# Price for Fill / Garage Slab Prep -- Opinions?



## slr2974 (May 23, 2009)

Hi Folks, I'd like to hear opinions from some pros on whether the price I was just invoiced for a job is appropriate.


I just had a large amount of fill brought in and compacted for a garage slab to be put in where a hill used to be (adjacent to my driveway). Just over 200 yards of fill was needed, and the steepest part of the hill (back corner of the future garage pad) had 6.5 feet of fill needed. The finished concrete pad will be 38x26, however I hired this particular contractor to put in and prepare the fill (not any concrete work). FYI we are located in upstate New York. Winter can get cold here, but this garage will not be heated so I am using a slab to keep costs down compared to a full foundation.

The company I decided to go with quoted a price of $6600 to:


Strip the topsoil from site
Install and Compact gravel, 25 loads of gravel
Bring driveway to pad with crushed stone
Re-spread topsoil around pad
I was amazed how fast they finished the job. Arrived at 7AM with all the equipment, and finished at 7:30PM the same day.


When they started to unload equipment in the morning they told me my asphalt driveway was too soft and could not handle the equipment they needed to use nor the trucks which would be loaded with fill. They recommended putting down stone dust over the ashpalt driveway to protect it and they would move the gravel dust to the pad when they finished up. I said OK.


When they started trucking in fill, I noticed they used dirt instead of gravel. I am not sure why, nobody consulted with me about it. Will this cause me problems down the road, or is this better than gravel, and I should keep my mouth shut...?


Anyway, when they finished the pad looks good. I have been parking vehicles on the surface and it seems very compacted and leve.



I just received their invoice for $8436.


These items were added to the original price:


Additional trucking for ¾ loads $640
47.05 ton stonedust $846.90
Scrape and sweep stonedust off driveway $350
I took some pictures of their work, which I posted to my website at the links below (to view these web pages just paste into your web browser's address bar and put http followed by a colon and two forward slashes in front of the links)

fme.tcenet.net/pictures/garage/fill/Thumbs1.htm

fme.tcenet.net/pictures/garage/fill/Thumbs2.htm


I understand the $640 and $350 because they took extra precautions to protect my driveway, however I'm wondering why they charged me 846.90 for stone dust when that was the only real gravel that I received in this whole process (everything else was dirt). My original quote of $6600 was supposed to include any gravel needed for the pad.


Should I just shut up and pay the bill because this is a really good price? or should I have a discussion with them? 


I would like to hear your thoughts.. thx!


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## naptown CR (Feb 20, 2009)

Their contract said gravel and that's what they should have brought.
If they placed dirt and compacted was this done in 4" layers or lifts compacted at each level. If not then you have uncontrolled fill which will settle over time. My gut reaction is they should have looked at your existing driveway during the bid process and determined wether it was suitable for the anticipated loads and notified you then. Gut reaction to the entire situation is that you were sucked into a low price and changed ordered to where they wanted to be in the first place. If you chose these people based on price as in they were the lowest then compare to the final price of the responsible or higher bid and now compare. I have a sneaking suspicion that you took the low bid and now are faced with extra's that will bring the final cost toward the upper end of the bid scale. 

If I am correct you just fell victim to the oldest bidding trick in the book. 
BID LOW AND CHANGE ORDER!

CAVEAT EMPTOR


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## HSConstruction (Mar 21, 2009)

Was it a written contract or a handshake?


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

it "appears"....they did a very nice job for you. personally, i'd have zero problems using the fill they did were it at the proper moisture content, and the fill lifts did not exceed what the compaction equipment onsite was capable of handling. if they in fact did quote you a gravel in their bid for the fill, and used a clay fill, i'd definitely ask them for a deduct for that portion. clay fill they probably were given for free, or even paid to haul away from another site, where typically, gravel is a manufactured product and is a cost to them. and, i would question the additional costs of protecting the driveway....."unless"....you were given this quote over the phone, and he hadn't made himself familiar with the site, in particular, the driveway.


by the way, what type of telecommunications you in? are you a contractor? or a disgruntled home owner who found this forum?


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## Jayrek (Sep 6, 2008)

Just for your info, some gravel actually looks like dirt depending on where it was quarried. But it really has a high percentage of gravel/stone.


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## slr2974 (May 23, 2009)

*Responses:*

Thanks for the great feedback. 


Naptown -- This contractor's price was right in the middle compared to the others. I went with these folks because they operate in my local town, whereas the other quotes were from folks a bit further away. Now that the price is $8400, that is higher than all the other quotes.


HSConstruction – Yes I asked for a written contract, which both myself and the President of their company signed before the job started.


Dayexco – Thanks for your input, I was wondering if something like a deduction would be reasonable since they used clay fill. FYI my full time job is a telecommunications engineer working with IP/Data and Telephone systems, however I own rental properties and I am always working on something house/property related.


Sounds like perhaps I should at least talk to these folks before cutting them a check...


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## Earthworkssdu (Jan 5, 2009)

Looking at the pictures, it appears to me you got a excellent job completed at a fair price. The material being dumped out of the trucks in the pictures appears to be a gravel material. Were you expecting a stone product instead? It seems they came in properly equipped to handle this job in a day and complete it properly. As far as the price I think you got what you paid for. I would question the change orders for the driveway protection because tha should have been in thier bid if they viewed the site upon giving you the price. I would also question the additional cost for the stone dust due to the fact they already included the quantity of material in their original price. I would think there should anly be a charge for the difference in the price of the stonedust versus gravel. Thats my 2 cents, for what it is worth. Good Luck


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## ctkiteboarding (Jul 10, 2006)

Earthworkssdu said:


> Looking at the pictures, it appears to me you got a excellent job completed at a fair price. The material being dumped out of the trucks in the pictures appears to be a gravel material. Were you expecting a stone product instead? It seems they came in properly equipped to handle this job in a day and complete it properly. As far as the price I think you got what you paid for. I would question the change orders for the driveway protection because tha should have been in thier bid if they viewed the site upon giving you the price. I would also question the additional cost for the stone dust due to the fact they already included the quantity of material in their original price. I would think there should anly be a charge for the difference in the price of the stonedust versus gravel. Thats my 2 cents, for what it is worth. Good Luck


:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## tgeb (Feb 9, 2006)

I agree with all the above.

I could not get 25 loads of crushed run stone delivered for that price, let alone put 3 pieces of iron on the job to work it.

I think the contractor priced it for the fill you received, maybe did not word the agreement clearly enough, but you got a very fair deal none the less.


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## macdigs (Jun 17, 2009)

the gravel only around me is worth $160 per truck so that is $4000 plus the stone, crusher run and moving in 4 machines.

material around $5000- $5500
labor around $1300 - $1800
machine moving around $600
around $ 7000 to $8000 
Looks like they did a nice job and all in a one day is a good thing, shouldn't discount price because they are fast.

Gravel here (upstate NY) looks brown like dirt. It also looks like dust on your driveway.


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