So Green Canada (Landscape Design / Build)

This is my first Homestar review and I suspect that I’m a tough critic. My background; I was raised on a small self-sufficient family dairy farm in Northern Ontario. I was doing physical labor and operating farm equipment before I was 10. My education and career is in computer systems analysis and design.

“So Green Canada” seems to be Gus. Gus is a very good tradesman and almost a craftsman. I don’t think he will ever be an artisan but then who can afford an artisan anyway? Gus could be a craftsman if he spent a small additional amount of attention to detail.

I contracted Gus to one major job and a couple of minor ones after taking estimates from a couple of other companies. The major job was the replacement of a retaining wall and the walk way above it (Stone work). The key features of this job were for the walk to be reworked as a ramp with the top of the walk flush with the top of the wall and low maintenance.

The secondary projects included replacing the brick facing under the stairs connected to the walk (Stone work), putting Ecogrid into the driveway (Gravel work), re-grading the space between my house and the neighbor (Gravel work), and putting in a lamp post.

Vision and overall result (A):

The overall result is quite pleasing. After Gus visited the site he proposed using a 2” thick natural stone stack-wall as he could cut the stone on an angle which would allow the top of the wall to be flush with the walk way. This was more pleasing then the concrete retaining wall we had resigned ourselves to following prior contractor’s estimates due to the requirement of keeping the top of the wall and walk flush. Gus also recommended a matching 2” thick flag stone for the walk. Where the ramp dipped below the yard he proposed armour stone – basically large semi-square rocks.

The Ecogrid was my idea as I wanted a Greener option then paving or pavers. The Ecogrid is a heavy plastic mesh that holds stone or soil in place allowing rain water to drain through freely.

Communication and planning (B-):

Gus sold us on his vision and wrote up an estimate which seemed to cover what we discussed. We went back and forth a few times on additional jobs to determine what we could afford (all but one job). This process went well but he later expressed, in some detail, he did not like quoting on additional jobs in that way. That he preferred a single big quote. Too bad for him, to do an estimate you must know what it takes to do the work. I have spent many hours estimating software broken down by feature to allow my customers to make informed decisions for their budgets.

I planned on having basement waterproofing done prior to the walk replacement so I asked Gus his schedule with the expectation that we would discuss a timetable. I was later surprised when he announced that he would be on site the next week. We had not discussed a start date, he assumed ASAP. This was a conflict so I told him it could not be done until the 2nd week of August to avoid conflicting with jobs on my site and work my neighbor was planning. When my waterproofing was finished and my neighbor decided to postpone their work I let Gus know that the site was clear to start if he had an opening. As luck would have it, another of Gus’s contracts decided to reschedule which left him an opening. Gus made a point of letting me know in some detail that he didn't like rescheduling work like this once he had committed a date. I pointed out we had never scheduled the first time period and I wasn't asking him to move me up.

When Gus arrived to start work he brought 2” and 4” thick stone for the stack wall instead of the 2” specified. We discussed and I liked the idea of alternating thicknesses but it would have been far better to ask in advance. He later started talking about how the retaining wall would be stepped as the ramp descended. This was in clear violation of one of my primary requirements. He had forgotten his solution to the flush retaining wall. It took some discussion to convince him that the retaining wall was to be flush with the walk (easier snow management). Later when he was cutting the stone on angle he complained that it was hard work. Of course it was. It was the reason he had the contract. There were a couple of other times were we wondered what we were getting as Gus forgot details of what we talked about. My mistake was to trust his memory instead of having all details written in full in the contract. He was involved in managing another large job during work on my site which may have been a contributing factor.

Communication with Gus and his crew goes one way. I found this out the hard way after working with his lead hand on a number of tasks. I provided details which were later ignored when Gus arrived.

