Not often I get really angry…

My longest standing client has just had some work done on their Patio/Paving.

Several of the stone slabs have over the years cracked, worked loose and were in dire need of some attention.

(Hard landscaping isn't something I do generally & will always tell Clients if I am either not geared up to do work I am asked about; or I don't feel I have enough experience to do or don't feel it is something I could perform adequately.)

So they called around, got several quotes and decided on a company to do the work.

The company said they’d use a machine to remove the old grout, then refill it with expanding grout; after pressure washing the stone clean…

The machine they used was actually just a workman left on site, for 2 days using a hammer on his hands & knees; to chip out the old grout between the slabs.

The finished job was what can only be described as; outrageously bad.

Why take my word, look for yourselves & decide.

The old grout was in better condition than this “Finished job”.

While I did initially feel sorry for the guy they just left on his own to perform the laborious task of removing all the grout by hand; it soon waned when it transpires it took so long to do, by the time he had cleared out the old stuff. He was trying to “Fill the gaps” in the dark of early evening. It then becomes clear that something suspect has occurred & the company has either not got the tools they state they have, or have them booked out elsewhere on a bigger, more profitable job. So they send a guy on his own with a hand tool to do a job that really needs to be done by a machine, so the job can be done in the time frame they’ve stated it can be done. As well as leaving the job as it should be done. Not half done and the half done is poor quality.

So for the first hour or so of my time with this Client today.  Instead of doing my job working on their garden and my to do list.

I had to spend that time using the Stihl BR 800-C backpack blower clearing all the remaining old grout they’d not bothered to clean up on the paving/patio, surrounding areas & the remains they had just left scattered/brushed onto the lawn.

Plus trying to clear off some of the wasted or excess filler they had coated the paving slabs with & left to harden.

Including removing the cigarette ends they’d left behind!!!

The Client & her partner had already spent about 5 hours trying to clean up after they workmen had abandoned the job as “Finished” as well!!!!

My client had called the company used for this “Job” & they promised to send someone around to “Make it right”, no one showed up.

They also said that “The patio/paving should really have been fully replaced & they’d of course be happy to come back to do that work”, for a much larger sum of money than had already been paid to do this sub standard and shoddy work. Paint me Pink & call me shocked. Why am I not surprised they try and extort more money from people after already ripping them off, and not delivering on the job they have been paid to do?

My Client is rightly upset, myself; I am utterly livid over this.

I have advised they speak with trading standards, Check a Trader or which ever company they use to assure potential clients of quality workmanship & for them to leave a review with images of the poor standard & low quality of this work.

Am I wrong to be upset & angry about it.

I think I am?