Landscaping, Construction Nightmare - How to Hire a Contractor BLOCKED VERSION
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- A law firm threatened me if I didn't remove the first video I posted on this subject. Soooo... Here IS the blocked version. ;) It is important to understand how to find and hire a qualified, skilled contractor. Whether its for landscaping,construction or something else-the basic steps are the same. Heres the best prices on Some of my favorite Amazon tools:
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Stan your such a asset to the landscape community. I learn so much from your videos. Thanks for all you do.
Appreciate that😄👍
hahah...Loved the part where you were itching your eye. ! Definitely a great video and message to share, glad you put it back up!
Thanks Kyle 😄👍😂
These inexperienced contractors should just watch your videos. So much to learn.
love your videos!
I've learned a lot for my landscaping company from your videos, and when I know the stuff you say it makes me feel good about the work I'm doing!
thanks for the vids man keep it up!
Awesome and Thanks Brandon! Appreciate that!
Great video pal. Very descriptive and again, educating the customer and adding value versus just talking price is extremely important. Something I am grateful I learned early on. And if you can't do something, shoot them straight. No reason to get in over your head. Love these type of mindset videos. Rock on brother.
Thanks Brian! Appreciate it!
I don't work in your industry at all but these videos are excellent and informative. Good for you for taking the time to look out for people like this! High five and God Bless you as well!
Thank you very much!
Oh my, that was crazy! No way they were going to install that wall like that. Not even real. You know they bid that job for no drainage rock. That's the kind of stuff the home owners need to eat. They will be calling you after one winter when the wall leans 8 inches and fails. I seen that same thing on a wall holding up a driveway last year and I fixed a 8ft tall wall that was leaning over 2ft and the back yard settled 1.5ft causing the back patio and upper deck footings to settle. It costed $21,000.00 to fix and the only machine that could do the job was a bobcat mt-55 Very slow. We also rolled the darn machine. If only the wall was done right to start with. Good for you Stanley, nothing up sets me more than contractors cutting corners to rip off homeowners.
dude you seriously are a good dude! Integrity!!!
Starting laughing when you were flipping them off low key at 0:10😂😂
LOL
Dude much respect for uploading it again. There is very good information in it....... Love the opening with the little bird itching your face! Haha
It was definitely an itchy nose -darn mosquitoes😄👍‼️
My buddy and I were replacing a prebuilt fence panel. When a neighbor asked us to build a brick wall in his home. We told him we have never done masonry before. He said that was fine and kept trying to push us to do the job. We would not do it. If I just wanted money I could have done a wall that would have fallen down and been ugly
My point some people want to pay as little had they can.
Thanks for sharing!
Dear mentioned law firm: There is no expectation of privacy in public spaces. The front yard, although private property, is easily seen from the public sidewalk and therefore the ongoings in that front yard, including the people there, can be filmed without consent.
plus Minnesota is a one party consent state. this is what the law firm wants is to scare people hoping they don't know there rights.
I can completely understand Stanley's position however. The law firm can make life a lot more difficult if they wanted to. And even if Stanley chose to fight it, and ultimately wins, the time and expense involved isn't worth it (not for a UA-cam video anyways). The law firm knows this and leverages that to their advantage. Welcome to the world of litigation.
It's not worth the hassle. It sucks, but I can imagine those guys were not happy being told everything they were doing was wrong. They should have known better it still sucks for them. The problem was the project wasn't being bid out properly more than likely and engineered retaining wall verses a little homeowner one they are used to. I bet there was a good chance they would bail on the job potentially knowing its out of their scope of skills. That happens so many times with contractors they under bid a job so bad.
Just now noticed the gesture ...lol ...at 0:17
Cool- is that true?
1. If a guy like you ever came up to me while I was doing a job like that and said the things you said, I would THANK YOU very much, your knowledge is priceless and they got your advice for FREE god bless them if these guys only knew who was talking to them.
