Fixing Another Contractor's Mistake
Whether it's your own work or someone else's, you may be called upon to fix a decorative concrete project gone awry. Trowel & Error is a new column that celebrates the fact that there's always a solution to every decorative concrete problem.
by Rick Smith

In this business we are used to fixing our own mistakes. However, we are sometimes required to fix another installer's decorative concrete mistake. This can be an uncomfortable experience for all involved. It is important to be sensitive to the client's fears, insecurities and possible anger. It is also important to be sensitive to the fact that money has been paid out to the other installer and that good money will have to be paid out after bad. Last but not least, it is important not to badmouth the other installer's work, as this will be a bad reflection on you and do no good for the situation as a whole.

Recently, we were called by a homeowner who had asked us to bid on his project a year earlier. He had decided to use his painter, who had given him a lower price to do his floors. Upon going to his home and looking at his floors, we sat down with him and asked him to give us as much information as he could on what was done in the installation of his floor finish. We then asked to speak to the installer of the floor to get any other forensic information we could gather. At this point we spoke to the manufacturer's rep regarding the products that were put down and got those spec sheets sent to us.

Once we had all of the information we could get regarding this failure, we sat down and analyzed it so we could get a game plan of how we could fix the problem. We structured our proposal to the homeowner in a way that gave him choices for how far he wanted to go to get his floors fixed. This way the client did not feel backed into a corner. These choices were not only based upon scope of work, but price and the potential longevity of the products we were bringing to the table.