patio/drive cracking

[Playingfootball]

We employed a local (lives 10 doors from us) builder to do a large extension 2 years ago. Everything he has done has bene amazing and he has sorted all the snagging but one. He persuaded me to have slabs instead of tarmac on the drive. The concrete between the slabs has cracked and come loose, both on the drive and on the patio. Some of the slabs I could literally just lift out of their place. He has come back twice to fix some of them, but some of the fixed ones have gone again. We've had 2 other quotes to fix it of £11k - basically take it all up and relay it. We don't want to fall out with him. We are pretty sure he didn't charge us anything like £11k to do the job.......how do we take this forward?

Have you checked that he has used the correct type of slabs? Some are not designed for heavy things to be on top of them, such as a car. They would need to be quite thick in order to take the weight.

Has he prepared the ground properly? If it hasn't it can crack as time passes and the ground starts to settle.

Do you have large plants/trees growing nearby? Their roots can cause all kinds of damage underground and can easily cause slabs to lift.

In terms of your builder friend I think he should be the one to fix the problem - he may not like this option and you might not be friends afterwards but would you really let any other tradesman get away with this (sub) standard of work. I certainly don't think you should be forking out £11,000 to repair something which he technically is responsible for.

Is it the grout stuff inbetween the slabs that has cracked or the actual slabs. Like pp said there are slabs that are strong enough to be used for a drive, maybe the grout needs to be specially for driveways. I'd get the builder back and ask him to rectify it, was the work insured. Did he remove the original drive and old patio area and prepare it properly. I'd ask what slabs he has used, what filler and are they suitable.

If the slabs are intact, you are lucky. If they can be lifted, they are not fixed securely to the base. The high quote is presumably to lift the lot and relay them. That’s time consuming and expensive.

Your original builder might get away with lifting and relaying the worst ones and re grouting. You can buy pre mixed grout for paving and it’s quick and easy to use. The builder would need to scape out all the current damaged concrete grout. He clearly got the mix wrong and he should rectify it. I’m afraid it’s his fault and poor workmanship.

thank you.

no, no trees.

I think the slabs may be wrong. Only one has cracked, and he's replaced it.

Yes, I think he does need to fix it. But I think this will only be solved either by us falling out with him or splitting the difference and getting a proper drive company in. either way, its all hassle that I could do with out.

I appreciate the replies.