Decorative Concrete & Design

After having three large trees removed because they were cracking and heaving our driveway, we contacted what is listed as a "woman owned business", Decorative Concrete and Design. Google lists what looks like a real address on Hilton Head. It is actually a storage locker. The website for this business lists what looks like a real address in Bluffton. It is a P.O. Box listed like a street address for purposes of package delivery. This can be done now. Two people who other reviewers are calling Mr.and Mrs. Smith came to give an estimate. This would in reality be who I have come to find out is Ed Begley and Jennifer Smith. I accepted their estimate and work commenced shortly before Thanksgiving. Work was completed in that week and paid for in total upon their return from vacation. The problems became intense at this point. While raking out where our trees had been stumped (by a tree company) we found a cut wire to our less than a year old irrigation system. The tree company came to repair the wire and when I turned the system on, several pipes had been burst. While pouring our concrete, the truck used by Decorative Concrete had backed up onto my lawn nearly to the front door to pour a sidewalk instead of using wheelbarrows. I texted Jennifer immediately to let her know of the issue and was called a liar first response in text. Then she said she'd have Ed text me. He did and he said that he would fix it himself when I told him I was also speaking to the company that had just recently installed the irrigation system. He was emphatic to the point of aggression that nobody else should be paid to fix on the same level of installation this mistake by his company. He fixed the one broken pipe nowhere near as well as what the irrigation company had installed, but it worked. Then the second zone in my irrigation wouldn't come on. Ed insisted that the tree company had caused further damage and it wasn't his responsibility. Discussing things with Ed is like reasoning with a high school bully. He crosses his arms and pushes a little into your space. It's disturbing. After days of raking, my husband and I gave up and called the irrigation company. When this company found what had happened, they volunteered to call Ed and see if professional courtesy might work. Big mistake. The irrigation company told Ed what we were all seeing. His subs had cut another wire within inches of the concrete, where a form would have been before the pour. They had also taken axes and chopped my brand new white pipes while removing stray roots. They had actually left one root sheared off right on top of the pipe and you could see where they just kept on chopping. The irrigation company asked Ed if he would pay for this pretty extensive repair and he said no. He said he's write us a check for $65 and pay for the service call to uncover damage that was obviously known about and that was it. He wanted to repair our brand new irrigation himself. Um, no. I don't have a proctologist do my dental work for the same reason I don't want a "cement guy" repairing my irrigation. We paid the irrigation company $260 to repair all of the damage. The worst part of this was being called a liar by an aggressive bully. I can't take them to small claims court because they don't have an address. (I found an apartment for Ed Begley using a paid internet service, but it is $80 to file a small claims suit) For a woman owned business, this company really puts a male, rude, bullying, aggressive, dishonest face out. After all of the other untruths I've uncovered and experienced, I would question whether or not they even have insurance.

Worked directly with the new co-owners of the business in deciding how to refinish the entryway into my home. Builder had stained concrete entryway but had not used fade resistant materials so after 8 years had much fading and color distortion. After talking with co-owners decided best course of action was to grind down surface entirely and use decorative roman slate overlay stamp to improve appearance of entryway . Good choice and good finished job!

These people were rude, arrogant and the husband especially was a hot head. He refused to help us because he just bought new equipment and because he didn't perform the work, The previous owner performed the work. They were impossible to get responses from. They just didn't return calls. They wanted us to go away. The owner's response to my poor review of them is a total lie. They are what is appalling and destructive.We didn't want the whole thing ripped out and replaced. We wanted the crumbling areas fixed. We have another concrete company from Bluffton fixing this mess. They told us they are repairing Decorative Concrete's messes almost weekly. He even thought they had gone out of business because no one uses them and he never sees them working anywhere. He hired one of their people who said they do shoddy workmanship by buying inferior products and taking shortcuts. These people don't give a hoot about you. Find someone else.Save yourself the headache.

