Avoid Yamada & Sons (Con Agg) Concrete

[topograph]

Apparently it's failed you at least twice, since you've come up short...

[Kapohocat]

Mark - Did Con Ag straighten it out for Rob? How did it turn out?

[Kahunascott]

First of all concrete isn’t weighed like a dump truck picking up aggregate. The loading of the mixer is fully computerized at Yamada. Therefore, cement, sand, aggregate and water are mixed automatically for what ever mix design you request.
I always and 10% to my calculations for slabs, just to take in account for the uneven base material.
Now if you order 10 CY and they sent you 8 CY I could see that you might have a problem.
Considering the calculations could be in error (but Mark knows his stuff) there is another factor that many contractors don’t take in to consideration. That is the subgrade material and how compact it is? Was the native material under the base material compacted? The most important process you can under take is compacting the base material with at least 12% water added to it. Using the right equipment to compress the base material. Then have it TESTED for compressive strength because the weight of the concrete (150lbs/cf) will put pressure on the subgrade causing it to compress and this will add to a larger area then calculated. All the quarries have the proctor numbers needed to do on site testing. It only takes a ¼-1/2 inch in come areas of the slab to cause a major overrun.
These are some of the rules when building roads, ya' just might want to use them in the biggest investment of your life.


"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings, I look for my dreams and a pocket full of gold" Led Zeppelin

[Kapohocat]

Kahunascott, thank you for the info. I always wondered why SB was so anal about the compacting and water when compacting material under the slab!! It's really amazing how one thing - weight - can make such a difference.

[robguz]

As for how it turned out I have decided to drop it because it's not worth the energy for about 100 bucks. I have no doubt Mark calculated correctly, and the base course was compacted, we still needed more, and it was compacted again. Some did seep outside the forms so that may well have been part of it. It just seemed like that wouldn't have been enough to make up the shortage, but I have no way to prove that and I need to move on to the next step. I can't say the attitude of the person I spoke with on the phone made me ever want to deal with them again though.

[kelly5-0]

I would just like a chance to respond to robguz's allegations. I was the batch plant operator on Friday, 2/15/08, the day of the pour and Saturday, 2/16/08, the day of the telephone call by robguz.
Con-agg was scheduled to deliver 12cy to the job-site and as our trucks are capable of delivering only 11cy at a time, we sent the loads out on 2 trucks carrying 6cy at a time, spaced 1 hour apart to give the people on-site time to unload each truck. The scheduled time on-site was 12:00pm and the first truck left the plant at approx. 11:15am, the second truck left the plant at approx. 12:05pm.
The first indication we got of any problems came when the first truck returned to the plant at approx. 2:00pm when the driver returned and turned in his signed delivery tag and the customer notified us the we had shorted him approx. 1/4cy and he wanted us to make up for it on the 2nd truck, which had already left. The second driver called in to say he was leaving job-site at approx. 2:20pm. At that time, I asked him if a clean up load was asked for and he responded "negative". For those of you who are not familiar with the industry, "clean up load" refers to any concrete that may be needed to finish a pour, i.e. a shortage to finish up a slab. I then assumed that the customer got the job done.
On Saturday, 2/16/08, at approx. 10:00am, I got a call from robguz demanding that I deliver a load of 1/2cy to the job-site at no cost to him. I replied that I could not do this as I believe we delivered the 12cy ordered by him and that our scales were certified and tested on a regular basis by the State of Hawaii Division of Weights and Measurements. His response was that I could deliver the load or he would be contacting his attorney to sue us. I replied that that was his right to do so. As he did not respond to my statement for a while, I assumed our conversation was over, said "goodbye" and hung up.
On the delivery tags are printed the weights and measurements for the aggregates, cement, admixtures, and water. He can easily verify these with the copy he keeps after signing for the driver.
In robguz's complaint filed with the BBB, he states that his builder says we shorted him before and that we deliberately get away with this and should be stopped from scamming future customers. I will be responding to the BBB complaint by mailing all documents, copies of delivery tickets, copies of scale certifications, proctor results, yield test results and any other pertinent information may be needed to verify the accuracy of our products. This we would do for any reasonable complaint filed against us anyway as we stand behind our integrity. We are proud of our service to this island as we have been here for generations and the people we serve are our friends and family. We do so at a reasonable profit as is our right to feed our families and our employee's families.
However, as a family member, (my name is Kelly Yamada), I personally resent robguz's statement that we "BS'd" him and that I was a "rude jerk". He feels that because I disagreed with him, I was the jerk when in fact, he was both pushy and demanding in our conversation on the phone.
I would like to thank all the responders here who gave glowing praises of our product and service and say that I hope we can continue to do so in the future. But to avoid any future dis-agreements with robguz and jm minica, I would suggest they go elsewhere for their service in the future.

Seller beware!

[robguz]

Yes Kelly, I reacted to your complete lack of concern that the amount was so far off of what was measured. It was only when you expressed no interest in trying to resolve the situation and did not even consider the possibility that your company made an error and you specifically asked me what I wanted did I say that I wanted the amount that I ordered. You again expressed no concern and I waited to call because by the time they left it was late on a Friday and I assumed your company was closed. Was I shorted or not, I will never know for sure, but felt I had some good evidence that I was given that my builder felt he was shorted previously, but not by another company, and had ordered at least a yard more than he calculated he needed. Nevertheless, you were unprofessional and hung up on me, and it was not after some long silence at which point you assumed the conversation was over. Your handling of the situation is what angered me and drove me to file with the BBB and to post here. As a forum with a lot of owner-builders it was my responsibility to share such a negative experience. I hope mine was a rare case. I can't think of any company, small or large, that has handled things this poorly when I have complained. Personally if I ran a company that a customer felt more than once I had done wrong, I would try to fix the problem rather than be aggressively defensive and hang up on someone. Since you don't really have much competition, I'm sure you'll do just fine. Good luck to you and your family in the future.