Contractor Destroyed Yard

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#76
#76
Rasputin_Vol said:
I'm happy that you got it all resolved. That isn't I guess my gripe with you in all of this. My gripe is that you admitted to running it by a lawyer, entertained the idea of running by the Better Business Bureau and vented on VN for what in the end could have been handled (and ultimately was handled) with a man to man/face to face discussion over something this trivial.
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Running by your lawyer IMO saves you a lot of headache. Like the guy with the car the dealership wrecked......didn't consult with his lawyer and is now left holding the bag of lost DV. Unfortunately the world has made it necessary to consult with your retained attorney in order to protect your rights and wallet.
 
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#77
#77
Rasputin_Vol said:
I'm happy that you got it all resolved. That isn't I guess my gripe with you in all of this. My gripe is that you admitted to running it by a lawyer, entertained the idea of running by the Better Business Bureau and vented on VN for what in the end could have been handled (and ultimately was handled) with a man to man/face to face discussion over something this trivial.
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Also, please look back at my OP.....I wasn't venting
 
#78
#78
Rasputin_Vol said:
In fairness to the contractor, he should also post pictures of not only the "pretty things up" lawn repair, but of the work the contractor was actually paid to do.

He ran this contractor down by highlighting a negative, he could at the very least show the craftsmanship of the work they did. He did say he would use him again.
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Again, the work I paid him to do was never the issue. If you paid someone to do a job and they did it perfectly, but in the process destroyed something else, are you that concerned at that point with the finished product of what you paid him to do?
 
#79
#79
Rasputin_Vol said:
No, it is because people think that the world revolves around them and any type of petty inconvenience or discomfort in their lives needs to be handled with a lawyer.
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When I am paying you to do a job, the world does revolve around me. I can always find a contractor that will want to earn my business by doing the job and everything that is involved the right way.
 
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#80
#80
BearCat204 said:
Running by your lawyer IMO saves you a lot of headache. Like the guy with the car the dealership wrecked......didn't consult with his lawyer and is now left holding the bag of lost DV. Unfortunately the world has made it necessary to consult with your retained attorney in order to protect your rights and wallet.
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Really? For something this trivial? And from what you said his fix was (laying down sod), by the looks of your "destroyed yard", it looked like MAYBE a pallets worth of sod, which would probably run you around $150 give or take (maybe a pallet). Even with that, I'm not going to consult a lawyer over $150 bucks. Hell, I'm not going to take off from work and go to small claims court for that, either. My time is more valuable than that, I guess.
 
#82
#82
Glad it worked out BC

You should have never had to worry about it in the beginning.
 
#86
#86
But if you are expecting aeration, double tall fescue reseeding, sifted topsoil and all of that other nonsense that Orangedogsrule highlighted, then that conversation should have been had BEFORE construction even started. If the contractor is going to have to make special accommodations to complete this project (buying grass seed, top soil, sod, whatever), then that would have to figure in to his price of doing the job because it is added time, labor and materials.
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Spent my whole career in design construction. Some in project management. Some in real world Commercial & Residential. Done the research. Had some professional inter-actions with UT's ornamental landscape & turf grass profs, and several seed and lawn & garden and co-op pros. I aint blowing smoke, I've seen the results.

One thing we always expected was that if one sub came in and screwed up something not a part of his job, he'd make it like it was before he started.
Example, plumber does a piping install but busts up a lot of drywall and leaves. He either makes it good himself, or the price to "scratch & patch & paint to match" comes out of his final payment, which was where we allowed his profit. Surprising how neat and tidy one works when he knows his profit is tied up in leaving the rest of a job site like he found it, no trash, and broom clean.

That said. Read my post. I know it's an old saw now on VN to gig someone on reading comprehension, but...well..the shoe fits you.

I did not hold the contractors of my jobs at my home responsible for the renovations needed to my yard because I expect more of my lawn turf than the average homeowner. More even than most who do the regular seasonal tricks.
I want a truly "Barefoot Lawn". So what I said to start out with was what it "needs" to get an even and all over healthy growth, and listed it. I did not say the contractor should follow my list. However I did state that based on my experience that it damn sure needed a LOT more than a 1/2 hours worth of raking. I've been there done that, and have a tried and true method of getting a beautiful even, healthy stand of turf grass.

Now we read the OP got sod put down. Good for him. That can work exceedingly well, ...or not, as far as having a uniform lawn.
 
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#87
#87
Rasputin_Vol said:
Getting a lawyer involved with that little bit of disturbance is I guess my main point. To me (and in my own personal case), it was reasonable to expect that cement truck would leave some ruts when it had rained the day before. Likewise, had I had another project in my backyard that required some construction, odds are that the crew will need their trucks to move around and what not to get the job done. Me telling them to only work on bright sunny days is not an option in my book because I know how construction work is. If you allow them to pull off one or two days on your job, they will possibly go to another to fill in the time and now you have what would have been a short job that stretches out over several weeks. Plus, if they are set up to do work, it is unreasonable to have them tear everything down and then set up again when it is convenient (sunny day). Again, keep in mind that the OP hasn't said anything about the quality of the work that he paid the guys to do. I would assume that since he hasn't complained about that is that he was satisfied. I think a reasonable expectation would be for them to clean up after themselves (paper, crates, trash, etc), minimize the amount of surface damage and to be as little of an inconvenience as possible.

The pictures the OP said they "destroyed" his lawn. Yet the pictures indicate that he actually had far less than what he proclaimed.
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Let go, Ras. In life you have ordinary people and you have anal retentive people. BC is clearly the latter.
 
