Response to Complaint: I received a deposit for the scope of work described at the bottom of this page. During our discussions, my client was given a choice to use her own dirt or import dirt and after the inspection of and discussing the clay in her dirt, she chose to go with the imported dirt, which was used to build up the pad. And this is how we got to the decision to build up the pad to where it currently is… The client and I had talked about putting a ramp off the side of the driveway, sloping down to ground level, which would have also included fill dirt, but she did not want to do that, so, we discussed that the pad would have to be built up with fill dirt due to the drop in elevation from the road to the ground, to provide the wheelchair accessible ramp to the building front from the driveway. She made it very clear to me and my foreman that the front of the building was to be 12’ off the edge of the driveway, which my foreman and I verified before finishing the pad, and which she laid out and marked with my foreman. Only one tree was to be removed, which we did. The other tree, at the corner of the pad pictured in her addendum, was trimmed back to make room for the building. She had discussed the trimming with my foreman and when we did the pad, he trimmed the tree as requested. Again, she only wanted one tree removed and the building 12’ from the edge of the driveway, which is what we did, to provide the proper accessible ramp as stated in the scope of work and her request for wheelchair accessibility. After completing the pad, my men were loading on a blind curve in the roadway, and due to safety reasons, they hurried out of the way. When I went to pick up the last of my equipment late Friday evening, I saw she was home, but the house was dark, and knowing she’d had a long trip, I thought she might be asleep and I would let her rest, getting in touch with her Monday to square up on the billing. Starting Saturday morning, I began receiving numerous emails from her with that were demanding, berating and name-calling of my crew and myself, and in which she also refused to talk to me on the phone or meet and talk to me face to face so we could resolve this issue, even though I offered more than once to come out and meet with her to discuss this work. She demanded first that I come, with my equipment, to rectify the situation on Palm Sunday morning, and I had, in an email, politely told her I was going to be unavailable on Sunday. On Monday I emailed saying I’d come on Tuesday, late in the afternoon. I continued to receive numerous emails telling me how awful I was throughout the day, name-calling my crew, and that I was making her ill and that she was going to have to go to the emergency room. Since I wished to speak to her in person at the site, and an emergency room visit here is at least 10-12 hours, there would be no point in going to meet someone who was not going to be there, as stated in her emails, and, she still refused to talk to me on the phone or see me personally. When she demanded in a late email on Tuesday afternoon whether I was coming or not, I only responded that I was not coming. Then, later that week, she insisted we come and re-do the pad on Easter weekend, still refusing to meet with me to discuss this or talk to me on the phone. Not being able to talk to her face to face or on the phone so we could come to some solutions, I contacted my attorney to see what options were available to me and a lien was subsequently filed. The following is the scope of work, copied from the contract with my client, for the work completed as stated and as described, and agreed to by the client. Scope of work:Build up a pad for a 12’ x 20’ Tuff Shed south of the driveway loop with 4’ extra all the way around Install an ADA accessible ramp from the driveway to the pad Use on-site fill and import any extra fill to build it up, then compact each lift with water application (she chose import of fill dirt) Testing is not included for compaction testing Add one load of gray base course on the pad and ramp, also compacted, if desired (and she approved this material as well)
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I did not ask for or want a raised pad. Where the foreman made the marks on the ground was where the shed was to lay, on the ground, at ground elevation, NOT RAISED! The steel beams of the floor should have touched the paint marks made by Kamden. Literally touched the paint. Then there was to be gravel placed in front of the shed, just exactly as they had placed in front of another shed on my property. The Shed placement (the front wall) was to be set 12 to fifteen feet from the driveway's edge, the driveway elevation is bout two feel above the level of the shed floor when place where I instructed. So the only fill needed was for a four foot wide path from the driveway to the front door placement of the shed. When Cindy and I spoke, she walked back about fifteen feet away from the edge of the driveway and said that in order to obtain a proper grade, she's have to