City of Trees Construction

We had literally just as had as bad of an experience as the above (maybe worse) with Brandon and his crew from the City of Trees Construction.

We hired them to do a fairly large job this last December where they poured an additional car pad, 40 foot side RV pad and a large curved sidewalk and stamped concrete trim outside our current driveway.

I will say that Brandon and his team were nice and courteous at times and initially gave us the impression that they were professionals. The quality of the concrete and surface work appears to be well done, but that's where the quality ends.

The first major issue was they cut nearly a foot into our neighbors grass when using the sod cutter for the car pad even after I clearly showed where the property line was. They filled up that ugly line with crappy rocks and dried concrete sludge. Literally the worst looking cleanup job ever. They also left a 3 inch line on one side of our driveway where the stamped concrete was, doing the same ugly rocks and concrete sludge in those places to hide it.

I wish I could post the pictures taken as it looks so bad. They were supposed to properly move our sprinkler heads with this bid and not only did they not do this properly, but they left a huge sprinkler head fully sitting above ground all winter and far worse, when we started our sprinklers a week ago, a ton of water was pouring out the side of our car pad!! They literally sheered off the sprinklers underneath the pad they used the sod cutter then poured and when I texted Brandon, furious about it, he casually stated that it happens all the time during winter construction since they can't dig deep into frozen ground. Why in the world would they have quoted us to do this when they knew this would happen?

So now, we are stuck with a side yard we cannot even water because of flooding under the car pad and they didn't even show up this weekend when Brandon committed to come out and fix it.

On top of that, their concrete pouring partner drove their huge cement truck onto our driveway and made two 20 inch cracks that we have to look at every day in a brand new neighborhood. Brandon offered to fix that by cutting sections out and pouring concrete in to replace it but that would clearly never match up.

And finally, I had to spend 2 days cleaning up after their team where they left screws from the forms all over the yard (I'm still finding more months later) and they even splattered concrete sludge up the side of our garage about 2 feet high all down the 40 foot section.

Just an absolute miserable experience. You can tell Brandon has the experience to do good work, but you can also tell they work too quickly and don't care about the final cleanup or following through on mistakes they've made and he was even combative with me when I would express concerns with him throughout the project.

There are so many better options out there. Buyer Beware.

I found this business on FB and I hired him to finish a job that another contractor didn't finish.
Brandon the owner of this business came to my house to give me an estimate and and after talking to my husband, I told Brandon that we wanted him to finish the work and he required part of the money upfront when they would work on the concrete and the rest once it was finished.
When Brandon gave me the estimate he mentioned that since the area was already prepared to pour the concrete that he would give me a discount and he would use the existing materials and he knocked off $200 of the price.
His friend sent an invoice of what would be the total price and it was what he quoted me but it had a note that he wanted the materials left by the other contractor and my husband asked me to tell Brandon next time I'd see him that he could not take the materials away, only use them for the work that needed to be done.
Then the day came and told Brandon that he could not take the materials away, and only used them to do the work and he said he thought I agreed to do that and I told him if we get to keep them after we settle that in court for the other contractor then we would decide what to do and and he didn't say anything else, so him and his 3 young helpers did pour the concrete in the backyard for the patio concrete on one half and did the other half the next day, and I had the sprinklers heads flagged but they didn't care and kept stepping on them and even poured concrete on one of them, so I had to clean it and put the flag up again...and when he was done for the day I gave him a check to pay him for the part of the money that he requested to be paid upfront
When they were going to pour the concrete on the second half, there was a firepit that needed the cardboard taken off and Brandon did take them off along with the forms and he told one of his helpers to clean the area and to take those forms, and I saw that but I didn't think he would take them to his trailer instead, because I didn't see them around later on...so that was another issue.,
Then when the other half of the concrete was done he then needed to pour another section of concrete on the side of the house that goes to the front and they didn't do it, and I asked him about it and he said that he didn't bring any materials to do the front and side so he wasted that concrete and that he lost $300 on that and told me not to worry about it, and then I went to look around the house and I saw concrete dumped on one side of the house where I have my plants and a young tree and I told brandon about it and he did clean it up a little bit only so when he left I went to clean it myself and I used a lot water to wash away all the concrete and residue left so my plants and young tree wouldn't die later on...another issue.
Then came back another day to seal the concrete but it was not possible due to the weather so he chatted with us instead and didn't mention anything about wanting to charge more money and we mentioned to him again that he could use the existing materials left from the other contractor but not to take them away because they are not ours and he said he was ok with that.
Then when he came over to pour the concrete on the side and front of the house and there was a sprinkler head that got buried in concrete and I went and tried to clean it and he told me he would do that later but he did not! so I had to clean it as much as I could...add another issue...
When they were doing the concrete this time the concrete truck got parked too close to my vehicle on the driveway and I asked him to be careful and if I needed to cover my car and he said no, that it would be fine, but I went to look at it and it had speckles of concrete so I went to get the hose and I rinsed it up...I don't have a junk car, so of course I had to clean my vehicle.
Now , after they were done pouring the concrete and sealing the concrete patio, I saw that he only used a spray paint to stain the border of the concrete and then use the same sealant on that area...I guess you get what you paid for...and here is the final issue: I gave him the second check for the final payment and that is when he mentioned to me that he wanted extra money: $400 for the alleged discount he gave me plus $300 for the concrete that he wasted and could not use because he had no materials for the forms that day and thought he could use the ones I had laying around on the side of the house...he was supposed to have his own materials for that area that needed to be done and we had nothing prepared on that area by the way, other than leveled dirt on and he saw it and was aware of that and yet he didn't take the needed materials for that section of the house and wanted to blame me for his mishaps...and after talking to my husband I told Brandon that he got paid in full and there is no other money to be paid and Brandon said he will put a lien on the house if we don't pay him...BEWARE OF THIS CONTRACTOR