OHIO CUSTOM POOL AND PATIO / BLACKSTONE WERX

This project was a terrible experience for us. We originally got a quote circa March of 2011. We were told that they would start in early April of 2011 and be finished by May. In reality, they didn't start until May and did not finish until July of 2011. We called several times to ask when they would start their work, but all we got were excuses and promises and then more excuses and more promises. That should have been our first clue that we should have moved on to a different company. When they finally began work, we were pleased at first. The owner clearly knew what he was doing and spent and spent time doing things the right way. I even asked him to extend the patio a few more feet. No problem at all he did it with no complaint. That was the last good experience we had. After that, the owner stopped showing up because he went to a different job. The team he left behind seemed to not care about detail or doing the job correctly. They also did not even seem to know what they were doing. The did not use spacers between the stone slabs, so many of the stones were so close together that the mortar could not fit in between them. The mortar that was used was not mixed correctly and it began to chip out with a week or two. Big chunks of mortar was coming out from between the slabs and it looked terrible! Also, there were mortar stains all over the patio and it needed to be acid washed to make it look presentable. Here we made our second mistake: we paid them before the work was finished. The workers said they were almost finished and would return the next day to complete the work and make things look good. Since we were going to be out of town, I paid them in advance. What was I thinking? Well, that was the last we ever saw of them. They never returned. All of this could have been forgiven had the owner actually tried to make things right. After all, he was not there and it could have been argued that he didn't know that his team screwed up. However, here is where he let us down. We called and complained. All we got were promises that the owner would come out and take a look, and that they would make it right. But they never came. We just kept calling and they kept promising and they still never showed up. Then they started getting nasty on the phone and said things implying that were were being too perfectionist about the job and that stone patios were supposed to have a "rustic look". But we kept calling. Finally at the end of August, the owner showed up and looked at it. He said he was embarrassed by the workmanship and said he would return the next day. He did return and started fixing it. He started making it look better. He told us he fired one of the guys. As he worked on our patio, he said to us, "wow, the more I see about this job, the sicker it makes me". OK, so he still had a chance to redeem himself. We even pointed to a stone slab that had a crack in it. He told us that he had some more work to do to make the patio look good and that he would finish the job and replace the slab. His work that day moved the quality of our patio from an "F minus" to a "D+". He was making progress! So he told us he would return the next day with the slab and also finish the job. That was the last we ever saw of him. He never returned. We called and called. He promised and promised. He never showed up. But since I had already paid him, he had no reason to return. At first, he said he needed to wait for a replacement stone (the one that he said he was going to replace "tomorrow"). Then he said it arrived but needed to wait for "the first nice day". Many nice days followed and he would never show even though we were promised. So, I hired somebody else to finish the job. I called the owner of Blackstone Werx and said I was coming to pick up the slab that "had arrived" many months before. I drove to the other side of Cleveland to pick up the slab. When I had I told him that I hired somebody else to finish his work, he sounded embarrassed. Not so embarrassed that he actually volunteered to keep his promise. Just a sheepish promise that he would leave the slab outside his office sitting against his truck. I drove 45 minutes and found the wrong size slab waiting. It was too small to replace the cracked slab. So why did he order the wrong size slab? Or was that just a stone slab that was sitting around his shop? I called him up from outside of his parking lot. I assume he was inside the building. If he was, he didn't feel a need to come out and meet me. He just told me over the phone that he gave the biggest slab that he could find. So it appears that he never really ordered the right slab after all. He apologized again. If he is really sorry, he'd pay me the money that I am going to spend to pay somebody else to fix his work. We ar coming up on our 1 year anniversary of when we first hired this guy. So what do we have to show for our $13000? Our patio is ugly. There is a crack in one of the slabs. There are mortar stains that need to be acid washed and the patio needs to be sealed. Big chunks of mortar are flaking out. This is a shame because had he cared enough to finish the job, I would be writing a good review. Instead, he cashed our check and avoided our calls. He seems like a very smart person and he is actually a very nice guy. He could have the capacity to do good work in which he could take great pride. Maybe at one time, that was how he was. Unfortunately, that is not the way he conducts himself today. I hope he gets his act together and that he gives other customers much better workmanship and customer service than he gave to us. But as for now, this is what you can expect: Delays Excuses for delays Non performance, low quality work, and poor customer service Excuses for non performance, low quality work, and poor customer service Many broken promises Excuses for many broken promises Please do yourself a favor and hire somebody else to do your patio, pool, or whatever. This is not the company for you. Please note, they have changed their name from "BLACKSTONE WERX" to "OHIO CUSTOM POOL AND PATIO". So we will be posting our review for that company also. UPDATE #1: Today, March 10, 2012, my wife went out to sweep up the big chunks of mortar that were coming out of the cracks. Seven of the stone slabs fell off !!! Not even a year old and already the slabs are falling off !!! See the pictures that I am uploading. Sorry Brian ... I just downgraded you from a "D" to an "F". UPDATE #2: We hired somebody else to fix our patio. First, the new contractor tore out the steps. The inside of the steps were soaked with water (even though it had not rained for quite a while). There was water inside of the cinder blocks holding up the steps. Also, the wood on our house was starting to rot from all of the moisture. If our patio had not started falling apart, we would have never known that Brian and his team had messed up the stone steps. So the new guy drilled drainage holes into the concrete slab before putting in the new steps. Now they are bone dry. Why didn't Brian do that? Also, the new contractor put a polymer sand in between our stone slabs. They are now in there for keeps! It looks great! Why didn't Brian do that? Our new contractor made one small mistake. There was an air pocket in some of the polymer sand and it broke out. He was out at our house immediately and fixed it. I didn't need to call him all summer long. Heck, he didn't even close down his business and reopen under a new name !!!! What refreshing customer service. Wish we had called this guy in the first place. He is highly rated on Angie's List and will soon get a glowing review from us !!! Sadly, we went with Blackstone Werx which did a bad job for us. Ignored our calls. Closed and reopened under the name "Ohio Custom Pools and Patio". Note that in their response to us, Blackstone (aka Ohio Custom Pools and Patio") says that they wanted to come out and fix our patio, but we wouldn't let them. That offer to fix our patio came only AFTER we had contacted the Ohio Attorney General's office and filed a complaint. Prior to that, Blackstone Werx had ignored us for the better part of a year. I don't especially like having to contact state government officials in order to get somebody to fix poor quality work. The reason that we did not want them to do the work is that we had simply lost confidence in their desire or ability to do a quality job. In fact, around the time we reached out to the Ohio Attorney General, we began contacting other contractors to fix Brian's work. This time we went only with contractors who had been highly rated by Angies List users. Wish we had done that the first time! Virtually every one told us the same thing, which was that Brian and his team had made a lot of mistakes. No kidding! I guess their first clue was the fact that the patio was falling apart even though it was less than a year! At least TWO of the contractors refused the work since they were so concerned with the poor quality of the work and were concerned with their names being associated with our patio. I can't think of any more scathing comment about the work than when highly rated contractors are afraid to touch the job. Blackstone Werx (aka Ohio Custom Pools and Patio) states that they only learned about how unhappy we were from Angies List and the Ohio Attorney General's office and that we never contacted them. That is inaccurate and makes little sense. Who would ever think that calling a government agency would be faster and more efficient than just calling the contractor directly and having a reasonable conversation? We tried calling them, but we were ignored. This entire episode has cost us time, money, and aggravation. But I am making sure I document everything. I sincerely hope that nobody else goes through this terrible experience that we had.