start grading about fifteen feet of the driveway and work toward the shed and I agreed with that, it was fine. That is exactly what I was expecting.Cindy preciously cleared a shed for me. This shed was to be the exact same job, different location. Bushes cleared, a tree felled, a pad on the grounds surface wwas made level. I did not need a formal graded path to that shed. But the job was comparable. Because she had cleared the precious shed with the same instructions, same paint markings and because I had interviewed both she and Kamben and because she had done prior work, I reluctantly trusted her.I have given Cindy more than $20,000 of business in two years. That is 10% of my income. She has been friendly. I resented her not changing the appointment. When I arrived home on Friday the team was leaving my driveway. That means she only woul dhave had to reschedule a single day to accommodate me, my friend who has enjoyed 10% of my income two years running. When the problem arose, she told me that I must respect her personal days off when she did not respect mine. I would have been happy to reschedule several weeks later, I was told that was not an option. When I returned home from my trip, her guys were at the bottom of my long driveway loading up equipment. When I said I was eager to go up and look at the work, the driver said "Hey, Jeffery, let's get out of here quick!" I saw the pad and started screaming, I tore down the driveway in my truck and they were gone. I saw that there was one piece of equipment still on the property. I was livid, I was returning from a funeral, I had been on the road for three days and I had the flu. I was a mess. i took a nap. When I woke up, the equipment was gone. Why didn't anyone knock on my door to collect payment? Why didn't anyone want to know what I thought? That was VERY strange. I did not want a raised shed, I wanted a graded path and they had permission to grade 15 to 20'feet of driveway to the edge and the shed was to be 10 to 12 feet back from the edge of the driveway. The material from the driveway would have partially filled the needed path. There was to be room in front of the shed for some patio furniture for shop guests, there was also room for a campfire. If I were to place the shed where Cindy wants it, the windows are almost touching two immature trees that need room to grow. There is no room for patio furniture. The shed placement would compromise a future project that I had talked to a Cindy about in widening the loop in my driveway. The raised pad that I did not want has no erosion control. I experience monsoon rains and the RV pad that Cindy made is eroding badly, needs maintenance. I do not want maintenance. I am a single person who cannot do the work herself. This creates more problems and future expense and considering it is not what I wanted, not close. i fired off many angry emails explaining that my anger was fueled with grief, the flu, and an anxiety disorder. And the ride comments by her crew about "let's get out of here quick" and I find a MESS! That I am not going to apologize for. I was honest. Maybe not politically correct, but got my point across about and it was HONEST.I did not refuse to negotiate, compromise, discuss the situation, what I did was refuse to discuss it in person or on the telephone. I invited her to my property repeatedly and I have saved those emails. I insisted that I would make paint marks, place stakes with ropes, she can come to the property and see what I was talking about, but I was so furious that she ought not have to endure the wrath of my fury, I cannot contain my anger, this job is NOTHING compared to what we talked about. Clearly if Cindy did not understand my verbal instructions, and because I could not hold my temper, I said I wanted everything in writing. She can still come to my property and I will still make marks and I will still discuss every word on paper. Saved on text or email. But she refused. i sent her several emails with suggestions of things to talk about to remediate but Cindy refused to negotiate, she may say I made suggestions that she make corrections at her own expense and that is appropriate, but at no time did she counter a single one, they were ignore and no replies received. That is not a good faith way of trying to remediate, but I am going to protect myself and her from meeting in person. I will not be on the propertynofnshe does visit, therefore she needs an appointment. Looking at the shed placement, it is obvious to me that of the marks that Kareem made for the corners of the shed placement, that what he marked as the front wall is what they used for the back wall. And the biggest mistake of all was the raised pad, the shed floor should have touched Kamden's paint marks, literally touched the paint. That is if it was not disturbed by backhoe machinery.I did not refuse to negotiate. I made several suggestions of places to start but Cindy refused to acknowledge any of them with a reply, she did not counter, she did not make any offer or any kind. Instead she hired