#88
#88
Orangedogsrule said:
Spent my whole career in design construction. Some in project management. Some in real world Commercial & Residential. Done the research. Had some professional inter-actions with UT's ornamental landscape & turf grass profs, and several seed and lawn & garden and co-op pros. I aint blowing smoke, I've seen the results.
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I never challenged your credentials. I guess one thing to consider is that the average person doesn't have those credentials, nor would they have that knowledge. All most people know is that they want green grass. Pretty low bar when compared to your credentials.

Orangedogsrule said:
One thing we always expected was that if one sub came in and screwed up something not a part of his job, he'd make it like it was before he started.
Example, plumber does a piping install but busts up a lot of drywall and leaves. He either makes it good himself, or the price to "scratch & patch & paint to match" comes out of his final payment, which was where we allowed his profit. Surprising how neat and tidy one works when he knows his profit is tied up in leaving the rest of a job site like he found it, no trash, and broom clean.
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Well, I think we are talking apples and oranges here. Yes, I would expect someone to repair drywall that is severely damaged during a project. Drywall doesn't grow back/heal itself.

Orangedogsrule said:
I did not hold the contractors of my jobs at my home responsible for the renovations needed to my yard because I expect more of my lawn turf than the average homeowner.
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And if I were betting, the OP is just your average homeowner.

Orangedogsrule said:
More even than most who do the regular seasonal tricks.
I want a truly "Barefoot Lawn". So what I said to start out with was what it "needs" to get an even and all over healthy growth, and listed it. I did not say the contractor should follow my list. However I did state that based on my experience that it damn sure needed a LOT more than a 1/2 hours worth of raking. I've been there done that, and have a tried and true method of getting a beautiful even, healthy stand of turf grass.
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Anything more than a half hours worth of raking doesn't work for you... I get that. But anything more than that should have been negotiated BEFORE work began.

Orangedogsrule said:
Now we read the OP got sod put down. Good for him. That can work exceedingly well, ...or not, as far as having a uniform lawn.
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The remedy offered by the contractor thus makes your posts moot because he essentially went a step above what was minimally needed. I doubt the contractor spent over $100, but lets assume he had to at worst spend $150 for an entire pallet of sod. Sounds like this project was of modest scale and size, so I would assume the OP spent a couple thousand dollars on the project. This guy was ready to go to his lawyer over $150.
 
#89
#89
samanderson said:
Let go, Ras. In life you have ordinary people and you have anal retentive people. BC is clearly the latter.
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That's rich.....hire me to do something and let me screw up something of yours. I'm sure you'll happily fork over 3500 and just suck it up.
 
#90
#90
Rasputin_Vol said:
I never challenged your credentials. I guess one thing to consider is that the average person doesn't have those credentials, nor would they have that knowledge. All most people know is that they want green grass. Pretty low bar when compared to your credentials.

Well, I think we are talking apples and oranges here. Yes, I would expect someone to repair drywall that is severely damaged during a project. Drywall doesn't grow back/heal itself.


And if I were betting, the OP is just your average homeowner.


Anything more than a half hours worth of raking doesn't work for you... I get that. But anything more than that should have been negotiated BEFORE work began.


The remedy offered by the contractor thus makes your posts moot because he essentially went a step above what was minimally needed. I doubt the contractor spent over $100, but lets assume he had to at worst spend $150 for an entire pallet of sod. Sounds like this project was of modest scale and size, so I would assume the OP spent a couple thousand dollars on the project. This guy was ready to go to his lawyer over $150.
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You still don't get it, the money isn't the issue. We disagree on this and I got that.
 
#91
#91
BearCat204 said:
You still don't get it, the money isn't the issue. We disagree on this and I got that.
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He's defending the indefensable with an incorrect understanding of turf grass growth capabilities.

Most (maybe all, based on the link I just found) fescue is a "bunch grass" meaning it grows only from the seed location AND IT DOES NOT SPREAD.

Kentucky Blues, Zoysia, Bermuda, and the like are "rhyzomatic" sending underground root runners out that send up new blades from rhyzome knots in the root.

Fescues can not self heal.
And the new "rhyzomatic" fescues I've used for overseeding the last few years don't heal well and the link shows that.

Compressed clay under heavy tires makes hardpan, and the clay that oozes out beside makes ruts. The ruts may, "may", disappear over time, the hardpan will not.

He also insults the owner by indicating he shouldn't expect more since he's proly no more than average joe homeowner anyway.

The sod will not look like the rest of the yard.
 
#93
#93
Orangedogsrule said:
He's defending the indefensable with an incorrect understanding of turf grass growth capabilities.

Most (maybe all, based on the link I just found) fescue is a "bunch grass" meaning it grows only from the seed location AND IT DOES NOT SPREAD.

Kentucky Blues, Zoysia, Bermuda, and the like are "rhyzomatic" sending underground root runners out that send up new blades from rhyzome knots in the root.

Fescues can not self heal.
And the new "rhyzomatic" fescues I've used for overseeding the last few years don't heal well and the link shows that.

Compressed clay under heavy tires makes hardpan, and the clay that oozes out beside makes ruts. The ruts may, "may", disappear over time, the hardpan will not.

He also insults the owner by indicating he shouldn't expect more since he's proly no more than average joe homeowner anyway.

The sod will not look like the rest of the yard.
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I paid a ton of money for my yard, I am the average joe homeowner, but I take pride in my yard. Like I said, the repair they did to the yard looks great now and I am satisfied.
 
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