Outdoor Contracting

❄️Work smarter not harder❄️.
Although we got almost a foot of snow in the charlotte area, it is dry and light. Dont have a shovel, try the leaf blower.
As always, be very careful, wear appropriate safety gear and watch for ice. It is still very slippery out.

So you spent almost $100K on your new swimming pool and then spent another $50K on a beautiful travertine pool deck and Techoblock retaining wall with “Carlos” (the contractor that the pool contractor recommended and uses). Then spent another $15K for landscaping and irrigation around it.

Several months go by and you notice the retaining wall and the corner of your pool deck settling. You call your guy Carlos and have him to come look at it. He “fixes” it for you.

Several more months go by and the wall and pool deck settle some more. You try to call your boy Carlos and he’s not returning your calls anymore, so you find another hardscape contractor. The other hardscape contractor comes out and gives you an estimate of several thousand dollars to fix it. You pay them to fix it once and for all.

Several months go by and it settles again! Ugh! What to do!? Ok, you decide to go to a landscape distributor and speak with them. Those folks deal with contractors all day, every day. They should have a sense of which contractors are good and which ones are not. That sounds like a good idea. You meet the branch manager and explain the situation and ask him for referrals of contractors that are qualified to investigate this situation and remediate it. The branch manager looks at you and says I wont give you several names, I’ll give you only one: Bill Botkin with Outdoor Contracting.

We diligently remove the wall and corner of the travertine pool deck and uncover evidence that the entire corner of the pool deck was built on unsuitable soil with a lot of organic content. During the course of that work, we find several other issues of concern.

It’s a terrible situation for this client. I’m sure Carlos gave them a good price for the hardscaping. By the time it’s all said and done, they will end up paying almost double. This isn’t a rare occurrence. I would estimate over $250K of our annual revenue is comprised of removing and replacing other contractors work. In most cases, the work we remove and replace is less than 3 years old. In several cases, it’s only 3 - 6 months old.

Caveat Emptor. Due your research. The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest cost (long term) and is never the best quote.

What credentials does the contractor have?

Are they licensed, insured, and bonded?

What warranty do they offer?