First time poster, thanks for any input.
We had our backyard redone this spring. We tore out a big deck and built a new one, rebuilt two retaining walls, tore out a paver patio, added French drains and box drains, and had yard leveled out at the end. Grass seed was put down with a very thin layer of topsoil and straw at the time. Job was finished in May in KY, roughly 1/4 acre back yard.
We have been left with a mess. We have rocks (up to 12” wide) and gravel embedded in the dirt still over most of the yard. We struggle when mowing and weed whacking because rocks fly. We have ruts so deep it stalls our push mower if we go too fast. We have small holes forming in the ground behind the retaining wall. We have dirt piled up on the fence line to the first boards. We have water coming onto our lower patio and hasn’t in the past. There is a good 1/4” of grade higher than landing at the base of the new deck stairs.
We have never been able to get grass to grow back. Weeds are doing just fine though. Our yard is mainly clay and it dries out in hours to cracking. We watered three times a day for two months and reseeded twice and finally gave up with the summer heat.
I have been reaching out to the landscaper since 3 weeks after the project completion when it started to become clear there were issues. I kept being told just wait and it will all level out when the grass grows. They threw down one bag of seed and promised to follow up. Now silence. We paid these guys over $20k for the job. I know what needs to be done, but I feel like the burden shouldn’t fall on me. It feels like an incomplete job.
How bad is this really? Photos are from this week, three months after completion. I made a final call to the company and requested the owner contact me three days ago and nothing. I think I’m going to blast them with bad reviews this week and want to know any opinions. Did I expect too much?
If you’re this far, thank you!
by BigDistribution3024
5 Comments
I didn’t see any 12 inch rocks. And even if they were there, they would’ve been there in May when the job was done and finished. Also when you would have accepted it and paid the final payment
Usually you get what you pay for. Was this the lowest contractor estimate?
What size deck and what materials were used…trek, wood?
Kind of sounds like it was the lowest price which the little things like clean up, is to be expected and not fixed.
This is normal for construction like patios and retaining walls – there will always be leftover aggregate. Just take it dude will take you maybe an hour.
The leftover rocks alone wouldn’t bother me much, but the drainage issues, deep ruts, and holes behind the wall would. I’d want those fixed before calling the job done.
I would get some metal rakes, a shovel, a wheel borrow and a lawn leveling rake. Rake out the rocks, get some soil delivered, haul and dump it around the yard and level it out to match the existing grade. Put down the appropriate grass seed when that’s done. Even with the issues, it looks like the lawn could use this.