and attorney and filed a mechanic's lien. Let that be a warning to her future clients. If you are unhappy, she does not remediate, she goes for a lien in five days time. Unreal. This is someone that I considered a friend, trusted to do something while I was away, it went horribly wrong. At this point I have cancelled my shed. The pad sits and will remain unused until the material is removed. And then I will start over and have it done the way I need it done. The placement is not acceptable as is and in addition the pad will require ongoing maintenance, the ground level has been ground level for the millennia and the spot did not require any water flow management. Simply some gravel placed along the front in the exact same method as they had done for the other ground level shed. The pad does and erosion control is non existent, not okay. The thing that blows me away the most is that this woman cleared a space for a different shed PERFECTLY and the only difference in this case was the addition of a graded ramp. What was she thinking? How could I interview her and she be so far off? She was going to grade a 15 to 20 foot area of my driveway that is still untouched. And whatever extra work she did on the way out to be "nice" is not evident. I have several spots of the driveway that are bare of gravel today, gravel that I paid her $7000 to place only one month ago. My $7000 one month old driveway is already deteriorating from bald spots. Is it any wonder that I will not pay until this is negotiated? I am not threatened by her lien, I am in my lifelong home. My guest house was made handicap accessible for my old age, I have insurance and trust funds to pay for my care and allow me to live out my life at home. I am independently wealthy, I have no need for loans. My utilities and taxes are covered without my having to work, so I can't get removed from my home. She refuses to negotiate on paper, so she makes these threats and spends money on attorneys instead of working out a way to recover something. Something that she does not care to discuss unless it is in person. Well, if she did this job all wrong nased on verbal interviews with boots on the ground, then I am only going to talk on paper, where I can prove every word. What is she afraid of by negotiating on paper? i think you understand her ridiculous position of non-negotiation. Who does that to a friend who has spent $20000 on you in two years.
Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]
Response to Complaint: I received a deposit for the scope of work described at the bottom of this page. During our discussions, my client was given a choice to use her own dirt or import dirt and after the inspection of and discussing the clay in her dirt, she chose to go with the imported dirt, which was used to build up the pad. And this is how we got to the decision to build up the pad to where it currently is… The client and I had talked about putting a ramp off the side of the driveway, sloping down to ground level, which would have also included fill dirt, but she did not want to do that, so, we discussed that the pad would have to be built up with fill dirt due to the drop in elevation from the road to the ground, to provide the wheelchair accessible ramp to the building front from the driveway. She made it very clear to me and my foreman that the front of the building was to be 12’ off the edge of the driveway, which my foreman and I verified before finishing the pad, and which she laid out and marked with my foreman. Only one tree was to be removed, which we did. The other tree, at the corner of the pad pictured in her addendum, was trimmed back to make room for the building. She had discussed the trimming with my foreman and when we did the pad, he trimmed the tree as requested. Again, she only wanted one tree removed and the building 12’ from the edge of the driveway, which is what we did, to provide the proper accessible ramp as stated in the scope of work and her request for wheelchair accessibility. After completing the pad, my men were loading on a blind curve in the roadway, and due to safety reasons, they hurried out of the way. When I went to pick up the last of my equipment late Friday evening, I saw she was home, but the house was dark, and knowing she’d had a long trip, I thought she might be asleep and I would let her rest, getting in touch with her Monday to square up on the billing. Starting Saturday morning, I began receiving numerous emails from her with that were demanding, berating and name-calling of my crew and myself, and in which she also refused to talk to me on the phone or meet and talk to me face to face so we could resolve this issue, even though I offered more than once to come out and meet with her to discuss this work. She demanded first that I come, with my equipment, to rectify the situation on Palm Sunday morning, and I had, in an email, politely told her I was going to be unavailable on Sunday. On Monday I emailed saying I’d come on Tuesday, late in the afternoon. I continued to receive numerous