Gerard McCluskey Landscape Design

I have done work for [redacted] for 4 years up to this project. Always, we have responded to her concerns and complaints. And we never really had a problem.After this project, we we contacted 6 times regarding this fire pit, which I will point out was a bonus to a patio we installed and only...

charged 200.00 for. The fit pit was made out of brick and mortar framed with cinder block.My normal recommendation for firepits made out of masonry is that they are level with the surrounding patio so the integrity is shored up by the surrounding stone work.[redacted] insisted upon having it be above. When heated, brick, or any masonry for that matter, from fires gets bumped it can be prone to chipping or cracking. This is exactly what has been going on. None the less I sent my people back to her home 6 times to make fixes as they were needed, without charges.As we have proceeded over the last 18 months, [redacted]'s claims have become more and more irrational and vindictive. She has gone online, while asking for additional service, and bashed me. Emails to me requesting additional attention were also CC'd to local chamber of commerce's in order to damage my reputation somehow. Her claims regarding the polymer sand are not valid since when used with natural cleft blue stone, it has to be maintained and replaced on occasions of need. I told her this. My employee was instructed to parch (scratch coat) the inside of the fire pit to prevent water from entering voids.

Review: I had them install a patio and fire put last spring (2014).

The fire pit has been falling apart since it was put in and probably needs to be completely redone. He told me that he usually did ones flat with the patio, but he did not tell me that you couldn't do one that was above the patio. If he had told me that, I would have considered the in ground pit, or used another contractor. He implied, when we talked, that the problem was caused by my failure to request an in-ground fire pit. I later found out he had not even used fire bricks.

After waiting 2 months after my first email to him this spring, he sent his employee with 3 new bricks, to correct the issues, but they are still not fixed and when he contacted you to let you know there was more work needed, he was told to just install the 3 new bricks.

As of right now there are 7 broken or cracked bricks around the top. The new cement his employee put in is cracking again and he literally smeared cement around the inside of the fire pit and left the residue inside the pit. I imagine that is why, when I cleaned it out after the winter, I had a bucket full of dirt and cement.

I asked his employee not to cement the day he came as it was supposed to rain and he said no, that it would rain the next day. That afternoon it literally poured. I also asked him why I had all the problems with the bricks and he said maybe Gerry had used the wrong bricks.

He did redo the cement on the outside of the bricks and that seems to be holding so far. Only one of those is cracked.

Also, there was a crack in the foundation that he did repair and seems okay. He also had to re-cement one of the long brick on the outside of the patio because that had come lose.

The polysand that I was told would last a couple of years had almost disappeared by the end of last summer. There are literally bricks that have no sand next to them at all. I had to hire a new contractor to redo it this year and it has been fine, since apparently he did it correctly.Desired Settlement: Refund or completely rebuid fire pit with appropriate materials

Business

Response:

I have done work for [redacted] for 4 years up to this project. Always, we have responded to her concerns and complaints. And we never really had a problem.After this project, we we contacted 6 times regarding this fire pit, which I will point out was a bonus to a patio we installed and only charged 200.00 for. The fit pit was made out of brick and mortar framed with cinder block.My normal recommendation for firepits made out of masonry is that they are level with the surrounding patio so the integrity is shored up by the surrounding stone work.[redacted] insisted upon having it be above. When heated, brick, or any masonry for that matter, from fires gets bumped it can be prone to chipping or cracking. This is exactly what has been going on. None the less I sent my people back to her home 6 times to make fixes as they were needed, without charges.As we have proceeded over the last 18 months, [redacted]'s claims have become more and more irrational and vindictive. She has gone online, while asking for additional service, and bashed me. Emails to me requesting additional attention were also CC'd to local chamber of commerce's in order to damage my reputation somehow. Her claims regarding the polymer sand are not valid since when used with natural cleft blue stone, it has to be maintained and replaced on occasions of need. I told her this. My employee was instructed to parch (scratch coat) the inside of the fire pit to prevent water from entering voids.