I hired Tschuor Property Maintenance LLC for drainage and grading work on my property. We were initially unsure of the best route to take, but after consulting with my husband’s father, who retired from excavation work, we ultimately decided on installing a swale for drainage control.
To give credit where it’s due, after the first heavy rain the drainage issues we were experiencing were mostly resolved, so the concept and overall solution did help. Unfortunately, the execution and communication throughout the project left a lot to be desired.
My husband and I were usually the ones having to reach out for updates, and despite having a tentative start date in our contract, we ultimately learned through Facebook posts from another job that our project would not be starting when expected. That was frustrating and could have easily been communicated directly.
We had also specifically discussed using rolled erosion-control straw blankets, but when the supplier apparently did not have them available, shake-baled straw was used instead. We called this out because of the culvert area and the detention spots where we wanted grass growth to come back evenly. There were also large clumps of dirt throughout the yard, and we ultimately had to go back through and regrade parts of the project ourselves.
The biggest disappointment for me was that despite asking multiple times, there was never a final walkthrough or in-person review of the completed work. My husband even directly asked, “not trying to be an ass, but did you personally see the final product?” To this day, the final product has still never been personally reviewed onsite by the owner, despite the project being paid in full. We were not trying to be difficult — we simply expected someone with experience in this field to walk us through the final product and help make things right if adjustments were needed.
In the end, I chose to pay the remaining balance, take the high road, and finish spreading materials and cleaning out the culvert myself because those items were left incomplete.
I’ve seen the great work this company has done for others, which is why I hired them in the first place, but this particular project felt a bit out of scope without the owner being onsite to review the final product personally. My advice to future customers would be to make sure expectations are clearly discussed upfront and that you receive a detailed contract outlining materials, cleanup, timelines, grading, and finishing expectations before work begins.