Problem with a job done on my driveway

Sorry about the long winded thread.....

I recently got my driveway done using the concrete stenciling. The guy forgot the border around the edge and when I called him, he said he could put it on but it would be a bit messy so instead he gave me money off which I was ok with.

Now the real problem is that before I booked this job in with the guy, he was about to order the products for it. I asked him to hold off as I wanted to go see a job he had previously did. I did that and was happy enough with what I saw. I then asked him to go ahead and he said that I had missed the date I had booked it in for and would have to wait an extra month, fill out a booking form and pay a 10% deposit. I changed the pattern I wanted and discussed this with him before I sent him the booking form (with the details included). Anyway, he did the job last week and it was only after I paid him (silly me), I went back to look at the booking form again and he has put down the wrong pattern. I don't particularly like the one he's put down (it makes the driveway look like a runway!) I called him about this and he said he would put a rosette in the middle of it to make up for it. I think this could only make it worse than it already is.

The thing is, I'm almost afraid to ask him to redo it incase he makes it worse and does a real botch job on it.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

Hi there,

If the job you got done was not what you requested as per pattern and border and as was requested on the booking form then I would get him to do it again (if this can be done). I know its not fun when you have to argue and battle with people to get what you want but you will be looking at this driveway for a long time. I recently got my front garden cobble locked and had a similar experience. Had spoken to the guy doing the job and said I wanted exact same as family member whom he had done cobble lock for before. The job we got done was not near as nice and missing alot of the features we wanted so we said we were not happy, wanted a, b and c done as requested and he came back and fixed it. Be firm with this guy, tell him you really aren't happy and exactly what you want done.

Thanks deedee80, thats a bit reassuring.

If he does a botch job though on the new design, where do I stand there legally? Can he just say he did the best he could? Just don't want this to look any worse than it does already.

Does he have a brochure? Because if he does and the picture of the job you want done is in the brochure then thats how exactly it should look. I'm not too sure about the legal side but things but as this is his business he should really know what he is doing. You might not have too much come back as he has already been paid but he should fix/re-do what he has done so far. People in this line of work get alot of their business through word of mouth, he really won't want any bad publicity.

I rang another Concrete Stenciling crowd, they said it can be redone but would be difficult for him. I'm just not sure I can live with it the way it is so I'll ask him to change it and take it from there. Thanks for your reply.