A group of Irish pavers are creating frustration among Squamish residents and the District of Squamish over alleged shoddy work on driveways and municipal property.For two months, the Capital 1 asphalt paving contractors have been knocking on doors offering to give driveways a fresh look for significantly less than a typical bid for such work. But a few of those that took up the offer say they've lived to regret it.Annette Hernandez, who rents a house in Valleycliffe, said she was appalled by the work Capital 1 did on her driveway. Kicking away the crumbling edges around her driveway's rough surface and breaking off chunks of soft asphalt from inside a drain, Hernandez said she agreed with her landlord's decision to withhold payment. But, she said, when she refused to sign a contract stating the work was complete, they became menacing. She threatened them in return, said Hernandez, and phoned the RCMP to file a report. But police can do little, according to Cpl. Dave Ritchie"It's kind of a 'he-said, she-said' situation."John O'Connor runs the paving company and says sometimes clients are simply unwilling to pay. "I'll tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth," he said. "I get along well with every Canadian person I worked for. This particular person just wanted to rip us off. I've never called anybody a name in my life, but I never in my life met anybody as ignorant. I spoke to the police and I told him the whole truth about the lady, and he said 'My advice to you is take her to court.' But I don't bother with courts to be honest with you."The company has also been causing frustration among district staff for working without permits and for unacceptable work crossing onto municipal property."Our area of jurisdiction is from the property line to road edge, so that's our authority in that area," said Rick Boulier, district manager of technical services. "We do have issues that we're trying to sort out with this paving outfit in that area."O'Connor said his work had been "approved," then added district engineering staffer Ron Vickerson criticized their work, but he doesn't have the expertise to assess its quality. He also said Capital 1 has been trying to retain permits, but Vickerson won't return calls."Just a couple of ignorant people in Squamish, everyone else are just lovely people. He's one of them," said O'Connor. Another complaint of shoddy work came from Garibaldi Highlands resident Christine Williston. "They did my driveway last week. It was a terrible job," said Williston. "Their business card says we do it right the first time and their sign says fully guaranteed for five years. They said they would come back on Tuesday [April 15] with more asphalt. They did a job just around the corner but did not bring any of that asphalt over to my place. "I called them on Tuesday night and they said that they would do it on Thursday [April 17]. I told them if it was not done by Thursday I would be contacting you guys [The Chief]. At that the guy was very menacing."Williston said her husband paid the bill and O'Connor denies any threats were made. "No we don't threaten anybody. She was something else. She was F-ing and all sorts of things. The job we did for them was 100 per cent. "They know that we're from Ireland, they know that we're from a different country. Everything is lovely, until it's time to pay. To be honest, I don't do hurt nor harm to nobody. I just met a couple of bad people."Although not speaking directly to the Capital 1 pavers, a worker for a local well-established paving company, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said "fly-by-night" outfits are regularly seen in town. "Every year you get the fly-by-nighters. They all come into town and knock on doors," he said. "There was one outfit a couple of years ago, they'd bring a big truck and trailer full of blacktop in the morning and go around knock on doors. "Well, after three or four hours, I wouldn't want that blacktop put down on my driveway."