2. Do you sell any how to videos on cd or flash drive? because I would like to buy it.
3. It is hard to find contractors that don't rip you off these days and don't lie about what they CAN do just to get the job and then do a bad job.
why is this guy such a beauty !? hope your an actual educator. this stuff is gold.
Its kinda crap that know-one can take honest opinions anymore!
True :)
On the bright side, you are positioned pretty well to work as a consultant during the next law suit when this wall fails.....
I did learned a lot by watching your videos, thanks
I always listen from other contractors! They can have a better way to do it!
They didn't even hire you for that project and you're STILL helping them!? Mad props Stanley!
My guess is lower level homeowner was forced to pay for the wall as their crappy wall wasn't good enough to properly support the higher ground neighbor's land. They likely went with the cheapest possible, which was stupid because if not fixed right, they get sued again. I bet Stanley was paid by the higher ground homeowner to inspect the work and make sure it was constructed properly. The cheap guys probably had to go back to the lower ground homeowner and get more money due to the added cost of doing it right. If permits are not necessary for a retaining wall near structure like that, the local codes need some updating.
Awesome video Stanley and bloopers are hilarious lol
God bless you
Thanks!
I love your attitude. You stopped to help your competition. I do the same when I think they will understand I'm just trying to help them out. Partly I do it out of preservation. Professionals know how many laws, permits and licenses we are already subject to. Each time a contractor screws up a new law or regulation is created. All the new rules do is drive costs up and never eliminate the situation we are competing against. So we'd rather see our competitors do it right and learn what they are doing.
So true- good point!
Woah he's filming our dumb asses let's turn around a look like we're looking at something lol.
Like how you help your competitors, most people would just let them go, then come back in 3 or so years and redoo it...
nope call the guys out and make them do it right, maybe next time they will bid the job correctly instead of makeing a professional waste time writting proposals only to find they didnt want it done correctly, just done cheaply.
Great Video & Great Advice. We want more bloopers!
I will keep adding them when I can- Thanks for the feedback ;)
A qualified contractor won't be cheap and a cheap contractors won't be qualified.
y2kxj And a bridge in Florida designed and supervised by qualified engineers from American universities fell down killing people. What is a qualified contractor? What degree or diploma must he have?
Nicely revised !
Thanks!
Hellova good vid! Couldnt agree more. Had a small handyman business in austin, put every 1 of your ideas to practical use. And of course at times would see the aftermath of others pore craftsmanship :(
Hahaha last part is the best part! Keep up the "hard" work haha
Thanks! ;)
Hey Stan great video. It seems that you been having some difficulty this month. I just got into roofing. We are doing patch jobs because of other contractors mistakes. I always believe that you do your best for your client what ever you do because they are paying you for your service they deserve to get the work that they pay for. Take care Stan and I hope things are better for you in the month of August :-)
You know there's no more problems than usual. When you run a business there's always something going on to make it interesting.
I am surprised you did not mention referrals and examples of past work experience. With some of your jobs shown in the videos, those would be great selling points. Watching these guys build on top of dirt, I can only imagine what their previous projects look like. I am only researching for my own project but the first and foremost, consistent step is to build on a prepared base. You should follow-up on this project for a future video... just in case it goes badly, would make a great example (aka "told you so").
Wow! I can't believe they didn't use any base and slammed that wall against the dig out
Thanks, for the info.
Neat little hex room on your house there. You build that yourself or did you buy it? Is the rock structural or a facade?
Love your videos, learning so much
What was the equation to figure out how much back fill material you needed?
Square footage x 200/2000?
That was to determine the number of tons necessary.
I have rebuilt at least 8 retaining walls this year that companies in my town have not built correctly. It blows me away that a person will build a million dollar home and have a random guy come out to build a patio or retaining wall. I always tell people that I will not be the cheapest but I will be the best and that is all you can do. Good video (again).
Thanks Levi- you are on the right track.
