Hufnagel landscaping does great work--I have no complaint about that. My complaint is with the billing. We have a small pond, about 3 feet in diameter, in our back yard that Hufnagel built about 15 years ago. I few years ago, the pond started leaking, so I knew it needed to be relined. I contacted Hufnagel, and after some initial hesitance to do it because the job was "too small", the gave me the option to do it at a flat rate of from $3000 to $5000, or on an hourly basis of "$150.00 p/hour for labor plus materials - door to door." I chose the later, figuring it couldn't take that long to do it, and since very little new materials were involved, it would be cheaper.
The day came, and the excellent Hufnagel workers took it apart, relined it, and put it back together. They also installed a new pump. I was home while the job was done, and took note of when the arrived and left, and arrived at 9:30, and were completely out the door before 2:00. That is 4.5 hours. I allowed 1/2 hour for door to door, so I expected to be charged $825 for labor, and maybe another 200 for the pump and pond liner.
I got the bill, and I was being charged $2,225.60 for the job. I wrote to Valerie Hufnagel, the owner, asking how the price got that high, and noting I was being charged $185 per hour for 8 hours for the job. She said she needed 4 men on the job instead of 3, so had raised the rate. I was home, and there were only 2 men who did the entire job, with her son, Jason, briefly there as as a supervisor. I have no problem with Jason--he does great work, and is extremely nice and easy to get along with, but he was only there for about 1/2 an hour.
Valerie then wrote back, saying she made an error in how many men where on the job, so she lowered the total cost to $1926.00. She ended the e-mail by saying " I am offended by your lack of respect for my costs and my overhead. Please pay the invoice attached and please don't ever call us again!"
I wrote another e-mail, questioning the $600 total for the materials. She had said it was $100 for the pump, and $200 for the pond liner, plus a 100% markup on all materials. I went on Amazon to price similar materials, and came up with less that $50 for the pond liner. (the pond is 3 foot round, so a piece 10 feet square is more than enough to line it) The same pump that was used was price at $70, and the pump filter $9. So the price of the materials was around $130, not $300, and I also asked about the 100% mark up. Most contractors do a 50% mark up on materials maximum.
Valerie responded "I find it funny that you think I purchase my materials at Amazon....We purchase our materials at suppliers that specialize in pond equipment." She also sent me the receipts for the materials, which were as she claimed. I suspect that the $200 price for the pond liner was for larger than a 10 foot by 10 foot piece, and was for materials used on other jobs. Also, if you can get materials at a much reduced price on Amazon rather that dealing with your current providers, why not do that?
As for the 3.5 hours required for door to door, Valerie said that with traffic, it took at least an hour to get from their central office in New Jersey, plus the time required to load the materials. I spoke to some of Valerie's workers doing a job around 7th and Hudson Street, and asked them how long it took them to get from the central office to the cite in Hoboken. They responded that it took about 15 minutes. When I was told I had been charged for over an hour each way (3.5 hours more than the time on site), they all apologized, saying that was way out of line. As for loading up the truck, there were no special materials used on the job, just shovels and picks, which are always on a landscaping truck. Valerie's explanation for that was "Your project was the only project done that day. And yes you are being charged for 8 hours, because that is what door to door mean. My my door first think in the morning, back to my door in the evening."
The e-mails were getting increasingly hostile, even though I tried to keep my side always reasonable, and trying to work out an equitable solution for both sides. Valerie was never willing to negotiate, and never even apologized when it was pointed out I was charged for a man who was never on the job. I ultimately paid the entire bill, but I felt I was unfairly treated.
If you are working with Hufnagel Landscaping, I would ask these questions:
1. What is your markup on materials? (50% markup is usual for contractors.)
2. Will they make a reasonable effort to get their materials from the lowest cost provider?
3. If you are being billed door to door, what is the time getting from their office to your job?
Readers of this review may think that I have cherry picked from Valerie Hufnagel's e-mails unfairly, so if anyone wants to see the entire e-mail exchange, including my side of it, just post a question here and I will be happy to provide it in total to show I am not being unreasonable. read more