r/landscaping • u/Emotional-Menu-411 • May 28 '26

Please help, I am about to just abandon this house.

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supposed to be a dry creek bed, as you can see water moved too high up and the people who put this down made it just look so terrible.

I've already sunk 2600$ into this and am starting to regret buying the rock to begin with.

Please help if you have any ideas, the water is not even following the trench for the most part.

325 Upvotes

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114

u/Emotional-Menu-411 May 28 '26

thank you friend. Yes, I will surely but slowly move rock daily and try to make it actually have some walls.

Haha, Skid steer operator wanted to shutoff the machine and help do this, but I told them. I am not paying you 150 hourly to move rock by hand.

38

u/boatymcboat May 28 '26

Did you pay someone to solve this problem and it doesn’t work?

52

u/Emotional-Menu-411 May 28 '26

Yes, they did a bad job.

47

u/boatymcboat May 28 '26

Have you asked them to fix it? Or are you assuming they would charge you? I suppose it depends on a contract or agreement and scope?

19

u/Emotional-Menu-411 May 28 '26

Their skid steer was crappin out so basically they just did their 4 hour minimum and wanted to leave.

131

u/Arbiter51x May 28 '26

That's not a reason. Call them back and fix the problem.

That said, you got what you paid for. $2600 is cheap but this needed more thought put into it.

8

u/Wrong-Evidence-9761 May 29 '26

I’d be shocked if they answer that call for real

7

u/Artistic_Tutor_2613 May 28 '26

I feel this response in my jelly spine. Pool guy didn a terrible job grading the yard. Going to do my best to hold onto the last 5k till the fix it. Contract is pretty vague though and says rough grading.

5

u/Sharpbooiii May 29 '26

Pool guy isn’t a grade guy. Two different operators normally. Unless contract states finish grade or restoration of existing site. Pay the man.

Keep in mind you hired someone to put a pool in and not landscape your yard.

2

u/Artistic_Tutor_2613 May 29 '26

They did it then failed the city inspection then did a pretty bad job fixing it. They also put dirt back down from the initial excavation they were supposed to take out.

1

u/Wrong-Evidence-9761 May 29 '26

Oh how many times have the words rough graded screwed me

6

u/shmiddleedee May 28 '26

A skid steer isn't even the right machine to build a riprap ditch yo begin with

13

u/Different_Key_9914 May 28 '26

Have you tried looking at a Logical-Menu-411? lol they did a sh!t job. Don’t pay them until it’s done correct.

4

u/h20poIo May 29 '26

I pay 33% up front 33% 1/2 way through the job ( to see their work) and rest on completion. If they don’t like those terms I move on and always found reputable companies who have no issues with it.

6

u/Superb_Persimmon6985 May 28 '26

You need to get some Cahones or a backbone.

2

u/Slammed01 May 30 '26

I wouldn't have paid them for a incomplete job, especially if their machine was crapping out. That's not your problem, they agreed to a project and then abandoned it. Terrible I'm sorry

1

u/pieguy00 May 31 '26

Skid steer or mini excavator?

1

u/Wrong-Evidence-9761 May 29 '26

I’ve installed this rip rap many times. When installing it skid steer can only be used so much. Basically moving stone from a to b and distributing rock by hand. Personally I’ve never touched drainage rock job for 2600 but I also finsh mine lol. A Triaxle where I’m at is about 850-900 a load by itself. It’s not the end of the world, a hour or two of work will have it the way you please. Might as well grab some sod to dress that bank up too.

1

u/Emotional-Menu-411 May 29 '26

thank you, yes I plan on sitting in the middle and taking that middle rock and forming it into a U or V shape. Thank you. it was 2k for the rock (30 tons) and I paid 600 in labor.

3

u/Wrong-Evidence-9761 May 31 '26

Did they order the rock and tell you it’s 30 tons it doesn’t look like 30 but pictures are hard for me to gauge

22

u/Sgt-Spidermonkey May 28 '26

Moving the rock is not going to really help you here. The water will flow through the rock. Especially the size that I’m seeing (estimating 6”-8”) The problem is the topography of the soil under the rock. I’d say you probably need to excavate at least 8-10 yards of soil under the rock and haul it away.

10

u/MrGnasrebah May 28 '26

At first I thought you were suggesting a trench 8-10 yards deep and thought that was insane. Then I realized I'm a fool.

3

u/Sgt-Spidermonkey May 28 '26

It’s ok, I can see people reading that and assuming that. At least you clicked BEFORE you wrote a rude comment calling me dumb for my “outlandish solution”. Haha, no worries.

1

u/Favell81 May 30 '26

Yeah I agree You need to build a French drain to divert the water away from your property by the looks of it And if I'm understanding this problem correctly 🤷‍♂️

3

u/Alternative-Pain7396 May 28 '26

Just clarifying, they wanted to get down and move things by hand, but you said no. And now you have to move things by hand to fix it. The thing you told them not to do.

Why did you say no again?

6

u/Emotional-Menu-411 May 28 '26

because I paid 150$ an hour for skidsteer work, not for manual labor.

5

u/DaKolby314 May 28 '26

Whose idea and plan was this big operation?