Prunin Arburiculture

In a matter of only 2.5 weeks after final payment, the pavers settled (due to inadequate compaction) and an email was sent (4/12/11) requesting warranty service as required by California Contracting law (CA Civil Code Section 900). A week later (4/17/11) a brief email response was received that the owner was out of town but his project manager committed to calling to set up a site visit. No call to set up a site visit was received. I sent another email on 4/27/11 inquiring about the promised site inspection. The project manager stated he would "schedule a crew and let us know ASAP". A follow up email was sent on 4/29/11 with no response and no crew visit. A credit card dispute was made on 5/2/11 to the credit card company based on estimates to remove pavers, properly compact sub-grade and joint sand and repair bond beam to industry standards for workmanship. The dispute was rejected by the credit card company due to no other peer paver company being willing to quote a repair without completely de-constructing, re-compacting and re-installing the pavers. The companies uniformly stated that they did not wish to take on the 12 month warranty liability for another company's (Prunin's) work. The inter-locking concrete pavement institute standard ( http://www.icpi.org/techspec/1025/display/?key=1189 ) provides a 3rd party workmanship standard for this type of work. The institute defines acceptable forms of compaction at each installation phase (subgrade, base material and joint sand). Prunin used a combination of vibrating plate and hand tamping. Hand tamping is not an approved form of compaction per the standard. The standard also defines the acceptable gaps between the joints of the pavers at 1/16" to 3/16". The standard also defines final elevations (height) differences should not exceed 3/8" over 10 feet and the bond beam should not vary more than 1/2" over 50'. In about 2/3rds of the installation the workmanship is at an acceptable level. However, in the balance (1/3) of the project, there are numerous instances of Prunin's workmanship failing to meet industry standards of workmanship by a very wide margin. The red level in the photos is a 4 foot long level. 1. There is a 4 foot long gap of 7/16" between the bond beam and the directly adjacent pavers. 2. There is a 2 foot long section of bond beam that is 7/16" higher in elevation than the directly adjacent pavers. 3. There is a 1 foot section of pavers directly in front of a door that the adjacent pavers aren't level by 3/8". 4. The pavers have an embossed texture on the top of the pavers. There are about half a dozen pavers installed upside down with no "slate" texture. 5. There is a 3/4" of elevation change between the bond beam and the adjacent pavers. 6. There is an 18 feet long section of bond beam that has 1/2" of gap between the bond beam and directly adjacent paver. The bond beam in this location moves under body weight and is indicative of future problems with this installation. 7. At the time of final payment the concrete hadn't fully cured and turned into the typical gray color. There are over 100 pavesr with concrete smears visible on the surface of the pavers. 8. Finally, when I got around to spring planting I found numerous lumps of concrete and trash buried in the planter beds next to the pavers. I do not recommend this company for pavers. The workmanship is below industry minimum standards leaving the homeowner with uneven pavers, upside down pavers, concrete stains and active settling creating uneven walkways, potential tripping hazards and unsightly appearance. It appears that they have no intention of honoring any form of warranty for labor or workmanship despite state law.

Prunin was a disaster. Reluctant to put things in writing, follow up on requests was performed after much prodding and sometimes promised work was not done at all. The HOA was charged for every tiny thing that our new groundskeepers do as just a matter of course. Repeated requests to NOT mow the grass so short were never successfully met and grass turned brown as the sun burned it to a crisp. Some areas were over watered and other areas under watered. Rivers of water ran down the street and there was no real attempt to find the root cause. The main word that is not in their vocabulary is pro-active, and reactive was missing most of the time. It was high maintenance for the Mgmt company just to keep dogging them about getting the work done. Do not waste your time nor your money on their high rates. They aren't even a good 'mow and blow' outfit.

Overall, I found Prunin to be a higher-end "mow and blow" company. We paid over $300 a month for maintenance, color, and extra for the project manager to be out here twice a month. The maintenance included about 20 minutes a week of the usual basic duties. This was frustrating, because when we hired them, we told them we wanted more - someone to come in and look around to see what needed to be done, not just check off a list. We were willing to pay extra to have this better care. The color, flowers, was a waste of money. Many of them died or just never grew. Lastly, the project manager, we paid extra to come out and look over they yard, hardly ever showed up. I really liked the project manager and the head of the crew, but the PM just couldn't get the job done. I am not sure what is going on with the landscape maintenance industry right now, but it seems impossible to get good help. We've gone through several companies, and don't seem to have this problem anywhere else i.e. painters, maid, pool, etc.

They were very good. They were very professional and knowledgeable.