I am not in the habit of writing reviews - especially bad ones, but I felt it my obligation to relay my dissatisfaction with Bailey Construction & Landscaping. It taught me a lesson - Pay attention to negative reviews. Bailey had so many 5 star ratings, (I now think he must have a lot of relatives), that I figured the few poor ratings were from unreasonable cranks, but now I see these people experienced exactly the same poor service and lack of communication that I did.
Bailey was hired to remedy what I thought was a garbage pit in my yard. I understood when he said he could not give me a total cost because the many other quotes I got all said the exact same thing - without doing the work they could not know how deep the problem was or how long it would take. Justin quoted me a daily rate for the equipment and a price per load of dirt and said, I would "control the cost" by telling him when to stop. He gave me a guesstimate of what he thought the job would take, which was, I thought, an "educated guess", but which I now realize was a low-ball estimate. However, I knew there was no guarantee and am not faulting him for being an optimist. I signed the contract and was put on the bottom of the list, the job to be started after the prior jobs on his list were completed. I was fine with that, though it would have been nice to be updated on scheduling along the way.
Day one they set about to discover the extent of the problem. It was recommended to me that they start at the driveway and an additional estimate was given for the cost of repairing what was necessary to break up. Halfway through the day, and $10k later, it was determined that the most prudent plan would be to fill and compact the hole. Truckloads of fill dirt were dumped into my hole. I do not blame Baily for the resultant damage to my water line, unable to support the weight of the dump trucks, as that possibility was spelled out in the contract, though I hoped I would avoid that consequence.
What I do blame Bailey for is the quality of the fill dirt, in which grass will not grow and water will not be absorbed and the failure to complete the driveway repair as promised. Many calls were made to ask about completing the driveway. I was told the gravel had to settle. Was it too much to expect them to set up a time to come back after the gravel had settled, or to honor the price they gave me when the cost was quoted, (they knew about the settling requirement), or to mention that the price would be dependent on the prevailing market rate for concrete at the time the work was done? After many, calls to the office in which I was told it was still settling, I finally got in touch with Justin about six or eight months later. (I guess he thought this was a new job because those seem to be the only calls Justin follows up on). I inquired about why the "soil" seemed like cement and did not absorb water and also to ask about completing my driveway. Justin assured me that it was a good thing that the water didn't sink into the ground, because the soil was so compacted that another pit would not form. I explained that grass would not grow and was told it was my landscaper's fault because they should have added a layer of topsoil in order for the grass to grow roots. So I asked for another quote for doing that and reminded him about the driveway. He suggested we wait until fall for the grass and said he would send someone to give me a quote. No one came and no one called. I followed up 2 or 3 more times, did not talk to Justin directly but was assured my message would be delivered to him. I never heard back, finally got disgusted and hired another concrete company for the driveway, (at higher costs by this time).
In summary, Justin is great at the sell. As long as there are no problems and no need for follow up, he does fine. But don't expect him to fix an issue, communicate scheduling or follow up on a complaint, as "avoidance" is apparently his middle name. read more