Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 8:06 am
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 **
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 **
.that why your up early.