Good evening all, I'm hoping that someone can advise me on how to deal with my situation.
In early August '19 we had our drop kerb extended.
Within 3 weeks there were some issues with the tarmac - it was crumbling in places, it had weeds sprouting up thru it and there were several tyre marks. All of which I brought to the contractors attention straight away. The contractor said it must have been a dodgy batch of tarmac and agreed to return in October to redo.
In late Oct '19 they returned and re-laid the driveway. This time round there ere roller mark the width of the drive, the tarmac was very wavy and it was crumbling (again). At this point the drive still hadn't been driven on.
I let the contractor know what was going on, his response - I'm sorry I can't help, please feel free to complain to the council. If they say its bad I'll redo. By now he's not answering my calls, so I called the local highways team who sent a guy out straight away!
Unfortunately he was new to the team and wasn't willing to say what was going to happen next and that the top highways guy would come out next week. He mentioned that the council are only interested in the driveway being safe and not how it looks. Needless to say I was lost for words.
If anyone can give me any kind of advice with regards to this it would be a massive help, my brain is fried!
The council would only be able to comment on the section they actually own, if any. Where there is an agreed "service strip", this is uslaly the first 1.8 to 2.0m behind the kerb. The remainder is a private driveway and they have neither jurisdiction nor, I suspect, any wish to get involved.
You should put your concerns in writing and send them via recorded delivery to the contractor, copying-in the council Highways' Team. Request a written answer in which they set out exactly how the intend to rectify the issues you've identified, and indicate the timescale involved.
If that gets no response, that would be the time to consider seeking legal advice and obtaining an assessment report from an independent third party.
Tony McC wrote:The council would only be able to comment on the section they actually own, if any. Where there is an agreed "service strip", this is uslaly the first 1.8 to 2.0m behind the kerb. The remainder is a private driveway and they have neither jurisdiction nor, I suspect, any wish to get involved.
You should put your concerns in writing and send them via recorded delivery to the contractor, copying-in the council Highways' Team. Request a written answer in which they set out exactly how the intend to rectify the issues you've identified, and indicate the timescale involved.
If that gets no response, that would be the time to consider seeking legal advice and obtaining an assessment report from an independent third party.
Thanks for your reply Tony, it's much appreciated.
The council actually own the whole area, this is how it used to look.
I'll see what the senior Highways officer has to say next week and go from there. If I'm honest I can see this going to court.
Quick update: Highways came out today and have condemned the driveway. They have contacted the contractor, who once again has blamed the materials.
The contractor has agreed to redo the driveway but is insisting on doing it in the new year once winter has passed. We've not yet agreed to this, I think we need to speak to Citizens Advice first.
I'm guessing when they did it the second time round, they didn't take out the first batch but just excavated around the kerbing going for an overlay job. The trouble with that is it does not allow you to lay a real decent layer over the area, it looks cold material to me. It is hard to see from the photos but if it bevels over at the kerb it is a sure thing they have just overlaid it, core sample it I would.
loudog wrote:I'm guessing when they did it the second time round, they didn't take out the first batch but just excavated around the kerbing going for an overlay job. The trouble with that is it does not allow you to lay a real decent layer over the area, it looks cold material to me. It is hard to see from the photos but if it bevels over at the kerb it is a sure thing they have just overlaid it, core sample it I would.
Thanks for your reply loudog, they removed all of the old batch just leaving some smaller pieces which they then rollered over and then they relaid the drive.
The contractor was meant to email me that day, but almost 2 weeks have passed and I still haven't heard from him. I have however received an email from Highways confirming everything, which will hold me in good stead if I need to go to court.
As you can probably imagine, the drive getting worse with every frost we have.
If they do nothing then I'm afraid it won't last but if you could get some sealing grit or bit grit as I've grown to know it. This can be simply brushed in to all the holes and it can help polish it up plus it creates a barrier between your car tyres on the surface and eventually it will wear in. It may help.
Have you let the council know that Chummy has never been back in touch?
I can't accept the alleged concern about surfacing just now: the weather will not be any better after xmas. In fact, it will be March before we se any significant improivement. Meanwhile hundreds, possibly thousands, of blacktop contractors up and down the country will carry on working as usual.
Tony McC wrote:Have you let the council know that Chummy has never been back in touch?
I can't accept the alleged concern about surfacing just now: the weather will not be any better after xmas. In fact, it will be March before we se any significant improivement. Meanwhile hundreds, possibly thousands, of blacktop contractors up and down the country will carry on working as usual.
Sounds like a put-off job!
Hi Tony, thanks for your reply. The council are aware and have been acting as a kind of middle man between myself and the contractor as he won't answer my calls etc. Once again, he's blaming the materials.
The contractor has told the council that he has been in touch with me when in fact he hasn't. I'm in the process of writing a letter (to be sent via recorded delivery) to the contractor requesting a date for the work to be carried out.
My neighbour approached me the other morning with photos she took of the base, we were away when the driveway was done the first time and I asked that she took some photos for us and totally forgot. I don't know what I am looking at, but does this look correct for a base of a driveway before being tarmacked over? Is there anything negative that stands out?
It's not brilliant but it's not anything I haven't seen a million times before. I'm not keen on the lumps of rubble - they should be broken-up much smaller but, overall, nothing that screams "wrong" at me, so probably OK
Looks not enough depth to me to get 50-60mm of base course tarmac plus a decent 30mm wearing course. If you get a core sample then the proof is in the pudding what they laid, it would give you more firing power.
I'll bet the tar was shovelled off the back of a transit and not a proper tar lorry?
Highways would hold a maintenance period over the contractor for 24 mths from completion. Whether they do actually come out and inspect crossovers at month 23, I don't know.....
RW Gale Ltd - Civils & Surfacing Contractors based in Somerset
The job has all the hallmarks of what we might think of as an 'infrequent' macadam contractor, but then, so many of these smaller jobs are undertaken by these gangs, and, to be honest, I never minded that. The jobs involving a new apron or a dropped crossing or an extra metre at the side of an existing driveway were always more bloody trouble than they were worth, so I was quite happy to see them go to the tranny-van gangs.
Besides, by the time I'd priced in all the Ch8, and an insulated wagon (delivering at a time of their own choosing!), and having my blacktop gang of 4 men all there to lay a couple of tonnes, not to mention the insurance and highways' notices, I was never anywhere near competitive in terms of costs!
When we did dropped crossings for the local councils, it was easy money doing, as you say, 3 or 4 a day for a week and then move on to something bigger, but when it was for private customers, you might wait 3 months for a job to come in, and six months or more to get enough to make a day's work.
