Marshall Landscaping

I needed the concrete pad to be strong, and as flat as possible because I planned to use a portable car lift on it.
The quote looked good and professional, and it was clear they understood the work. In their original quote it was stated that reinforcing mesh would be placed in the center of the concrete layer for maximum strength. I also ordered an additional mesh layer. The slab was made by a makeshift method using three wooden boards — two on the sides and one on top — to level the concrete. Marshall, never appeared at the job site even once. Mesh was not placed in the center at all — they simply threw it at the bottom and poured concrete over it. This means the mesh installation violated both parts of the contract. It is hard to imagine doing this by accident — it looked like professionalism in reverse. At the same time, the invoice included a $260 charge for the option of a second mesh layer.
The three workers with only hand tools could not keep up, and the concrete began to set before they finished. By the time they reached the last third, it had hardened enough to walk on without sinking. By that time the truck concrete had already left, and there was not enough mix. Then they started loosening the placed concrete with a hoe to create volume. Of course, the concrete showed settlement. The top surface is uneven, with depressions and dents of different sizes, some of them large but not immediately noticeable. There are no truly flat areas on the pad.
The workers broke my wooden porch. Although the area under it was included in the quote, Marshall stopped the work and demanded $1,700 to move and return it. The porch was light enough for me to move, but I refused this unfair extra demand. Then Marshall told me I would have to put the porch back myself. Instead of moving it carefully, the workers broke it into pieces, tearing off the steps and railings, without my consent and despite my warnings not to break it. They pushed it with a forklift across the ground onto my neighbor’s property, which damaged and loosened the legs and boards. In the evening, they dragged it back, only to repeat the same process the next day, and again on the third day. The estimate for restoring came to $1,767.52, exactly the amount Marshall had demanded, which shows he knew the value in advance and used it as pressure.
In correspondence prior to the work, I specifically asked that the existing electrical grounding system (rods and wires) be preserved. Marshall replied “OK.”
On the morning of the day when the construction began, I once again wrote to Marshall, specifically asking not to damage the grounding system. In that message I explained where the grounding wire was located, how it could be identified, and instructed that it must remain intact during work.
On the evening of the first day of work, I discovered that the grounding system had been completely destroyed. I wrote to Marshall that same evening, but he did not respond. The estimate for restoring came to $465.22.
I also requested a barrier made of yellow posts with a chain between them. Marshall ordered the cheapest thin Chinese posts from Amazon. They even delayed the project for several more days after the slab was finished because apparently this product is not kept in stock. The “chain” turned out to be just a $20 decorative plastic chain, attached to the posts with zip ties. Marshall charged me $384 for this.
In the final invoice I found an extra $500 charge that I had never agreed to. Because of this, and because of the poor quality of the work, I held back the second half of the payment and wrote to Marshall about it. He never asked what was wrong; instead he lost his temper and began sending me letters that I already owed $200 more starting from that day, plus daily late fees, and threatening me with court. It seems this is their usual scenario: they perform substandard work, add extra charges, and then file a lawsuit. They sued me, and I filed a counterclaim. Avoid doing business with this company.