Advice for Driveway project gone bad

Eric@CherryOnTop

Eric@CherryOnTop

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I hired a local company to sealcoat my driveway. He came out and took a look at it and gave me an estimate a few weeks ago, set up the appointment for last week on Tuesday while I was out of town. My driveway is not in the best shape and I know that, but he told me he could clean it up, cover the oil stains and I should get about a year out of the sealcoat job. Fine for me, we plan on selling the house anyway.

I came home from vacation (5 days after the job was done) and the tape is still across the driveway so nothing has touched it. It looked pretty good initially. I went out the next day and was doing some stuff and noticed that there are big flakes of sealcoat coming up off the driveway. I actually looks like rusty paint that's peeling away from a car panel. I still haven't paid the guy for the job yet cos I was planning on giving him cash when I came home. So I spoke to him and told him what's up. He said, yeah, the driveway was dirtier than I thought, those spots must be where there is leftover dirt. He said he would come back and take a look at it.

My question is, I have no intention of paying this guy if this is the kind of work I got. If I pay him and then more sealcoat starts peeling up I'm pretty much SOL. Would you guys not pay, make him do the whole thing over again after prepping it better, or pay with a credit card so you at least have a little protection? I've never run into this issue before, probably because I hate paying people to do work for me for this very reason.
 
I wouldn't pay him. Take pictures and document it in case it ends up in court.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't pay him at all.

"Dirtier than he thought"??

Isn't part of the job pressure washing the dirt OFF before sealing? Wow. :dunno:
 
We used to have an asphalt driveway. Once every year or so random people with tar coatings would come buy and offer to spray it down for $75-$100 or whatever. I swear half the time they were spraying black water as a month later it looked like nothing was done. It was never the same people.

Now I have a concrete driveway that I sealed myself. Still looks good, and during the first month or so of the sealant, it actually beads water. I love that :)
 
If you can live with paying for the bad job have him fix it and make clear that you will wait for a week again to see how it holds up. Tell him you will happily pay if it does not peel or wash off again. The job should at least not peel again. If he does not agree pay half with a check and have him sign that he is paid in full for a unsatisfactory job.
 
I doubt he'll ask for payment even. Regardless, no, I wouldn't pay.

Beyond that, I feel for you as there's nothing you can do except entirely scrape off the coating and start over. IMO ditch the blacktop and invest in concrete. We paid about $5sq. ft. for our concrete drive and I never looked back. Seal it for the first couple years and enjoy it. Our blacktop lasted about 20yrs before it started to peel. I'll never go back.
 
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More of these spots have been popping up as I drive over the pavement. I guess my question is, will it keep occurring and if it's redone will it start again? Also, legally, if I refuse to pay him can he do anything to me? We had a verbal agreement about the job and the price, there is nothing on paper and I never signed anything.


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ekennett said:
I hired a local company to sealcoat my driveway. He came out and took a look at it and gave me an estimate a few weeks ago, set up the appointment for last week on Tuesday while I was out of town. My driveway is not in the best shape and I know that, but he told me he could clean it up, cover the oil stains and I should get about a year out of the sealcoat job. Fine for me, we plan on selling the house anyway.

I came home from vacation (5 days after the job was done) and the tape is still across the driveway so nothing has touched it. It looked pretty good initially. I went out the next day and was doing some stuff and noticed that there are big flakes of sealcoat coming up off the driveway. I actually looks like rusty paint that's peeling away from a car panel. I still haven't paid the guy for the job yet cos I was planning on giving him cash when I came home. So I spoke to him and told him what's up. He said, yeah, the driveway was dirtier than I thought, those spots must be where there is leftover dirt. He said he would come back and take a look at it.

My question is, I have no intention of paying this guy if this is the kind of work I got. If I pay him and then more sealcoat starts peeling up I'm pretty much SOL. Would you guys not pay, make him do the whole thing over again after prepping it better, or pay with a credit card so you at least have a little protection? I've never run into this issue before, probably because I hate paying people to do work for me for this very reason.
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Been through that same problem.Here is the deal if you have to go to court. Take a video of day one flaw.Don't pay him cash.Take video month after month and have in writing 1 year warranty.Without video you will only get half of your money back.I took a guy to court for 4800 without the video I was granted half.Due dillenge on this company.Im sure you did .
 
