Asphalt Drive, Good Deal or Not?

[Soundguy]

Sorry but sounds like a scam to me. If he is in a position that he already has the asphalt on the truck that were destined for another job.. and it fell through.. that asphalt is pretty much wasted.... Asphalt is a 'cooked' product.. it goes in the truck at about 600-450 degrees.. and is laid out on the road at up to 300 degrees. If he already has it on the truck.. he doesn't have time to prep your drive.. ie, strip the grass /dirt/gravel.. cut a subgrade.. stabilize it with limerock.. make and roll, and compact a finish grade limerock base and then lay that asphalt, especially not door to door. All that prep work is done before that asphalt drives out to his paving crew.

I'm a CE.. I've seen this scam before. Our company has repaired many drives that were done on the fly like this...

Soundguy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I agree with the others who picked up on the perishable time on asphalt that is already cooked. My neibhor got stung like this a few years back. Elderly woman, no one to ask, lots of pressure to do it now. When I got home that evening and looked it over I knew she had been took. Asphalt was about 1/2 inch thick. Had no contact info for the salesman/scam artist and check had already been cashed. It would be interesting to call the guy back in two weeks and see if the offer actually still stands, or if that was just to reassure you and get you to agree to the deal. Chet

 

[Egon]

DourBob:

It'll sit on a truck for two weeks with no problem. Might take the driver another two weeks to chip and steam it out.

Egon

 

[Inspector507]

I agree.......2 loads of asphalt from a "deal that fell through" doesn't sound good to me. No one orders 2 weeks in advance and can't cancel the delivery.

 

[Steven]

I was told not to seal my new asphalt driveway for at least a year. something to do with gases escaping and better adhesion of the sealer. This came from a very reputable driveway installer who I know that installed 4 driveways for me.

the base is the most important part of making the driveway last. He dug down about 1' then put down about 10" of stone dust at 3" intervals wet it and rolled it each time. two weeks later he put down 3" of rough base mix, then 1 week later he put down 3" of finish mix. looks great and water pitches to center and runs out to street. He does this on all his jobs.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

JeepJeep

Stay away from this outfit. I live North of Austin, Tx. Two years ago an outfit came around and offered "deals" to all the neighbors. Some took them up on it. They gave references and said they were associated with a company out of Austin.
The week before two of my neighbors took them up on their deal and had them put down a driveway. I called the company they said they were from. Guess what? They weren't doing any work in our area. A year later the driveways were falling apart.

Last year I spent several months in a campground in East Tx. Parked next to me was a young man and wife. They were asphalt pavers and seal coat. More than one weekend there was a big get-together at their campsite. New trucks with painted signs and phone numbers were there from all over East and Central Tx. All were in the same business(asphalt) and none had a local address on the truck, just the phone number. SCAM SCAM SCAM
Rod

 

[chim]

The price is heavily dependent on the workload the paver has. About 6 years ago I had four local contractors give me estimates. Although I tried to get "apples to apples" comparisons, each had a slightly different approach. I went with a reputable company that had actually done work as a subcontractor for the company I work for, so I knew they were OK. The cost worked out to around $.72 per square foot for a mix that is a base coat with fines. They suggested this as a first step, with a retopping of finish material after 5-10 years. So far it has been holding up very well. The finish topping was estimated to be approximately $.35 per square foot to have them do it later.

One thing we had going for us was the length of the driveway (about 100 yards). When I contacted each of the companies, I asked if there would be a price break if they could do 2 or 3 driveways in the same neighborhood. They said yes, then I told them I had the equivalent of that at one location.

I don't know how they could afford to do it for the money. They had a grader, hoe, 2 rollers, a couple dump trucks, a spreader and 6 guys here for a full day. The old gravel drive was very solid, but they regraded the top few inches and went over it with a large vibratory roller.....................chim

 

[Anonymous Poster]

They sound like Irish Travelers (aka Tinkers) to me. I think most of them work those scams on paving and roofing jobs. They move around, but are concentrated in parts of the year in North Georgia, Virginia, and Texas.

Here's some info:

Irish Travelers

Cons, Frauds, and Other Lies

Hope it helps!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

JeepJeep,
I'm up in central MD not too far from you. I got quotes 2 years ago to pave a 250' driveway and turnaround. I guess what worries me about your situation is:
1) buying asphalt should be like buying concrete: if the weather goes bad you can call of the load off. Why would he have 2 loads available for 2 weeks???
2) most of the estimates I got were based by the contractor on a minimum of 4" of finished asphalt (either 2 layers of finish material or 2 layers, 1 of rough base and 1 of finish). I doubt that a 2-3" rolled thickness will hold up over time.
just my .02,
DaveL

 

[Soundguy]

Something to think about. Much of the cost of paving a driveway, is the mobilization of equipment and manpower to do the work, not so much the materials. Usually the only time you can get a 'great' deal on a paved drive is a situation like when a neighborhood is being re-paved, then generally the contractor will be able to offer the pavings much cheaper as his equipment is already on site. Also, we get quotes from the asphalt company based on tons we are purchasing. Even big customers get higher quotes on single loads, etc. When we are getting large amounts .. like for paving the neighborhood, we are getting a much better deal on the asphalt. The GC I work for does this frequently. Makes us a little money and gets a bunch of people paved drives much cheaper than a stand alone job.

soundguy