My concern is that I gave him a lot of money starting the end of February and all I have for it so far is my deck taken down. As I described, this is a major job. Tonight I asked him for weekly objectives, because nothing is getting done. I've been told a number of times that things would happen and they haven't. The 3 hours today was all I have to show for all that money.

I would not pay him anymore money until I saw results. He should also give you an idea of how long this job will take him to do.

Right. I won't. But, given the situation, isn't it reasonable to ask for weekly objectives?

I am! Hence, asking for weekly objectives between now and due date. I helped design the yard. As far as what to do next, that's why I am paying him. He knows what needs to happen to produce the agreed upon design and drawings. I don't. You're not getting the premise of my question. Am I micromanaging by asking for the project management detail with objectives?

Depending on the landscaper, the type of thing it sounds like you are asking for might be entirely not how he conceptualizes the job. Step away from the business management speak (objectives') and just say "I'm getting very stressed this won't be done in time, can you give me a realistic idea of what you expect to get done each week so that it will be finished when I need it?"

I know it is basically the same concept but different phrasing makes it sound less like project due for an MBA class. Might help.

If he looks like this, you might be

I hope you got it all in writing.

Absolutely.

You gave him money in February and it's now the end of April and you're asking for weekly goals? Time to get someone else and sue this guy for what you've paid him.

Every contract should have dates when the job is going to start and approximate time table how long it will take to complete.

Spring is the Landscaping time so landscaping contractors loaded with work and they try to grab as many jobs as they can, and some of them will start a bunch of jobs so they don't lose them.

When they do that, they will send a crew for a few hours on any given day to make you happy and for a few hours to the next customer and so on... If you don't have anything in your contract stating that you need this done at least by July, you could be in for a long haul if you don't get on top of things.

With that being said, if he came to take the deck out, I doubt he will leave your job for extended time period with an exterior door and no deck. It's not safe.

Good luck

I wouldn't ask for weekly objectives...your being to nice. You have to clearly ask "when are you finishing"!

You are being reasonable. It's normal to ask when certain things will be done since you need to know when the entire project is finished. Delays happen, but we are the end of April and from what you say, there hasn't been much progress. You need to be clear with him and tell him that you have to have this project finished by the end of May so for that reason you really need to know what his plan is. This should be something simple for him..I am assuming that he gave you an estimate for the length of the project

taking a step back, what led you to go with this contractor? Is there a landscape plan and detailed set of specifications? Is there a draw schedule based on pre-determined milestones?

You gave him money for labor what did he do to earn the money? You pay for materials up front and small portion of the budget goes as the work goes no labor no money . This is what happens when they get money for nothing why do the work.NO MORE MONEY period