Landscapes by Terra, Inc.

The reason for our rejection is because, as of this date,
nothing has been done to address any issues at our home to our knowledgeIn
fact, one of the primary issues in our complaint has not even been addressed,
that being the removal of our French drain without our knowledge. The only contact was from Jeff S*** to
setup a date to look at the issues at our property. In the e-mail we did ask him to let us know
when Terra was here
This all started in we hired Terra to install a surface
that would help shed any additional water away from the house. Troy suggested a paver patio. While reviewing plans for the patio it was
never mentioned that the French drain that we paid for would be removed
The French drain was originally installed to take water from
the back yard and have it drain into the downspout drain. After being installed, the water was being
drained from the back yard and no longer causing water in our basement. The French drain was working to solve the
water problem
At the completion of the patio installation, we immediately
discovered water was coming back into the basement after minimal rain fall
amountsWe contacted Terra with our concerns of the Water in November
2014. We called Terra’s office and
emailed our concerns as well
The removal of the French drain has caused a problem. The result of its removal is increased water
in our home and the damage that it causes to the houses’ foundation
One thing that was part of the scope of work was to install
a liner in the wall to force the water away from the house and out through a
piece of tubing at the end of each wallIn E-Mail A there it is mentioned
about a possible issue with the gutters.
The gutters are the same as when we moved in so I am not sure why if the
water was not coming in prior to the French drain removal that it would be an issue
now. The other thing is that if the
gutter overflows the water falls behind the wall where the liner is supposed to
channel it out through the drain tubing. This approach appears not to be working! As you can see from the photo below, the wall
has water that weeps from it during and after each rain. If the liner was working, why would water
weep through the wall? We have never seen any water flowing out of the drain
tubbing. So, it seems that the water is
staying next to the house mostly trapped behind the wall until it either weeps
or goes into the house.
We have experienced several issues with Terra with slow and inadequate
responses. Terra delivering gravel to
use as a base for our patio in the back yard leaving the following issues. The gravel was dumped at the bottom of the
drive at the street and then transported by bobcat to the back yard to create
the patio base Gravel was left on both
sides of the drive way, destroying the lawn on the west side of the yard. Siding was pulled away from the garage because
the bobcat was driven into the electrical wire from the house to the garage,
and was not replaced correctly and on a windy day the siding was blown off
again. The siding is still not installed
correctly
Terra suggested to us that once we have a hard surface
driveway, perhaps this would help drain the water away from the house. We installed a blacktop driveway in May of
2015, and the water continues to come into the basement.
Terra does not always communicate to us when they are going
to be doing work on our property, There have been numerous times we would come
home from work and could tell that Terra had been to our property without our
knowledge or input to the fixes needed. One
time they removed some of the gravel from the East side of the driveway but not
the West side. Another time instead of
removing the gravel in the lawn, they placed dirt and grass seed on top of the
gravel on the West side of the driveway Is this a best practice? The gravel should
have been removed first! This caused
more problems.
The gravel left behind is now washing onto the asphalt
driveway causing damage here as well.
We have been asking Terra since November of to remove
the excess gravel.
To prevent too much damage to our new driveway, *** has
removed over pounds of gravel and hauling the gravel away in his car. There are still substantial amounts of gravel
in the yard on both the East and West side of the driveway
In summary we request the following from Terra:
To make any needed repairs to stop the water from coming
into the basement as a result of the pavers and wall being installed
The remaining gravel beside our driveway to be removed and
area filled with good quality soil prior to laying new sod and compact it
correctly to ensure a uniform grass level between existing lawn and sod
To inspect and reinstall wall liner if necessary including
replanting the existing plants or replacing them with new ones
Compensation for five hours of time and labor to remove Terra’s
gravel from the driveway and lawn to prevent any additional damage to the new
asphalt driveway
We would also like for Terra to communicate to us when they
want to come to the house so that one of us will be there. We do not want Terra to be on our property
without notification
An explanation as to why our French drain was removed
Replacing the French drain if the water is still an issue
after all other attempts to stop the flow of water into our house
For additional documentation please see the chain of e-mail
from us to Terra and their responses below
Sincerely,
*** *** and *** ***