Did I see you shooting a bird at the beginning?HA HA HA To late I already saw that video you had to blur out it is in my memory.HA HA HA
Hahaha- nope just an itchy face ;)
mmmm HA HA HA
Ending was the best bits
Stan, I am late to the party but have been working my way through 6 yrs of videos. I am a rural Pennsylvania do it yourself type so these videos are awesome!
My questions on this one- does this wall require a permit in your location? Permits are hit and miss in our area and walls would depend on their height or proximity to new construction.
Are there no inspection or engineering plan requirements in the area?
Since you had already provided an evaluation on the causes of previous wall failure how did the home owners not realize they were getting into the same situation again?
No drainage base or backing is just mind boggling to me though.
I still have 5 yrs of videos to get through, so if you have already answered these questions please disregard.
Did the wall fail due to the timber rotting or did the earth behind start pushing it over? On another note it's interesting to see the building techniques you guys and gals use over in America (or Canada IDK) compared to Australia. I would have suggested some big old limestone blocks..
Excellent video. I have one question though. If I am starting out and have little knowledge does that mean I have to be cheap just because I havent been doing it for years? Can I not make the same amount of money as other just because I am new to the industry? I would never make the same mistake as these guys but i just don't have the knowledge that you have. Does this mean I have to make less money?
no good deed goes unpunished.
haha-true!
yea, this nieghbor is your so called friendly neighbor... the asphalt driveway used to be just a 2b shell driveway so is it possible for me to build the wall in the same place... i am able to put my 6" 3/4 crushed and 1" limestone dust and i am able to back fill with appropriate aggregate. at the highest point this wall is 4 courses under 3'... this video has got me thinking. i have been building hardscapes for around 4 yrs. and this one although a smaller wall its one of the mire complicated ones. thanks 4 advice
Hope it helps out :)
Could the lower homeowners sue the city for approving the plans of the garage etc without considering a new wall first?
Did they end up doing it the right way it doesn't look like they listed at all or did you leave after telling them it will fail
You rock dude
This is serious because no one has money to burn. But the way you didn't go after the sub par labor contracted to do the job was perfect! 👊😎
so im actually getting ready to replace an old wood retaining wall, theres an asphalt driveway above it wall is only 2.5 ft tall. i dont want to build the new wall where old one was but i have a problem the wall is the property line. should i back of or is there another way. underneath asphalt is 24-36" of 3/4 crushed stone.
Work with your neighbor and more the wall far enough out to avoid the driveway placing a surcharge onto the wall.
First!
That's not fair! =P
+Grass Daddy ha ha I beat ya😜
Good bye-
123rd!
I worked building houses, foundations etc just 14 years, and what you will find is the improvised people... is like now that i do landscaping ... those guys that buy a mower and out of the sudden they are landscapers and cant see the difference between tall fescue and zoysia, and dont have a clue what a nandina is.... not just that when they go and cut the grass just to cut without considering if have the right amount of moisture or if need detatch etc. In construccion many people learn in the field never read a book or even read the instructions on the can of paint and they are master painters and carpenters and they you hear them saying i will prime the compound patches with flat paint bc is the same as primer... second coat comes and paint lift then they dont know what happens.... see it everywhere
The formula you use, times 200 divided by 2000. Can we just use divided by 10? Or is there a reason we need the 200 first?
Done correctly it would be sq ft * 20. I think.
the issue is these guys were the contractors, local grass cutters installing cheap walls with out knowing what they need to start with other than the wall. the client was getting what he paid for but you called the guys out, bet they still didnt do it right.
What is sad is that they could have gone online to see a wall done the right way, they just don't care and likely redid the work and did it right only due to being monitored.
Loved the cat slide at the end it was rely funny
good points man like the ending lol
Thanks😄👍
Amazing how "Kyle Smith" is a landscaper but knows nothing about retaining walls that he builds. But knows about law and getting rich off lawsuits. I think he should be able to be sued by the homeowners. Why do we let people like this run "legitimate" businesses
I have a lot more video footage of this job showing how it was installed. Its interesting.....
