Possible Paving Scam?

[GP_RZ]

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Over the weekend while we were out a gentleman stopped by our house and dropped off a business card.
When we arrived I glanced at it, put it on the counter and went outside to work on some projects.
About an hour later a white pick up truck with two occupants, rolled in my driveway and I was pleasantly greeted by a guy with a heavy Irish accent.
He stated his company was doing work in the area and he was wondering if we require any. With my front entrance all ripped up it is obvious there is work to be done. So we chatted for a bit he gave me a price and explained in detail what he could do for me. He was polite, knowledgeable and very eager to do the job. "You don't pay until the job is done"...
So I said, I'll think about it and I'll contact him if I'm interested. He left and I continued my projects.

Went in the house and told my wife. We decided to check out reviews on Google. We could not find a single one, but their website showed Google reviews, first red flag. Then we see no name on the card, the business is a virtual address and only a 1-800 number, having his cell number we checked that and it is from the Ottawa area, then we checked out the website creation date, November 2023. More red flags...

Lastly we Google paving scams, Irish accent, white pick up truck and boy that seals the deal. Looks like these two have been doing this for years and even arrested for it. Found articles, forum posts etc.

While I could be wrong, I'll stay sceptical and cautious and keep my money....

I think I might have dealt with this guy (Said he was Welsh) and his 2 sons last summer, cant complain for $6500 cash as I did not want to spend that much and clean up the old asphalt as we are not going to be here for many more years, did not find anything on google as well. They did 3 more house down the road. they graded with cold asphalt then topped it with hot asphalt, and all the workers were Mexican. Its held up do far. Going to seal and landscape this spring

 

[oioioi]

I think I might have dealt with this guy (Said he was Welsh) and his 2 sons last summer, cant complain for $6500 cash as I did not want to spend that much and clean up the old asphalt as we are not going to be here for many more years, did not find anything on google as well. They did 3 more house down the road. they graded with cold asphalt then topped it with hot asphalt, and all the workers were Mexican. Its held up do far. Going to seal and landscape this spring

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View attachment 73218

If they did a good job and you didn't get screwed, I would say it was someone else.
Just personal opinion, my comment is not based on facts.

 

[GP_RZ]

If they did a good job and you didn't get screwed, I would say it was someone else.
Just person opinion, my comment is not based on facts.

Well we new it was a $6500 job, so no complaints so far.

 

[nobbie48]

So, what was the scam I just missed out on?

Doorbell rings and the guy says "I'm a contractor working in the area and noticed a squirrel on your chimney and it disappeared so there might be a hole that will be letting water in."

His pickup with ladders is parked at the curb.

#1 If you're WORKING in the area where do you find time to watch squirrels running across roofs?

#2 The chimney has three flues with the front two visibly capped because we don't use the fireplace ones. The third is more subtly capped because everything is high efficiency and don't need flues.

I'm assuming he was going to go up on the roof and FIND something wrong that he could fix for a grand or two cash.

I would have loved to let him go up and then take away his ladder but that could lead to liabilities.

I own ladders and I'm not afraid of heights. When I told him I'd check it out myself he left.

He may be the same one that conned a nearby widow out of $1700 to do an emergency repair on her roof.

Scum

 

[GreyGhost]

So, what was the scam I just missed out on?

Doorbell rings and the guy says "I'm a contractor working in the area and noticed a squirrel on your chimney and it disappeared so there might be a hole that will be letting water in."

His pickup with ladders is parked at the curb.

#1 If you're WORKING in the area where do you find time to watch squirrels running across roofs?

#2 The chimney has three flues with the front two visibly capped because we don't use the fireplace ones. The third is more subtly capped because everything is high efficiency and don't need flues.

I'm assuming he was going to go up on the roof and FIND something wrong that he could fix for a grand or two cash.

I would have loved to let him go up and then take away his ladder but that could lead to liabilities.

I own ladders and I'm not afraid of heights. When I told him I'd check it out myself he left.

He may be the same one that conned a nearby widow out of $1700 to do an emergency repair on her roof.

Scum

It's worse than you imagined. Many of those dbags go up there and cause damage (like kicking over your chimney). Then you go from no issues to a real issue that requires immediate intervention. They often charge tens of thousands to fix the damage they caused.

