My work progress and diary
Bad Practice
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peter: Posted on 13 October 2012 20:14
Not much on TV at the moment so I thought I would share some news with you, well you might think it is boring me giving another sad story, but had a call from a Mrs Hunter today from Hempstead, that's all I am giving, but she had a firm of landscapers in earlier this year, back in March, they were to lay a patio.
The plan was to lift the old slabs, and lay a new base as these were only laid onto soil and were moving and making the area unstable to walk on for the 60 plus year old Mrs Hunter, she told me her age, then it was suggested that the area be extended into the garden by three more rows of slabs, the whole area would have then been a total of 230 slabs. They turned up on day one, lifted the slabs and then left for the day, she went onto tell they then turned up the day after to continue, oh I meant to say that the old paving was only 100mm down from from the damp proof course, so a further 150mm should have been dug out. According to Mrs Hunter they did not dig out any further soil, they laid a new base of Type one road stone and compacted it down firm, she has pictures of them doing this, they told her that the finished height would be fine and that the water would run off into the garden anyway, they then laid the slabs onto sand and cement, when I looked they had used the spot method, and finished off pointing with a dry mix of sand and cement. All was fine and she paid them the final figure. Now this took them only 4 days to do.
Now, the problem arouse that when it rains heavy water collects near the house, and because the height is now closer to the DPC she is afraid that damp will start in the lounge. When I was there this Saturday it did start to rain and I found very quickly the water was gathering in the wrong area. The reason for this is that not only did they not dig out a further 150mm so a 50mm base could be laid, and the paving and bedding mix would come to another 50mm thus making the finished height 150mm down from the DPC, not only did they not dig out, they also laid them with the slight fall towards the house in some places, making the water come to house and not towards the garden. The firm I have not heard about, she had no paperwork and she paid cash, nothing wrong with paying cash, some of my customers pay me this way, but at least they have paperwork to back things up.
The problem is now Mrs Hunter would like me to quote for the repair, as she cannot get in touch with this firm and she feels they may have gone out of business, good riddance that what I say, but, I feel she might have the money to do what is needed, that is to lift the whole patio, dig out the correct amount of soil, lay a new base and then lay the slabs with the fall away from the house, in other words start again. We will see what happens. As I said in other blogs get paperwork at least, nothing wrong as said with paying cash, some times discounts can be arranged for doing so, but be careful and get receipts.
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 10 October 2012 21:13
What would you say to those who give you a verbal quote, no paperwork whatsoever and no comeback, I hear your crys, but the problem is that people like that do exist and some of us do get our feet burned by them.
And when this happens we all get tarnished with the same brush, and its, quite rightly, a problem getting that coating off all of us.
Always get a written quote, as we do, get some form of paperwork to back things up, as we do, and get some form of comeback, as we do with our voluntary charter.
Then after all that you will be fine. Thank you
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 11 September 2012 17:30
The customer we are working for in Sittingbourne told me that one firm, when quoting, sent an A4 letterhead saying, "to landscape garden" and then the price. This type of quoting is open to abuse by the company, not specifying what the job entails is not the way to quote, if any one accepts this type of price should be very careful about so called extras, and things like "oh I did not quote for that, it will be another 500 pounds if you want that done". A company that is any good will always give you a written detailed quote. These type of people who quote without any detail are probably going to ask to be in cash, and have no insurance. Also part time workers, who come to the job then disappear for days are a true indication of what type of company they are. Please be careful.
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 10 September 2012 22:05
We always like to point slabs in, after leaving a small gap to do so, but textured slabs can be butted together, the only trouble we have found over the years is that, depending upon the foundation base, we prefer to lay a cement base which sets, depending upon the base if these slabs are not pointed in then we feel they can leave a large enough gap for weeds to grow in, weeds can grown in dust, so pointing the slabs will not only stop this in its tracks but they look better as well.
