My HOA hired Steele to pour a concrete pickleball court last summer, their first one, as stated on their FB page. Perhaps the first time he's poured concrete. Edges are wavy?
(photo.)
My main concern is the damage he did to my property, not the court. His cement tube ran down HOA property (photo) next to my home. Instead of anchoring it in the center of the sidewalk, it was free to slam into my brick and iron fencing. I had JUST installed the wrought iron with a plumb-line the week before. It was poker straight and a difficult job for this senior- 70 next month. I have replaced knees and arthritic hands. The brick banged into the wrought iron and chipped paint off the first two iron pieces (photo.) Then knocked the entire iron fencing out of alignment. It also pushed the end of the brick fence in (photo.) Bottom brick was hit repeatedly by heavy cement hose and pushed out of place. It had to be taken down to straighten it. Lucky the unsecured cement hose didn't damage my vinyl fence! It did however, put a deep groove in the landscape rock in front of it belonging to the HOA (photo.) Since HOA was paying, he fixed that right away.
Mike, a neighbor, told Ricky he fixed it. He tried, but skipped some painting and what was done was marginal. A shiny wrought iron finish should be spray painted, not dabbed on in globs. When I asked Mike if he was going to straighten the wrought iron, he said it was crooked before Steele started, as if he had "inspected" my home prior. I don't fault Mike. He is older than me and not responsible for fixing Steele's damage.
I text Ricky numerous times, he promised he would come and fix it--initially. This job was Aug. 16, 2024. By mid Sept. Ricky was full of Christian promises, but remained MIA. I spent time cleaning all the concrete dust off the shiny, new wrought iron because it will discolor it. A dust storm from cutting a sidewalk next to my property blew all over my deck, newly laid landscape rock, the wrought iron fence and my home. See photo with arrows showing where I cleaned a top piece of the iron fence and the lower still full of dust. According to Google, if concrete dust is left to snow and rain on a painted finish, it will ruin the shine.
By the end of Oct. he promised to send someone, but didn't. I tracked my hours at $25/hr and told him he owed me $62.50 for the concrete dust clean up of 35ft. of long curly fencing. He simply said, "OK, God Bless." He never came to the job site or sent me a check. I got sick last fall and could give no more attention to Ricky Stelle.
2025 Sept. 9, I contacted him again. I reminded him I still had to do his review of never fixing the damage to my property. Following is our text on FaceBook:
Ricky:
Absolutely, you really should. Or instead, you should do yourself a favor and pick up a bible and read it. I will drop one off if you need?? My family and I will keep praying for you God bless
Me:
You come onto my property, you destroy things, and you don't fix it. Do you think your life review in front of the Lord is going to be a good one? What you are doing is hiding behind Him "acting" like you're a Christian. I know the Bible. I was raised Catholic. I also know when somebody takes advantage of senior citizens and that would be you. I helped some senior's kids win that case in court. You can preach all you want, but I wouldn't want to be standing in your shoes on Judgement Day. And what is crazy it's about a 30 minute job. You promised to come and you never did. God saw that happen too. I'll be 70 next month. I worked super hard on all of that fencing that you didn't mind trashing. I don't need your blessings, prayers or your Bible. I have several. What I needed was for you to act like a professional and fix the fence that you damaged.
Ricky:
Mike told me he would take care of it. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me
Me:
Ask God to forgive you cause I don't.
Ricky sent the hilarious icon that won't upload here. He found the distress and property damage of a senior citizen hilarious. The fence is still out of alignment.
Bottom line, it was Ricky's job to take care of it.
Stay far away from this company unless you need someone to pray for you. Apparently, that is where he "thinks" he shines. read more