Walked a job site in Charlotte that had me scratching my head

I went to check out a new development off I-485 last Wednesday and saw the crew pouring a driveway with zero rebar or wire mesh in the forms. Just straight concrete on top of some damp dirt that clearly wasn't compacted right. I asked the foreman about it and he just shrugged and said "it'll be fine." Has anyone else run into this kind of shoddy prep work on commercial sites lately?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.andrew11d ago

Man, that foreman's attitude is exactly what's been bugging me. Saw the same thing on a job down near Monroe last month where they were pouring a slab for a storage building and the ground was basically a mud pit. No gravel base, no compaction, just wet clay they smoothed out with a shovel. I asked about the lack of any steel and the guy told me "been doing it this way for twenty years and never had a call back." Well, I guess he's never had to pay for a crack repair either. This cheap corner cutting is getting way too common and it's going to cost somebody big money when those driveways start settling and heaving next spring.

fionaw548d ago

Did anybody catch that part about "never had a call back"? That's the real red flag right there... means he's not sticking around long enough to see the problems. These guys hop from one job to the next, probably using different business names every few years so angry homeowners can't track em down. It's not just about cutting corners on the pour itself, it's about building something with zero intention of standing behind it. And the homeowners who hire these cheap crews are the ones left holding the bag when the driveway turns into a cracked mess six months later. That foreman knows exactly what he's doing... he's betting on being long gone before the concrete even finishes curing.