Justin Osborn

Review of Zavala Contractors

I hired Z. Zavala Concrete and Fence for a second ...

I hired Z. Zavala Concrete and Fence for a second patio addition and a walkway addition that consisted of about 400 square feet or so of stamped concrete.
Overall everything came out almost exactly as planned and pictured although we did run into one issue with permits (hence the 4 star rating instead of 5 stars).
The work itself looks great, the price was right, Jose was flexible in changing plans last second for some design changes, and so far it's been about a week since the project and everything still looks great.

Pros:
- Jose is pretty easy to work with and communication with him and the company was fairly good (responses within 24-48 hours or so via email).
- The price was right and very competitive compared to other quotes we received.
- The end result looks great (and they were able to implement a 1x1 foot removeable slab where we had a sprinkler solenoid sitting where the middle of the new patio is).
- Jose was able to get the project started within about a week of accepting the quote and finished the project within 3 days of when they started.
- They were able to add in a lot of dirt and other materials to make our very slanted backyard level before adding the concrete which worked out better than expected.

Cons:
- We did have an issue with permits. The city came out during the 2nd day of the project and informed me that the proper permits were not pulled for what we were trying to do (although Jose and his crew was able to amend the permit / city code issues on the spot to where we weren't violating any city codes which essentially consisted of moving the walkway 1 extra foot away from the fence line for drainage per city code, etc.). My recommendation is make sure you call your city to ensure your project will be within code before accepting a quote and / or starting the project. Technically the contractor is responsible for this in most cases, but always better to doublecheck.
- As mentioned above, they should've checked with the city to see if the project was within city code and obtained any permits if needed before starting the job.
- Communication could be slightly better and have faster response times (but still not too bad overall).

Overall 4 out 5 and good experience overall, the end result still came out looking great although time will tell. I'll make sure to update my review if anything changes going forward but in the meantime I'm impressed with the work and would recommend them to others.