BIG TREE CONSTRUCTION

This all started in August/September 2013 - I hired this company to landscape the yard after a major bathroom and patio remodel. Miguel (owner of Big Tree Landscaping) would promise that he would be there on a certain date and then no one would show up. The two helpers would come a few days or a week later than promised. My contractor had to constantly watch what they were doing, as they would not perform the work properly. The contractor would call Miguel and then he would have to stay until Miguel showed up so he could explain the proper way to do the work AGAIN. Toward the end of the job, they just didn't show up for days. They did an ok job on the landscaping, although he skimped on barkdust and plants. He also had his guys put in a major drainage system in the yard that was supposed to funnel water down the side of the house to the street in front. He promised to have the fence built on a certain day, and when it wasn't started two weeks later, I told the contractor to fire him. He said he would call Miguel and tell him that if the fence wasn't built the next day, he was fired. They came the next day and finished most of it. I had to dispute most of the line items on his extensive bill and I sent him a letter stating that if he cashed my check for the adjusted amount, that meant he agreed and accepted that as the final amount. (I had to pay another contractor $200 to finish the things Miguel didn't get done. Fast forward to November 2013. We had major flooding in the basement that the "new" contractors felt was related to the drainage work. Technically, I can't prove that they're right, but I do know that the rainwater that was consistently forming a pond in our new backyard was not coming out on the street below, so where was it going? (It's June of 2014 now, and we're still in the process of rebuilding the basement apartment that we had to completely tear out, waterproof and rebuild.) Now...fast forward to February 2014. I looked out the window one day and noticed that the back gate had a big gap at the bottom. When I went out to check on it, I noticed that the fence was leaning significantly. Then I looked and saw that the other two sides of the fence were also leaning! My contractor called Miguel and talked to him about it. After several days, he came out and sort of propped the part of the fence where the gate was. After a few days, it started leaning again. And the rest of the fence was still leaning. The contractor called him back and told him he had to come back and fix it properly. It took them a couple of weeks to show up and the contractor had to meet him at my house and TELL him HOW he should have set the posts in the first place...they were all done wrong. The repaired two sides of the fence and left one side untouched (the side that would have taken the most work). At that point, Miguel never came back and would not answer calls from the contractor any more. I had to pay someone else to have the third side of the fence reset. Side note: Much of the landscaping he put in is not doing very well and the irrigation system he put in has spots where the yard is getting soaked and other spots that are getting no water at all. This was the worst experience I've ever had with a contractor. It was a nightmare. (. I have documentation?letters, emails, texts and witnesses to corroborate everything I've said.) and witnesses to corroborate everything I?ve said.