My rating is for the landscaping service that Big Iron Landscape Materials provide. Bottom line: I would not hire them again!
I hired them to fix my backyard by 1. spreading decomposed granite all over the place, 2. creating a gravel island around a small tree, and 3. installing drip lines to water my cactus plot. My overall rating of their service is 2.5 out of 5 stars because 2 of the 3 tasks they completed were done half-ass.
1. They didn't do a good job compacting the decomposed granite in majority of the areas in my yard and I ended up buying a handheld tamper which cost $35 to finish their job. They used my driveway to dump the DG and stones during delivery and when they were done carting off the materials to my backyard, the clean up of my driveway was done half-ass that some granite and stones were still on my driveway and on my front yard landscaped with a different color sand. It was annoying to drive over the stones in my driveway so I ended up cleaning what they left off.
2. Installation of gravel island around a tree was fine and I didn't have any complaints.
3. They tried to skip the installation of drip lines on their last day as they were behind schedule and only 1 of 2 workers were present for the entire day. I reminded them of that task so the guy in charge named Angel had to come back the next day to complete it. I paid the labor fee afterwards. When I had the chance to inspect the drip system, I realized that only 3 of the 4 available sprinkler bases were used gor the drip system so only half of my plants were getting water. I texted Angel to complain about it and I got no replies.
Other complaints:
- CA laws require that a contract be provided by the contractor for projects over $500, Big Iron didn't have that for my project costing $2500.
- We agreed to start work on Wed and Thur but Angel texted me to inform me that their delivery truck broke down and asked to move the project to Thur and Fri. When they never showed up, I texted Angel around 1pm to ask if they were coming and he said they were not since they were still working on another project. I wasted a day-off on that day, thanks for the advance notice that they were not going to make it (sarcasm).
- On both days they were working at my residence, I was kind enough to provide Angel and his guys water, Gatorade, soda and even ice cream to fight off the extreme summer heat. I did this hoping they would do a decent job that's worth $2500 of my money. I provided them a trash can for the empty plastic bottles but I ended up cleaning up after them by picking up several bottles on ground after they were gone for the day. If they did a sub-par job despite my generosity, imagine what you'd get if you don't provide them drinksat all.
- Our labor arrangement (which cost me $1500) was to provide 2 bodies for 2 days to finish the project, as I mentioned above, on day 2 only 1 worker was present to finish the job. This is why the decomposed granite was not compacted thoroughly. read more
