Howard's Haven Inc

Everything seems to go well until after they left. Then the pavers started getting loose and the walkway was no longer level. Emailed Howard to come and take a look and fix. He responded right away, but after 2 months, he still has not shown up to fix the poor workmanship his people did. I have followed up with several emails and he responded to each one that he was going to fix it asap but after 2 months, I have not seen any progress. We had several incidents where someone almost fell and twisted their ankle due to loose pavers.

It went poorly. Howard made promises to get the work that he didn't follow thru on. The patio had to be completely redone because the work product was so poor. A project that should have taken 2 weeks took 6 weeks and even at that would have gone longer had I not given an ultimatum. Day after day his guys would arrive and do nothing awaiting Howard's arrival. Routinely that didn't happen until 2 - 3pm. Once a majority of the payment was made I was no longer a priority. He left my yard in such poor shape that my wife at one point was in tears. We are left with a patio that has below average craftsmanship, A yard that is going to cost a lot of money and time to repair, and are still finding all the residual damage. Like the dryer vent that was broken when the outer part was pulled off by Howard. Let me be even more detailed, he never called miss utility, didn't properly measure so none of the dimensions from the initial drawing were met. He and his team dropped and broke my $1700 gazebo requiring a replacement. Which he covered and tried to tout as a big favor he did me by paying for what he broke. Speaking of the gazebo, the area of the patio designed to have the gazebo wasn't built large enough. I had to manage the work myself, they forgot to run the drain line, forgot to run the electric, left uneven spots in the patio. Everyday I had to come home from work and work my second job managing this project. I hope by now you realize you shouldn't hire this company. He told me how much experience he had and that his business is 90% referrals. I don't see how that's possible. This was a terrible experience and we spent A LOT of money. We wanted to be excited about our new backyard and instead we ended up with a nightmare.

1st thing was that he did not start on time... he was completing another project(s) but I did not make it an issue to start out; then the project was to be completed before I had an event at my home November 12th but he had just dug up my backyard when I was hoping to be finished by then. He stated the job would take a week or maybe a few extra days. Not the case... he was still working in the middle of December... thank goodness for warm weather. Then he hires individuals from outside the 7-11 (or somewhere comparable) and these guys were not reliable and he kept bringing new people. He was to roto-til the area that was all bedding and add new soil .... I had to make him come back to til the soil because I kept hitting clay in the bedding area. I paid $475 to have my deck painted (hired a contractor) before I had the November cook out when his work was to be completed, he was cutting the pavers either on my deck or close by but the entire deck was covered with cement fragments and dust. I requested him to carefully power wash the deck. He claimed he did it and until I stated I would review my camera footage from the cameras on my house, he agreed to come back and power wash the area he impacted. He broke to fence posts that I had to purchase for him to replace. He also broke 1 or 2 split rail fence pieces. In mid November, he began to ask for his final payment because he needed the money for Christmas. I was adamant that as long as there was a punchlist, he would not see a penny. On the edges of the pavers in the backyard and sidewalk, stepping on the edges causes them to sink and pull away from the other pavers. He did not plant any grass after digging up the yard. He threw down sand which I had to replace with fresh dirt. Oh, I forgot... he hit both the Comcast line with his tractor and then a week later hit the Verizon fios line. I did not have Comcast but then I was out of TV for 2-3 days until he could get a temporary fix. I explained this was still not fixed when he wanted his last payment and I had to explain that he would not get the final payment until he coordinated with the Verizon fios people to put the line underground. I believe the final payment was made Decmber 8th. Since the job was finished close to Christmas, I could not use the paver backyard until Spring... On April 2nd I walked the yard and sidewalk with my Landscaper and she asked me who did my walk and pavers in the backyard. I told her and she said he could not have used polymeric sand because grass is growing between the cracks and the job was completed in December. Howard told me I had a 5 year warranty for labor and the pavers have a lifetime warranty. I have reached out to him April 3rd and April 29th via email and pictures and my concerns... has he responded to me? NO! This is very concerning and I explained that I would ask another contractor to fix his work if he did not respond. Now, I wait. While I was VERY patient with him during all of his mistakes, screw ups, etc., I am at the point that I cannot sit back any longer without warning people who might consider using Howard's services. I think I had to put up with too much for paying $16,200. The pictures I attached show many unfilled cracks or he put regular sand that blew out. IF you see grass, that is an issue. If he would have used polymeric sand and when you add water, it forms like cement between the pavers. You can see what I am going through...

Great job. On time, no issues at all.

Howard and his crew were punctual, professional, and worked very hard adding a fence.  They also were flexible when I changed the plans a few times and asked them to pull apart a small structure and use the boards to build some raised beds on a whim.  The resulting fence and garden beds are excellent, for a great price.