VAN ORDEN LANDSCAPING

It is a late posting but a posting overdue.  I gave Mr. Van Orden the job of building steps on the side of my house to access my house with interlocking pavers.  I had seen some work he did by looking at some pictures on the internet and that was my first mistake.  Mistake #1. I should have gone physically to a few homes where work was done by him/or the people who work for him. Mistake #2. When the job was done it looked good so I paid him in full.  I should have had the steps inspected first before giving him the final payment.  Needless to say when the steps were inspected they failed.  The risers were all different heights making them dangerous to use.  It took approximately a year and a threat to take them to court before I got Mr. Van Orden to fix all of the risers to code.  Upon inspection the steps passed the second time around, however, the steps are not nicely finished as they should have been if they had been done right the first time.  As of this posting, one of the top stones on the platform are already separating from the other stones.  Note:  Mr. Van Orden did not do the work himself instead he hired some unskilled laborers to do the job.  The laborers were on the job unsupervised until the job was completed incorrectly. Mistake #3 never hire a landscaper to do masonry work leave that type of work to masons.

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