Knoxville Hardscapes

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It took a while to get it done.  They built a patio. They had to come back and redo it. They came back and redid it, but they did about 80% of it. There are still pending things, but they never got back to me. The real thing about them was that it was run by Blake, and he is the company, he is the guy that come out and estimates the work, supervises the work, and he has other work. The price was good.

Things couldn't have gone any better.

I had a retaining wall built in Sept of 2012, In less than a year the wall was falling down. Blake's crew tore down that retaining wall, loaded the old concrete blocks (weighted about 20 lbs.) and move them. They cleaned everything up, put in the correct base, drainage gravel, landscaping cloth behind the wall. they put in another French drain and made They install the correct concert blocks (weighted 97 lbs.) They put in the Wall was level, straight and sure it would drain. The crew put in the correct back fill soil.
When the wall was complete and the crew leader was satisfied  with their work, myself and my wife was well please with the work. They cleaned up all of the debris and hauled it away.
They were here when Blake said the would be and did an 'OUTSTANGING" job.  I would use Knoxville Hardscape any time I had something like this to be done. I would highly recommend him to anybody.
His crew was great. The answered all our questions and if my wife was not satisfied with something, they corrected it with any problems. I have never had anyone do better work that these men.

In April of 2013 We contracted with Knoxville Hardscapes for a 75 foot long, 6 foot high retaining wall to be built behind our house. The price which was $15,228 included engineering, building materials, block, gravel and the geo grid fabric and labor. The contract stated that the wall would be completed by the end of July. Throughout the summer we were given several start dates that we made a point to be home for and no one showed up.

Blake Grantham, the owner, had engineering done for our project that called for the wall to be 8 feet high and required additional back fill. So on September 6, 2013 Blake revised his price to $18,709 to cover the additional material cost and told us that he would cover the additional labor. Excavation started but stopped a few days later. We called Knoxville Hardscapes repeatedly but Blake didn return our calls.

Then on September 16th Blake met with us explaining that he was financially over extended and did not have enough credit with his suppliers to order the materials or rent excavation equipment and would not be able to complete our job unless we took over paying directly for the materials, block and gravel, and the excavation equipment rental. At that point we had already given him checks totaling $10,614 and had little more than a set of engineering drawings and some preliminary excavation. We were extremely uncomfortable with the position we found ourselves in. But we decided that our best chance for finishing the project and not losing the $10,614 we had already paid to Knoxville Hardscapes was to continue working with them and pay Blake's suppliers directly for all the materials and excavation equipment rental needed.

The crew of men that built the wall were very competent and hard working. In the end, the wall was completed and we are very pleased with how well built it is. Our total cost to date for the wall has been $27,244.59. Knoxville Hardscapes received $12,914 of that for labor and the balance was spent for materials and equipment rental.

Knoxville Hardscapes left a mess and damaged both the curb at the street and our driveway. At our request they came back out to clean up the job site and attempted to repair the street. But not to our satisfaction.

We have received two additional final invoices from Knoxville Hardscapes. One for additional labor that we had not discussed or agreed to and then a second invoice for a per block labor cost that also was never discussed or agreed to.

Blake is charming young man. But he is not a good estimator or manager. I don't like leaving negative comments, but would not want anyone to go through what we have.

Blake is a honest nice guy with a hardworking crew. Once they came to my property it took them 2 days and installation went very smoothly. Did not leave a mess, and all was done professionally, and we love our patio. We had issues with getting a confirmed work date. We signed a contract in June and the job was done in October. It was clearly communicated to us by Blake that they do big jobs, and when he has openings he puts in smaller residential jobs in so that his crew has an income year round. Summer is one of their busiest times during the year with big projects, so we were aware that there can be delays, and he is priced at a low rate for residential work because that is not where he aims to make the most profit. However, due to the excessive rain and growing pains for Blake's business it seemed like our job was significantly delayed than expected. Obviously I waited so for us it turned out ok, but I can see how this would be a frustrating experience for others. I did end up with a now it really has to be done moment so I asked Blake to get the job scheduled or give me my deposit back, and after that the job was done without a hitch within a week.
I am happy to have worked with them, and as long as I am ok that there may be a long wait I am happy to work with them again. I do believe that this delay was out of the ordinary for Blake as well, and it will not happen in the future.