There is a subset of contractors out there - mostly doing public work who do what I refer to as 'contracting by lawyer'.
Curious on why you can't use the native soil to back fill? And ehat kind of soil do you recommend?
No dranage
I agree...I dont feel like you handled this the right way...call the customer...maybe call the boss man...but to stop the team on site would have the contracter and the team feeling ...frustrated
This is why I am just a "handyman" type of deal. I find people who need stuff done and I help them do it. I'm just not skilled enough yet to call myself a contractor or whatever the proper terms are. I am learning off whoever I can find. I hope they know their stuff.
I also don't touch electrical stuff. I just haven't learned any of that yet. I also know my limitations and tell people straight up if something is beyond my skill set. I had a guy whose basement flooded BADLY and I had to tear out drywall, insulation and pull up all the hardwood flooring and dispose of it. I have sealed and parged foundation from the outside but this guy has 5 cracks we found. I told him this one was a job too big and advanced for me but when it comes time to refinish the basement, I can install the insulation, the drywall and the flooring but I wont touch the electricals.Hopefully his insurance will cover it and he can get pros to come in and do it. There's some guys thinking they can seal the foundation from the inside but I have no idea how they'd do that. It doesn't sound right to me but I am not a pro at these things.
Stanley, on this job, because of the loads involved, could a contractor use some sort of screw pile screwed under the driveway and the garage? Then attach the retaining wall to the screw piles? Not as good as geo grid but is this something that could be done? I'm a farmer not a contractor, so this project got me wondering if something like that would work.
Actually yes- you could do that-it just wouldn't be my first choice as you would have to use a timber wall or a solid poured wall then.
Amazing how they had no base material. No wonder there are so many retaining walls failing in our area
What is the best material to use for base aggregate?
I remember what the original version. Time flys
and I wanted to thank you I see every one of your videos that come out and I think you do a great job and explaining everything in those videos including the one that you had to take off and blur when you put that I sent that to at least four of my friends that I know on businesses even not in the same field landscaping or hardscaping think that is BS although I could have just listened to you without seeing anything and I would have still appreciated what you told me because you would not believe how many people go through that I went to a customer's house that we have serviced before and they did not want to pay what I would charge them to do the work so I recommended that they go with a cheaper route I also told them that you get what you pay for the guy called me back 3 Days Later pissed off at me for the s*** work that guy did all I could tell him as if you had the money to pay me I guarantee it would have been no problem
I had almost the same thing happen- maybe I need to make a new video on that haha.
In sweden we'd excavate all the way to the garage and drain it properly and then "rebuild" the ground with new material and proper drainage and rebuild the wall.
Who were the attorneys representing and what was the issue they had with your video?
Your the man
most cases you can't just move the wall out. most wall between property's are already set back 6 inches from the property line. as required. if you move the wall out on to the next property even with permit ion from that land owner and they signed an agreement a lowing it. later that land owner ether was sold to someone else or the organ al owner no longer alive and family takes over and now wants that wall remover by that contractor. the contractor loss in court every time an not only has to remove the wall and repair the properties but is also give a large fine.... keep in mind just because you have a signed contract don't mean crap. the courts and the BBB always has rules that back the customer every time. with some numbered rules that faves the consumer all the time. in most cases they refer to a text line that has to be in the contract. even tho your contracts were write by your lawyer. it's never covers the contractor. everything from deposits to removing a job.i have found you would need a 15 page contract to totaly protect the contractor and customer. was not long ago. we did a job for a customer. that wanted a good price for there 18,000 job. to the point in the contract she didn't care when the job was completed. as long as it was done before the snow Flys. she insisted on paying the whole cost up front. in hind sight I should have never taken full payment. we did this job in steps when work was slow to keep my guys working. after the job was completed. a month later I get a letter telling me. I didn't supply the product to the customer with in the 30 day time limit after full payment. what th ggggg. I called the BBB Tryed to talk to them. but no I was in fall to supply the goods or service under code number bla bla. they took me to court for the full refund. plus 10,000 in damages. what damages I asked? stress .. hard ship. well the judge awarded her everything plus court costs. that was her intention all along by paying every cent up front. to get her job done free plus make 10000
Wow some people's kids
I have turned down alot of hardscaping jobs. Alot of work for a solo lawn guy. I did do a small paver patio for a client but explained I never done one before. We used EZ base (foam type boards) Are they any good? It was the clients idea.
