New front walk, front stoop, retaining wall, and patio built out of soap stone.
While the stone work provided by Bluehill is beautiful thanks to two very talented workmen, Armondo and Juan, our satisfaction with our job was greatly tarnished by the owner of the company. Mike Halliday is unprofessional and rude. Bluehill left large amounts of stone, scraps of stone and wood, and trash in our yard that we, the homeowners, had to clean up several times. At the end of our job, they left scraps and large amounts of trash. When asked to remove them, the owner of the company insulted us and said in writing, "I very (sic) disappointed in your attitude towards me. Your actions are out of control. I never thought we would provide you with a custom job and our hard work and no thank you. You can deal with the pieces (of stone). I'm not your punching bag anymore." I would like to state that not only did we allow the use of our basement to these men so they could eat, store their tools, and use the hot water so their hands wouldn't get too cold, we also made them hot cocoa frequently, and gave them both Christmas bonuses and bonuses for staying late to finish our job. Mike Halliday frequently felt comfortable opening our back door and calling me, coming into the house several times. I ended up locking the doors upstairs at all times so he couldn't walk in. In addition, Bluehill balked at work they really didn't want to do like moving the old pavers from our patio to someone else's home instead of taking them to the dump. (We paid them extra to do so). We also paid them to do our leaves in the fall and those leaves were left in large piles on the side of our home. Ultimately, we moved them but they killed our grass. Our intention was to have Bluehill back to do some landscaping work for us this spring, but I will never have them back. I would not recommend them anyone. The work is very nice, but not worth the price or abuse.
Service Provider Response
This review was comprised of false misleading information that does not give an accurate description of the work and service performed by the contractor. This review was written out of anger and intended to slander the contractor, Mike Halliday based on unstable emotions shown to Halliday through aggressive and demanding text messages during the final few days of the project. It is unsure whether or not this homeowner became a member prior to making this review and the contractor was not informed prior to starting the project that the homeowner had checked Angies List reviews about the company and their services. Here are the facts about this particular project. The total project cost was $46,208.73. This project was custom designed by owner Halliday with Bluehill Hardscapes. The project included the removal of a brick sidewalk and replaced with the installation of a new soapstone walkway. The existing steps and landing at the front door of this sidewalk were also removed and replaced with Soapstone tiles. The metal hand rail was taken down and re-installed after the grout work on the tiles was completed. Once while working a 13hr day in order to finish grout joints prior to inclement weather the employees received soda’s from the homeowner. A pvc drain pipe connected to the roof gutter was hard piped 25+ feet under the driveway to prevent water from draining into the garage. A custom decorative concrete slab was installed prior to the installation of an exterior shed. The shed was delivered and unloaded in the rain by supervisor Halliday with his equipment. In the backyard of the home is where a large portion of the work took place. A small landing at the top of the steps was reconstructed with Soapstone tiles from the front steps. The existing pavers that did not satisfy the homeowner were removed and a 546sq ft. reinforced concrete slab was installed with steps and wall support footings. A retaining wall, seat wall and step walls were constructed from expensive building stone shipped from Wisconsin because the homeowner had a specific request on color of the stone. The stone work was the largest portion of the work. Crews worked a few Saturdays, and some days with a constructed cover during inclement weather. All of the stone had to be split 3 times from 1 block to veneer a pattern shown to the homeowner at the time of purchase. This stone was mortared to a reinforced block wall with a drain system. The contractor also, modified an existing drain pipe so that the owners could choose to use the rain barrel to collect water or the correct drain the contractor installed without an installation fee. Prior to the completion date of the stonework on 03-23 the homeowner agreed to purchase a small load of mulch to keep the area free of mud for the four dogs. The contractor delivered the mulch and was paid for the cost. The homeowner told the supervisor Halliday that she and her husband would install the mulch. Finally the custom landscape lighting portion of the project was installed with just 1 day left to the mortar the soapstone tiles. Supervisor Halliday spent 9 hrs. installing decorative light fixtures while the crews began cutting and mortaring the expensive Soapstone tiles for the final floor of the exterior patio. During this time the supervisor was told by his crew that the dog (1) was licking the mortar and standing on areas of mortar. When supervisor Halliday explained to the homeowner [member name removed] she needed to keep the dogs side for an hour before the crew took lunch. When Halliday explained the concern about the dog to [member name removed] she reacted with anger and yelled at supervisor Halliday who then had to call the husband and explain the circumstance and then the dog were finally contained. The crew and supervisor respected the dogs and worked carefully around them for 4 months. During this time there were no sign of the homeowners removing dog poop from the work area and the crew just simply shoveled some up at times. It needs to be said that never did Supervisor Halliday enter the garage door without permission. Halliday did on 2 occasions over 4 months let (1) dog in with disabilities during concrete cutting and when chemicals were mixed in from the garage door left open for this purpose. Homeowner Katie left the garage door open and was home most of the day and she would for the most part speak openly and friendly about the contractors schedule and design decisions needing her approval. On one occasion during the stone work the contractor told her he had to leave with his crew to finish another job for a few hours. The homeowner then asked “when are you coming back?” and then told the supervisor in front of the crew that she felt safe with the Bluehill crew there while other contractors she hired work also. During each month of the project homeowner [member name removed] seemed to be very dependent of the crew and the extra work they did to keep the area looking nice during construction. With this said for the record “there were no extra stone left behind except a few (40lbs) pieces of cut soapstone the contractor was told by the husband his wife wanted to keep. All of the stone used during the stonework phase of the job was cleaned and removed on a trailer by the crew 03-12 and documented on the account daily. The homeowner in this review refers to “leaving piles of stone” witch was nothing more than a few small pieces of stone the contractor discovered “when the leaves were removed”. These thin small pieces of stone (slate) were not of any material used in the job by in the contractor and were left because they were scattered around the house before the work started. On the last day made modifications to the sidewalk while watching supervisor Halliday loads the tools and trash. A few days after this text message the contractor noticed while driving past the home these “stones” were laid in a path near where they were discovered by the contractor! Overall this custom project was professionally designed and installed. The crew and Supervisor did a great job and showed a great deal of dedication and time to this project day in and out. The pictures of this Job which, sadly were not posted by the Angie’s List member can very clearly show the complicity of the project and the hard work demonstrated by the entire crew. If you look at the previous project reviews of Bluehill Landscapes you will see honest reviews of customers who had their specific landscape and hardscape needs accomplished. Bluehill feels very strongly about their work and the dedication they show each individual customer, that they are the right choice for custom hardscape and landscape design & installation. To find out more information about our services and to see additional “true” testimonials from other customers and see photos of this “custom Soapstone and stonework” project please visit us at [hyperlink removed]
