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I had a contractor over today for an estimate on ripping out my existing old concrete driveway (it’s a hand poured 1 inch slab on dirt) and installing a new one. One feature of the drive is that it is on the edge of my property and is a few feet higher than the neighbor’s, so a retaining wall will be necessary. After my discussion with him, I have two questions:
1- he says no drainage is needed underneath the driveway against the retaining wall. The drive will slope up and then down to contour to the yard and I was thinking that when he builds the retaining wall, he would backfill 2-3 feet back from the wall with gravel and put in a drainage pipe. He says it’s not necessary to back fill or to put in the pipe because “water won’t get down there”. Is this true?
2- he said he would do the excavation and pour the footer for the retaining wall and expect half the payment at that time, with the other half upon completion. Is that common? I was under the impression that any contractor with good credit should not need to charge for the work before it’s completion. I also feel like the motivation to finish the job is not there if you pay piecemeal.
I will be requesting other estimates, but in the meantime, I wanted to get your thoughts on the matter.
Thanks in advance,
Jon Byrd
Replies
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I had a contractor over today for an estimate on ripping out my existing old concrete driveway (it's a hand poured 1 inch slab on dirt) and installing a new one. One feature of the drive is that it is on the edge of my property and is a few feet higher than the neighbor's, so a retaining wall will be necessary. After my discussion with him, I have two questions:
1- he says no drainage is needed underneath the driveway against the retaining wall. The drive will slope up and then down to contour to the yard and I was thinking that when he builds the retaining wall, he would backfill 2-3 feet back from the wall with gravel and put in a drainage pipe. He says it's not necessary to back fill or to put in the pipe because "water won't get down there". Is this true?
2- he said he would do the excavation and pour the footer for the retaining wall and expect half the payment at that time, with the other half upon completion. Is that common? I was under the impression that any contractor with good credit should not need to charge for the work before it's completion. I also feel like the motivation to finish the job is not there if you pay piecemeal.
I will be requesting other estimates, but in the meantime, I wanted to get your thoughts on the matter.
Thanks in advance,
Jon Byrd