lot more with it. He did a lot more than fill the holes. He 

1. cleared overgrown brush and small trees on the side which widened my driveway and covered that with processed gravel.

2. leveled the gravel he put down and created indentations for the water to flow off the driveway and levelled it such that water would be diverted away from the driveway and some recently installed underground electrical wiring.

3. he also cleaned out where there was a large drainage pipe because he realized that water was eroding another part of the driveway downhill because of it. I know he did it right as water is now flowing out of it. 

So, I thought I was paying very little to get big holes filled with processed stone plus a little drainage work on a 15 foot wide driveway. Instead I now have a beautiful, 30 foot wide driveway which is level and, where needed, designed for proper drainage.  Plus, I have a working drainage pipe that he cleaned out. I didn't ask him to do all these extra things but he wanted to do the job right.  

He was so thorough that he also uncovered some asphalt of a driveway that was done previously (that I did not know about). I feel fortunate to have gotten such a reasonably priced, hardworking person who cares enough to do the right thing (even though I was clearly concerned about doing more than the minimum because of my finances).