Dan

WATCH OUT Hired Oscar for a project to level and grade the backyard, add additional soil and install sod in the backyard. Oscar came out and gave me an estimate, his plan for the backyard seemed sound. I paid an initial deposit for materials and sod was delivered on Tue Aug 8, the day that work was to be started. Oscar messaged me that they were running behind on another job and it would be a few days (Fri) before they would actually start work but assured me they would be out first thing and work through the weekend to finish the project. Friday comes and he messages me that they're going to be delayed again; says his credit card was compromised and is having a problem getting the rental equipment but he'll be out as soon as possible and work through the weekend. Fishy but plausible, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He finally shows up in the afternoon and work finally starts. Things seemed to start off well. The backyard was dig up and he back filling the dirt and did a rough level on it. The project was finally going and decent enough progress the first day considering they were late. He told me they would be working until 8 or 8:30, until dark, and be back first thing in the morning. I looked outside around 7 to see what the progress was and they had vanished. No communication that they were done for the day or what the plan was for the remaining work. Saturday comes and Oscar showed up alone. He was working outside for a few hours and started laying down the sod and then just left. I thought he was just taking a lunch break but never came back. I called him to find out where he was and he says he's got a prior commitment but he'll be back first thing tomorrow to finish. I asked why the sod was laid down without finishing the leveling. He told me that he wanted to lay the sod loosely for it to get some sun and water since it had been sitting for 5 days. It was in really bad shape, brown and dead in spots. The yard still had yet to be leveled and it was slopping in the wrong direction (toward the house) and it was still way too low and we a lot needed more dirt. He explained that he would be back tomorrow and the plan was to roll-up the sod, add the additional dirt, grade it away from the house, level everything out and place the sod back. Seemed reasonable. Sunday came and Oscar was a no-show. No communication from him what-so-ever. Monday morning came around and he messaged that he would be out shortly to finish the job. He did not answer several phone calls or reply to messages the entire day. He did finally show up around 4:30. I went over the concerns that the yard was not even remotely finished and there was still a lot to be done that we had talked about. He ended up saying if I wasn't happy to just keep the rest of the money owed and asked that he be allowed to "finish" by cleaning up the job site and raking the pile of dirt in the front yard and putting the remaining sod in the front as there was at least 20 rolls left. I really wanted him to just finish the job properly as we had discussed but he had no intention of that, he just wanted to finish up the front. I asked to be reimbused part of the last payment as this job was not completed as I would have to have someone else come out and do everything over again. He refused and said I can just keep the final payment. I explained I'm willing to pay for all the materials and the time (~8hrs) that he was actually out here working but he refused to make any arrangments to remedy the situation. Within 20 minutes I received a text that they would be back tomorrow as the trailer was full and they had to dump it. I called him immediately and asked what he was talking about and he acted very sketchy. He told me that they only had room for some of the dirt in the trailer -- I reminded him that he was supposed to rake that over the yard to repair the damage done, not take it away and put the sod in the front. "Oh. I thought I was taking it away". Why would I want someone to take away dirt when I still needed a lot more?? He swore up and down that he would be back to fix the front. He never showed up again and has totally ghosted me. Not only did they not complete the work and just walked away but they took away materials that I had paid for without permission. They did not attempt to even complete the job or fix the mistakes they made. He refused to make any type of compensation for the damages done, re-work that was needed and overpayment of materials. I was very clear that I'm more than willing to pay for all the materials (10 yards of dirt and ~100 rolls of sod) plus time he was actually out here but what he was leaving was not worth over $5,000. He refused to provide any type of compensation. The disturbing part is that he seems to think that he did a decent job. When I asked about the yard being 6" lower than it should be he said it will settle over the winter. Doesnt seem to know that dirt settles down, not up. I dont know if he ever intended to complete the job or if he was just over his head but hiring Oscar ended up costing me thousands of dollars to have someone else come out and re-do all his work.

For context, I had another contractor (not IronClad) who began work on leveling and grading my backyard, adding more soil and putting down sod. Pretty straight forward job but that contractor did a horrible job and walked off the job before finishing it. Everything was done incorrectly; the yard was sloped toward the house, the sod was laid all cockeyed with gaps everywhere, hills and valleys everywhere. It looked worse than when the project began; that contractor damaged the front lawn and the backyard ended up actually lower than when it started. Contacted Ironclad Reno and Leo and his team were able to bailed me out. Leo came out the same day to take a look. He assured me that they would be able to fix it even though it was in pretty rough shape. They were able to come do the work within a few days and in a single day were able to move all the sod that was laid, add twice as much dirt, level and grade the yard properly and install the sod correctly. They even went above and beyond and repaired the front yard the best that could be done. They cleaned up the job site before leaving and kept me informed of the progress throughout the way. There were a lot of little things that they did that just meant a lot. They installed some patio stones and moved some heavy items back in to place. I even saw one of the guys picking weeds along the fence. I would use these guys again for another project without hesitation.