Outdoor Designers

Excellent job. We are very pleased with the finished product.

They were really good. The price was reasonable. They were fast and they were here when they said they would be.

I found them because they were voted best of Chesapeake. They did everything that I asked them to do. They listened to my needs. There was a delay with one of the manufacturers and that was the only thing that went wrong and the job was not finished on time. The price was a little high but all in all it turned out very well.

This is a copy of the letter we sent - I think it sums everything up. Dear Mr. Bowes, It is with great pleasure that our business is concluded. Attached you should find a check for the final payment of our contract in the amount of $500.00. The deck your team built looks very nice, unfortunately it is not what we expected, and does not meet with our approval. Consequently we are unable to recommend you for similar services. The last contract point stipulates an acceptance inspection/final walk through. Since we have not heard from you in over a week we thought it best to provide a written summary. Our hope is that giving this feedback may help prevent this sort of thing from happening to other customers in the future. First let me say that your team members were courteous to us during most all of our encounters. Second I would like to re-iterate that we understand that the person who sold the project was not available to pass along information about our expectations. However, with that said, I would expect a set of plans, instructions, and design elements would have been available for review at each major step in the construction. These unfortunately were not. The problem seems to have been a breakdown in communication and a loss of information between the salesperson and the construction team. Better documentation would have prevented such problems. In addition there was very little discussion as your team moved between the different phases. 1. It would be easiest to start at the foundation level. As you know we had concerns about the footings used in the project. Your teams solution would have been acceptable if they would have used forms and brought the top of the footing above ground level. Unfortunately, they did not. The footings were dug and poured below ground level with no forms. The day after they poured the footings (which was a Friday), it rained. Since the footings were below ground level the top of the footings were underwater. Your team?s solution was to remove soil from around the deck plan area and redistribute in the yard. Thus bringing the ground level below the top of the footings. This may have been an acceptable solution except that the area adjacent the deck is now higher than the ground under the deck so runoff rainwater will collect under the deck and may cause foundation problems. My original design for the footings, using steel I beams or some other material would not have required moving top soil and I still believe would have been a better solution. There was extra funding added into the contracted price and you assured me it would be handled correctly. At this point I do not agree that it was handled appropriately. By the time I realized what your team was doing most of the floor joists were already in place. Should I have stopped your team and had them rip it out and redo? 2. The deck was to be free standing but your team tied it directly into the brick wall supporting the existing patio just as the old deck. If you had used my solution for the footings, there would have been sufficient stability without tying into the existing house structure. In addition, when the 2x12 was bolted to the house, there was no caulk or other weather striping material to prevent moisture from collecting on top of or behind the wood. I will see similar rot occur as with the old deck you removed. 3. Removal of the old deck went smooth enough but the waste bin was placed in the middle of the driveway making it almost impossible to use. Your team was told to have the bin set up to one side so that at least one half of the driveway could be used. They told us not to worry they would take care of it. Unfortunately, they did not. 4. Talking with my neighbors, they noticed the working taking a long time. I explained about the rain delays etc., but there comments were that if the workers would show up before noon they could get more done. Un fortunately your team has left an impression on the neighborhood that your workers show up late and stand around talking. 5. I have always been of the school, measure twice and cut once. It seemed that your team failed this simple lesson. The next to last floor joist that was installed looked to about ?? to short so they put a dozen nails into it in an attempt to tie it into position. I am sure this one joist will not cause a loss of structural integrity but it didn?t look very professional. I also noticed a significant amount of nails at each of the corners. I have never been a big fan of nails in deck construction because they seem to always back out or loosen in the wood over time. I prefer lag bolts but that costs more, and takes more time. 6. At this stage of the construction the beams for the pergola were installed and they seemed to go up at a somewhat unusual spacing but I did not catch the problem until much later. It seems the beam at the corner closest to the house was very close. So close that the rain gutter had to be moved. Not a big problem, but it got worse. There was no longer sufficient room for the gutter, because of the box beams that go on either side of the main support. It is still moved aside. The only reason it is currently attached is because I needed the rain channeled away from the sliding glass door. I am left with correcting your teams mistake and neglect. 7. Next in the construction process were the posts that support the railing. Those went up but one was slightly askew. You will see in the attached pictures, it is still askew. It also appears to be about ?? to close to the pergola support at the bottom as the pergola box beam is sitting on top of the beauty color at the base of the post. Again the measure twice cut once issue. 8. The decking went in nicely and the finished surface looks pretty good. Unfortunately our expectations were that the decking would run perpendicular to the house not parallel. We were told that we would see one outlined rectangle with all decking running perpendicular to the house. You will see in the pictures what we have are two smaller outlined boxes with the decking material running parallel to the house. This would be okay except with the pergola sitting on top not spaced evenly, it looks like the pergola was an after thought. 9. The pergola went up next and again appears to be nicely done. However we were told that the pickets would run parallel to the house. You will see in the pictures that the pickets run perpendicular to the house, which places several pickets over the roof. The pergola should have been rotated 90 degrees so that the pickets ran parallel to the house. The current positioning will be a problem in the coming years when we have to replace the roof. The extra two feet of pergola you provided at no charge is of no value since it is all in overhang. If the pergola had been installed the way we expected, there may have been other issues but these would not be a concern for us now. 10. The stairs leading from the pool deck, were supposed to extend out onto the pool deck surface, and the step treads were supposed to be wider (2 and ? boards wide with a different color in the center matching the trimboardcolor). Unfortunately these were the last elements placed and appear to be the most rushed and unprofessional. We were very clear about not wanting wood on the ground due to the high moisture concentration in the ground. Your team placed them squarely on the ground, no footings or protection from the moisture. The enclosed pictures show the trim work on the steps, where there are considerable gaps between the side skirting and the finishing on the risers. The support railing down the steps is stable, however, looks squished or compressed because of the narrow treads on the steps. 11. The final construction element was replacing the railing to match the deck railing leading from the back door. Again your team placed the final support post directly into the ground. I expect it to rot as the ones in the front of our house have done. The railing is probably sound enough but the middle post has several inches of play at the top making for a wobbly railing the entire length. It looks nice but once you try to use it you are not real sure if you can trust it. 12. The white vinyl lattice was also thrown up without much consideration. There was supposed to be an access made in the lattice to allow workers under the deck to add the electrical boxes we had talked about. Unfortunately, the team was in such a hurry to get out of town this was not done. There was at least some thought as one piece of lattice material is cut around an existing electrical box. Unfortunately, that box was to be removed and now I will be left with a square cut-out in the lattice. I had mentioned several times that this box would be moved. 13. The final note has to do with clean up. I am left with approximately 10 cubic feet of dirt piled up next to the deck. The dirt is from the soil removed during the whole footing fiasco. In closing, most of these problems could have been avoided if better communication and a little project management had been employed. It is obvious decisions were made during the project without consulting us.

