JOHAN D

Pebble Paving Nightmare

We were looking for a contractor to do pebble paving around our pools. We came across Pebble Paving International's (Yougi Padayachee) website on the internet. What attracted us to them were amongst others the following, and I quote from the website: Looks like a carpet wears like a tile Very low maintenance Cover any solid sub base including concrete Seamless i.e. no joints Extremely tough imported clear resin provides a tough, durable and well wearing surface that is suitable for pool areas. Yougi provided us with a sample of the pebble paving decided on which we still have in our possession. We then entered into an agreement with him for the supply and installation of pebble paving around our pools. He also provided us with a 5 year guarantee on product to be installed. The total contract value came to R179310 which was paid in 4 payments between 5 October 2018 and 12 December 2018. During the final stages of the application we detected a distinct colour variation between areas already done and the area in front of the patio. Yougi assured us that should it not be the same colour after it dried and settled that he would re-do the whole area. Well, the colour differences are still very obvious and he still didn’t re-do the area he committed himself to. We also pointed the unsightly joints out in many places and he once again committed himself to fixing it to our satisfaction. Due to the fact that we were so close to the December 2018 builders shutdown we left it like that to be sorted in the new year but paid him in full to keep the guarantee in place and not to be in breach of contract. In January 2019 we started phoning him about the above as well as other issues that arose such as cracks and the dis-colouring of the paving. We have kept all the text messages as well as the email he wrote to us and I wish to point the following out that he admitted to: Confirming that the whole area changed between his site visit in January 2019 and the second site visit a couple of months later. A local Chemical company is his supplier of resin and hardener. Very visible hairline cracks can’t be fixed. The unforeseen situation that has happened to our pebble paving which is the 1st time he experienced this in his 45 years of experience and installing his application which he specialises in. Met with other chemical companies to arrange tints and do samples because of his conscious, having sleepless nights and been stressed out. Issues regarding weather and stones were drying very fast. He confirmed that dis colour occurred. What we don’t understand is that after all of the above he expected us to pay him for fixing his problems. Except for fixing a couple of cracks he has done nothing but delaying the process through all sorts of excuses and leaving our paving with unsightly repair marks downgrading the looks of our property. He has mislead us since the paving doesn’t “wear like a tile” due to dis-colouring, “very low maintenance” now turned out to be very expensive, “seamless” joints are very visible, the water splashes from the pools are actually staining the paving but he claimed that it was suitable for pools and “extremely tough imported clear resin” is actually sourced locally. After all of the above Yougi gave us a quotation in excess of R40000 less than 6 months after the completion of our project to re-cote our paving only. Is this the low maintenance he is referring to in his website? He also gave us no commitment on fixing the other serious issues raised. We have raised all our issues regarding his application in writing to him before the time of writing this but 2 weeks later have received no response yet.