emails telling me how awful I was throughout the day, name-calling my crew, and that I was making her ill and that she was going to have to go to the emergency room. Since I wished to speak to her in person at the site, and an emergency room visit here is at least 10-12 hours, there would be no point in going to meet someone who was not going to be there, as stated in her emails, and, she still refused to talk to me on the phone or see me personally. When she demanded in a late email on Tuesday afternoon whether I was coming or not, I only responded that I was not coming. Then, later that week, she insisted we come and re-do the pad on Easter weekend, still refusing to meet with me to discuss this or talk to me on the phone. Not being able to talk to her face to face or on the phone so we could come to some solutions, I contacted my attorney to see what options were available to me and a lien was subsequently filed. The following is the scope of work, copied from the contract with my client, for the work completed as stated and as described, and agreed to by the client. Scope of work:Build up a pad for a 12’ x 20’ Tuff Shed south of the driveway loop with 4’ extra all the way around Install an ADA accessible ramp from the driveway to the pad Use on-site fill and import any extra fill to build it up, then compact each lift with water application (she chose import of fill dirt) Testing is not included for compaction testing Add one load of gray base course on the pad and ramp, also compacted, if desired (and she approved this material as well)
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I did not ask for or want a raised pad. Where the foreman made the marks on the ground was where the shed was to lay, on the ground, at ground elevation, NOT RAISED! The steel beams of the floor should have touched the paint marks made by Kamden. Literally touched the paint. Then there was to be gravel placed in front of the shed, just exactly as they had placed in front of another shed on my property. The Shed placement (the front wall) was to be set 12 to fifteen feet from the driveway's edge, the driveway elevation is bout two feel above the level of the shed floor when place where I instructed. So the only fill needed was for a four foot wide path from the driveway to the front door placement of the shed. When Cindy and I spoke, she walked back about fifteen feet away from the edge of the driveway and said that in order to obtain a proper grade, she's have to start grading about fifteen feet of the driveway and work toward the shed and I agreed with that, it was fine. That is exactly what I was expecting.Cindy preciously cleared a shed for me. This shed was to be the exact same job, different location. Bushes cleared, a tree felled, a pad on the grounds surface wwas made level. I did not need a formal graded path to that shed. But the job was comparable. Because she had cleared the precious shed with the same instructions, same paint markings and because I had interviewed both she and Kamben and because she had done prior work, I reluctantly trusted her.I have given Cindy more than $20,000 of business in two years. That is 10% of my income. She has been friendly. I resented her not changing the appointment. When I arrived home on Friday the team was leaving my driveway. That means she only woul dhave had to reschedule a single day to accommodate me, my friend who has enjoyed 10% of my income two years running. When the problem arose, she told me that I must respect her personal days off when she did not respect mine. I would have been happy to reschedule several weeks later, I was told that was not an option. When I returned home from my trip, her guys were at the bottom of my long driveway loading up equipment. When I said I was eager to go up and look at the work, the driver said "Hey, Jeffery, let's get out of here quick!" I saw the pad and started screaming, I tore down the driveway in my truck and they were gone. I saw that there was one piece of equipment still on the property. I was livid, I was returning from a funeral, I had been on the road for three days and I had the flu. I was a mess. i took a nap. When I woke up, the equipment was gone. Why didn't anyone knock on my door to collect payment? Why didn't anyone want to know what I thought? That was VERY strange. I did not want a raised shed, I wanted a graded path and they had permission to grade 15 to 20'feet of driveway to the edge and the shed was to be 10 to 12 feet back from the edge of the driveway. The material from the driveway would have partially filled the needed path. There was to be room in front of the shed for some patio furniture for shop guests, there was also room for a campfire. If I were to place the shed where Cindy wants it, the windows are almost touching two immature trees that need room to grow. There is no room for patio furniture. The shed placement would compromise a future project that I had talked to a Cindy about in widening the loop in my driveway. The raised pad that I did not want has no erosion control. I