In July 2013 we spent over $7,000.00 to have "Decorative Concrete & Design" (the brand) install a new poured and stamped concrete walkway and a stamped concrete driveway. By mid September we noticed side to side hairline cracks in the driveway. We notified the owner, Ms. Francine Feldman, of the problem. On September 19th 2013, Ms. Francine Feldman came to our home to see the issue. Upon looking at it she stated the following, in writing, on the company letterhead: "This is to refer and confirm that Decorative Concrete has looked at this crack in Mr. Keane driveway. And at this time (September 19th, 2013) is not needing repairing. If in the future the customer decides that, it appears to get bigger Decorative Concrete will fix this crack." That is the issue. We have a written commitment that if WE determine the crack is getting bigger it will be repaired. This commitment has not been honored. It was signed by Francine Feldman who added "(Owner) " next to the name. In June of 2014 we noticed a significant expansion of the cracking. In fact pieces were beginning to break loose and the stamped concrete surface was coming apart from the underlying original driveway. We contacted Ms. Feldman who came to our home to review the situation. Ms. Feldman looked at the problem and agreed that the crack had expanded and needed to be repaired. She had initially sold us on the strength of the product. Stating it was 3/8th of an inch of concrete so strong 40,000 plus pound Motor Coaches would not even damage it. We measured the crumbling section and found the actual concrete poured as much thinner than that. She agreed with that assessment and added that her team of installers "Should have cut an additional expansion joint". We discussed the way the repairs should be done. She agreed to have the repairs made while we were away. The repairs were scheduled to begin around July 15th, 2014. Ms. Feldman told us she had sold the company but she was working for them as a sales person and advisor. She indicated the new owners would honor the agreement and do the repairs. There was no discussion of any cost fo this to us. In early August, while still away I contacted Ms. Feldman and asked if the repairs were completed as committed. She indicated that no, they were not done. She said: "There has been so much rain we are very behind." She said she would get it done "in the next few weeks". Upon returning home in mid August we found the work was still not done. We attempted to contact Ms. Feldman. She did not respond. I then contacted Decorative Concrete at Design at the number on the Decorative Concrete and Design website. I called the number on the web site and left a message on the company voice mail. The new owner, a Mrs. Jenny Smith returned the call and scheduled a visit to our home to review the issue and make a determination as to how the problem would be dealt with. We scheduled a meeting at my home in Hilton Head Plantation for the following week. The initially set meeting date and time was rescheduled and ultimately Mrs and Mr Smith came to our home on Friday August 22nd. We showed the areas where the concrete had cracked, pieces had broken off and where the surface stamped concrete had completely crumbled. We discussed the commitments made by Ms. Feldman on behalf of the new owners and their company. I mentioned the missing expansion joint and Mrs. Smith agreed with that. I asked them why the repairs were not done as scheduled. Mrs. Smith said: "The first time we heard about this was when you called. You were never on the schedule." Later in the conversation Mr. Smith added that he and Ms. Feldman had been to the property and looked at it. This series of comments makes me wonder who is telling the truth. Was it scheduled and canceled after Mr. Smith reviewed it? Was it never scheduled? Either way it had nothing to do with being delayed by the rain as Ms Feldman had stated. Someone is being untruthful. It can't be all three ways. Mrs. Smith still seemed amenable to doing something to resolve the issue. But Mr. Smith immediately became defensive and was clearly in no mind to do anything. He began showing his position when I mentioned the fact that everyone agreed there should have been another expansion joint. he said: "Who's everyone?" in a combative tone. I answered: "Well, along with Francine (Ms. Feldman) Jenny (Mrs. Smith) had just agreed it was missing". He then continued with statements indicating he was opposed to resolving the issues. Specifically he said the following: "Why should we fix this when we didn't make any money on the sale?" He added that they were not responsible because: "We purchased the assets of the business not the liabilities." Then he added: "This is Francine's problem not ours." And finally: "We spent thousands of dollars on new equipment. Why should we have to fix this?" Mr. and Mrs. Smith, left after committing to discuss a possible resolution with Francine. Mrs. Smith still seemed to be amenable to some form of resolution. Mr. Smith seemed absolutely set against any. They committed to having an answer to us by Monday August 25, 2014. We felt that we would never hear from them again. Their commitment to contact us on Monday was broken. Monday passed with no call from Mr. or Mrs. Smith, Ms. Feldman or anyone else at the company. On Tuesday August 26th I called them and left a message. They returned the call. Mr. Smith stated they were not