Earthen Stoneworks

We were dealing with some drainage and flooding issues at the bottom of our driveway and patio, and contacted four different companies to talk about what we were hoping to do to prevent any future flooding and structural damage to the foundation of our house. We chose to work with Rich because he was kind, creative, honest, patient, interested in working with natural materials, offered clear and reasonable estimates, and willing to think through all of our initial questions and options. Rich and his team helped us add a dry well and permeable pavers to the bottom of our driveway, resurfaced the garage floor, and replaced our old cracked patio with new bluestone. His team also replaced an old vinyl fence with a wooden one, and replaced an old crumbling wall and steps with a beautifully-crafted stone wall and steps. They also helped us to re-slope a part of our backyard in order to align with the new patio. Rich was a pleasure to work with, collaborating with us on an overall vision for this multi-part project, clear about what the next steps would be to work toward those goals, and interested in making sure we understood all of the options and potential contingencies so that we could make informed decisions. He offered his honest perspectives on materials, logistics, and aesthetics when we asked, but let us know that he ultimately wanted to make sure we would be happy with the final results. There were a couple of instances in which we asked Rich to make a change to a few things that his team had already started – all things that we had previously signed off on for Rich to do, and then realized we wanted to adjust. Rich was very understanding and receptive in accommodating all of these changes, and making sure we were comfortable with the cost implications before proceeding. In summary, extremely happy with our experience working with Rich and with the results of the work. Also, very thankful to have this work in place to better protect the house from flooding in the future. We will definitely be working with Rich again for future projects.

Edit- added a screenshot of the professional response I got from rich after posting an accurate review. ------ Bad experience with Rich. Did a ton of talking on the front end but didn't follow up on the back end. When we had a warranty issue, he blamed it on the fact I didn't spend enough. We had a paver patio installed with a pathway - a path the landscapers ride equipment over when they cut the grass. Now the outer edges are sagging and he's saying it'll need to be pulled up and built more "robustly" - and when I ask why it wasn't done in the first place, he says because we negotiated on the price! I was never made aware that he was willing to sacrifice quality to get a job - and that he made that decision without consulting us. He also told these grand stories of how he climbed and cut trees out in California and that he could cut the trees on our property line without hurting the tree, but then when I got home he had just straight cut them with a pole saw and made it out like "It's what you asked me to do". In addition, the job started about six weeks late, he changed the patio design without asking us and the whole plan we had on moving shrubs was just changed as he saw fit without consult. At the end, I had to hire people to put the irrigation back together and install railings on a deck - both of which he never discussed and wound up costing about $5k more - and again he made it out like it was an error on our part. Tracking him down was another pleasure - about 3-5 texts to get him to respond. In closing, I'd not recommend or hire this outfit ever again.