Earthworks Nursery & Design

I have a ravine for a back yard.  I needed a "stairway" to get down the bank to get to the back yard.  I also needed a retaining wall at the bottom of the stairway as the bank & ravine are very steep.  Earthworks installed the stairway, planting tiers on either side of the stairway and small brick sidewalk (using my pavers) at the bottom of the stairway and finally the retaining wall.  They installed a black drainage pipe underneath, which emptied about half way down the ravine.  This drainage pipe was hooked to the large gutter on one side of a shed.  There is a small gutter on the other side of the shed but they did not connect  any drainage pipe to it.  When we got heavy rains last year, the water emptied and puddled at the bottom of the drainage pipe they installed under ground, underneath the ground and the ground gave way.  The bank gave way and the retaining wall gave way.  Also a huge portion of the ravine caved in.  I was really worried the whole bank was going and perhaps eventually the patio in the yard.  Earthworks took NO responsibility stating it was the fault of the small gutter & water draining from there.  That had nothing to do with the cave-out of the bank in the ravine.  Earthworks said they would repair the wall...for a price of almost $5,000 more and guarantee it for 2 years.  If the work was done properly, the wall should never give way.  I will say the landscapers were nice, worked steadily.  They were quiet, didn't have blaring music, cleaned up at the end of the work day.  I supplied them with ice cream, popsicles and water as it was very hot when they were working.  At the end of the job, I was expected to pay before I even inspected the job.  I felt very pressured to pay IMMEDIATELY and did not get a chance to even check the work to see if I was happy with it.   Besides the cave-in of the ravine and collapsing of the retaining wall, the planting tiers were not installed correctly.  They did not alter the bricks, but they laid the evenly so now there are gaps between the bricks.  Wonder when these walls will collapse.  I would never use Earthworks again.  I gave them plenty of time to make this right, but they obviously had no interest unless I would pay them more.  I had another company estimate the cost to repair the bank and wall and it was $9,200.00!

Overall, I love looking out my front window and seeing the beautiful landscaping that Earthworks created for me. Not to mention all the wonderful compliments we received from the neighbors. The work Earthworks did for us has made an impact on the entire block in regard to property value and attractiveness.