Flatline Concrete

***Note: This is a review of the RIchland/Kennewick/Pasco Flatline Concrete and not the Seattle company of that name.*** How did it go? BAD. Really, really, really bad. See our review of Dreambuilders Homes for the full story. First off- Foundation work seemed OK-- although they did set the hold-down bolts for the stud walls too deep during the pour and had to go back and drill to add expansion bolts. That didn't seem too professional. Stamped concrete: The BIG problem came with an interior stamped concrete floor with embedded radiant heat tubes. The evenness and texture came out terrible. And I mean TERRIBLE. Trust me- this isn't something anyone in their right mind would want as an interior floor. (See attached pics). We've had 5 decorative concrete contractors look at it to see what could be done to fix it and all 5 said that Flatline worked it WAY too wet when they did the stamping. The most experienced of the contractors said that he'd never seen anything quite like it and wasn't sure what to do about it. The reaction of the rest of the contractors ranged from "Oh, Oh" to "I wouldn't have this guy pour a slab for a doghouse." (That one seemed harsh, but I think he was taking professional offense at the workmanship). 1/26/12 update: It got worse. We had a concrete expert evaluate the floor and he said that we have structural cracking going all the way through the slab that could have been avoided (or at least minimized) if they had used rebar at the corners. We're moving into the "wouldn't let them pour a slab for a doghouse" camp. I know that mistakes happen. This one seemed like a classic example of confusing "Knowing how something is done" with "Knowing how to do something." I think he just got in WAY over his head. Communication was a problem too- this whole thing could have been avoided with clearer responses to some pretty simple questions and requests. Like "Can you show me the stamp you're going to use? "Can we see an example of the stamping before you start?" From what I've learned since, these seem like industry standards for most decorative concrete contractors. Bottom line is that this floor ended up nothing like what we were expecting or what we requested. That lead to the biggest problem for us... the response to the mistake. There has been no acceptance of responsibility for the problem by either Flatline Concrete or the general contractor, Dreambuilders Homes. We're looking at $20,000 plus to fix the problem and another $15,000 in legal expenses and delay costs while we pursue arbitration. That is not something we can afford. My Uncle used to say that one of the greatest measures of a man is their ability to take responsibility for their mistakes and to make them right. By that standard, Danny and Aaron both have a great deal of growing up to do.