I was contacted a couple of months ago by someone who had got my details from pavingexpert to have a look at a driveway what had been started by a local landscaping company but the job had been stopped due to bad workmanship, I have been asked not to mention the name of this company for fears of any possible repercussion but the customer has agreed to let me post details of the bad workmanship and photos
the photos below was how they left the driveway and the front lawn area after 4 days work, the hardcore they had laid was nearly 75mm too high in places and no way you could of laid block paving with a sand laying course on the top of it, they had removed part of the lawn to extend the driveway to the right hand side of the house and added between 75mm - 100mm of hardcore to this area which would of resulted in only having 25mm of an 18mm to dust type limestone sub base by the time the correct levels had been achieved
the drainage channels they had installed to the front of the house had back fall to the right hand corner and the outlet for the drainage channels was just a 90 degree bend which was connected to the existing top water drainage system but they had made a hole at the back of this 90 degree bend so the water from the driveway would of been pouring out of the drainage channels directly onto the house foundations
the underground pipe connecting to the existing drainage system was too high and not encased in concrete, the weight of the car driving over it would of resulted in the pipe cracking and caving in over a period in time
with the way they had installed everything there is no way the water facing the front of the garage could of drained into the channel along the front of the house and would of resulted in a massive puddle in the middle of the driveway
words fail on the use of the timber decking to form the edge of the driveway, they were going to install the same to the right hand side of the driveway too until the customer stopped them from continuing the work
in other words everything they did was totally wrong, i will openly admit that you can write my knowledge of planting and the latin names of plants on the back of a cigarette packet but you can write their knowledge of driveway construction on the back of a book of matches
anyway just over a week from start to finish and everything was rectified
far be it for me to say that landscapers /garden maintenance people should not do additional work other than cutting a few bushes and mowing the lawn for a customer but one can't help thinking that its one thing doing a patio where if the flags are not quite right it will not matter the same as if they make a total cock up of a driveway but it is happening more and more where they are out of their depth as this is the 4th case in less than 5 weeks that i have heard about and a dare say there are many more due to these guys being short of work and turning their hand to anything they can get
**rant over **
Crystalclear
Driveway and Patio Installer
Call us today
01942 840109
7 days a week 8am till 8pm
very nice mick,is that drivesett argent?
from my study it looks like there is barely any fall on the drive
I hate it when its like that ,i would rather 200mm of fall
the original is bad
but believe me when the Poles and Pakistanis start working together in luton,then that would be the finest
I have never seen 2 groups of people so willingly cut corners,nickel and dime and generally do everything they can to make a bollix of a job
screeding sand straight on the lawn===> no problem
extension built straight off the lawn ===> no problem
10 degree pitch in 100 by 50 ====> no problem
as my old man says "its as easy to do it right as it is wrong"
anyway off to portugal in a bit to cool down
enjoy the respite from my gob
ATB
LLL
ha ha i was hoping to see Ena Sharples and Albert Tatlock in the snug drinking milk stout
no I was awake at 5am this morning due to having a few scoops last night whilst watch the US loose to Ghana and falling asleep earlier than I normally would of
Crystalclear
Driveway and Patio Installer
Call us today
01942 840109
7 days a week 8am till 8pm
Hi Guy`s, Ive noticed that quite a lot of people have moved into the home improvement
side of things because of the slowdown in the building of new housing, alot of these guy`s are just chancer`s and are doing work alot cheaper than the rest of us
we are a paving & landscaping company serving the manchester and surrounding areas, we are marshalls approved installers and are happy to assist you in achieving your perfect Driveway or Patio www.hawkpaving.co.uk
mick just wanted to say that job looks first class. very nice finish. my issue with the bodgers is that they can afford to under price us genuine contractors, i lose work for the sake of 500 quid, and we all know how the rest goes
far be it for me to say that landscapers /garden maintenance people should not do additional work other than cutting a few bushes and mowing the lawn for a customer
Not sure if i get you right, but are you saying landscapers should not do drives? ???
I called myself a garden service company when i started in 1993, but i actually do landscaping and drives. (not to the bodge standard in your early photos!)
One thing that annoys me is when a customer has a load of building work done, and the paving gets cocked up. If you want a house building, you don't ring a landscaper do you?
That said, there are some builders capable of such work (mr lout is one), but they are few and far between.
on another point, as the original contractors were kicked off the job, did you not get them driving past when you were doing the work?
We had the same thing once, and came back one morning to find the work had been sabotaged. Some people take um bridge!
Dan the Crusher Man
01442 212315 www.crusherhire.co.uk
"a satisfied customer? we should have them stuffed!"
I think there are "landscapers" and there are "Landscapers " dan
I dont profess to know anything about softscaping and wont go near it
but to me drives and patios are all building work and should be treated with the same level of care as a loft conversion or extension
I dont think it matters what your job title is,its the results that count
btw saw some truly horrific paving in Portugal along with some of the finest small sett work i have ever seen,will post pictures up when i have recovered
cheers LLL
seen similar really nice extensions etc then the brickies get told to throw down some flags, spot bedded and badly pointed and then garden companies trying jobs to big like the lads that did the drive at knutsford that tony and cookie had to sort out. fair play have a go but if you dont know how to do it, get on the net any search engine points you to here and read, read, read, read and read again and you;ll have a fair chance of doing a good job.
i do a bit of paving and landscaping but much prefer to be in my digger or tractor etc, same thing in our game lads call them selves groundworkers and might have a 1.5 ton mini or just hire them in etc. i dont try and compete with the those lads stick to the bigger jobs or do smaller jobs for builders we've done bigger work for.
nothing better than shifting couple hundred tons a day
Giles
Groundworks and Equestrian specialists, prestige new builds and sports pitches. High Peak, Cheshire, South Yorkshire area.
.that why your up early.