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 18 August 2012 14:15
As discussed the other day on here, a lady in sheerness had some decking done and the firm has nailed the deck boards down, I have been trying to think of a way to lift the boards without damaging them, simple you might think, but I believe in practice they will not survive, considering he has used a nail gun with ring shank nails. An expensive option this turned out to be. The boards need to be lifted to get a weed membrane put down under them which this firm failed to do. Very difficult to now get this membrane into place without lifting the boards. Nailing them into place has resulted in some of them splitting.
So the sake of £25 tops, that's what the WM would have cost, its going to cost more in materials to fix this.
I will let you draw your own conclusions
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 16 August 2012 15:47
Oh dear in sheerness, now don't get me wrong but this happens time after time again, the words so and told do come to mind. And I am not blowing my trumpet but it does make me mad when I here things like this, and I have gone through all this in previous blogs.
The story begins earlier this year, went to sheerness to quote for a garden scheme, the whole garden in fact, not a large plot but big enough, got there a little early as I always try to do, hate being late, saw a chap come out of the house I was to visit, so I thought ok up against another firm, no problem I thought, any way lost the quote by about £150 pounds ish.
According to the lady of the house.And I quote.
He done the work and I got on with jobs in hand. Then, I get a phone call from the lady to say that the chap who did the work has made a mess of the area, sand left on the drive, and some other points in the scheme are either not finished right or left out, the worst is that he has nailed the deck boards into place with out, and he stated that the lady did not need one, he has nailed the boards into place without a weed membrane under the frame and weeds are coming through the deck already, very unprofessional indeed. And to say that there was no need for one just proves the idiot did not know what he was doing. Let alone what ever else he has done wrong.
The problem I might have is to get the boards up in one piece, especially if he has used a nail gun, usually they use ring shank nails which are difficult to get out, the boards need to be lifted because the need to place a weed membrane down.
Going soon to see the work for myself.
See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 20 July 2012 20:30
I have leant today of someone starting up or at least doing some work, this is not meant to be sour grapes or anything malicious, but, this man used to work for me and his work to say the least was rather poor, once I knew that I immediately got rid.
Going back to a previous blog, about "jack the lad and his lorry" I feel for people that get him to do any work, I really wish I could name and shame, but I will say he is local to Medway towns, lives in Rainham, and has a white car. Thats all I can say, other than be careful you will get burnt.
See you all soon!!
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peter: Posted on 04 March 2012 20:53
Looking ahead to next week, I have four enquiries to go and view, great news. All sorts, patios, decking, fencing, and some brickwork. I aim to give everyone as always a great price, I go by the old saying, half is better than none. So I like to keep busy, but we all have bills to pay so I have to make a profit. Waiting for "jack the lad" to raise from the dead soon, with his lorry and silly prices, one customer whom I am seeing this week has had him turn up last year, said he do the work for some low price, I do mean low, not only did he get the work all wrong, but he turned round and asked for more money at the end of the job, in the end the customer did pay. But was not happy with the service he gave. Time and time again I hear this, he gave no quotation, just a verbal price. I know what you are thinking the customer should have asked for paperwork, which we give by the way, but I suppose with some they just want to get rid of the workmen. I saw in a strood area which was called a "cold calling free zone" no go for jack the lad. See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 03 January 2012 09:23
Well what a day, we have had to give up on it. Too wet for what we have to do, tomorrow seems ok. Building a fence in this weather is not a good idea, the wind would blow it down before the cement is set. See you all soon!! |
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peter: Posted on 06 November 2011 20:42
Looking great this year, created a better way of working and getting materials which creates better gardens for everyone, its not that we got it wrong in the past, but now its a simpler way. Decking and Patios are my main income, great suppliers are the key and thats exactly what i have got. A good work force as well, me included, makes some of the others think twice I reckon. Although price is a great decider, but to bear in mind when you are spending money on your garden the last thing you want is for it to go wrong. "Jack the lad with a lorry" will always be there, the people doing "private work" or "cash prices" but will they be there if it goes wrong? Possibly not!! Our prices are very good for what you get, a good job, great full time workman that do not go off site to other work booked in at the same time or doing the work at the weekends only and locally sourced materials. See you all soon!! |
