Damaged tarmac driveway from delivery

[HungryHippos]

I would like to get some opinions from the OCUK crowd on what a reasonable resolution to this is.

A week or so ago I had a delivery of a couple of pallets of tiles for my patio, it didn't go so well for two reasons. The first reason is that one of the pallets with a ton of tiles on board fell off the loader onto the road (could only watch on in horror!), the second reason is that during the delivery the drive managed to do some minor damage to my tarmac driveway (less than 2 years old).

The damage is pictured here: https://i.imgur.com/QnHjs4kh.jpg. It's reasonably minor. The delivery driver was not having a good time of things.

The area it's in is edged with blocks, and measures 1.65M x 3M, so approximately 5M sq.

I am not convinced a patch job won't make it stick out as a problem, so if I get any work done on it I may instead opt to relay that section as it's bordered. Would it instead be reasonable to ask for a financial contribution towards the cost of doing this and instead simply living with it as it is?

I have done a quick Google and I think the cost to relay 5M sq would be approximately £50-£60 per sqm, or £275. Does this sound about right?

I understand it may not blend in alongside the old tarmac that is on the opposite side of the border (left of the pictured border would remain, right would be relaid if anything is done).

 

[HungryHippos]

I had the end of my drive done earlier this year - They used those edging stones on mine - they divide the stoned drive from tarmac bit from there to the road - a few months after it was done I had a oil delivery and two of mine sank and broke in half - I did ask for kerb edgings there but they said it wasn't needed - So in my case I put it down to tarmac people not the delivery driver - Thing is if it is a drive then you expect vehicles to drive on it - if you didn't want them to it's up to you. I also realised they bedded edging stones on sand not concrete - They turned out to be cowboys even though they did 30 odd drives local to me and everyone said they were ok. - I did go around and asked - Live and learn.

Yeah absolutely agree about vehicles driving on it, but the guy rocked up on a big old loading truck thing and had managed to damage the drive before he'd even knocked the door to say he was there! I forgot to add before because it's not obvious, the damaged part is on an incline of around 15-20 degrees or so, it levels off again on the left of the edged bit.

I have had quite a few trades running about doing stuff lately as it's a new build and I am trying to sort snagging out, so didn't hear him arrive over the other commotion that was going on.

I don't want to be unreasonable with this really just checking to see what other people would do.

 

[HungryHippos]

Are there other houses still being built? Just bung the tarmac'ers £20 to fix it when they are next there?

Unfortunately not no, been here for over a year mine was one of the last ones to go.

How was the damage caused?

The dropped product or the hydraulic stabilising legs?

Should be using timber under the latter to prevent exactly this.

I didn't witness how the tarmac was damaged, at a guess the driver tried to reverse the truck onto the driveway and the incline was a bit too steep for it, must have hit something on the underside of the truck but not sure what. Possibly a blessing in disguise as a ton of tiles landing on the driveway proper may have been somewhat disastrous.

Wasn't from the dropped tiles directly as I did witness that one. They landed on the block paved road which seems no worse for wear.

 

[HungryHippos]

Did you query the guy when it happened amd contact the company? Might have no luck days after if you never - especially at 200-300 to fix

Unless you brought it to the companies attention at the time they'll probably deny all knowledge and responsibility, especially as they will be replacing a ton of tiles as well!

Yes raised both issues with the company right away and sent pics, the tiles are porcelain so tough whilst being brittle in some cases (especially the edges). Luckily I had minor damage on 12 of the tiles the rest seem OK. I was considering refusing delivery at the time but with the state of the tiles on the road I didn't think it was a good idea.

The company I purchased them from were good and asked if I wanted replacements or partial refunds on the 12 damaged ones, as I could use them as offcuts I went for the partial refund. That is sorted just need to iron out the potential cost of repair on the tarmac driveway.

 

[HungryHippos]

I've sent some feelers out for quotes on resurfacing 5 sqm worth of tarmac, it's quickly becoming apparent that it's simply not efficient to re-do such a small area in isolation.

Quotes so far ranging from £375, to £600, to "too small to bother doing it at all". I'll probably need to instead get a rough price as if I was doing my whole drive, and then simply get the per sqm cost and times by 5 to work out a reasonable figure to charge back to the delivery company.

 

[HungryHippos]

Aye the damage isn't bad by any stretch, I've always maintained it's not, but equally it wasn't there before the delivery, and the dropping of a large number of tiles required me to spend a good couple of hours hand inspecting the tiles for damage that I wasn't originally intending to do.

The company has basically admitted it did the damage, and I have witnesses if needed (Floor Layers were outside at the time). I am trying to get a reasonable settlement out of them for the inconvenience coupled with the damage to the reasonably new tarmac drive. I am not expecting them to pay me the best quote I had so far (£375) as I think it's unreasonable for the damage caused.

 

[HungryHippos]

You know you'll be replacing minor scratches that'll blend in after a while with a square of differently potentially coloured or shade of tarmac and either cut lines or tar use to joint the cuts unless you insist the tarmac the whole thing which would-be unreasonable.

Yes I'd not ask them to replace the entire thing certainly, it's an edged section so it's around 5 SQM worth of tarmac to relay that area. Like you said it would probably look a bit different afterwards as it can age differently.