Tucker Farms

I give Tucker Farms 2 stars. Why 2 stars? 1. Unlike many, many other excavating contractors I attempted to contact, Tucker Farms always had someone available to answer the phone. 2. Each time I spoke to someone on the phone, that person was polite and professional. 3. For what it's worth, this business was highly recommended by several of my friends due to the quality of work and level of professionalism. Due to having several friends strongly recommend this company to me, it's difficult for me to have to give such a low rating. Below is the unfortunate experience I had with this company: On Friday, 9/7, I contacted Tucker Farms in regards to scheduling a consultation for a home building project. I needed 1 acre of trees cleared and a basement dug. The fellow that answered the phone was very polite, and seemed eager to set up an appointment with me. He let me know they were quite busy (which is usually a good sign) and that the earliest he could do would be next week, Thursday, 9/13. I agreed. I mentioned that I was waiting on an estimate from a second company also (as it turns out, that company never showed up). When I told him this, he seemed to have a bit of a change of heart, and told me "We probably won't be able to compete with that company." I explained the details to him and he estimated "Over the phone, without looking, I'd guess..." then throwing out a figure very nearly approaching $10,000.00, which seemed abnormally high to me for clearing 1 acre of trees and digging a basement. I had a feeling he might be trying to bid high to get rid of me at that point. He explained "We're very happy to come look, we'll keep you down for the 13th at 9AM--but with this other company bidding, please don't waste my time tremendously." That was a comment which caught me a bit off-guard--isn't it fairly standard practice to get at least a couple of different bids for something like this? I just brushed it off and ignored it. I'll add that I live 4 hours from the job site, and I work remotely for my profession. I made this clear with the gentleman on the phone. Thursday the 13th arrived, and at 8:30 AM I called the office of Tucker Farms to confirm someone was still supposed to show up at 9:00AM. The secretary checked the calendar and confirmed "Yes, 9:00 AM." I thanked her and prepared to head to the job site. 5 minutes later, she called back and told me she'd just spoken with the person who was supposed to give me a consultation, and as it turns out he wasn't planning to show up at all (was anyone ever going to call me? It had been 6 days!) and that he was "very hesitant" about taking the job at all. He'd like to reschedule, but I decline. I refuse to work with a company that does business that way. So, after spending 6 days 4 hours away from my home and my wife waiting on Tucker Farms to give me an estimate, I'm out of luck. I intended to respect his request of "please do not waste my time tremendously"--sadly, my time was the time which was wasted. Due to this unfortunate way of conducting business--despite having several friends recommend this company to me--I myself cannot recommend them.