Poor landscaping work - garden resembles a swamp

[Adam]

Update: Some more progress on the patio today. That now looks to largely be complete. They are back tomorrow to do the grouting and tidying up (!) before laying the turf on Monday.

It all looks quite promising, nothing stands out as being an issue. The tile which didn't seem flush was re-laid and now looks ok. I don't want to tempt fate but it seems like we are heading in the right direction. I actually think the patio looks better having the aco around it too.

 

[Adam]

Does it still drop towards the house?

Yes he has put a fall on it towards the house so the water goes in the aco.

Originally the fall went the other way to the grass which couldn't handle the water and was the main cause of the flooding.

 

[Adam]

I hope after all this that you have enough depth there to allow for sufficient topsoil to lay your turf on.

That's a fair point and I wondered the same. I just went out to measure it and there is approximately 100mm between the shingle and the top of the bricks for the border. Googling suggests you need 4 inches of soil minimum so I'm right on that.

 

[Adam]

Update: He came yesterday to clear everything away (very messy including down the side of the house), do a few touch ups and grout the patio. The weather isn't meant to be great towards the end of the week and he didn't want to put the soil down and risk it being turned in to a bog again which I can kind of understand. Unfortunately he couldn't order the turf in time to complete it today so he has put me off until next Monday. Not ideal but equally not the end of the world.

Things are looking more promising (apart from rainfall to test the patio drainage works!) and a lot of the areas I was unhappy with have been improved to be fair to him.

 

[Adam]

I was thinking the same. They should have just used some 110mm perforated drainage pipe buried deeper wrapped in membrane and then fill the trenches with pea beach. So bizarre they covered the whole area with it. From what I saw they didn't even bother wrapping the pipe they did put in, would be surprised if it all gets blocked over time. Absolute bodgers.

Well that's what I thought they were going to use but they decided to use downpipes with holes cut with an angle grinder. Took them ages and probably more expensive too.

I have measured and there is about 100mm between the gravel and the edge of the patio so it's right on the limit.

Yes there is no membrane over any of the pipes. The holes on the slats aren't wide enough for the stones to enter the pipe but I understand the concern that without a barrier they could get blocked. I suppose I could always move the stones away to allow me to cover the pipes over the weekend with some membrane and cable clips to secure them. Would that be worth doing?

 

[Adam]

I think i'm going to leave it and see how it goes. There's no way this guy is ever going to come back again but it's much more palatable having to redo the lawn and sorting the drainage if this doesn't work rather than the patio. I feel fortunate the situation has improved despite the progress being slow so I'll keep my fingers crossed that the work is sufficient.

 

[Adam]

Well sad to say, albeit on a smaller scale I've joined the shoddy landscaper club, currently having some work done and all the right things have been done but little details making it a mess are stacking up.
Got the bloke coming around today to discuss rectification, but I think his days as hour landscaper are running out.
So far I've paid 2k out of 4.5k. I won't be paying anymore unless it's perfect.

Sorry to hear that and hope you get a good outcome today. If the worst should happen then hopefully I have documented the process I went through so it makes it easier for you. I’ve learnt a lot throughout this and would change how I’d approach more work being done to protect myself. I’d be far less trusting and pay them on my terms for sure!

 

[Adam]

They have worked hard to get the topsoil down this morning:

 

[Adam]

The turf has been laid! It looks much better than the last time they laid it as it's so much flatter this time around. They said the grass felt better quality (less patches, more grass if that makes sense) and it was much nicer to lay. Last time they left the topsoil overnight and it rained, this time they laid it on topsoil they prepared and flattened this morning.

 

[Adam]

@Adam I don't suppose you know how much that turf was on its own (as a material cost) do you?

Afraid not, nothing was broken down unfortunately.

You need a good down pour to test it working.

I’ve been watering the lawn every day and it hasn’t flooded (yet!) and the water that gets on the patio seems to head towards the aco. But yes you are right, I need some of the downpours we had at the end of last year which resulted in me having to move the water

 

[Adam]

A little update 2 weeks after they finished the work. It was also the first significant rain/snow we had so the first chance to check the drainage. The rainfall wasn't as significant as some of the downpours we had towards the end of last year but nonetheless there doesn't appear to be any areas of flooding both on the patio and the grass. The grass is nice and green, I've been watering it on the days where it hasn't been raining. I can see the roots slowly starting to come through the turf which I hope will start to work their way in to the soil.

The aco drains has water in it so it seems to be doing it's job. The water isn't exactly flowing away like a torrent but at the same time it isn't backing up and flooding. Initial impressions are encouraging.

I don't feel the need to get the squeegees out to move the water away from the air bricks so I'd say that's a good outcome.

 

[Adam]

How’s it held up in the heavy rains of the last two days?

In hindsight I wish I had waited to take the pictures now but the good news is that it looks exactly the same as it did a couple of days. There is no standing water or areas of flooding. Happy with that and once the grass has knitted to the soil I will leave a review.

 

[Adam]

How is it over the wet period we've had? Still working?

It's absolutely fine now the drainage has been installed correctly. We don't have any standing water or issues with regards to that.

I don't like the tiles very much as they always look dirty so in hindsight should have chosen something else. I'm not sure it's the finest workmanship ever but from where we were at the start it's been a big improvement.