What do I do? No one wants to cement my house?!

[Account Closed]

Hello, First let me reiterate by saying that I am in the process of converting my home into a rental and this is the very first time in doing this. I am in Lincoln Park, MI, and I have had an inspection done. The inspection results were not so surprising, I had some electrical and some cement work that needed to be done. The electrical guys have already come and gone, but I am now 10 days into desperately trying to get a cement guy to do my cement. I need two sidewalk cement slabs done. One looks like it can be saved but the other one is a goner. The inspection stated that a permit is required. This, to my newbie mind, means that a certified person needs to do this. I cannot (I have asked building department... (possibly a newbie mistake but I’m an honest person) if I can pull a homeowners permit and they exclaimed “NO.” Even when I still live there they said I cannot due to the desire to turn it into a rental. I have called and texted at least 10 people/ companies. Three people hung up on me as soon as I stated the extent of the job and location. Three other people did not hang up and explained the following reasoning for their declined request: - one said “no big company will touch residential until later this year” - one said “it’ll cost 800$ due to the equipment needed for such a small job” I then stated that I would be interested in a bigger cement job and they still declined - one said that Lincoln park requirements are very picky - one said that they will wait till there’s multiple jobs in the area, but when I said “okay then I’ll get on the list” they said it won’t be until later this year. - one told me to go with the “small guys” but didn’t give me any leads So now I’m pretty much thinking I’m not going to meet my May 1st deadline unless I tell them I plan on opening a cement skatepark! Side note: Lincoln Park does not have a frost delay. Any help would be immensely appreciated. Thank you

[Jon Holdman]

Does the city require any licensing for doing this work?  Or do they just require a permit.  You say you think a "certified person" is needed.  That may or may not be the case.  Ask the building department.  If you mean the sidewalk along the street, then there may well be licensing requirements.  When I looked into this (no sidewalks in front of my house, they're about 50/50 in my neighborhood) the city said not only does someone have to be licensed, you have to have approved plans to their specifications.  That may be what these contracts are meaning when they say the city is picky.  Ask the city if they have a list of people with the right licenses.

I've also ran into issues with small concrete jobs.  One guy told me their minimum was $2500.  Another was $2000.  I've still not done the small project I need done.

Also, you're talking about concrete, not cement. Cement is one of the ingredients in concrete, along with sand and aggregate. The people you're talking to will roll their eyes when you say "cement." That could be part of why you're getting blown off.