finished with discussions with Ms. Feldman and would have to get us an answer later. I asked when we could expect an answer. They committed to an answer on Thursday August 28, 2014. Their commitment to contact us on Thursday was broken. Thursday passed with no call from Mr. or Mrs. Smith, Ms. Feldman or anyone else at the company. On Friday August 27th, my wife and I placed repeated calls to Decorative Concrete and received no reply. We also made repeated calls to Ms. Feldman and received no reply. In fact towards the end of the day calls to Ms. Feldman from us went directly to voice mail. We were clearly being ignored. Knowing that they did receive text messages I sent a series of them outlining exactly what steps we would take as a result of their ignoring us. These posts included my intention to post reviews such as this on social media, since it was clear they had decided not to respond as committed. Here is what I received in return by text from the current owners: Text Messages: "Hhb services llc never did any work for you and therefore is not liable nor responsible for your repair. prior to these harrassing texts we were in discussion with the previous owner as to how she (end of text message) (Next text message)Wanted to handle your situation. as of now we are no longer willing to be involved. (end of text message). We replied: "Your choice" They responded with: "Decorative concrete and design is no longer in business and if you slander or libel our company there will be legal consequences." (end of text message) We replied: "OK. it would have been less expensive to fix it." Their final text message to us was: "Hey pete what church did you say you attend?" I elected not to rise to the bait. They appear on their web site to still be operating publicly under a "Doing Business As" (DBA) of Decorative Concrete & Design. While HHB Services LLC may or may not be correct in their legal position, we believe their decision to not honor the commitments made under the brand name they are using is ethically and morally wrong. Whether you favor a legal or moral position, both or neither, the fact remains that we have the right to have an opinion on the transaction. We asked for a solution. They said nothing would be done. n todays social media driven world, to make a decision such as this with a basis of "Why should we fix this when we didn't make any money on the sale?" and a legal basis such as "Hhb services llc never did any work for you and therefore is not liable nor responsible for your repair..." rather than providing exceptional customer service by resolving an issue is questionable to me. Their decision seems designed to allow them to hide behind a legal position. They have taken the position that due to "HHB Services LLC" having purchased only the Assets of the former company, they have no legal responsibility to honor commitments made by the former legal entity, Decorative Concrete and Design, Inc. Legally this may be true or it may not be true. But they take this position while two of the Assets they seem to have purchased are the name "Decorative Concrete and Design" and the reputation associated with that brand. It may be legal to hide behind a new company entity. But to do so while leveraging the Decorative Concrete and Design, Inc reputation and brand, is to me to what makes this a questionable moral position. As you make a decision to choose a contractor to do stamped concrete or other concrete work for you, you should ask yourself this question: "If this is how they handled this transaction, what will they do if I have a problem after the work is done?" Anyone in Hilton Head, Bluffton, Beaufort County or Jasper County, SC or in the greater Savannah GA area should take note of this in making your decision to use this company. This includes those in Sun City Hilton Head. Thank you for reading. Pete Keane

The result was extremely disappointing. The Current General Manager acknowledged the GM and crew that performed the work didn't execute properly. We are embarrassed our front entrance looks the way it does. To the new GM's credit, she did try to rectify the situation, but was unable to repair the damage.

Work was completed on schedule and exceeded our expectations. Workers arrived on time each day and were professional and polite. Francine worked with us for the design and provided timely response when we made alterations to the plan. Very satisfied.

Francine stopped by to give us an estimate. She was rude from the onset. She measured the room, but could not give us a square footage. Somehow, though, she was able to give us a price of $3,200.00. She then proceeded to tell us she knew money was tight in this economy and that we porobaly could not afford it. She then suggested we get carpet REMNANTS to replace the old carpet. My husband called the company and spoke with the president - Mr. Frank Watson. Shortly, Francine called back and loudly explained that she owned the company and if we thought we could get her in trouble, we were wrong! She then said we should have paid her to come to our s**t hole of a house. Then, she hung up on me. RUN from this company, unless, of course, you enjoy being belittled.

From the beginning the process didn't go well. The installers were not qualified to do the job. Short cuts were taken. Owner tried to fixed problems, but there were problems in the material used and has caused problems over the years.