I have never use that system is an underlayment for a patio. The only place I would try it would be at my own house before I could make a recommendation to use it on the clients job.
Random but what size pipe/tubing do you use for screed rails. I bought 1 inch diameter but it seemed like they took alot of sand. If I were to do it again I think I would go 1/2 inch or 3/4. PS Feels like a celebrity just replied to me... AWESOME!!!
On my instagram we are putting in a paver patio and I am updating that. In fact I just did a shoot on screed rails. Check that out and it will hopefully help out. The link is in this videos description.
Wait I’m confused, was the footage blurred intentionally or no?
Just as important when asking questions is LISTENING. Of the three contractors we called one got it right. Redoing our backyard and looking to installing DG(decomposed granite). His reply 4" base with 2" DG and drainage at the base of the slope (in my case) to the street.
Listening to him one got the impression it was a second language without hesitation. I knew I had my guy. He also asked my about my yard where the water "pooled" as he saw moss in the grass and was "reading" the landscape. Stomping around like T-Rex he took measurements and drew on graph paper asking me a lot of questions. Not rude but in a easy going manner.
Why? So we were on the same page and no surprises would come up between what I envisioned and the end result.
It won't be cheap but I know it'll be done right. Oh btw the estimate took about 40 minutes of Q&A back and forth asking the right questions and concerns. That's your FIRST clue. Not ten minutes and the guy nods after listening to you "we can do it...$15k please".
Wow dude. All it takes is working for a legitimate company for a year or so to learn this stuff. That's just crazy. How are these people a business.
this reminded me of a job we got because the customer was smarter than the "cheep guy" and saw what kind of building practices they had. so he told them to take down and out what they had built (they already had the "wrong" trusses at the job even!) and then hired us to build it correctly.
Fixing others mistakes can be a big part of business.
I did a big mistake and a "bad job" and the customer isnt happy...how do i make him less angry and fix the problem ? im currently broke but i told him i will do my best to fix the problem but im definitely upset with myself for not doing a good job
If there are zero to minimal material cost to fix the problem, than give them free time and fix it if it is your mistake.
If there is a cost you can't handle, try to get the client to pay for it (it may be cheaper for them in the long run) but still use your free labor. You can offer them free yard services to make up what they spent to fix the issue.
If that doesn't work, make an arrangement with a qualified company to fix your mistake and offer to work off their expenses for them as a crew member. If you go this route you'll learn a few things, humility, always do good work, and also how to do jobs better because the company will be training you while you're paying them back.
Good luck.
just from what you said it would fail an inspection
Stanley for President!
mbibace That would be cool...but The Rock might take the Win! lol
sA
stan i would like your advise on building a putting green for a custumer ..so far i been told to stay oway from something like that because of all the maintance it would need
I have never built one. Thats outside my knowledge base.
Lol all the lawns in my neighbourhood looks like putting greens. Just pay around 2-3k a year just to maintain their lawn
Base aggregate wouldn't satisfy code in my area
love it
Thanks brother😄‼️
I'm sorry. The theory of a batter can be found in any book. You don't need years of experience. Batters were used in castles. Appropriate drainage was the issue here.
Like your videos smart and funny....
how do you, how much material you need?
I use formulas to calculate that out.
What do you do if you have a property line to deal with and you can only go so far?
Take that into account during the planning stage.
