Cement Brothers Concrete

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This was honestly one of the best experiences we've had with a contractor. I don't even know where to start with this review, so I guess I'll just type! From the initial visit to give a quote, to the very very end Steve (co-owner) and his crew were either on time or early every day of the job, and didn't let anything other than rain slow them down. Not once was anyone late. Steve worked with my wife and I closely to help us pick what we wanted, both at our home and at a place that showcases all the various stampings we could choose from. Every time we called or emailed with questions along the way (while prepping for them to come, for example.. digging out plants etc) he answered or called back immediately, no matter what day of the week or even how late at night. In fact I sort of feel bad for texting at 7pm on a Sunday asking about giant holes I created where concrete would go (as during the work it became obvious my concerns weren't even worth concern) but he was quick to call and ease me through what I was worried about and didn't appear inconvenienced at all. His crew was very good. His main two helpers (at least for my job) are a couple guys I wouldn't trade for anyone on a concrete job being done at my house. Very very hard workers, very tolerant of my hovering over and asking questions, fine tuning my vision and asking to have things done a little differently here and there. Really this is true of everyone that came out, but those two were there for the whole part so they stood out the most for me. His guys even helped me with everything I asked them to help with that was outside of our agreement, and did it happily and politely. They helped me pull out holly bushes, adjust my privacy fence gates for the new driveway, move dirt around, concrete in a new mailbox, etc, while they were there anyway waiting for some part of the process to complete (or dry or whatever) before moving on with their work. From start to finish everyone was polite and professional and clearly knew what they were doing. Just watching everyone pour and smooth and everything else was great. I had recently watched a different company work and it was a much less impressive experience - as was the finished product. These guys really DO have good work ethics, a great process that works, and the end result shows it. They don't mind custom work (as in, "here is my non-cookie cutter vision, with curves etc, can you do it?") and framing things up and asking your approval/opinion and changing things here and there to line up with what you envision. One of my biggest concerns was WELL checked, double and triple checked by multiple people - and that was ensuring water ran away from the house and our back door in a well designed way, and it sure does. It's great, there is a little valley that causes all the water to run to the part of the driveway that goes downhill to the street, and I've seen it in action, it's awesome. Steve himself went above and beyond. He told me from the start, "Here is what I will do this job for, and you don't pay anything at all until we're done and you're happy." - and that held true. There was an increase of a few hundred dollars because we chose to darken our stamping some and we decided to increase the patio by about 140 square feet, but the price increase was agreed on before they started the job and it was our choice. Even after being paid, Steve still came back out a couple times to look at things with/for me. Let's be honest here, nothing is ever "perfect" in a world of things made by humans, especially in the world of concrete, and he was happy to look at and give some attention to the couple things I wasn't 100% sure about. He even spotted a couple things on his own that he wanted touched up, and got it done. And added a couple extra layers of sealer at no cost to the stamped work, to help me feel better about the absorption rate happening with the 85 degree sun beating down on it during the curing and to improve on the stamper's already great job, personally. I'm not even sure how truly needed it was (as over the past week the sun has dried it all out evenly and nicely) versus Steve just doing what he felt he should do to exceed expectations for his customer. And there was about 50 dollars worth of sealer left over, which I got to keep. :) I know he was having a really rough week, too, outside of our job - and yet managed to maintain and stay the course, rolling with the punches better than many I'm sure would have. A good testament to character in my opinion. I'm telling you, if everyone out there had the integrity this company does and stood behind their work like this, people (or at least people like me?) wouldn't be so nervous about hiring out people to tear their property up and re-build it. That's a scary thing for some people, especially me. It is so anxiety inducing to give control to someone else, with my money and home on the line, and I think the contractor stereotype over the years has led to that. Companies like this can change that line of thought in the industry and I'm real glad to have found someone to add to my contact list of people I can honestly and happily recommend to family and friends (and already have). We won't live in this house forever, and when we move, should there be any need for concrete work, I know who to call. Also, don't mind people coming by to look as a reference. Just ask Steve to give me a buzz so we'll know you're coming. We have a very attentive neighborhood and family, wouldn't be good to show up walking around the property without me and/or the neighbors knowing you're allowed. ;) (Oh, speaking of references, we did ask for a few - and he sent us three or four that we got to go look at.)

Color variations in concrete. Left a mess in the yard.

The parking pad was poured to match our driveway, which it does. The sealing also looks nice. Our concerns were that all the sealing as done in one day, blocking all three doors to our house. This made getting in and out of the house very inconvenient for three days while the sealer dried. Also, the pad looks great, but the dirt that had to be moved to pour the pad was left in several piles in low areas of our yard (with our agreement), which required a good deal of our time to spend. There were also two large pieces of excess cement left near the project that I needed to dig up and remove. Basically, I felt we were left to clean-up the project site, which I had assumed would be done by Cement Brothers. To be fair, I didn't call them and ask them to return for the clean up; they may have done so if asked.

My decision to use this company was based on Angie's List reviews and my impressions of work shown on their website. I realize now this was a mistake and I would recommend anyone considering this type of work to get references and personally inspect work done by any company under consideration. I can only hope the structural integrity of my new driveway is sound. It is obvious that when it comes to general craftsmanship, especially in forming and tooling smooth flowing curves and straight joints, there is a lot of room for improvement. It almost appears that the joints were done without a straight edge. There are minor flaws throughout, including surface irregularities and edges that were damaged when forms were removed. And a word of warning, don't give them free rein in your yard with their skid loader because you will be in for some major lawn repair work, and you might even discover leftover material dumped in remote areas of your (or your neighbor's) yard.

They were fast, courteous, and did an excellent job. They came out to do a final estimate which came in a little higher due to the additional sq footage and excavation. They did an excellent job making it look like it had always been there including curving it to match the landscape.

If you've ever tried to get a concrete contractor to come do work for you in the Middle Tennessee area, you know that finding a reliable company to do a small job is difficult. Lots of unreturned phone calls and people that seem questionable. I'm delighted to report that Steve is NOT one of these flaky contractors. He is very responsive and professional. The work was done just as he described it would be. The loader driver (Frankie) who came to prepare the site did a great job. He was very careful and did the job right. The job came out quite well. I give Cement Brothers my highest recommendation. Having said that, concrete is messy stuff. Expect to have some cleanup to do after a job like this. It is unavoidable that some concrete will splash around into your lawn, but they did their best to minimize it. Steve's price was the most competitive bid I received. One interesting thing is that we never signed a contract. I had an email with a written description and price.