Meet Todd and Kristin Lorenz of Corte Madera. Kristin called Cupp Bros Concrete Contractor of Santa Rosa to do her driveway. We were recommended by a friend (yea!!). For those of you who did not read my last post or see the driveway video (Jessie put link here?), this is a continuation of that. So what is so amazing is that we contracted to do their concrete driveway, and while doing so, by looking at our website www.cuppbros.com they realized that we did more than concrete driveways.
They wanted their rear wood patio deck to be removed and a whole new concrete patio installed, with meandering short concrete walls, and the concrete walls to be covered with stone and to have a cap. And, oh yeah. To add a gas concrete fire pit and built in BBQ and lighting!
What was so amazing about that? When we contracted to do their concrete driveway, they were off starting a two week vacation. So that meant that we had to get the design layout approved (I drew a hand sketch) including the layout of the concrete walls, gas concrete fire pit diameter walls and location, curved concrete landscape seat wall . Not done yet, we needed materials selected, color and stamp pattern of the rear concrete patio, actual stone selection and availability, lighting type and location and availability, and BBQ setup. Still not done, had to figure out drainage and connection to their under house sump pump, irrigation and access for landscaper, a plumber to hook up gas under the house for the concrete fire pit and BBQ.
Oh yeah, did I mention they would be gone for two weeks and wanted this all done when they came back. This is so dangerous as selection and availability of the products and materials and to get them in within the two weeks is an awesome task. Also the selection process is a difficult and hard one. Even when you think you know what you want, you are looking at a 1â square on a color chart and you are not sure what 1000 square feet will really look like until it is down. Same for the stone and caps. Also the things you donât see, like size and layout of the concrete patio and concrete walls. Whatâs on site does not always work with whatâs on paper.
Love the challenge, and they were up for it also. I knew from our first experience they were intelligent and knew what they wanted. (I would not have attempted to do this if we did not have a working understanding like on the front concrete driveway). We, and every good contractor, I believe, try as hard as possible to have a happy client. Cuppbros always works just as hard for a good job as for a bad job. What is the difference? Having a happy client whom I have educated with the construction procedures that has made intelligent decisions and is happy with the selection process and most importantly, the final project. So most importantly is it education process with the owner having input and selection process to achieve what they want as a desired outcome that THEY have PARTICIPATED in.
What we did was have daily phone conversations (sometimes several) for them to approve or see pictures & videos of what things were looking like. I would send them a daily or sometimes a couple of daily videos so they could see the process. I gave them catalogs when they left and we went through material suppliers websites for colors and textures and selection process. We are a very fast and fluid company at Cuppbros, and they kept up. They would look at a picture, have me change the layout or location, concrete wall location and concrete wall height, lighting location and type. While at their parents in Pennsylvania they saw lights they liked, so we found them, they ordered them on line, and we swapped them out. Did I tell you they were on vacation with family in Pennsylvania and New York, with kids. What a feat we all pulled off. I am happy and proud of the final product and love to show it off. Itâs not always I can get such a beautiful project done with the clients here watching everyday, but to do so in two weeks while the clients were making decisions 3000 miles away is an awesome feat. Kudos to Todd and Kristin, and thanks for trusting Cuppbros and letting have this opportunity.
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