Jim's Lawn Designs Inc

Description of Work: I've used Jim for multiple projects going back about a decade. He's done driveway sealing and drainage work, installing French drains around the house where I had some problems. First class work. Nine years ago, I asked him to design and install masonry work around the front of my house. |The project involved demolishing some old concrete steps and constructing a pie shaped stair-case, walkway and garden wall from Unilock Pavers. |The project turned out beautifully. Aesthetically pleasing and the details attended to, even to reseeding lawn areas that were damaged and replanting old plants I had in the new garden area. |The problem has been that there is a design or materials flaw in the stair case. The polymeric sand and construction glue, holding it together does not hold up through frost heave. A few years after it was installed, it needed to be completely rebuilt which Jim took care of, as a warranty repair, without charge. Since then, I have tried to maintain the installation by adding new sand each year and regluing stairs as they come loose. This year, it was time for another major rebuild as the maintenance has not been able to prevent the stairs from loosening, becoming uneven and a trip hazard. |I had trouble reaching Jim this spring, but when we did connect he came out and gave me an estimate on the job. It would be $1950 to remove and reset two levels of the stairs...basically labor for the day. |I'm unsure if this is his labor cost, or what he needs to generate from a labor day to keep his business running, but it feels pricey for what amounts to a defective installation. I did not get another estimate because he was the original contractor. I'm confident, that if Jim had known these issues would occur, when he designed the project, he would have told me and I would have selected other design specs. So, unfortunately, as of now it looks like I may need to average somewhere between $300 and $500 per year to maintain a staircase, in addition to DIY work. Seems a bit much for what should be a low maint. Item, but I leave it to the reader to decide. |It's unfortunate, because I like Jim, have appreciated his work and the asphalt work I will need to do shortly, will now be going to another contractor. |

Description of Work: They have done landscaping, driveway sealing, and worked on our decks as well as other jobs. They have done quite a bit of work for us.