[mrgreen_perth]

The client has not asked me to come back to do the job. Included below is the body of the email I sent the following morning (day after leaving the job). She has verbally committed to paying me for work completed so far and materials supplied. I am quite happy to walk away with a payment for materials (at my cost price) and three hours of my time for supervising/instructing Dingo contractor for siteworks and unload/reload at the jobsite.

If I don't get a cheque in the next couple of days I'll be knocking on her door.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Tony



I have attached an invoice for the work done so far.

I have spoken to several people about your paving job. The most common answer I got was 'don't do it'. Their arguments being that it would take a LOT longer than I've estimated (potentially by 2-3 times) and that it would be very frustrating as well.

Those that thought it might be possible, agreed with what I suggested to you yesterday about laying the pavers on a loose sand base then compacting them from above to level them out. (I would normally compact and level the sand base then lay pavers on top)

As I said to you, doing it this way means the base is likely not fully compacted. This leaves potential for sinking in some areas causing dips and humps to form over time as the base settles.

If I were to do it this way. I'd need to do a small section first to see how it looks and how effective (fast) this process is, before committig to doing the whole lot. I would also need to charge the job out based on actual time spent ($75/hr including offsider), as I won't commit to a timeframe for something like this (2nds paving) that could easily blow out the time estimate.

I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but as I stated in my first visit and quote, we do not lay 2nds pavers with deformities or size inconsistency as I know many problems can arise. 2nds for discolouration (only) is not a problem as the pavers are the same size and it is only surface APPEARANCE that is the problem.

Buyings seconds (size inconsistency) in paving is false economy, as the installation time (ie. costs) generally double or triple if the job is installed professionally. Inconsistent 2nds are only okay for home handyman doing their own paving either with the time to set each paver one at a time, or someone not concerned about level finished job.

Regards