French drains (2) and drainage tile. Grass seed over trenched areas, sort of.
I will start by saying we went with EMI because a really nice guy (owner I believe) from a company called Miller Landscaping (they could not do the job we needed) recommended EMI. Miller Landscaping was simply too busy to do the type of job I needed done, but I really appreciated the gentleman speaking with me about it for approximately 15 minutes and giving me his opinion on what I needed to fix my problem. If I had to describe my experience with EMI in one word, DISASTER. When I called to set up an appointment for an estimate I was told someone would call me within 48 hours and someone did. That was about the one and only time EMI did what they said they would do. A couple of days later, a guy named Gary came out to the house. He looked at the yard, took some measurements, wrote some stuff down, etc. But then seemed unable to answer any of my questiions because he was more of a "patio paver designer" and didn't do this type of work. Great. Gary left and said he will email me an official quote by the end of the week, it was a Tuesday, so I assumed he meant by Friday. Friday comes and goes, nothing. I wait til Wednesday of the following week and call this guy. Nothing, voicemail, call again, nothing, voicemail. I send him an email, which he responds to with an excuse about the EMI company phones service being down. It was a joke, how hard is it to call clients from another phone or email them? He proceeds to apologize and says he will email the quote by 4PM that day. 4PM comes and goes, nothing. I wait til Friday, contact him again. He tells me the company email services have been down and that he did send it, but it must not have gone through. WOW. So he sends me a bs quote via text message. I say ok, but I need something official to move forward. Finally, I get the quote, lets roll. Just sign the contract, mail it in with a check for 50% of the total for a deposit and someone will call you immediately to get on the schedule. 3 weeks go by and nothing. Before I call I checked my online bank account because there is no way they would take my deposit without calling and scheduling me first, right? Wrong, they stole almost $2,000 from my family and never called. I called in a rage, trying not to take out my anger on the clerical worker that took my call. She then told me that Gary no longer works there and that they are playing catch up with all his clients. CLOWNS! How long does it take someone to call a list of people, tell them their point of contact with the company no longer works there and the job will be delayed? So now I am passed on to a guy named Dennis Karem. Nice enough guy, seems to have the file on my job, apologizes for all the problems. But still has to come back out to my house and do all the measuring that Gary did over a month prior. Thanks for wasting more of my time. The workers (3) come out the next week (Wednesday), say they will be done Friday. Not only do they not finish Friday, they dont say anthing before they leave, just leave a mess in my yard and go. They finish up the following Monday. The finished product...average at best. I have rocks all over my yard and driveway. The rocks that were used to line the drainage ditch. Driveway, not a huge deal because I have a gravel driveway, but there is something to be said about having pride in your work and fixing mistakes that were made in the process, i.e spilling a bunch of rocks in my driveway that do not match the existing rocks. The rocks in my grass, thanks a lot. I guess I'll pick those up myself so my lawn mower does not get damaged. The lining sleeve for the drainage tile to sticking out of sides of the drainage line. I've had to reseed the work areas because it was probably the worst seeding job I have ever seen. It literally looked like my 2 year old daughter grabbed handfuls of seed and tossed it recklessly around the yard. Nothing was smoothed out before they seeded, they put seed over rocks and mounds of dirt, nothing is level where the drain was put in. Even if it would have costed more money, I would have had it done better. It basically looks like the biggest ground hog in the world has tunneled straight across my back yard. I didn't think I had to ask for the excess dirt to be removed. We have a large wooded area less than 20 feet from where they were working where excess dirt and even rock could have been disposed. Nope, leave it on the lawn. I didn't think I had to ask for the surface area of the lawn to be returned to what it was before they showed up, which was flat. I learned a lot during this process because we have only owned this home for 1 year. And prior to that we owned a smaller home with a small yard in Grandview, so these types of things were not an issue. I should have walked away at the first signs of trouble and not feeling like a priority to the company. I should have painted a picture of what I wanted it all to look like when it was completed. And since I decided to stay with EMI, I should have showed up at their office to speak with someone face to face instead of messing around with phone calls and emails. I really was hanging on to the words from a competing company, that had a lasting impression on me, because I was told "they are the best show in town". I did not and will not call and ask for them to fix anything or ask for any money back. This was exhausting and I simply don't want to deal with such unprofessional people anymore.
