Need outside opinions please. Is this a crap job? We paid for the rock border, some top soil, weed fabric, and mulch.
by fugnut1002
Need outside opinions please. Is this a crap job? We paid for the rock border, some top soil, weed fabric, and mulch.
by fugnut1002
48 Comments
Abomination
Yeah, that looks awful.
But,you also paid under 2 grand for it (time and materials)…
If you want something like this done for cheap, you do it yourself.
Show more pictures
For what it looks like went into it, you got a good deal. Do I like the style and craftsmanship? No.
Did you specifically ask them to do a mortar under the rock because I’ve never seen that and that’s so far beyond a poor decision. They were supposed to dig a trench, put down gravel and compact, then put the first layer of rock down, preferably partly below grade. Why they did what they did is beyond me, I’m guessing cost cutting?
I think you could have DIY’d it and it would have turned out better.
Yeah you got taken for a ride on this one. That is some of the sloppiest masonry work I have laid eyes on. They just slapped mortar between those stones like peanut butter and smeared a massive uneven concrete footing right out over your grass line. You are never going to be able to run a mower or a string trimmer against that edge without destroying your line or knocking chunks of loose cement into your lawn. A proper stone border should either be dry stacked in a dug trench to hold the base course or built with clean struck joints on a properly buried footer so the grass meets the stone flush.
Throwing weed fabric under dyed mulch is another classic hack move. All that fabric does is prevent organic matter from actually improving your soil while giving new weed seeds a perfect little bed of mulch to sprout in right on top of the barrier. Tell whoever did this to come back and chisel that sloppy footing out of your yard. If they ghost you then you need to get a masonry chisel or a grinder to cut back that exposed concrete yourself because right now your lawn maintenance is going to be a total nightmare.
IMO, even at this cost, it should have been done much better. That concrete footer is completely unnecessary if done correctly. Also, they should have told you the mortar wasn’t going to come close to matching your material so you could have asked them to match it.
Terrible job.. good job would’ve cost 4k easy
This looks like something my drunk uncle would do in an afternoon for a case of Busch Ice
That is terrible. But probably worth the $1735 in labor and materials.
Too much mortar, not enough rock; mortar as a base is fine, but that is too wide and tall (they should’ve put it lower than the dirt so you can cover it with a bit of dirt and grass would eventually grow on it
That mortar base sticks out like a sore thumb…☹️
It looks like they tried to lay a concrete foundation for a few rocks. Weird.
That’s a do-over.
That is seriously lazy work.
Yea that’s dog doodie.
Also, is that dirt and mulch pushed up against a wooden stained door and frame in the background there? You need to get that off of there. The wood will decompose.
It looks like they ran out of rocks by the top layer. There are gaps showing the mortar which I would not have wanted.
Street view may look better than up close. 🤞
Unless you can get a partial refund or something, not worth stewing over it.
Hats off to those that posted useful info on how the work should have been done.
Woof, I’d give that bad boy about 3 months before it falls apart
That will eventually just be a pile of mess
Post the contract and scope of work and we can make a better decision. Thats cheap for any type of labor. Just for mulch would be 500 in my area.
It’s not good. But cover that mortar up at the base with some mulch or crushed rock and it will look better.
This looks like a $1,700 job. You got what you paid for. Do you like it? Are you happy with it?
Gross
Looks like their first day
Brutal.
You know the answer
…wow…ouch. that’s crazy wrong in so many ways.
This is why I ALWAYS ask to see someone’s ‘portfolio’. Show me your previous jobs before you do ANYTHING in our home.
Almost always the reason I do it myself instead.
Personally I do not have a stick up my ass when it comes to nature so I know things done with nature involved are never perfect and will never remain perfect.
What type of grass is that? Also is the same person who did the work the person who mows the lawn? If that channel of mortar wasnt there, mowing around this and weeding this would be annoying(require spray) in the future if the grass is zoysia or bermuda or anything creeping Mowing/ maintaining this landscaping is going to be a cakewalk in the future the way this is set up IMO, the trimmer line hits mortar if it gets edged that way. No plant, (if that type of grass) is going that far into the landscaping beyond the mortar is my opinion.
Please keep in mind who orchestrated the actual idea and outcome if materials and labor did not come from the same brain. Personal responsibility should not be overlooked. When I have a customer with an idea, I talk to them until they are almost blue in the face thinking Im an idiot maybe not understanding, it usually goes well afterwards when they get exactly what they ordered.
Personally I would not be upset given the price paid and how future maintenance will go, if upset with the result, I would find more rock to mortar onto the front channel of mortar and build 1 rock level higher on the 2 base rocks at that point, hiding the mortar channel and strengthening the base.
Shit work by shit landscaper
Was the concrete border in the contract too?
Why is there mortar in the first place?
[https://share.google/dBNfIp2xQwHO8vugF](https://share.google/dBNfIp2xQwHO8vugF)
Sounds about right at the cost/labor.
Just got an idea though for it, maybe try staining(not painting) the stone and motor so it all looks like one color? That should make it look a lot nicer! Even stain the bottom. On the bottom out mulch? Or dirt and hope grass grows there?
Not acceptable!
Yea you don’t use cement on that stone. It’s a complete hack job. if you live in a part of the world where it gets cold, the first time it drops below freezing everything there is going to pop.
This is beyond crap.
Yikes, this doesn’t look good. Why do the rocks and mortar? It looks like they don’t know what they’re doing.
lol wtf
Yes. There should be no mortar and the angles are way wrong. It should slope in not out.
Yes, that is a bad job, in so many ways. Poor materials, poor construction poor base development, poor aesthetic.
Seems like you went with a super cheap quote. Looks about right for only $1700.
I go to this community to see general ideas and solutions. I’m not a landscaper nor property owner. But that is an ugly eyesore. I don’t care what you paid for it.
You got what you paid for. Thats extremely cheap for this type of edging work.
You could’ve done that on a Saturday afternoon.
….. This is why some times its best not to go with the lowest bid.
Oh my goodness