KDM Construction

In response to this review. I take great pride in the work I do and have lots of extremely satisfied clients. I run a small tight crew which includes myself on the job. That being said there are aspects of this situation I could have handled better. Obviously I have upset this person to the point they felt the need to create a google reviewable account which is not created or maintained by the owner of this business. If so we do have a vast portfolio of pictures of projects..... don’t think we would chose one off of google street view of my personal residence partially in the back ground with my neighbour sweeping his driveway.

We definitely started our season on the back foot with not knowing what’s was going to happen with covid to being an extremely busy season with drastic weather issues in the months of June and July.

Speaking to this project... it was going to be difficult from the start. Two neighbours trying to agree upon a failed wall ( which was already compromised). The communication between the two parties was not 100% and started to show red flags before the project was to even get started. We quoted many different types of materials and styles of wall. To finally agree upon one that I am very familiar with and have built in the past.

I definitely ran into some weather delays that postponed the start. We had secured the materials early on. ( major supplier issues due to covid lead to shortages ). I was able to start some excavation but was delayed by the neighbour not following through with his side of the deal in a timely fashion. We needed existing screw piles cut which weren’t done for weeks... also due to weather. Then when done they weren’t all fully cut to the proper height for us to complete excavation. All excavated material was removed as well as garbage on the neighbours property( no charge). To which that neighbour was upset we hauled away a bunch of old used landscape blocks and contaminated decorative gravel ( all in our way and under garbage in a messy site ). I without complaint paid a sum Of money to the neighbour so he could replace his decorative rock.

Once excavation started I exposed a major issue with what the area had been back filled with the previous year. I had discussed with the client that there may need to be extra compaction needed to get the base correct. But once opened up I discovered about 8-12 feet of un-compacted road crush gravel had it used to back fill. This raised my concerns a great deal. I spoke with other people in my field ( some of who quoted the job originally) and felt the whole area need too be excavated to get proper compaction to build this style of wall on. This would entail digging up all crush and compacting in lifts to get the proper compaction. Due to situation I would also like to bring an engineer to test base before construction was to start. This was not going to be in the budget. Both clients were more concerned about completion and not getting it 100% right. At no point was the house foundation under distress. If a 3-4’ retaining wall is maintaining a structures foundation there is a problem!

With pressure from one neighbour trying to cut corners and another that is going to micro manage the project more red flags started to appear. This is when I decided to cut my losses and return all money and walk away from the project. I expressed my concerns and explain the situation didn’t make for a great work environment and I was not prepared to be the go between for two neighbours.

This had nothing to with larger projects or the size of the job. I treat all our projects with same care an attention. He felt the need to bring up me caring for my 76 year old mother to get a cast off... like I said we run a small crew and unfortunately with covid there weren’t too many people available to take her to a doctors appointment. That duty fell on me and will stand by that anytime.

Like I said I could have handled this situation differently but my gut told me it was going to be nightmare. And with the effort made to make this review I was correct. I’m glad to see they got a very capable company to do the project and wish them well. In the end it wasn’t the right fit for me and decided to move on giving a full refund. We can’t do everything right but in the end this was what was right for my business.

There always two sides to every story and this is mine.