Response from Structures in Landscape
The Bland Project was a very involved and detailed project. Completed over 7 years ago, we have received many compliments on the work we did for the Blands. In fact, one neighbor was so kind as to take a photograph after we completed the job and turn that photo into a Christmas card for our company.... "Impressive work" was written across the top of the card. I was thrilled to have that kind of feedback. I have never heard of any complaints about costs, our work, nor improper installation practices. A few years after the initial installation, Warren did call me with a complaint about a shrub. He was furious about our company putting bad soil around the ball of the shrub. I dropped what I was doing across town, raced over there, only to find out that he was upset about the actual root ball from the field digging of the tree. I tried to explain that Oregon is one of the best nursery stock producing states in the US because we have a fine silty clay that holds together, yet grows great plants. The soil around the plant was our premium blend, and the ball from the nursery was a more dense clay. No matter how I tried to explain to him that the nursery wants plants with this type of soil for transport reasons and a million other growing reasons... he just would not listen. We were onsite for over 5 months building this project. The entire house was being remodeled by many other contractors. I stayed on top of the brick chimney repair firm... making sure they did things perfect. I investigated the old water line to the house and helped them get that replaced at a great savings by digging the ditch and installing pipe for the actual plumbers to hook up. I stayed until 11 pm one night during the concrete pour because a neighbor's dog ran right across the concrete pour after we were completely finished. I never got thanked for that. We painfully worked with Warren on the stone wall to get exactly what he wanted, and did way more than what we charged for. I pleaded with the owners to purchase more quality soil, as the soil conditions were pretty bad from all the heavy work being performed and the lack of organics from decades of neglect. I do remember the costs being high for a total soil export/import. I think everybody passed on that option at the time. I personally hand picked out all the stones, boulders, and personally made the wrought iron work as everything was needing to be custom for a very demanding client. I had a very good relationship with Sarah Bland and I actually saw Warren as a very intellectual and creative person. I still have good memories of this job... and I still get work from people driving by!!! I did notice a year or two after I left this job that someone else(another landscape firm) had started working on the property. They were tearing up our very high end drip system and installing all kinds of pour quality systems. I believe that it is common for some of the lower end landscape firms to trick the owners into thinking the system they have is improper, and that they must "upgrade" to something new... This is just a way to trick the owners into doing work they don't have to do. I personally saw this happening over the years at the Bland Residence. I tried a few times to help out in the early years, but I never performed work again since 2008. We helped on so many other parts of this house restoration that were not in our contracts by giving advice and watching the other subs like it was our own house... The contract work was for around 88K and I believe after paying for all the direct labor of my crews and materials that the end cost was around 83K... not much profit for a 5 month job with big trucks and a high overhead. I believe the worked performed was a very good value when compared to other similar firms. I have called and emailed the Bland family to see if there is a specific item that has irritated them about the install. So far, no response. Our work carries a one year warranty and we have a very formal contract stating what our duties are and are not. I did not get the maintenance contract for this project and it is hard to take care of the landscape and make it last appropriately if I'm not allowed to do the work. We used the absolute best materials that we possibly could get our hands on. I still send people to drive by and see this corner lot as the stonework (although left unmaintained) is truly a work of art. I encourage all potential clients of mine to drive by and see this yard for themselves.... I have no control over how the plant material has been maintained. I just a phone call from Sarah Bland. Turns out that she is very upset with me for not initially excavating the entire west side of the front yard down over 24" deep and importing all new soil. During the bidding process I did offer a line item for increased soil replacement, but it was decided by all people involved that it might be a cost that was not needed. I was one of the voices that thought the additional cost was just too high for the possible benefit. Turns out that she had to replace the yard and redo the soil. I can see her reason for being very upset. In fact, if I had known about this issue, I would have tried to replace the lawn myself. I just hope someone did not take advantage of my previous client by selling them something they did not need. When doing these large landscape installs, it's possible to just keep adding on details after details and then the costs go through the roof. Kind of like when you go shopping for new windows and find out the wood clad, simulated divided light window you love is $2600 for one window... sometimes you have to work with what you have. The Bland soils were original and had been augmented with multiple units of compost and improved soil. Our project did well the first few years, with the occasional plant loss here and there. I do wonder if other site conditions caused the problem. Maybe in building the wall and raising the lawn to a more level state caused a prolonged saturation field. I should have made some changes to the original design and introduced a more sloped lawn. I really enjoyed working for the Bland family and I would work for them again if they would have me. :)