Replacement Curb on the Cheap

[cieg22]

Many of my neighbors/friends bonded together recently to get a contractor to fix their curbs for cheap - almost too cheap.

All he is doing is ripping out the existing curb, digging out maybe another foot behind that, and then setting up his forms, which rest on the adjacent roadway surface. I'm not sure how he's compacting - the opening is 2' wide at best. He isn't cutting out any of the roadway pavement. He's not tying the new curb into an existing curb. He's not using a self-compacting subbase.

The details I've seen all call for either compacted subgrade, subbase, or both.

On the other hand, the municipal inspector doesn't take objection to this set up. He tells me this is done all the time.

I don't really work with residential stuff. Does this approach sound reasonable, or would speaking up now save these folks from huge headaches later?

Thanks.

 

[bimr]

That is how it is done. What would you do differently. Isn't the base already compacted from the existing curbing?

 

[cieg22]

Good point about the stuff being pre-compacted from the old curb.
The bottom looks pretty disturbed though, also topsoil has spilled in beneath the forms.

 

[Twinkie]

I have no problem with this. Subgrade should be well compacted from the road construction. If you want him to get in there and re-compact your cost will skyrocket with the excess disturbance and road reconstruction you will end up doing.