Hikila Concrete Design

Sweet started my driveway and back patio project with an estimate of 3 days. It took more than 5 months to finally complete the project on November 16 2018. These 5 months were filled with long periods of no communication, work stoppage, low quality workmanship. As a result, I had to constantly babysit and quality check his work, spend enormous time and energy communicating over SMS, and go through long periods of frustration and disgruntlement. The quality of work is sub-par as evidenced by cracking concrete and peeling color in both driveway and back patio.

Evidence of unprofessional, low quality workmanship
- Went completely dark for a long period because he was ashamed at the shoddiness of his work (as he claimed later)
- Multiple times claimed things were bad at home due to mothers health or aunt's passing due to which multiple delays were introduced. Learnt from neighbors that he’d used the same excuses a few months ago with them too
- Ordered the colored stain (color for which was chosen before the project started) 3 months late because he initially tried to recreate that color himself and not succeeded
- Concrete was initially laid in a way that water gathered at the base of the garage due to which he had to come back and create a new cut, and a mightily ugly cut that looks completely unappealing
- Concrete was very patchy and he promised it would even out in a few weeks, but it was a false promise
- Waited 5 months to get to the point where he ordered post caps and then encountered delays since he hadn’t placed the order yet
- Was supposed to provide electrical ducts from the garage into the post that he didn't causing us to have to fall back to using solar lights instead of electric ones
- Severed a sprinkler pipe and took 4 months to fix the sprinkler pipe he'd severed in the first week of the project
- Broke the fence in multiple places and took multiple months to fix them
- Sealant is peeling again after only 4 months of project completion
- Working without a license from Nov 2018 to now (luckily not on my projects)
- Promised to get license renewed before March 27, 2019 (which is when he promised to come over to my place and fix the sealant), but didn’t

Below are the main reasons we chose Hikila Concrete Design for our project, followed by the reasons why I wholeheartedly give Hikila Concrete a 5-star rating, and why I strongly recommend them!

Our initial plan was to replace our old, moss covered, deeply cracked, 8 foot wide, one car driveway with a wider 16 foot, 2 car driveway and add a 3 foot wide walkway from the driveway to the front door steps. I knew little about concrete, and first tried asking for recommendations on Next door. We did not get any leads, so I turned to Buildzoom instead, which we previously used to find the contractor that did a great job remodeling our kitchen. Buildzoom put me in contact with 4 different contractors that wanted to bid on our driveway replacement project.

Sweet, owner operator of Hikila Concrete Design, was the last of four companies to arrive at our home (over four days) and give us a quote.

The reasons why we chose Hikila Concrete Design started with the initial quote, which Sweet gave me on the spot (and later in writing by email) and was within 1% of the quote given by another contractor that we liked but didn’t choose. I immediately felt at ease knowing that the pricing we were given was competitive.

The second and most important reason we chose Sweet was that he had creative ideas and suggestions, and good attention to details that no other contractor had. For example, Sweet suggested adding curves to the concrete in specific places (e.g., between the driveway and the walkway). Sweet also mentioned that he wanted to install a vapor barrier between the concrete and our house slab/foundation to make sure moisture didn’t build in between. Third, he wanted to cut our exterior cedar siding and add flashing between the siding and the new concrete. Why? Because our old siding where it met the cement was in line with the concrete, diagonal, and an eye sore because it was starting to rot where it touched the concrete. Sweet explained that our siding was starting to rot because that is what happens when siding touches concrete and because moisture builds there. Finally, Sweet suggested we replace our old, cracked, narrow, and moss covered cement walking path that connected our front door to the sidewalk because, he explained, it was going to look really old compared to the new, curved driveway and walkways. We agreed.

That Sweet was the only contractor with these recommendations put his company head and shoulders above the rest. Although I waited for Sweet to send us a formal quote by email to accept his bid, I knew when we shook hands as he was leaving that we were going accept Hikila Concrete Design for our project.

Between the time we formally agreed by email and the construction start date, we decided to add to the project…

From the old driveway, there was a narrow and uneven concrete walkway around to the back of our house, along with a rickety side gate/fence that was on the verge of collapsing. We kept our trash, recycle, and compost bins on the side of the house behind the gate, and every time we walked through that area, we walked on wet grass or mud and dealt with a dilapidated old gate. It was very frustrating! We asked Sweet to make us a 13 foot wide side patio and/or parking that curved from the front driveway, around the side of the house, to the very back edge of the house, as well as a new side gate. Sweet gave us a great price on this, too.

Overall, after some unusually heavy and persistent rains in Seattle that delayed completion, we finally got a break in the weather, and Sweet had the cement poured and made our new side gate.

The project came out amazing!!! The curves Sweet suggested from the driveway to the walkway and front door, and from the driveway to the side patio look really great. The side gate also came out well. And, to top it off, Sweet filled in the holes left by the wood forms for the concrete with topsoil/sod and planted grass seeds, which was completely unexpected and a pleasant surprise!!! His crew left the job site clean, and looking great with the new topsoil/sod.

Overall, our impression is that Sweet and his crew take great pride in their work and care about his customers’ goals. They did a really great job.

For all these reasons, we feel very fortunate to have come across Hikila Concrete Design for our project, and we strongly recommend this company!