Beware of this contractor Mark Rakitovan A.K.A. known as Marinke Rakitovan. He definitely does not know how to stain basement floors or how to lay an Epoxy floor. Mark is listed on the Concrete Network as a contractor that knows how to lay concrete finishes. Mark came to my home in late June to collect money to start a Job on July 10 , 2013 with a brochure from Custom Concrete Design, LLC to give me an idea as to what he could do. At that time we discussed what I wanted for my basement floor and, prices an agreement was made. Mark started the job on July 9, 2013. A job that should have taken no more that 4 day turned into 3 weeks. After mark collected the money to start the job he said he would not be able to start for a couple of days because he had to order the products that would be used from EliteCrete. The products comes in three days later and Mark shows up to start the Job. When Mark removed all the tile from my floor he told me that the concrete had to be sanded. Day 2 Mark came in with a sander and a helper and sanded all of 5 min before he said that the sander was making too much dust and that he was going to take another approach. Since Mark did not sand the floor the floor is still not even and we have a lot of lumps and bumps in the floor in in some places the Epoxy shades varies. The following week Mark shows up with a primer for the floor which goes on like paint he take a couple of days putting this white solution down and waiting for it to dry. In the next step Mark puts down the color that is suppose to be a grey but when the solution dries it turns almost white. In the last step to this process, the floor gets buffed with a steel wool pad attached to a machine then Mark puts down an acrylic sealer, there is spots in the floor that he did not cover with the sealer, the sealer eats through the solution that he put down, the following morning my floor has a high acrylic shine but it has scratched marks under the acrylic that was caused by him buffing it and in some spots you can clearly tell that the floor did not dry before he put the acrylic on the white solution melted . This is unacceptable. I tell Mark that he has to fix the floor and he tells me that I can cover it with Epoxy but he is not paying for the Epoxy. I give him $650 more in addition to the $3850 I had already given him. Marks comes back and puts down the Epoxy and the next morning and by noon he tops It with an Acrylic finish. Once again he misses spots and I have white spots in various places in the floor not to boot his foot print as a reminder how he screwed up my floor. This project was a nightmare not to mention during this ordeal Mark did not show up some days because of 1 day his daughter got sick, another day his brother in law got sick, then he had a funeral, and now we are still waiting for him to come back and fix his mistakes but he is in the hospital. Since I have had so many delays I have had time to research this contractor which I should have done in the beginning but he is listed under the Concrete Network and I trusted this Network. Should have thought something strange when asked to have his first check made out to LLC, and the second check in his name. If asked Mark will say he has been in the concrete business for 20 years when in fact he is listed as owning NYC Carpet Cleaners LLC business and he has only been in business for 4 years. I am only asking Mark to return the Epoxy I bought and I will do it myself. He was suppose to contact me on August 2 when he got out of the hospital and it is not August 7, not holding my breath.
Description of Work: Refurbish existing Concrete to stain with a high gloss finish
Rating Category
Rating out of 5
quality
1.0
value
1.0
professionalism
1.0
responsiveness
1.0
punctuality
1.0
$4,450
Response from Custom Concrete Design, LLC
The name of my business is Custom Concrete Design, L.L.C. and we are a registered NYS company authorized and certified Elite Crete products installers. I met with Mrs. (member name removed) in late June to give her a free estimate and to survey the job site. I showed her the Elite Crete brochure. She was debating between having a decorative concrete floor installed or epoxy floor. I explained the difference between the two types of floors (cementitious overlay floors have a variation in color and shade and my give a marbleized appearance while epoxy floors have uniformed look without much variation) and she decided on decorative concrete (overlay). We agreed to remove the” vinyl stick-on tile” from the floor and apply cementitios overlay with light grey integral color (color is mixed in the overlay mix). I was assured by Mrs. (member name removed) and her husband that the concrete floor was sound and free of any adhesive under the “stick on” tile and that they were positive that was the case since they had the stick on tiles installed a few years ago. Mrs. (member name removed) picked color which requires 1 0z of color to 1 bag of ThinFinish, according to the manufacturers chart. Once we agreed to the price and other terms, I requested a deposit to which she replied that she would like to wait to give me the deposit until we start the work and that she would give me the deposit the day we start the job. I let her know that that’s ok with me, however that the job will be delayed due to the time needed for the check to clear and the material to be shipped from another state. She was in agreement with that. We proceeded to remove the “stick on” tiles and found out the Mr. and Mrs. (member name removed) were dishonest when they said that there was “ a perfectly fine” concrete floor under those tiles. We had to remove another layer of vinyl tiles that was originally installed when the house was built. There was a thick layer of black glue (mastic) on the floor. When I mentioned this to the client they just shrugged and said “ well we really weren’t sure about it”. I noticed a couple of bumps on the floor and pointed out to them that there may be some (small) areas that will not be very smooth as they expected and was told to continue and that a “few bumps are not a big deal”. I waived the$1.50 per square foot tile removal charge and proceeded to grind the floor for which most contractors charge anywhere between $1.50 and $2.00 per square foot. The issue we encountered was a tremendous