experience monsoon rains and the RV pad that Cindy made is eroding badly, needs maintenance. I do not want maintenance. I am a single person who cannot do the work herself. This creates more problems and future expense and considering it is not what I wanted, not close. i fired off many angry emails explaining that my anger was fueled with grief, the flu, and an anxiety disorder. And the ride comments by her crew about "let's get out of here quick" and I find a MESS! That I am not going to apologize for. I was honest. Maybe not politically correct, but got my point across about and it was HONEST.I did not refuse to negotiate, compromise, discuss the situation, what I did was refuse to discuss it in person or on the telephone. I invited her to my property repeatedly and I have saved those emails. I insisted that I would make paint marks, place stakes with ropes, she can come to the property and see what I was talking about, but I was so furious that she ought not have to endure the wrath of my fury, I cannot contain my anger, this job is NOTHING compared to what we talked about. Clearly if Cindy did not understand my verbal instructions, and because I could not hold my temper, I said I wanted everything in writing. She can still come to my property and I will still make marks and I will still discuss every word on paper. Saved on text or email. But she refused. i sent her several emails with suggestions of things to talk about to remediate but Cindy refused to negotiate, she may say I made suggestions that she make corrections at her own expense and that is appropriate, but at no time did she counter a single one, they were ignore and no replies received. That is not a good faith way of trying to remediate, but I am going to protect myself and her from meeting in person. I will not be on the propertynofnshe does visit, therefore she needs an appointment. Looking at the shed placement, it is obvious to me that of the marks that Kareem made for the corners of the shed placement, that what he marked as the front wall is what they used for the back wall. And the biggest mistake of all was the raised pad, the shed floor should have touched Kamden's paint marks, literally touched the paint. That is if it was not disturbed by backhoe machinery.I did not refuse to negotiate. I made several suggestions of places to start but Cindy refused to acknowledge any of them with a reply, she did not counter, she did not make any offer or any kind. Instead she hired and attorney and filed a mechanic's lien. Let that be a warning to her future clients. If you are unhappy, she does not remediate, she goes for a lien in five days time. Unreal. This is someone that I considered a friend, trusted to do something while I was away, it went horribly wrong. At this point I have cancelled my shed. The pad sits and will remain unused until the material is removed. And then I will start over and have it done the way I need it done. The placement is not acceptable as is and in addition the pad will require ongoing maintenance, the ground level has been ground level for the millennia and the spot did not require any water flow management. Simply some gravel placed along the front in the exact same method as they had done for the other ground level shed. The pad does and erosion control is non existent, not okay. The thing that blows me away the most is that this woman cleared a space for a different shed PERFECTLY and the only difference in this case was the addition of a graded ramp. What was she thinking? How could I interview her and she be so far off? She was going to grade a 15 to 20 foot area of my driveway that is still untouched. And whatever extra work she did on the way out to be "nice" is not evident. I have several spots of the driveway that are bare of gravel today, gravel that I paid her $7000 to place only one month ago. My $7000 one month old driveway is already deteriorating from bald spots. Is it any wonder that I will not pay until this is negotiated? I am not threatened by her lien, I am in my lifelong home. My guest house was made handicap accessible for my old age, I have insurance and trust funds to pay for my care and allow me to live out my life at home. I am independently wealthy, I have no need for loans. My utilities and taxes are covered without my having to work, so I can't get removed from my home. She refuses to negotiate on paper, so she makes these threats and spends money on attorneys instead of working out a way to recover something. Something that she does not care to discuss unless it is in person. Well, if she did this job all wrong nased on verbal interviews with boots on the ground, then I am only going to talk on paper, where I can prove every word. What is she afraid of by negotiating on paper? i think you understand her ridiculous position of non-negotiation. Who does that to a friend who has spent $20000 on you in two years.
Regards,
[redacted] [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the response. If the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]