Driveway drainage repair - Lessons learned 

The amount of time a customer spends outside staring at you working is proportional to the headache they're going to be.

Well at least other contractors can use your video as an example to show their clients of why a partial driveway replacement is a bad idea.

The classic, I want the whole job done but want to pay for a half job.

Man you’re a nicer guy than me, I would have told them the old driveway was not my problem. That being said you saw the easy fix and made the right business decision to fix it rather than fight it.

As a plumber says here on YT: "Good enough for this neighborhood!"

Just wanted to say that you guys always have so much class when you're working. Even in the tough situations, you don't compromise on quality or integrity. Nicely done. 👍

Great job !!! You are showing what happens in the real world, and not editing it out !!! Thank you for sharing your experience with us !!!

Everyone could tell that they would be a problem with that hoovering as you did the work. I would as a home owner check you guys out but not stand outside all day. They wanted something done they did not want to pay full price in my opinion. Good job as always!

It's so interesting to see other peoples priorities. From what I could see the amount of standing water was totally acceptable. That was an expensive change for minor improvement. I guess the bottom half was in rough shape and that might have contributed to the proposed solution.

If the homeowner didn't mention the secondary area that turned out to be holding water before work started then it is outside of the scope of the agreement. I'd be having a written agreement with layout sketches of what and where the problems are, what is going to be done to fix it and the outer boundaries shown on a plan map showing where works stop which everybody signs before starting. Customers moving the goalposts after a job is completed is a national passtime it seems nowadays. Covering your a55 at the outset should be paramount.

I think your final judgement is completely right. The homeowner can be a liability to themselves when they don't want to spend more money than they should and a liability to you, when you spot the problem in its entirety, but you overrule yourself by agreeing with the homeowner to do a partial fix. A great lesson was learnt.

I was having a panic attack thinking they were not going to replace the last 4 feet before the street....😮

Everyone has 20-20 vision hindsighting. It feels a bit obvious that this would be the case looking back. Glad it was a customer that could be reasoned with as this is on both parties. Lesson leaned and we get bigger project videos in future 😊

I always say that the worst part of customer service is the customers.

when in doubt tear it out ! rule of thumb. good work shauwn

Always protect the edge of the asphalt or concrete when pulling a truck down into a pour. I’ve crushed my share of both and learned that lesson the hard way by trying to hide the damage done Also, put a shut off in if you run out of concrete if it’s a reasonable place to put a control joint in to avoid cold joints and discoloration

GCFD aint have no time for brokies! Love ya work mate keep it up ❤

41:08 Here's what I think... They had an issue with water retainage. Your offer of replacing the entire driveway wasn't affordable, so they accepted your more cost effective option for a partial. After watching your informative videos for several years & understanding how intelligent you are about everything that NEEDS TO HAPPEN & explaining situation/circumstances & PHYSICS, it confirms (to me) that people are just stupid OR they are purposely trying to get something for free. In this video, either way, YOU did a good thing! Like you always do! Great job Guys! Looking forward to the next. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Real problem homeowner is ignoring root cause, which is the willows gotta go 🌳. Either they have an emotional attachment to the trees or don't want to spend; however, they need to be removed for driveway refurbishment to last a few without being compromised.

imo partials are usually nothing but trouble, either at the time you do them or a couple years down the road when the other half needs to get done. thanks for the video, love to see your work and thought process.

Whenever I have a contractor do work I tell them the most important thing is is let's do it and do it right the first time. Price it to reflect that. Never would I ask them to cut back. In your case you can't alway come over during a storm with adequate rain to show the problem or simulate the problem with a hose. Lots of risk not seeing it and the homeowner not mentioning it. Having to repour on your dime would be costly but it does keep your reputation in tact. Good decision to pass on all jobs like this in the future.

Looks great to me and I poured concrete for 14years

That was good and quick thinking Shawn to grade away from that area. I'm glad it worked for you because you always put in a good effort to do it right.

You handle problems like I do and everyone should… you run to the problems, not from them! Nothing is more important than the reputation.

As a homeowner concrete differences drive me nuts anyways. I'd just have you replace the whole driveway for aesthetic purposes.

Shawn you and the lads did a great job, well done 👏

Sometimes you talk about turning down jobs that are a drainage challenge, but these are the jobs you need to turn down.

All or nothing, that's the way to go, Shawn

Fantastic work

As always love your videos! When ever you try to save someone money or help them out, it will always bite you in the end. Nice guys always finish last

Thanks for sharing!

awesome job, looks great!!! 👍

With the New Pour, the Driveway looks good, but with al of the shit cracked concrete, it still Looks like Sheeeeeeet.

