Earth Wizards Inc

Shelly came out to do an estimate. After a while she just stated a price and asked me if she was in the ball park of the other bids. We mentioned she was in the middle. She asked if she had any chance at the job. We stated yes and would like a bid. She told us she would write a bid and send it via email. We never received one. The time spent with Shelly was a waste of time given she didn't hand us an estimate. Some estimates may be higher than others, but price doesn't guarantee the job. Earth Wizards could have sealed the deal with good customer service etc. People pick based on price and how they feel about a contractor. What a waste of time!

My new driveway looks fantastic. I had the work done last spring (2017) and am very pleased with my driveway. The only downside was when they replaced my driveway they cut into my grass and left about 6 inches of exposed dirt causing my yard to begin eroding. This was unexpected and it cost me a bunch of extra money getting my yard regraded and re-sodded.

In our case, removal of the old driveway revealed foundation cinder block that extended beyond the garage floor a couple of inches. That made a "shelf" the new asphalt would rest on. While the rest of the driveway moved with Minnesota's freeze/thaw cycle, the asphalt on the "shelf" didn't. After the first winter a large crack developed. I sent photos to the installer and they let me know the problem described above. Their fix was to "put hot rubber crackfill across the top of the crack when the guys were in the area." They also said it would need to be applied annually and to blend it into the new driveway, should also do sealcoat each year. Given the professional response I had from Earth Wizard's during the bidding process, I sent them photos of the crack and the contractor's description of the "shelf" problem he saw during our installation. Earth Wizard's said they always cap and fill on any exposed block under the garage door to eliminate the shelf. Installing a control joint between the block and the new asphalt driveway creates a slip surface that minimizes the stress that creates the crack. Without this, more cracks develop as water freezes, which leads to more water infiltration, more heaving, then sinking and failure of the driveway as the photos show. When you get your bids ask what the company does if they find foundation cinder block extending beyond the garage floor after excavation!

Everything went very well

We are currently stuck in trying to get a variance to the city. All paperwork has been submitted, but we need the city to approve it. Nothing to complain about on the part of Earth Wizards though, they have been professional and prompt in getting back to me.

Great water problem solved. Cost me more money but it was solved.

Wonderful job. There was some miscommunication about when the job would start. At first I was told it would start two weeks earlier than it actually began. This was due factors beyond their control (asphalt plants had not opened yet for spring work).

Perfect! And a little more to make it more than 10 characters.

Great job!

When they came for the initial appointment, they asked us what plants we wanted, they could not tell us what plants they had to offer. They did not have any illustrations of any plants. Next they came to spray the area to kill off everything that was there. Then they tracked that herbicide into the lawn and left dead footprints in the lawn. They came back for a second spray and did the same thing, so two sets of footprints in the lawn. They put a material down that was organic that was to hold the slope, but it turned out to have a plastic webbing. Here it is, five years later, the organic material is done, but the plastic webbing is making it easy for the weeds to take over and difficult for us to pull them out. They planted some invasive species in the area, but they didn't get rid of the invasive species that were there before they planted. They really messed up in a lot of ways when they did that landscaping project and it was a big one.

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They gave us a quote and then upcharged us $1000. extra because of extra fill needed.The first time they paved it did not turn out well.There were dips and seams that held water in the tar.It looked melted in the middle of the driveway from where they took a torch to melt and spread the tar.The workers worked hard and were frustrated with the result after they were finished.I did not appreciate getting a bill within a couple days after this when the work was sub par.I called Shelly who gave us the quote and asked if there was an error in getting the bill .She said as far as she knew the job was complete.I told her that my driveway looked terrible.I told her that she should communicate with the foreman on the job and find out when they were coming back and that the job was not to our satisfaction.I got a call almost a week after the initial job was done to come back out to redo the tar. They tore out the tar for the lower half of the driveway.They redid it and it looks great.Gary was the lead guy and was good at calling before he came out to start the job or to do the paving.I do not understand why they would send out a bill when the workers knew they had to come back.I think that is bad for business and the customer gets upset.I gave them B because of this.

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