Tompkins Excavating

Overall, I'm very happy with the work that has been done by Tompkins on this job.  
When we bought our house, we got a quote from a different builder that we later found out was _significantly_ under cost and hurt our negotiating ability on the house.  We found out because once we moved in, we couldn't get that contractor and went to about 10 different contractors to get prices, going to 10 because we were _shocked_ by how much they all gave us for a price.  We ended up waiting a year before proceeding with the job until we found Tompkins.
Mark from Tompkins came out, talked about the wall, didn't refer to it like it was a terribly complicated job, and instilled quite a bit of confidence with the way he talked about the work.  All of the other people we got quotes from would preface the conversation by talking about how complicated the job was because of it's proximity to the road and some other factors.  Mark wasn't phased and was able to talk about other jobs they have done that were much more complicated.
The workers were very respectful and were mindful of their equipment blocking our cars/garage when they would come in the morning and make sure that they wouldn't be blocking us in or anything.  The job took about 4 weeks to complete, which I have no doubt would have been _much_ faster if it wasn't for being close to the road.
Overall, the wall looks _amazing_ and we are very happy with the work that was done.  We did have a few minor issues with paperwork/communication, but it sounds like it was an honest mix-up and isn't something that I would say impacts the review, but that is why I put 'B' for communication.  We were probably a more "involved" customer than other people might be for this kind of work, and they were happy to work with us and answered all of our questions even if not immediately.  I would _definitely_ hire Tompkins again to do work.

I needed a lot of work done at my home. I was having drainage issues, and my septic tank and fields needed to be replaced. I had a bunch of companies come out to give me their thoughts and estimates on the work I needed done. I had called septic and excavation companies, and found the septic people didn't sound to confident with the excavation work required, and the excavators didn't seem to be too sure about the septic work. Mark Tompkins came out and spent about two hours with me walking around the property and offering solutions to some of the problems I was having that the other excavators didn't suggest. Of all the people I spoke to, I found him to be the most knowledgeable not only with the drainage problems, but also the septic system. I was prepared
for the estimate, I knew the work would be expensive. Once they began work, I was very impressed by the way Mark briefed his crew about the work they were going to do that day, and his crew was hard-working, polite and very respectful of the property. ( lets face it, they TORE my property up, but they always tried to keep everything looking as good as possible: they ripped out some stumps, roots and all, and transported them around the back of the house so they wouldn't be an eye sore and always cleaned up the site the best they could after each day) He also was accommodating when I asked him to position a few large rocks they pulled out of the lawn, and did some landscaping for me that we hadn't discussed. The work lasted about 9 days, and I had a really good feeling when on day 6 of the work, we had a torrential rain storm, and I could see first hand how the work he had done to that point had solved my drainage issue. I was very pleased.
Tompkins is not the cheapest, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Give them a call if you need work like this done. Their work is fantastic, and they've been in business around here for a long time.