Good hard workers!

Nice Job!

I've learned my lessons too by watching this video. Thanks for sharing

Your concret guys make it look so easy. Smooth easy passes, leaving not a line in the concret.

Whatever you charged, it wasn't enough.

Another great video.

Great work 🔥

Top job boys 🎉

Good learning video for us all, thanks for sharing.

Great video Shaun Excellent work and wise thoughts regarding the pitfalls of partial driveway jobs.

I dont own a business, but I do own my work. Partial repairs have led to more upselling. It forces you to be very in tune with identifying hidden interconnected problems and with that increased awareness, you build the know how to upsell customers based on that knowledge. I would say over half of the jobs I do people decide to go a step further then they had originally set out to do. Maybe stop for now, but i think it makes you better. I enjoy your videos! Happy holidays.

job well done. I agree with your well thought out future plans in handling situations similar to this one.

Follow your instincts you are the professional

That needed more water added. Look at victory outdoor service. Or Odell concrete.

Great points but doing work you won't be proud of nor will it fix the problems is work you don't need. Love your honesty on this channel.

Customer wants a caddillac on a vw budget. Always happens

Good save In the end When I was in excavation I always refused to do partial jobs, it was all or nothing I didn’t want any headaches and chasing problems from other contractors or what not Great video Love the F tipper trucks you guys have Over there!!!

AKA the customer doesn't really know what they need. Sometimes they need to be told what to do.

Kind of a tough gig, well done.

good job mate

Partial or patchwork concrete, especially at the front of a house or driveway, generally reveals more about the quality and aesthetic concerns of the owners before any revelations of the quality and concerns of the contractor doing their best to satisfy the homeowner who generally has no education in the larger scope of getting the whole job done correctly rather than solving a puddle they don't like to step in when opening their car door. No partial concrete jobs usually leads to a much better deserved contractor.

"I need half a dozen eggs delivered immediately." "OK, we'll send over an 18 wheeler straight away."

Here and I came in worried that you were going to accidentally crack the upper section or take out a utility... Come to find out it's the customer moving the goal posts (twice! - the apron and the upper pad) and you gracefully adapting and coming thru.

Hey shawn, its the same in plumbing. We tell the customer what we recommend and if they want to do anything other than that. We note on our invoice: customer declined recommended repairs and have them sign!

Shaun, I like the way you think on your feet and you have to be happy with your work that’s going to get your other work so I agree with you pick your jobs. No punctuation here I’m dictating.👍👍🇨🇦✌️

I'm not in the same line of work, but principles are always good -- one of mine: do it ONCE and do it RIGHT, or don't do it at all :)

You used up all your fall..?.. BLASPHEMY. You, Sir, are the fall WHISPERER. If you can't find fall. You create it. I've SEEN you do it. You are a master at your craft. Lol.

Its always better to be looking at it, rather than looking for it.

You made the right call, partial fixes while solving the problem aren't really the best fix. Besides looking like a patch job, they always lead to problems that occur down the line.

Just curious, do you put in your contract something along the lines of “all work preformed might not resolve all drainage issues or might affect other areas”? And if you get called back do you charge again?

Could be a subsided portion and heavy vehicle ran over it ,it broke and crack as no reinforcement..concrete pavements or roads without reinforcement cant last , my road engineering experience opinion..

@Gate City Foundation Drainage Great job turning the customer service issue around. Interesting that you do not use a poly barrier and wire reinforcement before pouring. These two items are what make a concrete pour last in our area (Georgia).

Pah. They were already nuts if they think small puddles were a problem in the first place.

Thanks for the video and nice job you guys did. With the partial repair I can understand both sides. Sometimes there is no money or not enough money for the whole driveway and you won´t come back later and fixed something with your own money. I would suggest you try a waterflow test with a hose and observe how the water flows (not always possible) and then you can deside if you can do it or not. Additionally you can explane your customer the eventually upcoming problems. So the customer can think about it and do not bail out at the first second. Have a good one and a wonderfull 3rd Advent. 🕯🕯🕯 🙏

I always use a 35 size excavator on jobs like that so I’m not tracking over everything a bunch.

Integrity. It makes me more confident to hire or recommend you guys because I know you stand by your work, even when it costs you. As a homeowner, the peace of mind is worth it. You're going to get it right, and if know you can't get it right, you're not going to take the job in the first place. For example, how many bad drainage jobs by other companies has GCFD cleaned up? There's all these companies out there who don't stand by their work.

