Our process began well with our Western Pavers salesman, who was very informative and who worked to keep us within our budget. Our goal was to replace our flagstone patio with pavers, erect a new patio cover, install new grass, and refresh our hillside landscape.
The problems began early in the project planning process. The 3D rendering
we received didn't reflect the vision we had discussed, and our project plans were
incomplete. We never received a new 3D rendering, nor did the salesman show up for our first meeting/project walk-through with our project manager to ensure that all details were properly conveyed. We did have a productive first meeting with our project manager, who was friendly and knowledgeable.
Although our communication with the project manager was positive during the first half of the project, we never received a project calendar or planning timeline. Everything was informally communicated and rather off-the-cuff. Despite the informality, the project team was respectful and worked very hard to complete our project. The project manager accomplished our hardscape vision for our new patio and retaining wall quickly and with only a few minor issues which were quickly resolved. We felt then and still do that the quality of hardscape work was excellent - it is clear that Western's core competency is paver installation!
As we moved into the softscape phase, the project started to go off the rails. Prior to
installing and planting grass and flowers, we received no planting or irrigation plans.
The plants and grass just showed up one day, and they proceeded to install them based upon phoned-in instructions from the Western Pavers main office. We had chosen the plants shortly after signing our contract, but were not consulted on the planting design or layout. They also proceeded to install sprinklers when we had specifically contracted for drip irrigation. Prior to planting, they did a poor job of grading and prepping the hill, leaving us with plants poorly situated in rough dirt with the wrong type of irrigation system, leading to a massive weed issue within a few weeks.
We met with the project manager and expressed our concerns. He was polite and
receptive to our feedback and acknowledged that they had not installed the irrigation type specified in the contract; however, he was not empowered to conduct further rework and left us unsatisfied as to a corrective plan. At about this time, we were notified that our Alumawood patio cover was delayed because of shipping and productions problems. Although this was beyond Western Pavers' control, the manner of communicating with us at this point was poor. The work crew cleared up their tools and supplies, and departed without notification. We received very little communication from the project manager for the next several months, despite the issues with the softscape and the incomplete patio cover. Essentially, we felt "ghosted" at this point.
Finally, we felt forced to contact corporate for resolution. We spoke to the head of
production, who arranged for an on-site meeting with the plant designer. She was
obviously taken aback at the state of the hillside and immediately created a corrective plan for the irrigation, replacing the sprinklers with the contracted-for drip system and thoroughly mulching the hill to suppress weeds. However, they were not willing to relocate plants or fundamentally change the layout, which we never had input on.
Ultimately, we paid $12,000 for a softscape that our own gardener could have completed for half the cost and accomplished a design that met our vision without the hassle. Despite the major rework required on our hillside, we never received a follow-up phone call from the Director of Production or our salesman asking us for feedback. And our project manager never delivered several minor items we had been promised: an
extra stone for our retaining wall and a timer for our hillside lighting systems, despite multiple verbal promises to deliver these items.
We were also promised a warranty package within a few weeks of issuing Western our final payment and never received it. When we called to follow-up, we were told that we had to sign off on a certificate of completion before we received our warranty package, a fact that had never previously been conveyed to us. We did receive our warranty package promptly after our phone call, but at that point, most of the relatively brief softscape warranties had already expired.
Although we understand we were not one of their bigger projects, we expected a better process and outcome from Western. If you would like to work with a process-oriented company that provides you with a detailed project calendar and communicates clearly, do not hire this company. If you want a company that knows hardscape, they will do a good job with your paver project, but to us, they did not demonstrate competence in softscape design or execution. read more