RCD Rives Contracting Design

Good! Took a little longer than expected, due to the weather. Wade and his team we great to work with. Professional and never left things in a mess. Pictures are before the project was completely finished.

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Wade did an amazing job on my home. He turned a weed infested patio area into a beautiful patio. the stamped concrete and fire pit are amazing and i can't wait to use them. He also remodeled my lower level which had old paneling through out. it is now a beautiful space that i enjoy using now. Before, I only went into the basement to get to the garage and wash clothes. Now I use it as my main living area. I had guests who stayed in the basement bedroom for two weeks. They had nothing but good words for how the space (den, bedroom, and bar) had been transformed. The quality was outstanding too. Wade's team also landscaped the outside with a beautiful border and rocks. I have received numerous comments from the neighbors on how good my lawn and landscaping looks. My yard has never looked better!! I am very happy with the work that has been done on my house and will be calling Wade if I ever need work done in the future.

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We had made one appointment for him to come to my house to come up with a plan for landscaping. He did not show up. I called him and he didn't have the appointment in his schedule, so we rescheduled. He made it out, looked at my yard for about 5 minutes and quickly came up with an idea of what to do. He emailed me the details but it was way too much than I wanted to spend so he worked on it and dropped a few things and came up with a more reasonable plan. He came out one more time about a month later to show me what he came up with and show me some sample landscaping rocks. I never heard from him again. Big waste of my time and money and even if he did contact me again (which I seriously doubt he would) I would not let him do any work for me. <p></p> <br />

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Wade and his crew did an excellent job of this at a great price. I plan to have them come back to to put in a new sidewalk in the spring and do a few other small projects. He did a good job of communicating with me through a tough summer where he was behind because of all the rain and, late in the summer, serious medical issues for one of his family members.  <br /> <br /> Wade is a very genuine person and stays with you to see that you are satisfied. From feedback I received before hiring him, he can do some very creative projects as well. Mine was more ordinary but well done. <br /> <br /> I don't think some of the negative reviews on this site are from people who actually worked with him.

Not as expected.

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Work started May 14, 2015and was completed in late July. We found Wade and his crew very easy to work with. Wade personally checked daily on progress and regularly communicated with us about any changes or delays in scheduling. The delay in completion was the result of the rainiest June on record and an unexpected problem getting the color decking we had selected for the porch. Wade researched and presented an alternative color choice close to our original selection for our approval ? we are very pleased with the new color choice. The decorative sidewalk turned out beautifully and is a nice focal point for our house. We are very happy with all the landscaping and the multiple stone garden walls. Wade added several additional features from the original plan that have enhanced the appearance of the landscaping. <br /> Wade was genuinely interested in producing a result with which we would be happy. He regularly stopped to make sure we were satisfied <br /> with the way things were progressing and that we had no problems with the work. He quickly responded and resolved problems we had with a latch on the fence and railings on the deck. His crews minimized any mess related to the work and promptly removed remaining materials once work was completed. Working with Wade and his crews has been a positive experience. <br /> <br />

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We were very impressed with the work that RCD did.  The finished product looks amazing and they were very professional and responsive during the whole process.

