LANDSCAPING BY CHARLES / DRAINS & THINGS

Initially we had a good relationship with Mr. Waite. By the time the project was completed we began to have problems communicating with him. The electrical water pump began to blow ground fault fuses and after talking with Mr. Waite he denied it was his problem. He said it was the electrical plug that was not up to code. I had an electrician check it and it was fine. Mr. Waite then called the city and reported me for code violations. When the inspector visited he looked at the work Mr. Waite had done and made him hire an electrician to fix the problem since he had not followed city electrical codes. The first heavy rain we had was a disaster. The system failed to stop the water and overflowed the collection system Mr. Waite had installed. When I called Mr. Waite he denied it was his problem and said that it was my interfering with the system that caused it to fail. I had unplugged the pump one morning to stop it from blowing the fuse but plugged it back in whenever it rained. Even then it frequently blew the fuse and stopped working until I discovered it and reset the fuse. For a short time I also had put a drainage pipe on my uphill neighbors downspout directing the water that was circumventing the basin and flowing through my yard so it now flowed into the basin. Mr. Waite eventually came out and tried to fix the system but after a couple of tries he left the project leaving a large dangerous pit where the drainage basin was. We had paid for the work when it was originally finished but he presented us with an additional bill for over $8000 more and stated that none of his work was guaranteed, attempting to nullify the original contract.

A fairly new addition to the back of our home has periodically been flooded by storm runoff. When I called Charles, he was at my home within an hour, describing his plan to end the flooding once and for all. Charles laid out a plan that would a) eliminate the need for an extensive French drain network, 2) leave the grade of the yard intact, and c) GET RID OF THE WATER. Less than two weeks after I contracted with Charles (who was overseeing several similar projects in the midst of a very rainy May), trenches were dug and PVC pipes for drainage and discharge were laid. The drains arrest the flow from my neighbors uphill, and the sump pump, installed near the addition, discharged accumulating rainwater into the storm drains. Newer, more efficient gutters with downspouts tied into the pump system further insured that water would no longer rise in our backyard. I am 100% satisfied with the job Charles did for me. He is accredited with the Better Business Bureau, and has references he can provide. I'm one of them.