Looks like dirt under the areas that have peeled. So I would say it's lack of adhesion due to not cleaning, or if the asphalt is gone in those areas, you were not a good candidate for seal coat in the first place
 
I did the seal coating job for a fews yrs when i was younger. These spots should have been broom washed with a minumum of water hose pressure then all should have been blown dry. Looks like he just put the seal coat over dirt no cleaning. This will all have to be pressure washed off and cleaned thouroughly to fix. Its not the cost of the initial job to be worried about but the expense to properly fix it $$$$

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ekennett said:
More of these spots have been popping up as I drive over the pavement. I guess my question is, will it keep occurring and if it's redone will it start again? Also, legally, if I refuse to pay him can he do anything to me? We had a verbal agreement about the job and the price, there is nothing on paper and I never signed anything.
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Bad news is that looks just like our Driveway when we decided to finally replace it. The Asphalt under has broken down and is starting to deteriorate. If you were to hold a pressure washer on those areas it will blast away like dirt. Time to replace it. Our drive was pretty old and the estimators that came for both Concrete and Asphalt said they were surprised we got the length of time out of it we did.

Again, IMO go with Concrete. It costs a bit more but has far less maintenance and will bring you more value down the road. It's sorta like a deck vs patio, which we're going through now too. Out with the wood and in with pavers. Time to do it right.
 
Jaretr1 said:
We used to have an asphalt driveway. Once every year or so random people with tar coatings would come buy and offer to spray it down for $75-$100 or whatever. I swear half the time they were spraying black water as a month later it looked like nothing was done. It was never the same people.
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Those are what are referred to as "gypsies". Black water...probably more like black paint.

ekennett said:
I hired a local company to sealcoat my driveway.

Also, legally, if I refuse to pay him can he do anything to me? We had a verbal agreement about the job and the price, there is nothing on paper and I never signed anything.
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If this was a local painting of paving company...they should have given you a written estimate. If it was a gypsy, as others have noted, he will probably just disappear as it will be cheaper for him to not get paid than to do a good job. As a general rule, I would never deal with a contractor, local/legit or otherwise, who doesn't give you a written estimate. There's a reason they don't want to put down anything in writing...and it's because they don't want anything to give them liability for the crap job they are going to do. Like if this guy really is a local business...he can say he told you the job wouldn't come out right because of the condition of the driveway, but you wanted him to do it anyway--his word against yours. Whereas a legit guy might put in his written quote "cannot guarantee job due to preexisting condition" or "because customer won't pay for proper cleaning". Just as an example.
 
Be careful not paying. He could put a lien on your house so once you sell he gets his money or you can't sell it.
 
Thanks guys for the advice. I took the pictures as soon as I noticed so the metadata is date and time stamped in my phone. I'll take a video too, that's a good idea.

He told me on the phone that it should have been powerwashed prior to sealing but he only used the blower.

Coopers ST, can he put a lien on the house without a work order being signed by me? Again, we only had a verbal agreement about the price and I never signed an estimate or work order.

I'm certainly no expert on asphalt and really have no idea how this stuff works so it's good to get outside eyes on it.

We won't be replacing the driveway since we plan on selling the house within the year. The realtor who came to give us an appraisal advised us to seal the driveway because it will make a big difference in the marketability of the house, which is why we did it now.


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ekennett said:
Coopers ST, can he put a lien on the house without a work order being signed by me? Again, we only had a verbal agreement about the price and I never signed an estimate or work order.
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I don't see how he could without a signed contract. However, in NJ it can get pretty convoluted and I actually had a contractor stiff the building material supplier, and the supply house slapped me with the bill, which became pretty complicated. NY may be similar but I doubt he gets anywhere without a signed contract.

ekennett said:
We won't be replacing the driveway since we plan on selling the house within the year. The realtor who came to give us an appraisal advised us to seal the driveway because it will make a big difference in the marketability of the house, which is why we did it now.
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As you alluded to before, if you want something done right, do it yourself...which of course becomes a huge burden. Hopefully you can find a way to achieve your goal without having to do it yourself.
 
We just had ours done but it was basically broken up in parts, not the whole driveway, filled in with hot asphalt then sealed over. They made sure things were clean and it was dirt free so it could bond properly. It looks like he did really poor prep work and it failed. Definitely take him to court and get your money back
 
By chance does this guy have a website? If so, perhaps you can screen shot any language on the site that directly states or implies a satisfaction guarantee. That would be evidence that you could use if things get taken to court. As others said, remember to only deal with written contracts in the future. I have an app called CamScanner, you can scan any document with your phone and make it into a PDF file. This is handy for any paperwork that you want a digital copy of instantly.


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