It went pretty well. I would probably use them again in the future. The owner is very nice guy, and easy to work with.

The experience was mixed.  The first half of my job went really well.  I got exactly what I wanted and it was well done.  The second half of my job in the back that was done the second year, I had a couple of problems with that and I haven't been able to get them to come back.  It is supposedly guaranteed work; but they set 4 lime stone stairs for me and didn't put the proper base.  The rain has washed it out from underneath.  I can put an arm underneath the stairs like up to my shoulders.  I have called them so many times and they always say that they will come out to look at it; but it just doesn't happen.  I am really pleased with what's here, but a couple of things need to be addressed.  I know they are at the height of their work season and all that.  When they were here, they were nice guys and worked hard.  Their work is good.  I think they just made a mistake in this one place and another place just needs addressing, that's all.  The portion of the work was good.  I am trying to get them to resolve all this.  I have used them twice.  I like them enough to call them back.  I like the young man and I don't think he is fundamentally dishonest.  He is not taking care of the business like he needs to.  It is like 95% being happy and 5% of the things that needed to be done.

The project went very well.   Blake Grantham (owner) was very diligent throughout the project.  His dedication to keeping us informed for every step in the project, and his presence on site, ensured we had good communication for managing details.   As in any sizeable project, solutions to challenges involve choices.   The clear communications enabled us to quickly resolve each issue and to maintain continuous progress efficiently and effectively.   For example:  The location of drainage under the driveway needed to be established early in the project to be sure water from gutters would be well managed after the driveway was installed.   Another example:  trenching for electrical conduit required to enable later landscape lighting and electricity supply to the dock needed to be prepared, conduits layed, and electrical permit inspections completed before paving proceeded.   Due to our open communication, Blake was able to maintain project pace while ensuring the necessary steps were completed for a well executed project.   Another example:  The motor home has specific wheelbase and clearance measurements.  The slope of the driveway needed to be very critically managed to ensure the motor home would not drag its ends or its belly as it moves from the roadway to the garage.    Although we hoped to complete the project in an extremely short schedule, rain conspired to cause delay.   Nevertheless, we were very impressed with the achieved schedule and the quality of the work.   Blake tried to stay within the budget, but we made changes that required extra work.   Nevertheless, he remained faithful to the overall budget limits we established, managed each modification fairly and left us satisfied that he had treated us honestly with respect to price.    Pictures of the project have been taken, and if I can figure out how to post them, I'll do so later.

The work went very well.  The rain caused a few lost work days, being January, but the men worked hard and got it finished within 2 weeks.  I feel that I got my moneys worth.  There were no surprises.  It was all broken down clearly and we signed a formal contract.  His work crew left my lot clean and they were very polite and hardworking.  It was a great experience and I recommend them highly.

I watched them the whole time, and they did a better job than what code requires.  The went with the best methodology.  He also gave us a 5 year warranty on his labor.

Our landscape wall was falling down, literally.  Blake Grantham, the owner, promptly returned our phone call, came out and measured and within a few weeks provided an estimate.  I already had 5 other estimates.  His was the lowest.  I called to make sure he had included everything we had discussed in the estimate.  After Blake explaining his estimate to me, I was very impressed and felt comfortable that he was the contractor I would hire.  Other contractors wanted approx. 2000 dollars to remove the old wall.  Blake assured me he had included this in the quote.  Blake told me it would only take a couple of hours for them to do this and that 2000 dollars was way out of line.  Well, Blake was correct.  They had the old wall down and a good part of the new wall up by the end of day one.  And as Blake had expected by the end of day 2 it was done.  They even came back the third day and cleaned up the site.  Blake was knowledgable, professional, courteous and most of all honest.  I would definitely use his company again.  In fact I am already saving for my 95 foot wall for the front of the house and intend to hire Knoxville Hardscapes.