If you’ve paved a driveway you know it’s not cheap. Nancy Johnson’s driveway is long so it was going to be expensive. Paying for it twice was not part of the plan.
KERNERSVILLE, N.C. — Nancy Johnson has lived in the same house for more than half a century. The Kernersville home is far enough from the road to cut down on the noise while being close enough to get to town.
“I love it out here, I really do,” Johnson said.
There have been more than a few home-improvement projects through the years, but the house, for the most part, looks and feels a lot like it did when she bought it in the 1970s. The cost of those projects is much more than the original cost of the house.
“I paid $19,500 (for the house),” Johnson said.
One of her latest projects involved the driveway. The gravel driveway needed a makeover, and Johnson decided to pave it. She hired a guy to lay asphalt up the driveway and off to where she parks the cars.
A guy started the job but ran out of asphalt. The part of the driveway he did pave was patchy and rough. She now has a name for him.
“You mean the fly-by-night guy,” Johnson said.
A short time after he paved a portion of the driveway, Johnson said another guy came by after noticing the driveway and offered to finish the job. Johnson agreed and paid the man about $13,000 to fix the original work and then finish it.
The work wasn’t much better, and while he did finish the job, you could still see patches from the first time the asphalt was done.
“It wasn’t good. He didn’t do a good job,” Johnson said.
She asked him to come back and fix the patchy spots and smooth them out. At first, he told Johnson he’s come back out but never did. Weeks and then months would go by, but he never showed. Eventually, he stopped answering the phone when Johnson called.
“I tried to be patient. People told me to cuss him outdo this that or the other,” Johnson said.
She finally decided to call News 2. After getting the details, we reached out to the asphalt guy to better understand the situation. He told us the same thing he told Johnson and promised to go out and repair the work.
Just like he had done in the past, he never showed. Our calls would often go unanswered, and he rarely called back. When asked about making the repairs, he always seemed to have an excuse.
We continued to call and investigate other jobs he had done for other customers. When we circled back a couple of months later, he again told us he would go back to the house and make the repairs.
About a month later, he went to Johnson’s home to smooth out some rough spots and round off a portion of the driveway.
“You (News 2) get most of the credit for that he did not listen to me,” Johnson said.
The driveway looks a lot better than it did, but there are still some spots Johnson wishes were smoother. Hopefully, the extra layer will add more protection and slow any wear and tear through the years.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that because I was not getting anything done if not for you,” Johnson said.