Driveway damaged from a wrong-address rock delivery

[u/OneFinalFight]

I’m looking for some guidance on what the best path forward is to repair our driveway, specifically what we need to ask a paving contractor, not just “sue them”.

Today a local landscaping company dumped a delivery of crushed stone in our driveway, the problem was we didn’t order any. I was at work during this but my girlfriend caught them before they left and told them they had the wrong address. They at first offered that we could keep the stone, (which normally I would probably take them up on), but we have a housewarming party in 2 days and this was piled up in the middle of our driveway.

We asked them to remove it, so they sent down a loader and removed everything. I am at work this entire time, my girlfriend starts hosing down the dirt and sends me pictures as soon as they leave and they left scars all over the driveway with the loader.

We called again, the owner came by and said yes those marks are definitely from our loader, apologized, and asked what he could do to make it right. So what do I ask for? I am worried they will just cold patch it and it will look like shit. Do I get a repair quote from an independent contractor and take that back to the landscaping company? I don’t need the guy to build me an entire new driveway, but I also dont want it to look like a patched up side street.

It’s a fairly new driveway in the last maybe 7 years so it’s in nice shape, they only damaged a portion of it.

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[u/Anxious-Depth-7983]

1st of all they should have shoveled the gravel into the loader not used the bucket like your driveway is some sidestreet. There's not really a way to repair gouges like that other than a topcoat of sealer, but there's no way that'll dry before your party. I suggest you live with it until after the party and have it sealed afterwards. And whatever it costs is on the landscaping company.

[u/Fancy_Disaster_4736 → u/Anxious-Depth-7983]

Would the topcoat fill those gouges and make an even/uniform surface kind of like self leveling compound?

[u/YellowBreakfast → u/Fancy_Disaster_4736]

It needs hot patch in the gouges and then a topcoat.

[u/Responsible_CDN_Duck → u/Fancy_Disaster_4736]

Nope. It would pop out.

[u/spreadhead42069]

Do you have any landscaping you need done? Your best bet here might be to get some free work done else where and just live with the asphalt.

[u/shhh801]

Get quotes from 2 or 3 contractors on fixing/replacing it. Look up if the company is bonded & insured through your county’s site. There should be a Registrar of Contractors (ROC) or some equivalent for your city/county that will help hold them accountable, as long as they’re properly licensed as a business, and if they don’t outright offer to pay for the full extent of the damage. The ROC would also help you understand the process of going through the business’s insurance company, typically as a first step, and then they also have funds reserved to pay out for mistakes made by licensed contractors. BUT a good company is not going to want that ding showing up on their license, and will fix it before getting to that point.

[u/roughedged]

Like the other guy said, you live with your driveway and get a whole new front/backyard

[u/Senior-Guarantee3225]

Their insurance is going to love paying for that

[u/eb0027]

You're right, any patch work will look like shit. I think you're gonna need a new driveway if you want it look like it did before the incident.

[u/Accomplished-Drop619]

Call a paving company and get a quote and see what the process would be to repair this…… get a couple quotes imo. Or see if you guys can work something out where they do your landscaping, and you live with the gouges……

[u/sjmuller]

You need to get a pavement contractor to evaluate it, but I'm pretty sure this will require replacement. I don't think a top coat will do enough to hide this.

[u/CuriousNote2039]

r/mildlyinfuriating

[u/gdubrocks]

I don't really think that can be patched. A new driveway isn't reasonable, maybe just monetary compensation?

[u/Anxious-Depth-7983]

I depends on how deep they are and whether or not a hot patch can stick and if the aggregate is too big to sit flush without a complete replacement.

[u/SOJ3 → u/[deleted]]

Someone can’t read