amount of dust (even though the grinder was connected to a vacuum) from the floor and the mastic and I decided to encapsulate the floor and the mastic residue rather than continue with the grinding and make it impossible for them to live in the house. I informed them of my decision and they accepted it . I then proceeded to apply the floor primer and allowed 24 hours drying time for the floor to dry. The next step was overlay application which consisted of 2 coats of ThinFinish and 2 coats of MicroFinish which took approximately 2-3 days due to the drying time of each coat. We applied the manufacturers recommended amount of Portion Control Colorant to each bag of overlay to achieve the color Mrs. (member name removed) picked. The SOP is to smooth the floor out between each coat. We used 120 grit floor screen, we never use steel wool on any concrete overlay floor or any other type of floor. Once the floor dried we applied one coat of PT-1 epoxy sealer. Both MRS. And Mr. (member name removed) inspected the floor and they liked the look, they paid the remaining balance and told me that the floor looked great. I received a call from Mrs. (member name removed) a day later saying that there were some areas of the floor that didn’t look very even and I told her that I would take care of it within the next two days and she was in agreement with that. I deposited the check into my account and 2 days later I found out that the check had been returned. I called to find out what the issue was and was told that they expected the floor to have a uniformed color and that they didn’t like the look. There were 2 very small spots where the sealer was absorbed more than in other areas which made it look uneven and I offered to apply another coat of sealer which would even out those spots. Needless to say I was very unhappy about their action of canceling the check when I was perfectly willing to correct the issue that occurred, within 2 business days. I was then told by Mrs. (member name removed) that she would prefer the floor to have more of a uniformed look and that she didn’t like the shade and color variation of the floor and that she would like to proceed with epoxy coating installation instead. I told her that the material would cost $650.00 (the actual material cost was $693.34) and if she wanted me to proceed with the work she would have to pay cash for the material to which she agreed. I decided not to charge the installation cost and I didn’t ask to be reimbursed for the bank fees and the inconvenience and stress that their actions caused me. At this point I have received $1900 for deposit and $650 for the Polyasphartic material and not $3850 as she claims. I ordered the material and completed the job the next day. Again both Mr. and Mrs. (member name removed)y inspected the floor and approved the job. They issued a check to myself because I didn’t trust them any longer and wanted to cash the check the same day. I believe that If they weren’t satisfied with this job they would not have given me the remaining balance or would try to cancel the check again. I received a call a few day later from Mr. (member name removed)y asking me to give him a small supply of “paint” as he called it to touch up a small spot, (a size of a dime) in one corner which we couldn’t reach even with a brush and a foot print. I told him I would try to get him a sample size, however I would need him to sign a letter releasing me of any responsibility in case he damages the floor since this type of material can only be used by trained installers and that it may take a while for my supplier to provide me with a sample and I was also having a surgery scheduled for July 23rd. On July 21 I received a text message from their cell phone threatening to report me to AG and Channel 7 and UFT if I don’t drop off the material at their back gate. I still have those text messages saved in my phone. At no point did they asking me for any refund. When I texted them to let them know that I have the touch up product and that I would like them to sign a waiver they responded very rudely. I still have the touch up product, however I am very reluctant to drop it off for them due to their behavior, therefore if they want to have the product The can pick it up upon signing the waiver. In conclusion: I never made a claim that I was in concrete business for 20 years, I told Mr. and Mrs. (member name removed) that I had my own business for 20 years. In fact ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning Solutions was an A+ BBB accredited business for several years until it was discontinued. Furthermore, I told them that Custom Concrete Design was a fairly new business and if they didn’t want to hire me they didn’t have to. I showed them photos of my work and also given them references to call . I assumed they did the due diligence before they hired me. I strongly believe that if there was a problem with the floor they would not have paid me the balance. I will not return or refund any money they paid me. I have provided approximately $1500 of complimentary services due to their dishonesty and I am not willing to provide any more refunds. I am attaching photos of finished job. The fact that they claim that I left footprints is ridiculous since they inspected the job immediately upon completion and found no footprints. In addition we use spike shoes on all epoxy/Polyasphartic jobs application jobs. If a customer has an issue or a complaint I will do everything I can to ensure that customers satisfaction. At no point did Mr. and Mrs. (member name removed) indicate that they weren’t happy with this job otherwise I would have corrected the problem. I still have the touch up product. Please see attached photos of the finished job. Thank you very much.
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Service Categories
Concrete Pouring and Repair,
Decorative Concrete,
Epoxy Flooring
FAQ
Custom Concrete Design, LLC is currently rated 1 overall out of 5.
No, Custom Concrete Design, LLC does not offer free project estimates.
No, Custom Concrete Design, LLC does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, Custom Concrete Design, LLC does not offer a senior discount.
No, Custom Concrete Design, LLC does not offer emergency services.
No, Custom Concrete Design, LLC does not offer warranties.
