In the middle of disaster landscaping job

andypa1

Hi all, we're 4 weeks into a landscaping job that the guy said would take 1 week and I need some advice about how to resolve issues before paying the final balance.

I've let him know how disappointed we are with how long it's all taking, but a brief history.

- paid deposit and agreed on re-paving, fencing, building a seating area, knocking through outdoor toilet and rebuilding outbuilding etc.

-work started very slowly, but so far the fencing and outbuilding is in and looks good.

-This week finally laid the paving, I noticed it had wet spots and with a bit of googling discovered it hadn't been paved properly so confronted him. He was apologetic and has had to buy new stones and refit it all again!

-The seating area is finished and as it was going up I did express my concern that it would be too high and leave legs dangling. It's finished now and low and behold legs are dangling.

Ideally I want the seating re-doing but I can't imagine he's going to agree as it's all rendered now despite me insisting we wanted feet to touch the floor. While the bits that have been finished look good, he seems dodgy as and overheard him talk about another client trying to take him to court.

We still have £2k to pay him once I'm completely happy with the job, and he has asked me for this before the end of the job on a couple of occasions now which I obviously won't do.

Should I go about negotiating on final price at the end to compensate for long delay to project and seating area that's too high to sit comfortably? What rights do I have?

I know it's going to really annoy him.

Thanks,
Andy

System

when you say you "expressed concern" about the height of the seat, did you say, it needs to be x height from the ground to top of seat? did you give him any solid guidance on it, he may be taller than you or built it to standard heights really depends on what instruction was given.
Did you set out strict dates for completion and penalties for not being complete on time, and have you had any real loss from the delay.
What rights you have depends on what the terms and conditions of the contract are, if it's taken a lot longer it's surprising he's not asking for more money

andypa1

no, we don't have a contract, just the original agreement of price and work to be done.
I see it as being his responsibility to request and negotiate the spec of what needs doing, after all he's the garden professional who does jobs like this all the time. I pay a 'professional' to know the right height for a seating area and by saying "yeah yeah it will be fine because the paving will bring the height up" I was misled and it isn't.

I'm 6ft 2, so if my legs are dangling then so will the other 98% of the population.

Interesting that you should assume that the delays are due to extra complications to the job, are you a contractor?

It's taken 4 weeks because he can't run a business effectively, takes on too many jobs at once, doesn't do a proper job the first time and doesn't manage his workers.

tacpot12

I don't think that four weeks is an unreasonable time for the scale of work your describe, the alarm bells should have rung when he said he could do it in a week!

You haven't really lost anything, apart from three week's use of the garden, so I don't think you are entitled to anything off for the delay. It's not like you haven't had the use of your kitchen or bathroom for three weeks.


If he is replacing the paving stones, then he has already taken an hit, and you are right that he won't he happy to loose more money on this job. However, the seat is a mistake; but it sounds like it is not a big part of the job (in terms of labour), so offer him the option to receive £100 less than the agreed price or for him to fix it for an extra £100 (if you think the seat is worth fixing). Personally, I would send him away and get the seat rebuilt by a better contractor.

coffeehound

Would it be acceptable to put some kind of raised footrest in front of the seating?

System

andypa1 wrote: »

no, we don't have a contract, just the original agreement of price and work to be done.
I see it as being his responsibility to request and negotiate the spec of what needs doing, after all he's the garden professional who does jobs like this all the time. I pay a 'professional' to know the right height for a seating area and by saying "yeah yeah it will be fine because the paving will bring the height up" I was misled and it isn't.

I'm 6ft 2, so if my legs are dangling then so will the other 98% of the population.

Interesting that you should assume that the delays are due to extra complications to the job, are you a contractor?

It's taken 4 weeks because he can't run a business effectively, takes on too many jobs at once, doesn't do a proper job the first time and doesn't manage his workers.

Not a contractor no, just looking at it objectively with no emotional involvement.
At no point did you say the reason for delay in the op, so it's an easy assumption to make and fairly common with ground works that tight deadlines are difficult to meet if something is found underground that wasn't accounted for at the time of pricing...

How long is the seat? could it be cut down to reduce the height and the top placed on again?
If you don't give a contractor instruction they'll do what's easiest for them, there's a huge variety in "professional" landscapers

dunroving

Although it sounds as though the landscaper has dropped the ball in various ways, I'm struggling to see how it only became obvious the seat was too high at the very end of the job. How long did it take to build and wasn't anyone keeping an eye on things while he was building it? I'm a bit surprised there was no discussion of *exactly* how high the seat should be.

If he was building a fence, you'd ask for 4ft, 5ft, 1.68m, whatever, fence panels, not "tall enough to see over".

p.s. What is the seat constructed of?

andypa1

the seat is constructed of breeze blocks, rendered and with a timber top.
I did raise it with him on numerous occasions that I thought it was going to be too high, but I was reassured every time that once the paving stones are in the floor will be raised to make it a reasonable height. Now it's done and that isn't the case.

Fair point about the extra 3-4 weeks not being a big problem for us, however using the use of the garden, outdoor storage and the contents of shed being in our front room for the last 4 weeks has been a pain.

If he's been doing these jobs for 20 years how could the estimation of time be so wrong. It's not for me to know how long these things take. I'm new to home ownership and have never had the job done before.

It isn't my job as a customer to interpret the precision or honesty of his words, his responsibility is to manage expectations.

dunroving

andypa1 wrote: »

the seat is constructed of breeze blocks, rendered and with a timber top.
I did raise it with him on numerous occasions that I thought it was going to be too high, but I was reassured every time that once the paving stones are in the floor will be raised to make it a reasonable height. Now it's done and that isn't the case.

Fair point about the extra 3-4 weeks not being a big problem for us, however using the use of the garden, outdoor storage and the contents of shed being in our front room for the last 4 weeks has been a pain.

If he's been doing these jobs for 20 years how could the estimation of time be so wrong. It's not for me to know how long these things take. I'm new to home ownership and have never had the job done before.

It isn't my job as a customer to interpret the precision or honesty of his words, his responsibility is to manage expectations.

From your description, it seems like installing a low set of small slabs or bricks (or even wood/decking) would enable resting your feet on while sitting. Removing and lowering the seat would be a big job.

ratrace

what was the total cost of the job, it would be good to know so we can see if its overpriced in the first place

owen_money

coffeehound wrote: »

Would it be acceptable to put some kind of raised footrest in front of the seating?

Or wear platform shoes?