Dario missed his calling in sales. The man can sell confidence by the pallet. Unfortunately, the…read morefollow-through seems to be available only by special order.
We hired this company based largely on its excellent reviews and paid a premium price for what we expected would be premium work. The project involved reworking an existing paver patio and surrounding landscaping. Having spent enough time around the construction trades to know good workmanship when I see it, I was disappointed by both the finished product and the amount of supervision apparently required to get the job done properly.
The problems began when they discovered they were a few pavers short. This wasn't entirely unexpected--the old patio had two angled corners, while the new configuration required filling out the full square. Dario's proposed solution was for me to spend another $1,200 on all-new material because his supplier supposedly sold the matching pavers only by the pallet. I declined. They ultimately found similar pavers, but they are noticeably different in both color and surface finish. I can live with the mismatch, but after paying what we paid, it wasn't exactly the finishing touch I had envisioned.
More troubling were the shortcuts.
I was specifically told that proper paver edging had been installed around the entire patio. It hadn't. One corner had no edging at all. Along another side, they reused old edging that wasn't appropriate for the application and left excess material protruding into the landscaping. One of the corner pavers began tilting almost immediately. Along the south side, the solution was essentially to pile dirt against the pavers, lay a narrow strip of sod over it and call it finished. It was difficult to mow and created an abrupt drop at the patio edge. They also managed to puncture my brand-new garden hose during construction.
Mistakes happen. What really shaped my opinion of this company was what happened when I tried to get them corrected.
After I complained, Dario promised to come to my house between 2:00 and 4:00 the following day. I cancelled my plans and waited. He didn't show and didn't call.
I subsequently sent a detailed email with photographs documenting the problems. That generated a flurry of calls and texts. When we finally spoke, Dario insisted on meeting me at the property to go over everything. Fine. We scheduled the meeting for Thursday, August 13 at 10:00 a.m.
He arrived at 11:00.
To his credit, once we walked the property together, he agreed with my assessment of what had been done improperly and said his crew would return the next day--Friday--to correct everything.
Friday came. The crew didn't.
When I followed up yet again, I was told they would come the following week. I specifically told Dario that any day was fine except Monday. He acknowledged that and said they would be there Tuesday morning.
Naturally, they showed up Monday.
I know this because I was in St. Louis and my wife texted me to say the crew was at our house.
When I returned Monday evening, I discovered that they had finally reinstalled the edging properly. Progress! Unfortunately, they hadn't replaced the polymeric sand disturbed during the repair, so the newly corrected pavers were left with unfinished joints.
Another complaint. Another return trip. Eventually, the sand was installed.
And that, in a nutshell, was my experience: the work ultimately got closer to where it should have been in the first place, but only after repeated complaints, photographs, emails, phone calls, missed appointments, changed appointments, showing up on the one day I specifically said I wouldn't be available, and then another call to finish the repair they had just made.
I don't expect perfection from contractors. Problems arise, materials don't always cooperate, and crews make mistakes. What I do expect--particularly when paying premium prices--is good workmanship, honest communication, attention to detail, and enough quality control that I don't have to serve as the project's unpaid superintendent.
Based on my experience, that's where this company fell considerably short.
If you hire them, my advice is simple: inspect everything carefully before the crew leaves, get commitments in writing, and don't assume that because something was supposed to have been done, it actually was.
And if Dario tells you he'll be there Tuesday, you might want to keep Monday open.
