Wish I'd known Marty was an ex-concreter when I put in a 15' x 40' concrete pad at our last house. In complete ignorance, I put in approx 12" of crushed rock and compacted it, followed by 8" of concrete with rebar. Although we only had a gas class A at the time, I figured we'd one day get a (much heavier) diesel pusher. My other mistakes were having the crushed rock delivered in the street and wheel-barrowing it into the side yard, then using an old cement mixer to mix the concrete (instead of having readymix delivered and pumped in).
Wow Tom, you really put in your pound of flesh on that one! You can never be wrong going overboard on the prep (except for the cost) even though it may not have been necessary. That 600 square foot pad would have taken 7.5 yards of cement at 4" thick. So that's 15 yards at 8" thick. That's one heck of a lot of mixing by hand!
Yesterday I watched a contractor replace a neighbors driveway apron. It's directly across the street so I was able to watch the entire process. The apron is maybe 2/3rds as big as ours. The cost $2,000.
So far, my estimates $6,240 and $8,000.
So basically with caveats, 3 to 4 times as much for 33% more work. I asked the man for his business card. He doesn't have any. Says all his work is "word of mouth".
The caveats. I'm guessing he is not licensed and may not have proper insurance. He did not put any road base in or compact the area. He said the ground was hard enough. Then he hauled the debris away in the back of an old pickup truck so no dumpster. So a few questions.
Do I take a chance that the City, who has seen my sidewalk and driveway, will not find out the work was done without a permit and face whatever fines or penalties may apply if they do?
Since my ground is also very hard, should I allow a contractor to do the work without adding and compacting road base?
Can a contractor make $15,000 profit on a $30,000 project?
I did a lot of "side work" when I was young Gary, often at a greatly reduced rate from what others were charging. (I was just trying to feed a family of 4 when the economy was in the dumper when Carter was president.) So I can't sit here and tell you that you shouldn't use anyone not licensed, that would make me a hypocrite. Some guys do great work, and are just hustling. I never had business cards or advertised either. All word of mouth. The best references were past satisfied customers. And I would readily provide numbers if asked.
I did a lot of work in Riverside county back then and rarely ever used base or even wire because most the ground out there was DG (decomposed granite) and rock, so no further base material was needed. I did 95% of my work by myself, so no other workers to pay. If you saw the guy work, and liked his finished product, he would be worth talking to.
And yes, contractors will charge you whatever the market will bare. I decided to hire out a massive job at a house I had in Fallbrook. About 60 yards of asphalt tear out and replace with concrete in a huge circular driveway. I got estimates from several contractors, and told them all that I was a licensed contractor, but didn't have the crew to do the job myself. I figured about $20K for the whole job, but the estimates ranged from low 20's to almost $50K! I was shocked. Especially since I knew exactly was was involved in the process. Some guys just think that they are really special, and they want you to believe it too!
And will the city ever know you had work done and who did it? Doubtful. The city likely has hundreds of projects going on, and some driveway replacement for a homeowner is not high on their list. Back in the day when I was doing it, no permits were required for a driveway unless some part of it was going to have something structural on it, like a cover or a shop. Now days things may be different.
60-90k. WoW.
