The background is that two of the 5 people responsible for our common drive decided to get some repairs performed. I came home yesterday to find major construction equipment in place and parts of the drive ripped up. 15 minutes later the two showed up and handed me a copy of the bill and asked me to pay my share. The total cost was 10,666. The repair included 1850 sq/ft of removal of the apron and repair with 12.5mm asphalt over 4 inches of stone, plus cutting out and repairing four potholes, 30 square feet total.
I was assured this was a great price, half of what the typical charges should be. I think this sounds very high. The company doing this usually does only commercial work.
Where can I find a site to get an idea of whether this was a good deal or not?
I should state that the areas getting repaired were deteriorated. While it did not bother me, I can agree that it was reasonable to do. I did not like the way it was done, and currently am suspicious of the price.
You may want to call other paving contractors and ask them for quotes, even though the work has already been done. That should give you an idea of whether the amount you’ve been asked to pay is reasonable. The other contractors may ask for a fee, given that they’re not going to get the contract.
Why would you pay anything if you were not involved in the decision to use them? Did you sign a contract? Did you authorize your neighbors to make the decision for you? Was this a neighborhood association type deal?
Still, ~$2000 per household doesn’t sound unreasonable to me for this sort of work.
That’s a pretty big area, it’s been a while since I was familiar with such things but the cost doesn’t seem to be far out of line. It may well be a good deal.
IANAL (and this probably should be in IMHO), but it seems that given that it’s a shared driveway, it’s reasonable that all users pay for the repairs. Having the work done without getting quotes and getting the agreement of all users was a bad idea, but now that it’s done, I think they do owe their fair share. The question is what’s fair.
You are in kind of a jam. YOu don’t want to start a neighbor feud, I’m sure, so I think you should pony up. I have no idea whether that was a good price, but it really does little good to grouse about it after all is said and done.
Whether the price and choice of contractor is optimal is superfluous at this point. But I would make it very clear that if any more work is contemplated for the shared drive, you want to be involved MUCH earlier in the process, and help decide what is done, who does it and what each neighbor’s share is.
Why wasn’t each owner contacted about the repair before anything was done? Are you on good terms with the other owners? Shared driveways are a universal thorn for people who use them. From a pure legal standpoint, unless there is some written agreement (a contract, deed clause or HOA regulations), you probably can’t be forced to pay anything. But you have to consider other aspects, such as neighborliness and the fact you probably interact with the other people.
Are you sure it’s only 12.5mm of asphalt? That seems really thin. Usually the asphalt layer is a minimum of 2" with the crushed aggregate base of 4-6".
Yeah, I missed that. If this is in the US, I seriously doubt a pavement contractor would quote or price asphalt by the mm. Particularly to the half-millimeter. 2-inch layers are typical. Often, there is a 2" base coat, with a 2" top coat, for a total of 4" over top 4" of stone.
Won’t the typical price for this vary depending on where you live? You might need to provide that to get an answer on whether that is reasonable.
I agree that you should make clear that you want to be invloved before work begins, if they are going to expect you to pay 1/5th of it.
You could play dumb, and ask them for the other estimates they got. Let them worry about getting other estimates after the fact. You could also see if you can find ads for asphalt driveway repair that give low-ball estimates.
I wouldn’t pay shit. You don’t just do something like that with out consulting all the neighbors. That’s seriously fucked up. That would show me how little my two neighbors think of me. Maybe if three of the five agreed to this I might be inclined to pay. But not two, they are not a majority.
What if one of the neighbors was in a financial bind and couldn’t cough up 2k?
Yeah, if you didn’t agree ahead of time, you don’t owe them squat.
That’s pretty shitty to actually have contractors start work on it and then try and stick some other person with a bill “for their part”, without talking about it with them first.
You know, I missed the part where only two of the neighbors decided to do this. I’m changing my mind and am inclined to agree with Shakes, above. How can 2 out of 5 owners decide to do this without consulting the other three. There should lots of conversation with all five owners before any money changes hands. Were three out of five owners really not consulted on this?
The quote states 12.5 mm asphalt. I was confused as well, but that turns out to be the sieve size of the rock used in the asphalt. The actual asphalt will be two inches thick.
While I do want to remain neighborly, one of the two neighbors has twice refused shared cost ideas I liked…unified brick mailboxes, and the cost to bring natural gas to the neighborhood. Remember, small neighborhood.
I really resent the way it was done, and the way it was presented. One of the neighbors is a general contractor for a large commercial development company. He is having significant work done on his house/yard, and is using people he is used to working with commercially. I seriously doubt if he will actually be paying anything for his part of the shared repair.
The other has a propensity for having cosmetic work done on the shared areas and billing afterward.
“Common driveway” - whose property is it, who owns the rights and what rights do the rest of you have?
I assume the owner(s) can contract. The only situation where you would all be on the hook would be if a partnership owned the road, or if it were some condo or HOA situation. Otherwise the owner would contract for the job, and be on the hook for the total, and the contractor would put a lien on that property if not paid. Otherwise, you are under no obligation to pay (although starting a nasty argument with the neighbours is not always a good thing)
Frankly, $10,666 for what I assume is about 150 feet of road does not seem out of bounds.
I presume this did not come out of nowhere - they’d talked about it and someone got tired of waiting or had poor impulse control. Ask whoever made the arrangements who else quoted and what numbers he got for quotes. Offer to pay your share of the lowest of the quotes provided there were at least 3.
Laws governing maintenance of shared driveways can be quite complicated. The OP may very well be legally obligated to pay for part of the work if it was “necessary”, “reasonable”, or any number of other terms depending on the language of the deed.
I would suggest you talk to an attorney, if only so you know what your responsibilities (and rights) are the next time “cosmetic work” guy sends you a bill.
ETA: md, many US states allow driveways and other common areas to be jointly held - either directly or through a fictional “corporation” sort of thing (strata title.) The five owners may all have a one fifth share.
I remember my Accounting 101 discussion where they mentioned partnerships, and how in that business arrangement one partner could commit the entire organization into a contract or debt (provided it was part of the usual business).
So yes, the key question is - what is the specific legal arrangement over the ownership and management of the common driveway?
Lots of shared driveways around here, it’s the only reasonable thing to do when access to the road requires blasting through rock. The price in the OP doesn’t sound outrageous, maybe it could be done for less, but it will vary by location and the details of the job. Twice that price does sound outrageous assuming it’s a typical driveway.
dauerbach, the work is done, and it improves the value of your property, and all the other properties as well so it increases the value to yours even more. So you may as well pay the bill, 2 grand and change is a small price to pay to get along with the neighbors.
Prices for this kind of work vary by region, soil conditions, competition and such, just like most other contracting work. I would say that this price for 2000 sf of removal and rebuild with other repairs is in the “fair” range - maybe a little high, but only if it was an easier job than I envision. If they did quality, lasting work and guarantee it… I’d say you got a good deal.