Quality of work (B+):

The quality of the stone work is near craftsman level. As the price was closer to the tradesman level this is a fair level of quality. Gus has a little too much “Fast, Fast, Fast” and not enough quiet contemplation of the task. I’m not sure the job would have taken much longer if he had taken time to review the stone he was placing on the walk. Laying out and reviewing several (all if possible as this was a fairly small job) of the flagstone in advance would allow Gus to select pieces for visual impact. Some of our most dramatic stone was placed around the side where few would see it leaving some bland stone along the main walk. One person’s ‘character’ is another person’s ‘flaw’ but a flagstone with a large chip may be best placed in a less obvious spot. Of course this may be pushing up into the Artisan level which I didn’t pay for.

Placement of the flagstone was done well. Gus used wet lay for the flagstone and the surface is mostly even. The walk has a couple of curves and a complex change of angle all of which was done very nicely. Some joints are filled with mortar and some are not. Gus did a fair job of maintaining a random pattern with square flagstone – a difficult skill to master.

One of the coping stones was installed upside down. As the top and bottom of the stone is finished differently this was not acceptable to me. Gus complained about having to flip it citing that it could break, it was expensive, and did I really want it flipped.

I was disappointed in the gravel work that Gus did for me. Not that it was truly bad, just that it was done with less attention to detail. To be fair, some of this was my fault for not being explicit with some of the details. I had provided Gus an email conversation with examples of what I was looking for and had discussed details with his lead hand. With Gus’s other commitment he did not have time to absorb the email thread and we already covered the lack of upward communication with his crew.

The biggest gravel job was placing Ecogrid onto the driveway, something that Gus had not done before. Most of the grid was to be filled with gravel scrapped from the driveway and the remainder was to be prepared for planting thyme. The driveway had an excess of clean round gravel placed the year before. This was to be scrapped onto the neighbor’s side while the Ecogrid was placed and then moved back into the grid. Unfortunately, a large amount of mud from the work at the retaining wall ended up mixed into the gravel resulting in a difficult to clean mess. The edge of the Ecogrid on the neighbor’s side was laid on the pile of gravel scrapped from my side leaving it out of level. Gus did send one of his crew back to clean and level this when requested. As a side note Ecogrid gravel drives can be cleaned with a pressure washer.

The section for planting was not prepared properly which was a shared mistake. I should have made sure that Gus knew the requirement and Gus should have checked with me as to the requirement. Time will tell if thyme will survive.

Everything taken together looks very nice. With the gravel work corrected and the very good stone work we have a beautiful front yard. Gus can be proud of his work as I am of my home. I would recommend Gus to those looking for a quality job at a fair price. Gus did upgrade a couple of details for me as an added bonus.

Confidence (B-):

Gus stated guys took hours to remove patio pavers between houses but his crew reported minutes.

Gus stated wet laid takes several times the work but most references states 10-15% increase in effort as most effort is in preparing base and laying out stone which is same effort.

Gus stated 2” flagstone needs to be wet lay but Gus specified the 2” flagstone and dry lay in quote and others successfully dry lay 2” flagstone. I did not question Gus’s expertise on the selection of stone thickness or method of placement. I had fully expected dry lay but Gus changed to wet lay on his own initiative. As wet lay is difficult to repair and dry lay is easy to repair I wasn't sure this was the best option.

Gus asked me if I believed his work was good. I have reservations on the walkway which will only be resolved by a couple of winters. Wet lay is excellent if done well which includes base preparation. I don’t know if the base was prepared well enough.

I believe the retaining wall is quite solid but the main concrete pour was done during a heavy rainfall which could weaken the concrete.

I saw Gus get impatient and start to rush stuff. Prime example is placement of coping upside down.

Long Term - 2 Winters later (A):

After a severe Toronto winter when many people had foundations shift due to frost heave (I discussed this with a Helical Pile installer who was in a very busy spring doing foundation repairs) the work Gus did is mostly intact. The one stone that has broken free is the coping stone that had been placed upside down and then fixed.

The Ecogrid has performed well. Weed control would have been better if less soil had been transferred into it. The gravel areas are maintaining a nice even surface and even the heaviest rains are socking through. The Thyme did not do well and has mostly died off as there was just not enough soil below the planted zone.