BUCKLE UP, THIS MAY TAKE A WHILE. TL;DR AT BOTTOM.
We met with Kyle from Kinnan Scaping about a backyard retaining wall for the yard of our new home.
After the meeting, Kyle provided renderings and an estimate for the requested work, which we accepted, and sent a check for $4,230 (50% deposit) toward a total bid of $8,460 The balance was to be due upon completion.
Our house was still under construction, and the driveway was poured on June 18.
Kinnan began work on Monday, July 26. Up to this point, the driveway had never been driven on, as our builder forbids subcontractors from driving or parking on it.
Our builder sent a photo of the scene he arrived upon.
On top of that, the work they did was subpar at best. Here’s a photo off the wall we asked for vs what we got.
Notice the difference in step width in the render and the two wide on the final. Big oops.
We ended up finding cracks on 26 panels, plus lots of pitting sporadically around the entire driveway and a chip on our rear patio. We were NOT going to pay the balance of the work - which was done poorly and not to spec - until we knew we weren’t going to be on the hook for a new driveway in the spring too.
We suggested to Kinnan that we defer the remaining balance until spring arrives and if no heaving or additional cracking was observed, we would then pay the balance in full. We viewed this as an extremely amicable solution which would be fair to all parties – despite our uncertainty that the driveway would be sound years into the future.
Kinnan rejected the proposal and submitted a claim to his insurer.
IMT Insurance sent an offer of $7,667, replacing only the 7 damaged of the 26 total panels – leaving us with a mismatched, checkerboard driveway ticking away toward replacement.
After rounds negotiation, we got the settlement up to $12,000. Still $8,000 away from what it would take to get the driveway replaced at $20,000. We still hadn’t paid the balance. The way we viewed it was the difference of what we owed to what we needed for driveway replacement was the same. If they were wiling to walk away so were we. It was fair.
We felt defeated.. and certainly were not going to consider losing the money for legal representation in what was a pretty clear collections case considering we did have a settlement - albeit not enough to replace the damage they caused.
We knew we would likely lose so decided I would represent us in court to argue the collection based on damage and the finished product not being to spec. I got rocked and we paid Kinnan. End of story.
Two years since, we paid to have the largest cracks professionally sealed and are limping the driveway along, until we replace. We stashed the insurance money so it will be there when we need it but in the meantime I regularly walk it sealing the pits as they fail. It’s the only driveway on our block like this.