 

[nobbie48]

It's worse than you imagined. Many of those dbags go up there and cause damage (like kicking over your chimney). Then you go from no issues to a real issue that requires immediate intervention. They often charge tens of thousands to fix the damage they caused.

Mad Mike related a situation where a non WSIB covered worker created a $1.1 million liability for the owner.

Minor issues like crushing an eaves trough with a ladder, kicking a shingle tab etc. would just be the start.

I do wish I had taken his picture and one of his truck license plate to be posted on the local rag.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I have to take a walk down around the corner of my street and see how the half-assed paving job that was done there is faring after the winter. It was one of those "lay down a skim coat of asphalt on top of the existing cracked driveway" hack jobs that was cheap I guess.

I've already got hit up by one of the "driveway sealing" guys on our street when I was out puttering in the garage last week. Our driveway is around 10 years old now and I've never once sealed it since as for the first 10 years I don't believe it was necessary. Now, at 10 years of age it's starting to get to the point where I think it will be of benefit, but, with that being said...a lot of these "sealing" companies are just spraying glorified black paint on the asphalt which results in a (sometimes) nice cosmetic result, but offers little to nothing so far as actual sealing.

And sometimes you get sh!t jobs like this:



True quality asphalt sealing doesn't come from a wheelie-cart with a spray gun and a kid walking down the street and going door to door. It's also not cheap.

 

[Gaoler]

I had two Irish guys with a crew of Mexicans tear up my interlock driveway and pave it...
They seemed a little shifty, but... Five years later the paving job they did has held up.

 

[nobbie48]

I have to take a walk down around the corner of my street and see how the half-assed paving job that was done there is faring after the winter. It was one of those "lay down a skim coat of asphalt on top of the existing cracked driveway" hack jobs that was cheap I guess.

I've already got hit up by one of the "driveway sealing" guys on our street when I was out puttering in the garage last week. Our driveway is around 10 years old now and I've never once sealed it since as for the first 10 years I don't believe it was necessary. Now, at 10 years of age it's starting to get to the point where I think it will be of benefit, but, with that being said...a lot of these "sealing" companies are just spraying glorified black paint on the asphalt which results in a (sometimes) nice cosmetic result, but offers little to nothing so far as actual sealing.

And sometimes you get sh!t jobs like this:

View attachment 73278

True quality asphalt sealing doesn't come from a wheelie-cart with a spray gun and a kid walking down the street and going door to door. It's also not cheap.

Someone was doing the cheapie stuff using gasoline and tar. The problem was it took forever to dry.

Personally I don't ike the coatings as they tend to be slippery.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

I have to take a walk down around the corner of my street and see how the half-assed paving job that was done there is faring after the winter. It was one of those "lay down a skim coat of asphalt on top of the existing cracked driveway" hack jobs that was cheap I guess.

I've already got hit up by one of the "driveway sealing" guys on our street when I was out puttering in the garage last week. Our driveway is around 10 years old now and I've never once sealed it since as for the first 10 years I don't believe it was necessary. Now, at 10 years of age it's starting to get to the point where I think it will be of benefit, but, with that being said...a lot of these "sealing" companies are just spraying glorified black paint on the asphalt which results in a (sometimes) nice cosmetic result, but offers little to nothing so far as actual sealing.

And sometimes you get sh!t jobs like this:

View attachment 73278

True quality asphalt sealing doesn't come from a wheelie-cart with a spray gun and a kid walking down the street and going door to door. It's also not cheap.

I use a great guy out of Durham region if you're interested in his contact info. Price/product are great and he does an excellent job. He does my driveway cheaper than I can roll it.

 

[mimico_polak]

I’m scared of getting a quote for our driveway. 9 car driveway ain’t gonna be cheap but it’s showing more cracking, a depression here or there…eventually gonna have to bite the bullet.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I had two Irish guys with a crew of Mexicans tear up my interlock driveway and pave it..

Those types of crews often do the absolute best work honestly. When we had our driveway done about 10 years ago it was a crew of people who didn't speak a lot of english, but they did an *awesome* job, and it was done right as aside from fading, 10 years later it is aging awesome.

I use a great guy out of Durham region if you're interested in his contact info. Price/product are great and he does an excellent job. He does my driveway cheaper than I can roll it.

Yeah, that'd be awesome, PM me please or share here if you want - I am looking for an actual good sealing job, not just a quick spray-tan type "sealing" that doesn't actually seal anything at all but just makes the driveway black again.

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