What would have been a stellar review is now lowered when Metalla Contracting and I could not reach an agreement on how to rectify damage to my property during the project. Metalla's option to me was not acceptable and other solutions proposed by me were not accepted by him.
On the positive side, Metalla Contracting was quick to respond to my YELP search for gutter repair. I appreciated that he was able to start quickly. Jamie was willing to travel the distance to my home since he said he'd be in the county for another project. He communicated promptly with the scope of work and dates he could commence the project. Armed with only pictures, he was able to determine the project needs and set a price. He arrived at my home when promised, even though it was a snowy, windy day. Within that single day, he and his crew installed rain guards and reset gutters, a job that should have been done by my original roofer. While here, Jamie noted several other incorrect aspects of the previous roofer's job and provided an estimate of the extent of those repairs. The work he did appears to have corrected my issues with poorly functioning gutters. Rainy days and time will tell. I paid him in full that same day for the work done.
However, during the installation an apparently unsecured and unattended ladder fell over and destroyed a specimen tree in my landscaping bed. From the beginning Jamie made multiple statements that had me question his knowledge of landscaping. When I saw the destroyed tree, snapped off at the trunk, Jamie remarked it probably wasn't a big deal because the tree was already dead. Clearly incorrect when I was able to point out all the tiny blossoms that would have bloomed in the upcoming weeks. I immediately called my landscaper to determine the exact variety of tree I lost and it's replacement value. Jamie, privy to the conversation, stated that the estimate was too expensive and that he would take care of finding a replacement and plant it himself. I explained the cost was exactly what I had paid two years ago, and my landscaper was willing to search for me. But I gave him the go-ahead to look in his area as well.
My confidence in his ability to handle landscaping properly was then further eroded when I received a photo from Jamie taken the morning of the gutter work by someone from Metalla purporting to show that the tree was broken BEFORE they dropped a ladder on it. What the photo actually showed was my perfectly intact WEEPING red bud. To further undermine his landscaping credentials, I later received a picture of a possible replacement that was the wrong variety of tree. Since I had hand-selected every tree in my landscaping two years ago, I again asked to see pictures before I would agree to any choice of his. I also asked and was informed that no, he was not a licensed landscape contractor.
Thus ensued a series of communications, both of us offering solutions unacceptable to the other: Jamie insisting that he pick out and replant the tree and me maintaining that I had found an acceptable replacement and wanted the right to deal with a tree on my own property the way I saw fit, my licensed landscape contractor planting, tending and warranty the new tree. I even suggested trading the additional roofing work for the cost of replacing my tree (practically identical prices) but Jamie did not respond to that offer.
We reached the stalemate when I was told that Jamie had gone ahead and already purchased a tree. He implied that I should be ok with this solution because it was bigger and from a reputable nursery even when I said I wanted to approve any purchase first. I then received a picture of a tree and a landscape tree tag of the WRONG variety. With that, I was done, unwilling to accept any more solutions that put me in the position of compromising when I am the party injured. I contacted my nursery, bought the tree and my landscape contractor planted it the same day. Jamie told me he mistakenly sent the wrong tag but that admission of another error was just emblematic of the continuing problem. My concerns were either being ignored, devalued or simply overridden. read more
