Pool Deck and Backyard Stonework
Daniel is hands down the worst contractor we've ever hired. He touts himself as a jack of all trades when he in fact he is master of none. He was 1 hour late for our first meeting because he was at a Bocce ball tournament! He only came after I sent him a reminder email. His Bocce ball obsession became a recurring theme with him having to leave early or not be available on weekends because of him going to play Bocce ball. I had called him to remove the crumbling cement and install polymer sand in the joints around my pool deck and backyard walkway. He said he can also refinish my deck and reseal my driveway and he's a pro at it. He's a good salesman so I also hired him for those jobs but I made it clear that my priorty was the stonework as I had a grass installation coming in 3 weeks. He said that was plenty of time for him to complete all of the work. However, there were delays due to weather and him coming late and leaving early. When I asked him if he could do the work over a weekend - because the weather was perfect then and he was way behind schedule, he flatly refused.
Other failures on his part: He installed the wrong colour of polymer sand. He hired someone to do the parchment work and it fell apart 1 week later. He never compacted the sand as per good practice, and told me I was "undermining" him by even suggesting it. He blew a lot of sand into our pool although he promised to use boards to prevent this from happening. He left polymeric sand on our paving stones which are there now permanently. The sand he did apply was not done evenly with dips everywhere. I asked him why this happened. He said since I didn't have a hose attachment with a fine mist spray, he had to use his finger over the hose to improvise and that resulted in the dents in the sand.
We had a final chat with us telling him we were not at all happy with his work. We told him to forget the deck and driveway, just fix the sand in the joints and seal it. Daniel promised to stay late that Thursday to do it and no sooner did I come back into the house, he took a call on his cell and then abruptly left! No explanation. He said he could come back on Saturday to finish the work as he was busy Friday. Well, Saturday came and we get a text from him saying, due to the weather (it was perfectly clear) and a prior family event, he wasn't coming! And further, he was abandoning the job because we were rude to him! He informed us he was keeping our 25% deposit as payment for the (subpar) work he had already done and for which we had to hire other contractors to fix. Never in 40 years of home ownership have we had an experience like this. Stick to playing Bocce ball Daniel because your contracting skills and integrity are nonexistent!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $0.00
- Company Response
We would like to begin by thanking HomeStars for allowing homeowners a chance to state their displeasure or contentment regarding a project, however, in this case we feel that this review is vindictive and libelous.
From the outset of the project the homeowner was constantly demanding more for less, extremely rude and even went so far as to insult my stone mason colleague by calling him an "idiot, stupid, lazy and a moron". She refused to pay for his services and so we ended up covering that cost for her.
She left her dog's poop littered all over the property, and in some cases over an entire weekend. It was quite unsanitary to work around, especially through 32-degree weather.
We informed her that she was undermining our expertise as she demanded that we use a 'Gas Powered Tamper' over her stones in order to ensure proper settling of the polymeric sand. We respectfully informed her that that tamper cannot be used over natural stone as it will crack the stones, especially since they are sitting on a concrete bed.
We took accountability in not asking her first on which colour she preferred the polymeric sand to be. In almost all cases grey colour is used, and is the reason for our oversight. We apologized and offered to completely remove the grey polymeric sand and reinstall the beige at our cost.
She expected her loose stones to be reset by us, despite the fact that that was not part of the contract and not part of the sealing process.
When explaining that I could not work over the weekend due to a niece's birthday party celebration she responded with "Well, is it all day?"
Given all of the above we felt it was best to walk away from the project. The amount of work completed, far exceeded the 25% deposit we received.
- The entire Natural Stone Patio was pressure washed thoroughly and the mortar within the joints was completely removed. This alone is well worth over $900.
- The entire wooden deck was pressure washed and prepped for staining.
- etc...
I could go on with these sorts of examples but I would rather not as this experience was one of the worst I've ever endured.
Never have I come across such a negative person and would suggest to any contractor to not get involved with her.
I am truly sorry that our paths crossed and wish her the best.If contractors were able to provide a rating on homeowners, I would give her a 0/10.
I regret that I had to write such a response and hope that anyone reading this can use their own judgement just based on the few examples I gave. I am more than happy to show the photos that we took in order to show our side of the story.
Sincerely,
Daniel