Hazel Landscapes & Edibles

I contacted Annika McIntosh on 1/31/2011 after reading about her services in our local college alumni chapter newsletter. She came to view my yard and discuss the work I wanted done on 2/21/2011. She provided initial suggestions of plants I could use in early March. I asked her for sketches of possible arrangements for the raised beds, which she provided in early May. We scheduled the work to begin 5/17/2011. She did some work in the latter half of May, one day in mid-June, and the final work on 7/20/2011. I had paid two invoices along the way, and she sent me the last one via email in the beginning of August. At that time I informed her that I had been unable to get any water flowing out of the irrigation system. She replied that she was out of town and would look at it after she got back on 8/18/2011. I didn't hear from her until the second week of September, then I discovered there had been a cut-off valve left closed. When I opened it and turned the irrigation system on, a sprinkler head, which was supposed to have been removed, popped up and started spraying. I informed Annika of this via email, but got no response. I sent her another email on 10/8/2011 saying that I would like to pay her for the last invoice, but could not do so until the irrigation system was working. She replied four days later and apologized for letting it slide, and said she would stop by that day to fix it. She reported later that she had removed the sprinkler head, but had never been able to turn on the water. Reading that message now, I realize she had been trying to turn on the irrigation system with the cut-off valve, when the actual control valves were standing right next to it, which I had showed her months before. When I turned on the water, it started spraying out of the neck of one of the hose bibs she had installed. I reported this to her by email on 10/22/2011 and never received a reply. She sent me a card in early January with a copy of the last invoice requesting payment. I resent her the email about the leaky hose bib. A week went by, and she hadn't answered, so I called her. She said she had been out of town and was glad I called, because she wanted me to be home when she came over so I could show her how to turn on the irrigation system. She came by on 1/29/2012 to fix the leaky hose bib. When she was done she gave me a roll of plumber's tape in case there were any more problems. When I came home three days later I found water pooling on the sidewalk in front of my house, and discovered that Annika had left the irrigation system turned on. The ground was very wet at the corner of the house near where the last sprinkler head had been removed. But I didn't discover the full extent of the damage until two days later when I went into my basement. It had been flooded, soaking the carpet and everything touching the floor. Furniture was damaged, boxes of books and sheet music were ruined, and the baseboards were separating from the walls. I called Annika the next day and left her a voice mail informing her of the situation and that there was very likely a leak in one of the underground pipes she had installed, and my insurance company was sending a leak detection service to find it. She called back and left a voice mail saying she would be interested in what the leak detector had to say, but there was a separate issue regarding payment, and if I didn't pay her she would file a lien against my property. An attorney informed me that I was within my rights to withhold payment as mitigation against the damage to my home, which far exceeds the amount Annika billed me for. I had not had a chance to inform her of this when she filed the lien on 2/10/2012, claiming to have finished the work on 1/29/2012, even though I had informed her that the irrigation system was obviously inoperable. When the leak detector turned the water on, it came gushing out of the ground at a point where there is probably an elbow joint, according to the diagram Annika had provided me. It is clearly within the area where she installed new pipes, and my insurance company has referred the case to its subrogation department in order to recoup its losses from Hazel Landscapes and Edibles. In short, I have found Annika McIntosh to be a poor communicator, irresponsible, unprofessional, negligent, and unbelievably insensitive. I would like to stress that this review in no way reflects upon her business partner, Riisa Conklin, with whom I have had no contact at all.