Green Futures has just finished four exterior jobs on my house over the last seven working days. I am very pleased with the results and would work with them again. Their results are high quality and they worked to make things go smoothly. I have no complaints. They did the work they contracted for, and more. During the job, we raised several possible concerns to Elvis White (the General Manager with whom we had our original discussions about the project). All of our concerns were addressed promptly.
The rest of this review gives some details on the project and what I thought about the work. Some of the details are small, but an accumulation of many small but well-executed details make a big difference to one's satisfaction.
What was contracted for ...
- Water proof the foundation of the left side of the house and about one-quarter of the back of the house.
- Build a retaining wall of about 67" x 73" (parallel to the house and adjacent to the steps leading up to the front door) x 33" high. Veneer the retaining wall with variegated stone using no mortar joints. Attach a header of blue flagstone.
- Place blue flagstone on the tops of the steps adjacent to the retaining wall. Put flagstone on the sidewalk from the steps to the front door and on the front-door's stoop. Veneer all vertical surfaces with the same variegated stone.
- Veneer the house's exterior cement block walls from the bottom of the house's siding to several inches below ground. Veneer the left side of the house (the garage), the back of the house (except the part hidden by the deck), and down the right side of the house. Use the same variegated. Add a water table between the veneer and the siding.
Some details about the actual work ...
The workers were prompt on each of the seven working days. They arrived between 7:30 and 8:00 every day. The time they had quoted was "between 8 and 9". Elvis returned every call I made to him. Everyone we spoke to was unfailingly courteous, professional, and helpful.
I stayed home for the house waterproofing and the initial work on the retaining wall, so I watched much of the large-scale efforts with the earth-moving equipment. The workmen moved with great care to minimize damage and to the risk of damage. As a small example, they were careful to move branches of my neighbor's tree to the side to prevent damage during the passage of the earth-moving machine.
The waterproofing involved covering the uncovered (and cleaned off) foundation with tar and then covering the tarred surface with a plastic waterproof barrier. Before filling in the hole, around the foundation, they added a French drain below the foundation level to help carry water away from the house foundation.
Here is a small, almost unnoticeable detail -- The water table (which is 2" thick and goes all the way around the house above the veneer) extends about 3" out from the house. The upper surface tilts slightly downward to allow water to run off away from the house. That tilt is standard practice, but this is one of those details which, when correctly done, add up to a near perfect job. One is unlikely to notice unless it is done wrong and then, it is too late.
Here's a detail about the veneer -- All of the stones were were applied with no mortar between adjacent stones. This required considerable sawing of the stones so that they fit together. The craftsmen created a professionally-executed and beautiful mosaic of irregular shapes and sizes in the retaining wall and the house sides. The stones fit cleanly but with slight irregularities that, to my eye, are more attractive than mortar.
From watching the work, I think everything that could be reasonably done to ensure the permanence of the work was done. For example, the first step in building the retaining wall was laying about a 1-foot deep foundation of concrete. (Tse the original retaining wall was was set on bare earth. Poor work, that.) They built a backing wall of concrete blocks atop the foundation. Two of the holes in the concrete blocks were filled with cement and rebar was pushed through the wet concrete. They added holes at the bottom of the wall to drain water from the soil behind the wall. They did not cut corners.
Clean up ...
These jobs involved moving a lot of dirt and clay from one place to the another and cutting a lot of stones. Some debris resulted and some disorder. The clean up was very well done. As far as I've been able to tell, all the tools and debris were removed from the driveway and the yard. The slope of the ground adjacent to the garage has been retored to an angle close to what it was before. The ground was seeded with grass seed and covered with straw to protect the seed and ground. It will take some time and work to recover, but that is to be expected. Elvis has provided some additional suggestions and offered to discuss further ideas. read more