We recently purchased a 40+ year old home in the west end, and while a lot of interior work had been done, the outside back 'patio' was a complete mess - it was an ugly cement pad made of that awful aggregate concrete crap that's so prevalent in a lot of Edmonton architecture from that era (late 70's). It was horrible to walk on, it was uneven, cracked, sinking, and pooling water. And it runs the entire back length of the house, so we knew we were in for a pretty major project if we were to go through with it.
We got a few quotes, but after seeing all the signs for Concrete Replacement Experts in our neighbourhood (along with lawn signs of people actually getting work done by them), I called them to get a quote. Wade (owner) was there almost immediately, did some measurements, and had a quote to me within 15 minutes.
The job was originally supposed to take around 3 days, but due to our miserable summer of 2019 Edmonton weather, with nearly 2 months of daily rain, it did end up delaying the process, ending up taking more like 3 weeks lol (TOTALLY not their fault whatsoever!!), but they never complained, they just did the work! When they started ripping out the old concrete and steps, they found pockets where the concrete was much thicker than it had originally appeared to be (along with some water damage along one section of the house, which they were also able to completely fix for us!!). This not only added to the length of time for the job to get completed, it also added a little bit of additional cost to the total project, which was not a huge surprise, but we were not told about this until presented with the final bill. For future reference, I would suggest they give a heads-up midway through the project if it looks like it's going to go over budget. Avoids nasty surprises 'after the fact'.
Once the work was completed, the patio and new steps surpassed even our most optimistic expectations. These guys did absolutely outstanding work, and I wouldn't even dream of going with anyone else if we ever need work like this done again. Nor would I ever hesitate to recommend them WHOLEHEARTEDLY to anyone looking to get concrete work done. These guys work HARD, and obviously take pride in their work. They even seeded our lawn after the fact, to restore the patch that was trampled by their (very) heavy equipment.
My only issues with them were relatively minor, but in the interest of a balanced review, I feel they should be mentioned:
1. The communication from Wade and Rick (the project manager) was phenomenal at the beginning of the process, and even until about the midway point, but at some point (I think because of all the delays, and all the other projects they had on the go), the communication just kind of...'stopped'. For the final week of the project, the only way we could get any sort of update was by us having to reach out via phone or text to ask 'is anyone coming to do some work today', 'how much is left to do' etc. We felt they should have kept that high level of communication going until the end, as that's the bar that had been set from the outset, AND it's one of the things that I think really sets them apart from a lot of their competitors.
2. One of their guys - without asking us - decided to use our hose and hose trolley, both of which were basically wrecked by the end of the project, as they were covered in cement. The hose I didn't care so much about, but the hose trolley was a gift, and those things aren't cheap, so when I pointed that out, while I did get an apology, there was no offer to reimburse us for the damages. Since we were getting such fantastic quality of work done at a fair price, I didn't push the issue, but I did find it odd that they wouldn't even offer to replace it.
Again, those are relatively minor issues - overall, we are over the moon happy with the quality of the work that was done, the friendliness and professionalism of Wade, Rick, and crew, and the overall experience as a whole.
I honestly don't think you could find a better company in Edmonton to do this sort of work. I can't recommend them highly enough.