GOOD EARTH LANDSCAPE CO

My first complaint is that Good Earth started work 45 days later than the contract promised and finished 75 days later than promised. It took 6 weeks to complete the job instead of the promised 2 weeks. There were too few trained workers to finish the job on schedule. The owner/contractor was on site only a few hours during the job. The foreman was absent, leaving his workers unsupervised, about 2/3 of the time . My second complaint is that Good Earth started the paving job at the most visible area of my patio by training workers who had never installed pavers before. When I told the foreman that the pavers were misaligned, he said that the alignment would be improved during the final installation steps designed to level the pavers. It was not improved. Photo 1 shows nonuniform triangular shadows cast by the morning sun at many of the paver joints where the top surface of one paver is higher than that of a neighboring paver by as much as 1/8 inch. (See my Yelp.com review in case I am unable upload the photos to Angie's List) The Interlocking Concrete Pavers Institute (ICPI) calls this nonuniform appearance ?fish scale? because the installed pavers look like the scales of a rotting fish. When Good Earth Landscape finished work, I withheld $1000 from the total contract price of $18,965 and promised to pay the rest when the alignment was fixed. Good Earth refused to fix the alignment, and I had to pay another contractor $9500 to remove and re-install all the pavers. This new contractor had an experienced work crew; finished the re-installation job in 4 days, and achieved the excellent alignment shown in Photo 2. This alignment is what Belgard catalogs and web sites advertise and what local building material suppliers display. The Belgard catalog, published by Sierra Building Products, says that all Belgard Authorized Contractors are required to learn and use the installation guidelines published by the ICPI to validate Belgard material warranties. From these ICPI guidelines and other ICPI publications, I learned that the final installation steps I observed Good Earth use on my patio are different from the corresponding ICPI steps and that procedures like the one Good Earth used had been rejected by the ICPI because they didn?t adequately align the pavers. After Good Earth finished its work, I called the Belgard national office to complain and was referred to Sierra Building Products sales representatives. One visited the job site, and his email report said ?3-5 pieces with minor issues do not create a job failure. I even intentionally tried to catch the toe of my shoe across the top of pavers in several areas, and never caught an edge?Belgard would consider your install worthy of our catalog.? Sierra did not care about the ugly fish scale appearance or that Good Earth had failed to follow the ICPI procedures advertised in the Sierra Building Products catalog. Sierra?s position was that the paver alignment did not have to be as good as shown in the catalog and displayed at local building material suppliers. It only had to be good enough for people to walk on it without tripping. When I accused Sierra of falsely advertising the qualifications of the contractor it recommended to me, Sierra disclosed its parent company?s legal disclaimer which is not included in its catalog or on any Belgard web page viewable by customers: ?The Belgard Authorized Contractor Program represents a highly qualified group of installation professionals. A Belgard Authorized Contractor must meet strict initial and yearly qualification standards to be included in the program. While Oldcastle Architectural, Inc. works to maintain these standards to ultimately create a better experience for the end user, Oldcastle Architectural, Inc. does not warrant the performance or quality of work of any Belgard Authorized Contractor.? From all this, I learned that Belgard Authorized Contractors are no different from other contractors. Most care about meeting the advertised standards of their industry and get referrals from satisfied customers. Others, like Good Earth Landscape Co., take shortcuts to maximize profit, and they find other sources for customer referrals. Good Earth Landscape Co. is still a Belgard Authorized Contractor long after I proved to Sierra Building Products that it did not follow their advertised ICPI procedures. I conclude that the Belgard Authorized Contractor program is a sham designed to convince customers that if they buy Belgard pavers, the pavers will be installed properly. Had the above disclaimer appeared in any of Belgard?s advertisements, I would have chosen a contractor more carefully and would have learned the important ICPI procedures and written them into the contract I signed.

The provider did nothing? I called twice leaving messages and emailed them once. I told them I was seeking a bid to landscape my back yard. They never called back or emailed me or responded in any way. I can't rate work not performed, but can rate their unprofessional business practice.

I really like them and they have provided me lawn care maintenance for a couple years.