Time wise, this job took twice as long to complete than what we were told it would take. Some days, the workers didn't show up until late morning or early afternoon. Sufficient materials were not ordered and this added to the delays. Risers were added after the steps had been put in and when asked about this I was told that this was the way it had to be. Two of the railings, one on the upper deck and one on the lower deck, sag in the middle. After several phone calls, this has not been fixed nor have we heard from anyone at Outdoor Designers.

Outdoor Designers did a wonderful job, building a sunroom using the existing roof and concrete floor of an outdoor patio. An existing screen wall and framing had to be removed. The large windows all around, facing SW, makes this truly a sunfilled room. The patio has an heating and cooling unit, only necessary in the early morning and evening hours during winter days. The AC is necessary in summer due to the SW exposure. Heat controlled window film, installed at a later time, cuts down on the glare and heat. This extra sunfilled space is my favorite in the otherwise somewhat dark townhouse. The workers also installed two fans to cool the room and assist with the AC. Spring and Fall are the very best times of the year, and my two cats feel they are in the great outdoors watching the birds.

The quality of the work was good. But I would not use them again for two reasons: 1)Too many promises made about job completion, 45 days late. Why not be upfront? 2)Claim to give customer $50 for each referral that turns into a job. THEY DON'T. Use another company.

It took two months of really steady work for them to complete everything and I thought that was very reasonable. Every little detail from the dimensions to the paint on the walls was of our choice and design. This was a very respectful group of people who were able to answer any questions that we had. I was satisfied all in all with the results.

They worked with me on the design of the porch that I wanted and then proceeded to build a beautiful porch. They did a fantastic job and it was worth every penny. The crew was very hardworking and very skilled. I also thought that they were very honest. I would highly recommend them.