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Due to a wet spring, we were working against time restraint to have yard if our new construction home backfilled, graded, sod and seeded within allowable community timeframe.    Prior to landscaping, he also agreed to have a concrete patio poured for our walkout basement.  Wade said he could get it done and would start right away. <br />  His first estimate was more than we had budgeted and so he agreed to scale back volume of work but not quality. <br /> The concrete work went relatively well. Soil was to be compacted but didn't see or hear a compactor.  Wade said they hand compacted it though. Only enough rebar was used that one could barely say rebar was used.  During pouring of concrete, I had to request that rebar be lifted off the soil bottom when I noticed rebar of earlier pours not being lifted.  Didn't see the fiber reinforcement mesh as written in contract.  The surface of the concrete landing from deck stairs is cup shaped and holds water rather than draining.  Not a good place for a bird bath.  Also, some of the sidewalk portion they poured drains toward the house rather than out the back as expected.  <br /> Wade elected to hire a subcontractor for BackFill and grading.  Wade had no one there to dig the trench for laying drain tile as per agreement.  I did it by hand in order to stay ahead of the excavator.  Wade did give small allowence for my labor on that.    I explained that there were previously several driveways of gravel buried under the soil surface.  The excavator said his machine would "work" stones and gravel to the side Where they could be removed from the yard. In order to allow the soil to crust over,the excavator said he would be back next day to do final grading .  He didn't return for another week.  At that point the clay soil was brick hard. <br /> The contract agreed to  "Prep soil with soil conditioner (not capitalized) in preparation for seed and straw".  I assumed that soil conditioner meant applying some amendment such as mulch to be worked into soil.  This, I assumed, in addition to the rock removal.  I assumed incorrectly.  I later discovered that, when Capitalized, "Soil Conditioner" is a Bobcat brand name of machine that roughs up the soil and is cabable of windrowing rocks to the side where they can be removed from the property.  This windrowing never happened on my job and there was no other soil amendment other than fertilizer. This may be a result of letting soil get brick hard before returning. Don't know. <br /> I sensed that Wade's laborers had never laid sod before.  Sod squares had many gaps between them as well as many overlapping squares.   The gaps would allowed weed seed to germinate and overlapping of squares, besides leaving humps, would prevent full root contact with soil.  Also, they did not "cut in" the sod where it met the neighbor's lawn.  Rather, there were staggard pieces of sod laid on top of existing soil.  Also, my back and side yards are steep which required sod for erosion prevention rather than seeding. These squares should have been pinned unil roots take hold to prevent them from sliding down hill, especially when watering and possible creatures walking on them. They were not pinned.   Grass in a number of sod squares just died. Surrounding squares survived. Can't explain that.  Due to these issues, CrabGrass has taken over much of my new sod. <br /> Seeding of front yard and front sides didn't go much better.  I did my part in keeping it watered. Gravel not removed from soil.  Some grass so thick that chocked on itself.  Other parts of yard no grass germinated.  Fertilizer apparently not broadcast evenly. Some dark green, some yellow and a lot of it ended being full of crabgrass everywhere that fescue did not germinate. <br /> Before Wade left the site, I told him I was not happy.  Wade made no offer to fix it.  It was dark by that time so I didn't know how unhappy until next day and actually following weeks.  <br /> <br />                               Update !!!!!!!: <br /> Today, 9/3/2015,  Wade stopped by to discuss above issues.  It was agreed that he would return this coming fall to resolve what can be resolved within reason.  I'm having some seawall work done as well this fall and perhaps the two contractors can coordinate or cooperate on some common ground parts. <br /> Professionalism upgraded to "B" <br /> Tim <br /> <p> </p>     <br /> <br /> <br />

We were presented with a detailed proposal on what work would be done and the cost.  Once we accepted the proposal is was a little while before the work was started, but that had been discussed and expected.  Wade and his crew did a wonderful job.  The new retaining wall and stamped concrete patio are beautiful.  They also built a small deck which turned out great.  The only problem was that the work was started late fall of 2014 and due to the unpredictable weather the patio needed to be re-cleaned and resealed again early this spring.  <br /> Although it was not in the plans, Wade told us that if we needed help with planting he would take care of it.  As promised, they came out and planted a few bushes for us around the patio, which didn't take his crew long, but was very helpful to us.  We really didn't know what we wanted to do with the space, so had not initially contracted for any landscaping to be done.  Wade worked with us closely on every aspect of the job from moving a small fountain for me to installing the lighting around the patio.  The new fire pit is perfectly placed, exactly what we wanted. <br /> Wade was always available, we didn't play phone tag as he answered his phone whenever I called.  If he wasn't on site every day he would come by to make sure the work had been done.  He and his crew cleaned up each day and he continually kept us informed about what was going on.  The only problems we encountered were caused by the weather. not cooperating.  <br /> I would definitely contract with RCD Rives Cotracting Design again and highly recommend them. <br />

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Provider was able to answer all questions, most of them fully answered, some left open for future input. Provider did not attempt to "sell" me while he was here for consult, but did make himself available for future work when we decide or scope.

NOTHING! <br />

Ok, but took quite a long time to receive the drawing. <br />