How to get concreter to remove their concrete left behind

My concreter completed my driveway and a small slab for a garden shed back in June. Overall fairly happy with it all and the bill has been paid in full.

The issue I have is that initially there was an error made where the shed slab was poured in the wrong position and not fully on my land. Concreter admitted to the error and came and cut the incorrect portion away and repoured.

The cut up concrete ended up in piles just off my land which happens to be land owned by the local water authority.

In the weeks following the completion of job I chased the concreter by phone and text to come collect the concrete and he kept saying he would but never did. Covid and short staffing were his reasons for being stretched and not getting to it.

The water authority knocked on my door in August to ask about it but didn't seem too worried and said I could make them out to be the bad guys if I wished but he was going to note it down and it would be reported to their rid squad.

The concreter again committed to collecting the concrete but never did. I didn't really pursue it beyond that as I kinda figured it wasn't really my problem based on the reaction of the water guy.

Now I have had another water authority guy knock on my door this week saying they will just get their maintenance crew to dump it on my land as my contractor = my responsibility. To make matters worse I have freshly laid turf.

The concreter is now completely unresponsive.
I really don't want to have to pay to get rid of it and realise now I should not have paid the bill in full until this was sorted.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can get the concreter to fulfill their obligations?

I am in NSW

Thanks for sticking with me if you made it this far!

Was cleaning up post completion included in your agreement?

If so, write a notice, requesting the concreter to clear up by x date and if he didn't, it would be done at his cost.

Do a final notice and ultimately send the him the bill .

Just take it to a concrete recycling yard to get crushed up, will cost $20-$30 per tonne, so about $5 and a few hours.

Not worth the hassle trying to force him to come back.

Hi Bailey86


I suggest looking over your contract and checking to see if there is a mechanism to resolve the issue. It would be beneficial if your contract provided you the right to take over the work at the contractor’s cost like an Indemnity clause. You may also reach out to the Fair Trading Office (or similar office if you’re outside NSW). They can help you resolve issues with your contractor. If you want help looking over your contract, it may be a good idea to contact a specialist construction lawyer in your area. Hope this helps.


Cheers,
John