Scuff marks from wacker plate - How to remove scuff marks from blocks

[Dave_L]

Whatever is cheapest for you to loose - either walk away from the idiot and loose the £1500 or put the time to the job to put it right.

He sounds rather unreasonable to me.

[local patios and driveway]

i wouldnt advise walking away, the customer paid good money and as a pro you need to give him what he paid for, you win some you lose some. doing a runner on any job is what the bodgers do, and in the end it just effects your own reputation.

why not try to do a deal with him to hold off on the 1500 for 12 weeks as a period to see if it improves, (take pics asap) then if customer isnt happy bite the bullet and swap the 14m for new ones

[pickwell paving]

Could you post a photo? I would try and leave it a while and see if they weather in, we had some blocks delivered once onto freshly laid paving and the lorry driver ever so carefully rammed them into the floor scuffing an area, customer mentioned it and we said leave it a few weeks and if it hasn't gone we'll replace the damaged ones but a few weeks later you couldn't even tell.

[Drive-Pave]

Could you post a photo? I would try and leave it a while and see if they weather in, we had some blocks delivered once onto freshly laid paving and the lorry driver ever so carefully rammed them into the floor scuffing an area, customer mentioned it and we said leave it a few weeks and if it hasn't gone we'll replace the damaged ones but a few weeks later you couldn't even tell.

I will get some pictures asap.

[London Stone Paving]

i wouldnt advise walking away, the customer paid good money and as a pro you need to give him what he paid for, you win some you lose some. doing a runner on any job is what the bodgers do, and in the end it just effects your own reputation.

Very good advice. Taking a hit on one job is a small price to pay for your long term reputation. The best lessons are often the ones which involve a bit of pain

[seanandruby]

if you think he is going to bump you 'anyway', i would agree to put it right but when you can fit him in (could take a few months if your busy :;): ). When you finally turn up ask him which ones need doing, bet he wont know as they should be ok by then, as long as they are scuff and not chipped along the edge. Sounds like he's trying it on if he expects a grand off you.

[Drive-Pave]

if you think he is going to bump you 'anyway', i would agree to put it right but when you can fit him in (could take a few months if your busy :;): ). When you finally turn up ask him which ones need doing, bet he wont know as they should be ok by then, as long as they are scuff and not chipped along the edge. Sounds like he's trying it on if he expects a grand off you.

Thanks, sounds like a good plan.
They are definately not chipped, or we would have replaced them.
Just to put you in the picture a bit more, our customer was watching us day in day out for 3.5 weeks whilst we did the job.
He wrote his own specification, questioned virtually everything we did, believed nothing that i told him, and at one point borrowed my rubber mallet off me to knock one of the slabs down on the slab patio we constructed.(it ended up below the acco channel we had put in!).
He talked down to my team , and annoyed them so much that my brother has refused to return there if we have to do any snagging.
We have been in business for 10 years, and i have never had a customer like this.(guess i've been lucky 'til now)
I honestly wish i had never taken on the job.

[seanandruby]

sounds a right arsehole. Pity you never tooj photos of him hitting slabs, could of blamed him. I'd record your job, photos etc then do same when they 'weather' and marks gone, then take him for the retention.

[lutonlagerlout]

you do get them once in a while woody
I have had 4 in 22 years that were total numpties

its generally a bad sign when people ask inane questions day in day out
also going over work and looking for the slightest fault

another one which i have found out too late is when people from outside your normal work area ring

I should have realised that all the local builders are wise to their BS

there are people who make a habit out of trying to knock people, 1 tablet knocked the architect,the joinery company ,the carpet man,and even the meat supplier to his takeaway stall

he tried to knock me and my mate after we had worked all weekend to change something already agreed on
i made him an offer he couldnt refuse and he paid up :;):
sadly the others are still getting £2 a week off the county court
LLL

[Carberry]

if you think he is going to bump you 'anyway', i would agree to put it right but when you can fit him in (could take a few months if your busy :;): ). When you finally turn up ask him which ones need doing, bet he wont know as they should be ok by then, as long as they are scuff and not chipped along the edge. Sounds like he's trying it on if he expects a grand off you.

Thanks, sounds like a good plan.
They are definately not chipped, or we would have replaced them.
Just to put you in the picture a bit more, our customer was watching us day in day out for 3.5 weeks whilst we did the job.
He wrote his own specification, questioned virtually everything we did, believed nothing that i told him, and at one point borrowed my rubber mallet off me to knock one of the slabs down on the slab patio we constructed.(it ended up below the acco channel we had put in!).
He talked down to my team , and annoyed them so much that my brother has refused to return there if we have to do any snagging.
We have been in business for 10 years, and i have never had a customer like this.(guess i've been lucky 'til now)
I honestly wish i had never taken on the job.

I have had one client, sounds just like the guy you are dealing with. Kept on talking down to us, thought he knew best, thought we were moronic manual labourers. Set him straight when I had my brother, brother in law and best friend out giving me a hand (PH.D in physics, accountant, accountant). Changed his tune a little then asked if they could talk his son out of doing a marketing degree, I felt like hitting him.
Unfortunately his neighbour was almost as bad, he said we could use his outdoor tap for water, we used it once when he wasn't in and he came back yelling at us saying he left the tap at the 2 O'clock position. Tried to get police on to us for using the stihl saw because it was loud and making a mess (had the water supression).

[DNgroundworks]

Shit, im starting a job for a guy on Monday, whos written his own spec, drawings and the rest of it, hope all goes ok because its nearly 15k's worth.

He does seem to listen to what i tell him though, and hopefully there will be no nit picking, because i am notoriously short fused..

Ive been in business just over 4 years, got bumped for a grand once, didnt wanna argue with guy though (a proper rogue) so i left and dobbed him into inland revenue for tax evasion, DOT and VOSA for running his merc on cherry, caused him a few problems :p

[Dave_L]

LOL! Don't get mad, get even! :p

[DNgroundworks]

Thats the way Dave! Battering him wouldnt of cost him money, like he cost me money

[ken]

I worked for firm years ago that had a similar problem. Once the blocks where wacked the white marks appeared as well as little pits in 80% of the blocks. The boss got onto Marshalls and there rep came out and said the problem was know as “moth balling� and agreed Marshalls where at fault. Marshalls gave the boss the 180m2 of blocks needed to relay the drive free of charge. The customer owed only the labor costs and refused to pay any thing till paving was complete, boss had to cover costs of skipping existing blocks and paying us to relay it, as far as I know he hasn’t used driveline 50’s since.

[Dave_L]

Bloody hell! 180m2 of blocks to take up/skip and relay that's one labour-intensive job.....