Well done getting out of that one. You did what you were tasked with. Homeowner shouldn't have queried something you weren't tasked with resolving. Time to pull that hose trick was when he got you there to look at it not after the fact. Good you are on good terms with him, I am not! Hahaha.

You know, Shawn, sometime Murphy's law will prevail. But you always seem to endeavor to persevere, even when it bites you in the butt. No matter what, you always seem to prevail.

LID, Low Impact Development. Yep design for the water-table & up. Gravel or dirt needs 4% slope, concrete needs 2%, corrugated 4-inch needs 2.8%, 4 inch smooth-wall needs .78%, 6 inch smooth-wall only needs .49% slope for the most productive low-water-table around the most used parts of the yard. Anything less is risk where you can't guarantee Ksat rating b/c of natural things like random-vehicle-compaction, roots, hydrophobic dry soil...

I don't know that you need a blanket "no partial replacements ever" policy going forward - I would suggest that instead you evaluate the overall drainage situation, including on parts of the driveway / connected sidewalks / etc that you're not planning to replace. If there's good drainage everywhere in those other areas already, then you can proceed - and if there's not, then the quote has to include everything needed to get good drainage everywhere. If the customer won't/can't accept that scope of work, *then* you pass on the job.

If you would of used a mini excavator and started close to the house and stayed on the concrete that you are removing it would of went smoother, always work your way out. Im a operator for a big concrete company in michagan. As wet as it was under the concrete and running the skid all over the concrete that wasn't getting removed probably changed the grade of the existing concrete. Thats why they had a water problem after the fact. Just my opion

When you were first bringing the skid steer around to the end of the driveway, I thought DAMN, the hydraulic pump on that thing is just SCREAMING, how do you not hear that? It sounds almost like a chainsaw or ... oh... concrete saw. Right. 😂

La Raza as always making a good job.

En Argentina decimos: "Lo barato, sale caro". Translation might be: "cheap gets expensive"

Приятно смотреть на профессионалов 😀👌 привет из России!

have people like this all the time on my side job where I do computer repair, they try to get me to do work with paying for the additional work I just walk away if it was not on the original work order too bad its extra, Guarantee if the home owner ran his own business he would do the same thing!

I learned a long time ago the customer isnt always right... I have turned down a few jobs because clients knew more and I didn't want to chase my tail for 20 years...

Jees Shaun, I almost didn’t watch this because I thought this was going to be a major fail, looks good.😅

Lesson in every job. Now you know! People will always try to save a dollar. I don't blame them though lol

Could you do a video where you visit many of your previous job sites when it rains? I just love to see your job "in action"

Where is the mesh for the driveway? rebar? fiberglass? anything is better than nothing.

Never do partial replacements unless you already know from upstream fall is higher then downstream. A full replacement is always better as you know what the grade is top to bottom. Victory outdoor services taught me that!

FEAR THE BEAK

were you a yard short because at the last minute the homeowner decided to remove that skirt?

I agree with you on this decision. You should maybe have checked the grade on the upper level, and then you'll be able to tell them what you want to do.

Starting off i said Oh crap...i hope the Big tree didnt croak by affecting the roots Etc... Yeah thats a tough one, I agree overall....Glad it turned out ok.. With so many years in my family's roofing business we had a lot of these type deals where you could only do so much & had to pass on the others.

👍👍👍

Unknown Existing Conditions. Not doing partials because of…. That’s how I’d explain it to the next customer asking for a partial repair.

This problem is on the homeowners, they didn't want to replace the whole thing and complained about a piece of drive way that you didn't touch

It doesn't make any sense. That the homeowner had the concrete crew truck and drainage and not fix the broken piece on the right. Look wise it would look great if the did from the point you said. Business wise you can solve more problems if you could regrade the base for the concrete. Nice video glad this worked out. Now i know. And knowing is half the Battle! G.I. Joe great American hero. 😆

Missed a couple spots with the broom at the approach.

Wish you could have fixed the piece on the right apron to existing concrete, to me, I wouldn’t like that at all! Spend the money to get it right the first time. Thanks for the video! I do love watching concrete videos 😊

All or nothing, Sean.

that mulch bed was an issue anyway i think if you had started further back youd still have had some problems with water draining off concrete! It was a tricky drive but wouldnt let that put you off doing partials

oof theres such a hump in that driveway + yard. lucky shaun eeks out a save.

It’s not Victory Style!

No compacted gravel, no wire mesh, no inspection for the apron. If you don't put gravel under concrete, the concrete can crack, sink, bow, or crumble. I didn't see any gravel or wire under the old slab. Not having it was probably why it was so heavily damaged. And it looked as if you broomed the finish a little early. What jurisdiction do you work in?