The Verdict …… The Contractor with X-Ray Vision …. And the winner is?

In my opinion no one won. Contractors Read and re-read if need be, don’t do your company injustice by crossing your arms and thinking this will never happen to you.  You will see at the end of this blog the emphasis I put on the final paragraph that could quite honestly save your business substantially. 

It is believed we would be hard pressed to find many attorneys out there specializing in civil/industrial engineering as it pertains to the landscape industry. There is a realistic chance we could interview a handful before finding one that knows what an SRW is. At this time the attorney for the contractor (defense attorney) needs to start building a compelling argument and case to relieve the contractor of a financial award the homeowner was pursuing. The homeowner was determined he was due a financial reward from the contractor and was brain washed by another greedy contractor into thinking he was. The wall was technically within industry standard and was not considered failed.  That same contractor had he homeowner convinced his wall was failing and was due to lack of grid installation. The method this contractor used was his eyes on the customers torpedo level that was placed on the face of the block.  VERY IMPORTANT HERE, the contractor’s attorney contacted the VP of sales for the block manufacturer and did a phone consult. The bullet points of the discussion to this day have never been revealed. What I do know is the attorney and contractor claim the VP refused to return another phone call after the initial phone consult. Sources close to the VP of sales claim otherwise. My opinion of this accusation is this, why would an attorney and contractor seeking the assistance of a beneficial source who potentially could control the outcome of a case imply the VP was no longer making himself available to the attorney. Due to what is sighted as a lack of cooperation from the block manufacturers VP of sales, the attorney now felt forced to shift his methods to an alternative path for his case building process. A very interesting route was brilliantly chosen by the attorney who opted to position himself to summons the contractor who the homeowner contacted to view the alleged failing wall. You remember him right?  He’s the contractor with X-Ray vision, the one who said the wall was failing due to lack of Geo-grid installation. The tactic the attorney chosen was an assault on the contractors’ credibility. The attorney will request to see his wall portfolio, contact his suppliers and get copies of receipts on projects as proof of purchase for grid. The photos could have proven to be a great angle, 1^st on his agenda was viewing photos of completed wall projects and simply ask the question “can anyone pick out the walls with grid and the walls without”.  Keep in mind most photos have a traceable time and date stamp encoded on them, and today we have time, date, and location. If by some odd chance the time, date, and location were missing from the photos it is believed the chatty contractor would have proudly volunteered the date and location of the projects. 2^nd the copies of invoices; whether the invoices were voluntarily produced by the contractor or the attorney retrieved them by his own source, they would have to coincide with the photos.  If all the photos and invoices possibly should coincide, (not a chance because you can’t see through a wall to prove if Geo-Grid was or was not installed). But for argument sake let’s say they did, now comes the homeowner.  I personally had met the actual homeowner several times. I am not a medical Dr. therefore cannot legally diagnose any medical conditions, however knowing the definitions of some medical conditions I can accurately describe him. My description of him would be a schizophrenic manic depressant with split personality, in other words there is a possibility he would provide some entertainment on the stand. The following paragraph is the beginning of the end. 

The conclusion…. Read through my previous blog and the comments keeping in mind when issue turns into legal matters it becomes methodically scrutinized in sequential order. Attorneys will not allow the case to be fast forwarded in fear of potentially missing important facts. The sequential order has to be followed, every “I” must be dotted and every “T” must be crossed in every step of the process.  If they are not then the case may or may not go any further.  I believe the case would have ended at the homeowner getting in the contractors excavator without permission and knocking down the section of wall in question. However the lawsuit was filed for $130,000 subsequently was the amount the homeowner was quoted to tear down and rebuild the wall. The contractor being sued got hung up on the VP of sales never returning another phone call. He was also bothered by the lack of legal issues and exposure referenced in our industry up to this point. The potential of losing $130K forced the contractor to lose focus of keeping his 130K and a counter suit that he could have built against the homeowner and his contractor with X-Ray vision. HE settled out of court for $65K. I’m sure this was a very anguishing decision for the contractor.  After reading all of the circumstances that have unfolded, many of you would probably agree the industry needed to see this law suit go through all the necessary channels to see how it was ruled and why.

