OHIO VALLEY GROUP

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It started good, they came with design help and ideas and came back with a drawing, only one option was given and no further drawings after that, we were under the impression there would be more options. We did make some minor changes to the plan and felt confident in the design of a two level patio with a border and stone steps and flagstone walkway. We were also very pleased with the design of the mulch beds and plantings. There were only two minor concerns; 1 was a small tree that I was worried would get in the way of the view and the other was the idea of the grill floating at the edge of the patio. Andrew assured us it would look good and we went along. The tree turned out great but I have to come up with another option for the grill (I don't like the looks of it just sitting at the edge of a curved section no less). Everything was going well then concrete was poured and it was not good. Somewhere along the line it was decided that the two level would now be one level. There was no border where we wanted in back and we were told it was too late to add it however, there was a guy going around the entire perimeter with a hand trowel. That hand trowel did create different textures in the concrete between the perimeter and the inner portion, all the way around. There is a step down onto a half circle landing, that landing was very obviously out of round (we pointed this out before they poured) and a spot about 12 inches long on the step crumbled. There are several spots of stamp overlay onto the border, concrete splashed all over house, plus dirty hand prints on white trim. We also had a broken pathway stone and abnormal step pacing on half the walkway. They did come back and fixed pathway, attempted to fix crumbled step and attempted to scrub concrete splash off the one year old house paint. I was pleased with most things and accepted the repair of the crumbled step but there was no possible way to fix the out of round or the different textures of the concrete without tearing up and re-pouring. The splash on the house didn't come off and the only way to fix would be to repaint basically the bottom three feet of the entire back of the house. However, we didn't want to keep the project going and felt that eventually we might not notice these flaws that looked so major at the moment. (they still look like major flaws) We paid 30% up front and at the halfway point 50% of the remaining but they would not offer anything more than $500 discount for major concrete flaws that would require tear out and re-pour to fix, and refused to come back until we paid in full. Andy, the owner, (not the same as Andrew, our salesman) called and threatened me a with lawyer and a lien on my house, even though they hadn't finished the job. He was rude and insulting, and finally refused to finish the job period. After some legal consult it turns out there were multiple contractual requirements by law not followed including a breakdown of pricing (he tried to offer $180 discount for not sealing, however, multiple quotes were $500-1000 for this job) and the fact that the concrete work was being sub-contracted to another company. We sent in final payment less what we thought was fair based on the advice of our lawyer. When we hired someone else to come and finish their job, we then discovered the 2 steps (the two level plan had 3 "stone steps" and we had to point out that there was no discount for the additional step that we did not get, another place where the pricing breakdown would have helped) that were sold to us represented as stone are actually fake concrete "stones" and playground mulch was just old mulch moved from the original patio site including lot of mud. One final note, we wanted this completed by a specific date that we were clear about from the very beginning and were told that it would be completed pending weather issues. This was not the case, the weather was fine but workers showed up most days around 9 am and left each day at 3 pm including the day it was supposed to be completed. I would push forward with legal action but my wife doesn't want the hassle

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The two man crew showed up on time. They began removing the indicated plants and installing the new ones. They spread the mulch and cleaned up the grass and concrete areas before they left. Project took about 6 hours.

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I got all perturbed with them in the fall for the lease pickup because they didn't pick them up until right before Christmas and by that time the lease was frozen to the ground and so it took about three times as long they had originally estimated. It was over $2000 when they had estimated which was about $700 or maybe $500 so that's why I stopped using them, I was please with them up until then as a mowing service and spring clean up. They were responding all the time until it came to the lease pick up. I don't know many times I called about that. When it came to mowing, they were here when they said they were going to be. I would use them for mowing but not for a special job.

The owner is very attentive to your needs, comes out to your house and does a thorough review of your needs.  They are very timely in their recommendations.  They are very reliable and leave the job site very clean.  I have used them for years.