Diamond Cut Property Maintenance

Review: Diamond Cut (owned by [redacted]) had a signed contract to build a shed in the back of the building and requested a deposit for purchase of materials in December of 2013. The check was cashed and due to a snow storm Diamond Cut was not able to build the shed, an agreement was made that Diamond Cut would build the shed when the snow cleared. In March of 2014 after the snow had melted Diamond Cut was contacted to continue the work of building the shed. An email was sent stating that they will no longer be doing business with us due to over 30day payment on a previous job completed by Diamond Cut, which was paid within 60 days. Victory Cathedral replied that they would have to return the deposit for the shed materials not used. Diamond Cut agreed to return the deposit in July of 2014 but never did. In August of 2014 a representative of Diamond Cut ([redacted]) contacted Victory Cathedral Apartments and stated that they would complete the job of building the shed no later than the 27th of September. On September 29, October 1, and October 6th Victory Cathedral Apartments contacted the representative leaving two messages and finally reaching them on the 6th requesting a full refund. Diamond Cut asked for another four weeks before building the shed. The request was denied still asking for a refund. Diamond Cut again asked for two weeks to come build the shed. Victory Cathedral again asked for a full refund, stating that Diamond Cut has exhausted the time allowed and needs to return a full refund of the $1,700.00.Desired Settlement: We want the money given to [redacted] returned in the amount of $1,700.00 in a bankers check.

Review: In late April of this year I contracted Diamond Cut Property Maintenance, [redacted] to install a paver patio in my back yard. Along with this he was also going to put large stone around the shed in my back yard, as well as use stone edging around the garden in the front of my home. I had used [redacted] a few years back to build a deck on the front of my home. He did this to satisfaction, so when I contacted him about doing paver patio, etc., he told me that yes he had done them before and could do one for me. On April 28th, he came to my house and we discussed the prices and what color pavers were to be used among the other jobs he was going to do. During our conversation we decided to keep the cost lower so he would use the pavers from the existing patio that I had plus, he suggested that I use slabs, 4 pavers together, because it would be less expensive to use in lieu of standard pavers. He was the expert so I went with his suggestion. At the conclusion of our conversation, he stated that he would have the job completed in three days, this day I gave [redacted] a down payment of $1500.00 to start the job and on May 12th he sent me the contract. [redacted] started the project, on or about, May 6th, at that time he had asked me for another payment of $2000.00, which I gave him. From the onset there were problems. The stone delivery was late so he couldn’t do the work, then it rained for a few days, nothing that was directly related to him, but he was already over the 3 day completion date. Then I realized that he was not coming on a daily basis. I did not know, nor did he tell me, that this was his part time job. I texted him frequently to find out when he would be coming to work and he would reply and eventually and come to do more work. By May 21st the smaller jobs were completed, but the patio was the big issue. I went outside to inspect the work and found that the slab pavers he used were not set correctly. They rocked back and forth, and you could hear them rubbing against each other. I immediately contacted [redacted] and told him that I was very concerned that these pavers were not set properly and that they would eventually crack. I also noticed that the patio was not level and also told this to [redacted]. [redacted] assured me that he was not done with the process and that he would have all of this done properly when he was finished. On May 23th, [redacted] came over to work and asked me for the final payment of $270.00 for the work he had done, so I wrote him another check, but did tell him that he needed to complete every aspect of this patio asap, it had taken way too long to complete this patio and I wanted to enjoy it over the summer with my children. He assured me that he would finish everything within the next few days. On May 26th [redacted] came back and told me that he was going to finish that afternoon and everything would be completed. At that time, as had stated to him numerous times before, I told him that everything needed to be level and stationary, and if I found anything not completed to expectation and the contract, he would have to come back. He assured me that everything would be done correctly. He worked on the patio till the evening and left, never saying a word to me. My children heard him leave and told me, so I assumed that he had finished the work and that everything was level and securely in place. I went outside to walk on the pavers to ensure that they were solidly in place and were not rocking, to my surprise, nothing changed. The pavers were still rocking and the patio was still not level. I immediately sent him an email stating this to him. From that point on he has not returned a phone call or responded to a text or email that I have sent to him. On June 30th, I realized that he was not going to respond to me, so I stopped trying to contact him. I paid him a total of $4670.00 for this project, not only was it not done in a timely fashion, but it was substandard, he obviously did not know what he was doing. I feel that he lied to me about his expertise and knowledge of patio pavers from the start of this project. I was finally able to get a reputable landscaping company to come to home and quote me a price to fix this patio at the cost of $5202.00! This project is now going to cost me more than I originally paid. I have a letter from this contractor which states the following:

After inspection of the recently installed near patio my professional opinion that sub quality materials were used and installed in a manner not consistent with industry standards. Here are my findings:

Inexpensive slabs were used and not pavers

Patio itself is unstable and has dips and valleys

Base Depth not sufficient

Concrete sand was not used for bedding and drainage layer

Polymeric Joint Lock Sand was not used

No paver edge restraint was installed

It is my opinion that this patio needs to be replaced to [redacted] standards

I am a single mom with two young children, I saved for two years to afford to have this patio installed and I am devastated by this turn of events. I have documentation to support all of this is factual by way of email and text messages between myself and [redacted]. Although it is against all of my feelings on how this entire process was handled, I am willing to resolve this issue if I am refunded $3470.00, which means he will keep $1200.00 for the various other projects he did finish.

I feel that I was cheated, lied to, and manipulated by Diamond Cut Property Maintenance, [redacted], and I hope that you can intervene and help me resolve this issue. I cannot afford to have a professional “fix” this patio if I cannot get the money that I spent returned from [redacted].

Thank you

[redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like $3470.00 of the money refunded to me so that I can hire a reputable contractor to install a new patio. I am willing to pay [redacted] $1200.00 for the work that he did complete