Contractors the moral of the story is PROTECT your company.  Let’s recap, every block manufacturer has a spec. and height recommendations for their walls. Know the manufacturers spec. before quoting out any project. In most cases the manufacturers “Recommend” the introduction of Geo-Grid at a height of +/- 30”. It would not be fair or my place to speculate by stereo typing in saying all Manufacturers may or may not support you in a legal matter.  However in the efforts of protecting your company you should not ass/u/me the support of the manufacturer is going to be there when you need or want it. Now I know that statement may have just angered some block manufacturers that follow this blog. The reality is there is conflicting stories in this scenario on the offered support by the block manufacturer.  So I say protect your assets by covering your basis up front and don’t become a statistic. Don’t allow a situation to get to the point where you may have to look to a manufacturer for this type of support. When purchasing your material ask the person writing up your order to put a project name on the order Be consistent and use the project name for every purchase for that project. Make sure the proper amount of Geo-Grid is on the same invoice as the wall block purchased. If there is no physical design that dictates the finished height of the wall then properly word this in your contract. If there is a change order that is going to put the wall at or past the 4’ mark then discusses engineering and additional costs with your client. If they decline then how you proceed is your call, but should advise them by not agreeing your personal warranty will be voided. Also such they sign a waiver clearing you of any present or future liabilities. Thank you for following. Follow my next blog… The Race to Zero.

2008 The year the Hardscape Contractor added X-Ray Vision to his Tool Bag…..

Wally?....... or Folly?...... You decide the judgment.

Wow what a nice project in the middle of summer when construction projects have slowed down in the Northeast. 600 sqft of segmented retaining wall, 1500 sqft of thin veneer, 1800 sqft of pavers 2500 sqft of SOD, 10K in lighting, complete irrigation system and the weekly residential maintenance contract. Sound good? Well who wouldn’t be hemorrhaging at the possibility? This is a scenario that played out involving a solid contractor and a contractor who appeared to have X-Ray vision. The focus is methodically and numerically placed on the wall portion of the project. The request with no design or finished height was discussed prior to construction. The objective is to gain more level ground off the back of the house that would create a need for a wall for grading and redirection of water. Further discussion places a small wall with some planting on the outer parameter of the property to block the undesired neighbor’s undesired fence. Off the house would be pavers leading to a small walkway leading to stairs in the primary wall that would lead up to a 2^nd level of newly graded yard area. Again no physical plan or drawing for the 2^nd shift bridge construction supervisor and owner of the property. Construction and over excavating began to create the actual erection point of the primary wall.

 Before going further I will explain the rationality behind the over excavating, the customer was difficult in the sense of constantly changing his mind on product, location, and finished height and grade. Also the terraced wall would require an access road to the side perpendicular with the primary wall for ease of construction of the small garden wall on the outer parameter.

The product chosen for the wall ultimately would be an aggressively chiseled faced segmented wall system. When viewing this type of wall system built near vertical the finished side profile gives an illusion of almost leaning forward. The contractor knowing of this factor and the conflicting indecisive customer had elected to create a false batter by constructing his base slightly off level from front to back. Construction is underway and well-orchestrated. The primary wall is almost at 90% completion the only step left is the small tapered section of wall near the temporary access road, roughly 16 sqft as well as a handful of cap.

The attention shifted to the back straight run wall approximately 100’x2’. This is where it all turns. The 2^nd shift high strung homeowner who arrives at home everyday at 6am had taken it upon himself to give the contractor a contractor jump start on the day. The homeowner got into the contractors excavator and started to dig in to the access road for the small tapered extension of the wall. The homeowner managed to take down approximately 100 sqft of wall!!!! Wow is this a dream? (I’m certain this would be a nightmare). The contractor arrives to the job to find his excavator at almost a 45 degree angle, the wall down, and the homeowner pacing like an over caffeinated lost teenager. The got the hung up excavator off the wall, and let the dust settle. He felt bad for the extremely distraught and apologetic homeowner so he agreed to repair the downed wall at no additional cost. Within 3 days the repair, back wall, and patio are complete and attention has now shifted to the front of the home. The over anxious homeowner decides the project is not moving along fast enough ( I can assure it was efficient) and elected to go behind the contractors back who is under a written agreement to do the scope of work I presented in the opening of this article. An irrigation company was hired to come into the un sodded back yard to install the irrigation. The humble contractor who has done all the work up to this point handled it as professionally as one could have by politely offering to remove the irrigation from his agreement. The contractor also advised the homeowner to be certain that the irrigation company is aware to keep away from the wall if they should opt to utilize a Ditch Witch® (to small of a project, not a necessary piece of equipment). You guessed it!!!! The Ditch Witch® operator got up on the SAME section of wall and knocked down roughly the same sqft. Time to play the lottery!  At this point the contractor is getting a little hot under the collar. The owner of the irrigation company accepted 100% fault and agreed to pay the negotiated charge to reconstruct the wall. The entire project wrapped up a week later and the contractor was paid in full. That following spring the contractor gets a call from the now unemployed homeowner whom I’m told was shrewd and implying the entire wall is built incorrectly, it’s moving, and he wants him to fix it. The contractor arranges to meet right away to rectify any potential concern. The contractor met the homeowner and asked what was the problem (remember this is an aggressively chiseled segmented wall system) the homeowner asked if he was blind that the wall moved. The contractor asked what he was looking at and how he was so sure. The homeowner pulled out a TORPEDO level and placed it on the front of the wall and said “Here look the wall has moved 3/16^th and you better fix it”. The contractor not wanting to argue the homeowners’ methods and the near vertical style of the wall politely said this style wall will give the appearance of leaning forward, the wall is within tolerance and we will monitor it for anymore movement. The contractor stated if the wall moves anymore then a plan of action would be discussed.  The two parted their ways and as it turns out the homeowner was not satisfied with the decision and requested another contractor come out to look at his so called failing wall. The 2^nd contractor met with the homeowner who I should stress knows nothing of the wall being compromised twice, or the erratic split personality of the homeowner. Again the homeowner chooses a TORPEDO level and places it on the front of the wall and says “Look my wall has moved” Now this contractor has 25 years of service with the company his farther started  45 years ago. This contractor has his NCMA Wall Cert. and ICPI level 1 &2. He is the ”Contractor who was X-Ray Vision” he says “Well unfortunately you’ve been taking because clearly you the person who built this wall didn’t use any Geo-Grid to hold he wall in place the whole thing needs to be taken down and rebuilt right, for $135,000 I can fix this for you”.