We have been in contact with this customer to resolve the issuesThere is another potential issue we discovered while investigating this matter, which is a possible 'tee' or 'wye' that splits off of the east downspoutThis was not part of our scope of work completed for this customerTerra will
excavate the left (east) downspout to determine if there is a tee or cross connection that is causing a drainage issueWe are willing to work with this customer to resolve the issue to their satisfaction, and will regrade soil and sod the edge of drive to minimize erosion in front as well.Troy R***###-###-####***

In response to the inquiry of the Revdex.com relating to *** *** and *** *** at *** *** *** *** *** ** ***, please be advised that we understand the customers' frustration with the situation of surface waterWe have spent a fair amount of time studying the problem and we believe that the issue involves a pre-existing situation which has been aggravated by time.You will please note that the complaint of the client begins with the statement "this all started in when we hired Landscapes by Terra to install a surface that would help shed any additional water away from the house." The next paragraph indicates that the French drain was installed to "take water from the back yard and have it flow to the downspout drain." Thus, it is clear that the water was a pre-existing situation on the property which the property owners sought to have improved.Landscapes by Terra was contracted to install a paver patio'While it was hoped by the homeowner that that would help the situation, it is clear that it did notWhat Landscapes by Terra did find was that the French drain which they mention several times in the complaint was totally ineffective because it was crushed and loaded with sedimentIt was therefore removed because it provided no assistance to the homeowner and basically interfered with the construction of the foundation for the patioThere seems to be no complaint as to the installation of the patio.We do understand an issue with gravel and that is as a result of being washed periodically from heavy rainLandscapes by Terra is planning to remove some of the additional gravel that remains and prepare, grade and sod the small areas along the driveThis is an aesthetic matter and will have little impact on the water runoff situation.The patio that was installed is approximately square feet, 68% of which has a positive water flow towards a heavy duty steel drain and relocated owner's box drainThat drain is now tied to a down spout and has been tested for positive flowThe remaining 32% falls toward an existing asphalt driveThe asphalt drive is outside of Landscapes by Terra's scope and was installed over six months after the patio completionIt is the opinion of our inspectors and experts that the gutters will need to be corrected and would relieve much of the drainage system problems by providing a redundant system for torrential rainfall such as we have had this springLandscapes by Terra had nothing to do with the gutter and downspout installationWe repeat that our contract dealt only with the patio installation.We believe that additional excavation work will have to be done on the East side (rear) of the property to further cap and seal the dysfunctional perforated pipe which we believe is causing the issueThat can be done either by our company or by another contractor but we repeat that this was a pre-existing situation and not caused by Landscapes by Terra.If a representative of the Revdex.com would like to go on site and review with one of our trained inspection people, we would be happy to accommodate the issue.Landscapes by Terra, Inc.###-###-####

This letter is in response to the complaint filed by [redacted]. This office
represents Landscapes by Terra, Inc.
The basic facts as to the contract are correct. However, Landscapes by Terra, Inc.
disagrees as to the complaint of fault on their part. There is a factual dispute as to the...

cause of
the drainage problem, and in part, caused by lack of cooperation from the customer who did not
accept some of the suggestions made by the contractor.
Landscapes by Terra, Inc. does acknowledge that there has been slight damage to the
driveway concrete and Landscapes will repair that damage that they caused. That should not be
deemed a contested issue.
Please note that this is a good faith disagreement. Each side has counsel and we are
attempting to resolve the issue by settlement.
A requested mediation by the Revdex.com is rejected.
Very truly yours,
[redacted]

This complaint has not been resolved.   We are trying to resolve it now.    Is it possible to keep it open pending further word?   What is the process is for re-opening the complaint?  
Regards,
[redacted]