Okay let me reword the question. What would you recommend if the property line was right where the existing wall is? For example is you had an immovable le structure and only a couple feet between that and the property line. The reason I am asking is because I did a project similar to this and I ended up using timbers and drilling deadmen in horizontally. I didn't feel safe using a SRW in that instance. I also noticed in the video that the downspouts were draining to that side of the house which might have increased that hydrostatic pressure. Thanks for all your input towards the community. -Tom
+Thomas David either the neighbors will have to work together or move the wall out from the property line.
same thing that happened to our roof after 2 year we had a leak our old house was 90 years old never had a leak
What happened then?
There's 3 options... quality, speed, and price. you can pick 2, so a quality and cheap contractor does exist, they're just not going to get to your job very quick.
Gotta love America, well before everyone got sue happy, some lawyers are such mucking forons
Oh that is the best one yet -or I could say mocking for Ron's - I got to use that one😂
hi Stan I consider myself a pretty handy guy when I cant do something at my my own home I won't hire someone unless I've seen their work even the stuff I can't do I know most of the basics and how it should be done and I'm also that customer that stands over your shoulder the entire time you're working and make sure you do it the way they explained or what I know is right I think a good thing to ask is if they have pictures even though you can't get everything from pictures you can see some of the quality aspects every one who has a company should take pictures of their jobs when finished not just to show future customers but to show previous customers when they say something is wrong and you can go back to the picture and show them no it's not it was fine until you hired that other a******
It's now my policy to take before during and after pictures on every job site.
This will be interesting to see what happens- I wonder if this is the contractor that did the work?
THIS WAS POSTED YESTERDAY:
FROM: Kyle Smith 1 day ago
+Stanley "Dirt Monkey" Genadek you will be getting a letter from my lawyer soon
Reply ·
▼
FROM: Kyle Smith 1 day ago
+Stanley "Dirt Monkey" Genadek ass hole
AND MORE:
Kyle Smith 2 days ago
Stan you will be working for me soon you goof better smarten up
Stan this guy is a dumbass!
Watch 'Primitive technologies'
love the finger lol
Ha ha that was just an itchy face😜
Those guys did not know how to build a retaining wall no gravel base no drainage no geo grid to hold stones that was going to be a huge fail
Qualified landscaper you say!
Don't make me giggle.
I ran into this on many jobs cheap inexperienced contractors under bidding my estimate getting the job screwing up the job then getting a nother call to come out for free to consult and render my opinion on repairs.l don't treat these guys quite as nicely i am afraid.l always on retaining walls either give the manufactors guidelines or a website were the homeowner can research for themselves the recommended procedures from the manufacturer.This shows anyone that can read the proper steps there is no excuse for an I'll informed home owner these days do your due diligence and you will only have to do it once.
Expensive yes, but possible major urban centres do it all the time, just pay the engineers
if they aren't competent to do a right job how the hell the state give to contractor a license then? in my opinion is people get what they pay for 💵💵💵💵
because I seen the very first video definitely know that that guy's family didn't build the Great Wall of China
Haha😄👍
Grass cutters playing legos. 🙄
On another note, in 2021, cut your hair hippie. 😆🤭
Love the vids.
Cool cat!!!
FREE SPEECH
I was wondering why the Instagram video was removed. I made a few comments on that video. This is the problem now a days. We honest, hardworking, educated companies are loosing jobs to these Inexperienced jobs. This causes Issues with customers not wanting to trust us honest, experienced workers.
Thats why I made this video- to help clarify the difference.
Good work ain't cheap
Cheap work ain't good
Wow base they just level off ground ran string line going use on site back fill yes wall needs move out better grade on base good man for stopping helping not to many people do that now days only way those guys going learn.Yes get what you pay for.
These are the smaller projects these companies love low ball people on to get their foot in the door. Also larger companies look for small projects that they dont have to send a higher paid qualified workers to. Im guessing the two guys in the videos are just $10 an hour laborers and just know how to do whatever their project manager tells them to do.
That may be true. I'm not sure if there pay or expertise but they sure had their work cut out for them.
Isn't this the job that needed a berm?