The homeowner called the original contractor and implied that he screwed him over and he wants money back because he failed to install a product called Geo-Grid to help hold the wall up. The homeowner requested to meet and the contractor bring money. The contractor agreed to meet again this time with the Mrs. as well. During the meeting the unemployed homeowner leaned into the contractor and whispered “Do you know how to make me go away? Give me 30K cash”. The contractors reply was “Take me to court.. I am not giving you $30K cash.

This went to the lawyers and a law suit was filed. Most of the writing here is verbatim, there is many things wrong with what was said, what was done, and why it was said. Does anyone want to guess at the outcome?  Or take a shot at sorting this out? What is your perspective?         

The buried secret behind the wall... It may not be a treasure.

ALERT!!: If you build segmented RETAINING walls there is something you should know, you may be at risk. With ease we could make this a 4 page article, instead it will be divided among other future blogs under different headings. Based on a serious scenario that played out a few seasons back and due to the sensitivity it captured the attention of some industry leaders.

 What we think we know, what we know, and what is preached about wall construction via block manufacturers as good business practice and industry standards, as advocated by NCMA will come into question. This may present a whirlwind of confusion. As Individual contractors in the Hardscape construction  industry you can decide what will be in your own best interest. So here we are..... As a general rule of thumb we all have heard through out the industry that GeoGrid is required behind a wall at a finished height of 4' and above. This has been interpreted by contractors as "we never have to use GeoGrid unless the RETAINING wall is 4' or above". The rule of thumb is incorrect as well as the interpretation. 

Here is where it begins....GeoGrid can, may and should be used on RETAINING walls less than 4'. This is not my "Alternative Perspective". It is how ever a circle of  confusion that begins with the block manufacturers spec. Now I'm not pointing blame, this is not a blame game. However the awareness of many contractors not knowing or misinterpreting this grey area will begin to unfold as industry professionals begin to participate in this blog.  If you enjoy this blog you will want to read the "Wally.... Nope, Folly!" Future blog. Thank you for reading. This is my Alternative Perspective..... What is yours?

Welcome to the Hardscape Rant

This blog was a test page. A small article called "Winter Blood Money" was posted that generated lots of positive feed back . We will randomly be posting Rants surrounding some of  the everyday occurrences in the Hardscapes industry. With the collaboration of manufacturers reps. we will blog on various products, installations, and trends . TheHardscapeRant is not intended to force feed one sided opinions or create unnecessary heated debate. Generating conversation that may add awareness, greater insight, and an alternative perspective for the landscape construction community is our goal. Forceful badgering of  others opinions will not be welcome. Our mission is to create an interactive community that may cultivate better individual business practices. To deliver strong valued content it will be critical you take part in a new movement and contribute by subscribe to the blog and expressing your percpective. One easy way to subscribe is via email. Find the box to the right type your email address in the field and click "submit" a link from "feedburner"  on behalf of the hardscaprant will be sent to the email address you entered, click the link and you've successfully subscribed. Please see my contact info and message us details or request a phone interview with topics, points of interest, or people you may want involved. Stay tuned for the next blog February 24, 2013 regarding GeoGrid that is bound to generate some confusion. Thank you for subscribing!