KARL'S EXCAVATING

My husband and I bought a house in Hadley in late 2021. The septic system had failed a Title 5 inspection and needed to be repaired. We agreed with the previous owner that the repairs would be done after we moved. The previous owner, who was paying for the repairs, selected Karl’s Excavating to do the work, and we ended up having numerous problems dealing with them. Karl’s took a saw to anything in our yard that they thought was in their way, without our permission. We were told that in order to access the back yard, Karl’s would need to cut down some trees, and they told us which ones they would cut. However, on the first day that they came to do work, they cut down a tree that they had not told us they were going to remove. If they really needed to cut it in order to access the back yard, we would have given them permission, but they cut it without even letting us know. Similarly, there is a wooden retaining wall and attached set of wooden stairs in our back yard near the septic tank. Karl’s took a saws-all and cut off the bottom step. Not only did they not tell us ahead of time that they would be doing this, but they did a sloppy job of it, leaving a jagged edge where the step met the wall. Again, if they needed to do this in order to access the septic tank, we would have authorized it, but they never gave us a heads-up. Additionally, when we later mentioned that we might just take out all of the stairs, the workers warned us that we might not be able to do that because the stairs—one of which they had cut off without permission—were structurally tied in to the retaining wall. No one at Karl’s seems to be in charge of project management or communicating with customers. The only person who seems to have any idea what is going on at Karl’s is the owner, Steve. But Steve does not communicate effectively with either customers or his own employees. When we would reach out to ask questions, Steve would rarely get back to us, instead delegating that task to one of his employees, who didn’t have adequate information to answer our questions. On a couple of occasions, when we mentioned to workers at our house that we had emailed Steve to ask him a question, they rolled their eyes and told us, “Good luck with that.” I’m sure everyone at Karl’s was sick of us trying to contact them, but we wouldn’t have kept contacting them if they had just answered our questions. There are other problems that I could get into, but this review is long enough as it is. So far, we haven’t had any issues with our septic system itself, so hopefully the work that Karl’s did on that was okay. But nothing about my interactions with Karl’s gives me confidence in the quality of their work.

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They then helped clear the sewer drain in the basement. This is the company that installed the new sewer line for us years ago and that was also a very positive experience. I can't say what the cost was because we haven't received the bill yet.

Prompt arrival within bracketed time. The work was thorough and properly done. The operator was a long time area resident and was living history with many interesting stories and observations. I ended staying out to talk with him during the entire pumping procedure. I also received good pointers on maintaining my older septic system.

Yard needed to be dug up and shrubs moved. They put shrubs back and all survived.

They did a great job for a difficult situation.

They allowed me to uncover and refill the area myself, saving me money, and they were very prompt and efficient.