NORTH BRANCH LANDSCAPE CO INC

Before the work was to begin, we had a meeting with one of their workers that came out to give us an estimate. We explained exactly what we wanted or what we were looking to achieve and he assured us that that could be accomplished. He was able to show us pictures of other jobs that were similiar in type to the work that we wanted to have done. On the very first day, the work crew arrived on time and began working immediately. When my husband arrived home around noon on that first day, he found that the old walkway and patio had been removed and the sites were prepared with rebar for the pouring of concrete which was to take place the next day. They had already begun construction of the lamp post edging when my husband told the owner that he knew that I would not like the construction of the formation of the lamp post edging, which to us looked as if they had used an overly large template for someones bottom dentures (straight back, with wide sides that narrowed to a small rounded front). The owner then told my husband that HE thought that I would like it and my husband told him again that I wouldn't. When I arrived home that evening, I was so upset that I sent them an immediate email explaining my displeasure with the work performed (the email was sent because their office was closed for the evening). I received a phone call the next morning from the owner's wife who had read my email and who then started yelling at me telling me that that was what I had contracted for. When I explained again that that was not what I had asked for, she then blamed it on her worker instead of her husband who was the one who continued to do the work instead of waiting to get a better picture of what I really wanted. She then through at me how expensive it was to have the concrete re-torn up and to start all over. In the end, that is what they did do.The next day, which was about 85 degrees out and the humidity was at about 70%, they poured the concrete for the walkway and patio. Due to the lack of help, the concrete was drying to quick which forced them to hurry to get it level which was not accomplished because there is now a low spot at the end of the patio and water now pools there. Once the job was completed they were paid in full on 8/14/10.By the time the work was completed, it was time to put things away for the fall. In October we noticed that the concrete edging of the walkway had started to crack and chip away. We called and asked them on several occasions to come out and take a look at it which they never did. Winter came and left and at the beginning of Spring 2011, the walkway edging had now cracked away even more and the coloring on the patio and walkway had chipped off. The patio now had large cracks in it and the concrete was pitted with areas where the concrete was breaking up under your feet. We called them again on several ocassions and left messages asking if they could come out and take a look at the problems. Our phone calls were never returned. I finally sent them a certified letter on 4/28/11 explaining in detail the problems that had occurred with the job over the last five months and that we were hoping for a mutual resolution. We asked again for them to just come out and look at the job and that if they did not come out to look at the problems and try to come to some sort of amicable resolution by 5/26/11 that we would have no other alternative but to take them to Small Claims court. In reply to my letter, they sent me a threatening email stating that they previously told us that they stand by their work and that the weather was less than ideal for doing this type of work. They felt that in no way had they done anything wrong and that by us taking such an aggressive stance is neither warranted nor coducive to a relationship that will have positive results.Before the 5/26/11 deadline, both owners showed up at our front door at 7:45 in the morning without any advanced notification wanting to look at our issues/problems. They said that they would come back out when the weather improved and we said that that was fine with us, we just wanted them to look at the problems in advance so that when they did come out to correct the problems, they would know what equipment or supplies they would need in order to do the job. In June 2011 when they came back to fix the problems, they arrived again in the morning without any advance notice. We found that they covered the cracks and the pitted holes with more concrete, sanded it down so that it was smooth. The next day they returned, again without any notification to us. When we learned that they had returned we showed up much to the owner's suprise. He was in the middle of re-tinting the color on the patio. The color he was applying was black and we asked him not to use black because it was making the patio stones much darker than what was originally on there and that the color that was being created was not to our liking. He then started yelling at us and then told us that we were being too critical of the color that we were expecting. We stated that we paid for a certain color comination and what he was applying did not appeal to us. He then got mad and just before leaving, told his employee to finish the job by coating the concrete with a polyurethane and then to leave.The same problems re-surfaced again this year 2012. As a result, we found a gritty, rubber-type product that could be applied to concrete and could also be color tinted to any color that you want.