John Garrett Design

We would like to take this opportunity to respond to the complaint submitted by [redacted] to the Revdex.com.    I have cc'd our lawyer, [redacted]l, our bookkeeper, [redacted] and the owner of the company, [redacted] on this...

correspondence.    The complaint states that we were hired to complete a retaining wall and steps to a sport court on the property.   This is true, however this complaint is missing a great deal of information about what actually occurred at the site.   We repaired a retaining wall that had been installed improperly on the property.   The reason for this repair was to prepare the property for a sport court that was being installed directly below or downhill from the retaining wall.   Additionally we installed a staircase that leads to the sport court made of natural limestone.  When we were finished with the repairs to the retaining wall, it looked great and we had completed the tasks that we were contracted to preform.    Upon completion of the repairs of the retaining wall, the sport court company began to excavate and dig for preparation of the sport court installation.   The sport court company dug too close to the footing of the retaining wall and undercut the footing.   Because the sport court company made this error, the retaining wall collapsed.      The day after the collapse we were on site to assess the situation and were determined to find a way to make things right.  Since it was an error caused by the sport court company, and no fault of our own, all parties agreed that the sport court company should pay for the repairs of the retaining wall.   In the mean time, a complaining neighbor alerted the city of the retaining wall causing an inspection by the city and a halt to all work on the job site.  Doing our due-dillegence we suggested hiring an engineer and began the process of getting permits for the repair of the fallen wall.  Many office hours were spent remediating the situation, working with the engineer and making phone calls and visits to the permit office at the city.  Most of these hours were done for free and not charged to the client as a way to make things right.    In preparation for repairing the retaining wall that had collapsed at no fault of our own, we estimated what it would take to repair the wall so that the sport court company could pay for the repairs.  We estimated that the repairs would cost $14,500.   We submitted this estimate to the sport court company.   The sport court company rejected the estimate. In order to keep the peace and make things right with the home owner we agreed to extend a "contractor discount" to the sport court company in the amount $7,000.   We ended up charging the sport court company $7,500 for us to re-repair the wall that they had caused to fall.   In essence, we were footing a $7,000 bill for the sport court company in order to make things right for the client.  In addition to the $7,000 that we paid to finish the repairs for the sport court company the property owners made numerous requests for additional work around the property that we handled promptly, again with the goal of keeping the peace.  This work totals roughly $5,000 bringing our total contributions to $12,000 that is a loss for our company.    True to our word, we repaired the wall in a timely manner after completing all the requirements for engineering and permitting.   The wall was finished and we pulled off site to allow the sport court company to begin pouring the foundation for the court.    Months later one of our foreman reported that the homeowner was unhappy.   We asked this foreman to please communicate with the homeowner and make things right, but that we were not willing to pay for any additional materials for this client since we had already lost $12,000 by trying to make things right with the client.   The foreman dropped the ball on communicating with the homeowner, and as a result of this instance , he was let go.    This foreman happened to be the contact for this specific client.  As a result off him being asked to leave the company, communications with this client may have seemed to have been mismanaged.     Currently, the homeowner is asking that we repair stucco work that they say was damaged by our crew, however this damage was already present on the site when we arrived over a year ago.  They are asking us to install sod, and to remove trash.  We were not the last on site, in fact the sport court company was the last on site.  Since our company is tidy and we pick up after ourselves we believe that the trash is from the other company.  We have been willing to help make this situation right, however we can't in good conscience and good business practice continue to pour money into a situation that was not our fault and to which we have been more than fair in making right.    To further show the character or our company, we have contacted the client and are willing to work with them to resolve their issues in a reasonable way, however we are not willing to pay for additional materials at this time since we feel we have gone above and beyond to make this situation right.    Thank you, and please notify us if we can help clarify any of the above statements or if you need any further information from us.       [redacted]
 
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