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Peter: Posted on 06 November 2011 18:18
hello its Sunday again, my father in law, was talking today about a firm that a friend of his neighbours was using to landscape her garden. Why they did not come to us words fail me, anyhow, they were supposed to do the work in about a week, and I know sometimes work can carry over, but this was months ago, the work was for some paving and other bits and pieces, but they were also engaged to lay some astro turf. Well after some attampts to lay the grass, in fact they were going to stick it down which is fine, if you use the correct glue, anyway to cut a long story short they then admitted that they had not done this before and was not sure how to do it, so the customer asked them to leave, the customer is now stuck with astro turf rolled up, a base she can't use, and the garden not finished. Why this firm took the job on beats me, oh and the reason they were taking such a long time to get the work done, they used to turn up at midday and then leave around 4 or sooner. The work was around £3000 the customer has only paid them £1000 so far, and I believe she is not going to pay them anymore. Out of business I think very soon, who ever they are. I on the other hand am waiting for a phone call""" See you all soon!! |
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Peter: Posted on 03 October 2011 21:57
Hello everyone, hope you are all well. Getting a few enquiries coming through which is great. One of them is a very sad case. These poor people have been through the mill and still see no sign of it ending. A decking company local in kent have not only left them high and dry, and with a deck that is, to say the least, darn right dangerous. No supports whatso ever, nailed together instead of using screws, as we do, half of the nails are splitting the timber and coming through so that points are exposed, these people have small children, need I say more. I am not expecting to be praised as the only company that does things correctly, but when someone pays you to do a job even as we do, we take interim payments on work done and scheduled, well at least they should have used the correct materials. As I have said in a previous blog, it really does amaze me how some companies get away with things. Please people, if you do not choose us or even read this, the people that have read this pass it on. Regards Peter Again I really wish I could name and shame them!! Because its firms like them that get us tarred and feather like they should. |
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Peter: Posted on 29 August 2011 21:26
It ceases to amaze me, how some companies get away with it, today I went to see a job in Rainham Kent. The client wanted to have a small section of fencing replaced and a new gate, no problem at all.
The we went onto talk about the patio that was laid around two years ago by a local company, I wish I could say who it is, but lets say they should have known better, the client wanted the paving pointing done again, the paving is Indian sandstone, now you may know that with this type of paving there is a "dressed" side to it. If the paving was concrete slabs as with this type when you butt them together they create a "V" so you point this area, with Sandstone they are dressed so that you create an "A" in other words the opposite way up as apposed to concrete. This company who laid them had to go back four times to point the paving because it kept on coming out.
The reason for this is that the paving has laid upside down, all the rough undressed side is seen and quite frankly looks and feels terrible. £1800 they charged the customer, which is about right, Indian sandstone is more expensive, but I feel we could have done it cheaper for them. But now they have to live with it because the dressed smooth and nice side is ruined because this company has laid the cement onto this side.
I really wish I could name and shame them, needless to say they known for laying driveways, perhaps they should stick to that and let us professionals do the patios. |
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Peter: Posted on 23 March 2011 19:56
As I always say "a cut paving slab always looks like a cut slab". Sometimes a patio will need a slab cut to size, to fit in to the measurements of the garden. When you cut a slab you loose the edge and expose the ingredients. The edge of the cut can look unsightly but when the slab is pointed it hides this edge.
What you must never ever do, in my book, is leave an exposed edge for all to see. Well we are working in Parkwood Rainham at the moment. A so called professional landscaping company in the Medway Towns has done just that to a pathway next door to the garden we are working on. The bottom step is at an angle so the slab has to be cut to fit the shape, fair enough I say, but inside of laying and extra brick high so that the slab fits into the void, therefore hiding the cut edge, they have left the bricks low so the slab rests on top of the brick exposing the cut edge. Bad Practice, very Bad Practice. Not only that the customer apparently was charged a lot of money for the privilege.
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