Isaac - SA Tar

<div>Isaac appears to be very professional at the outset. His quote was fair and he was able to start the work quite soon. That is when the good service ended. They tarred the large front pavement area of our business in the week of the 25th September 2021. While the job was ongoing, we wanted to increase the cost of his quote by R10 000.00. The reason he gave is that the underestimated the amount of rubble and sand that had to be removed from site. I reluctantly agreed to this. While he was preparing the surface, I asked him if he was putting enough premix down. This is the liquid that bonds the tar to the sub-base. His quote listed this as an item, "spraying of hot premix". He did not even have anything with which to spray it. He came with a drum of the stuff that was not even a quarter full. (I had other opinions from alternate companies later, who said that for the area he was tarring, he should have had a full drum). He then asked if we had any buckets so that he could use them to spread the premix. We ended up giving him plastic containers. The problem was that they were throwing the stuff around and there were areas where there was not premix at all. Anyway we were not experts in this so I did not make too much of an issue about it, other than to ask if he was using enough, which he assured me he was. He also left a large amount of rubble in front of the neighbour's house. I started following up about the rubble collection and about 3 days later, a team (sub-contractor) rocked up and started to clear it. I then got a call from the sub-contractor clearing demanding payment for the rubble removal. I told him that we had already paid Isaac for it. In fact we paid him an additional R10 000.00 for rubble removal. He said that Isaac told him that we had not paid and that if we did not pay him, he was going to bring all the rubble back and dump it again. After a heated discussion with Isaac and a shouting match between him and the sub-contractor, he then paid the sub-contractor and most of the rubble was cleared. The sub-contractor did not come back to clear the remaining rubble and I had to get my staff to do it. It filled a skip. I then found out that the sub-contractor was only paid R4000.00 for the whole rubble removal. The removal of the rubble was included in our original quote and for which we then paid an additional R10 000.00. The work looked good on the day he finished but on the second day, little pieces of tar started to come loose. This continued to deteriorate and within a month it looked terrible. He has promised to come back at do a resurface many times, but when the day comes, he does not answer his phone. He even said that the our staff were driving irresponsibly, and that is what was damaging the surface. It is a parking area for Pete's sake. I am writing this email frustration today, because on the 28th January 2022 he promised that this time he would not let me down he scheduled to do the re-surface today (4th February). He said that he had been avoiding me because he needed to build up the cash reserves to buy the tar, but that he had that in place now. Well since Monday he has not answered a single call and I expect that I won’t hear from him again. I am attaching images to show the mess they left behind and the quality of his work. The camera does not do it justice. It actually looks much worse in person. My suggestion to anyone working with him is to withhold at least 30 percent of his cost until a week or two has passed. This will allow you to assess whether the tar will start to break up and you will have some leverage to get him back. Also resist his insistence to receive instant payments. He also did some work for our opposite neighbour. He got paid a deposit, did half a day’s work and has not been back since. He goes on about how he is a God-fearing man and a pastor in his church but it seems he is just a *** . If he ever does come to honor his 5-year guarantee (which is a joke because the problems started after 5 days), I will update this review with the details.</div>