The project with MountainHill started very well. During the design phase, Nick was very collaborative and responsive through our many inquiries and requests for change and the result was a beautiful design that made us wish we could afford to do everything at once, as the design was showing a backyard that could be showcased in a magazine. He also accompanied us to the building supply store so that we could choose the interlock and retaining wall.
Improvisation started the day the rest of the team came on site to start the work. Starting with the retaining wall that had to be changed to armourstone right away and we didn’t even get a chance to choose the colour, by the time we came home, they were already in place and couldn’t be taken out. When we asked why the drastic change, the answer was because they had not come onsite before and therefore had not realized that the back of the yard was so much higher than the house.
Other things went wrong with this project. We chose a geometric pattern for the interlock after being assured that the interlock on three sides of the swimming-pool would measure the same. It turned out that the three side are different in width. Only one side measures what was in the plan.
Then MountainHill built the border of the interlock with a different stone than what we chose because they had to order it that morning and the supplier was out of the one we had chosen - The sizes are significantly different. And the stone they brought for the border is not meant for a border. This was not a problem when they thought the whole area was going to be flush with the surrounding grass/mulch, because we would not be able to see the sides of the stones. When we realized that we could, their solution was to trying to disguise it with an additional step and bushes. What’s worse is a there are few weird cuts and stone placements that should have been avoidable, and no way of filling the paver joints all the way to the edge with polymeric sand, all because they started the border edge at each end simultaneously. They could have just started at one end and worked their way around. It is a rectangle after all.
The follow through on the outstanding items is non-existent as well. Even though they had stated that we had nothing to worry about because anything they damaged, they would fix, this has not occurred. Seven months later, we still don’t have electricity in the shed, the driveway is still damaged, we had to fix the fence ourselves, the polymeric sand does not go all the way to the border, and we have an issue with poor water drainage on the grass right at the yard entrance, where the most foot traffic is. It will cost us more money to fix these issues.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $50,000.00