Maryland Deck and Shed

If you would like to see pictures of the problems described in this review, go to: http://s77.photobucket.com/user/rbranzell/library/Maryland%20Deck%20and%20Shed. You can click on the individual photos to enlarge and see detail.
We had a Brazilian hardwood deck, stone walkway, and stone retaining wall installed in late summer of 2014. Almost immediately problems arose. Stones started to detach from the walkway. The retaining wall started to lean. Balusters came out of the railing on one side of the steps (we also noticed that one step rail had seven balusters while the other had eight). In November MD&S told us that the problems would be fixed “as soon as possible”. Nothing happened. In mid-April of 2015, we contacted MD&S to see when they would be out to fix the issues previously noted, as well as new issues that had arisen: the trim around the posts had detached (it had simply been glued on), we had discovered that the bottom rail on one side of the steps was not fastened to the post, and some of the boards on the deck were starting to shift/buckle. It took until almost mid-June to get someone out to look at the deck and stonework. MD&S agreed to replace some defective boards (both on the railing & the deck), fasten down the warped/buckled boards on the deck; fix the handrail, and repair the stonework. It took until late July to get the stonework repaired and the retaining wall removed and reinstalled. As of this writing, some of the stones are again detaching (or were never re-attached) on both the walkway and the retaining wall. In late August the rail with the broken balusters was finally attached to the post and the defective rail board was replaced.
As this summer wore on, many of the boards on the deck shifted creating gaps of up to ½ inch or more between the boards and many more warped/buckled, creating a very uneven surface. We did some research. EB-TY fasteners were used to hold the deck boards to the joists. EB-TY’s installation instructions state that one fastener should be used at every junction of board & joist. For a deck of our size, 784 fasteners were required. Further, when the fasteners are properly installed, there should only be a 3/16th gap between the boards. Only 350 fasteners were used on our deck. When we brought this to the attention of MD&S, we were told. “Our standard spacing is every 24" on every joist where possible, and screwed ends.” This works out to 1 fastener on every other joist (our joists are every 12 inches). Even if that had been sufficient to hold the wood down/in place, we counted 15 instances where the gap between fasteners was greater than 24”. On one end of the deck, none of the boards are screwed down. At the other end, only 7 boards have one screw each at the end. MD&S is blaming the warping & shifting on a bad batch of wood (which is not under warranty). Although they agreed to come out and take a look, that hasn’t happened.
Under the contract, MD&S was obligated to “schedule and obtain, any required inspections, permits, approvals and/or easements.” In early May of this year we discovered that a final inspection had never been scheduled/performed. We also discovered that the footing inspection had never been filed. When we asked MD&S to do so, they simply sent us a copy of the inspection that was done by their inspector. We scheduled a final inspection ourselves and on 8/31/15. The deck failed: there are not enough bolts in the ledger-board holding the deck to house; at one end of the deck the rail posts were not attached properly to frame; there is no graspable handrail; and it appears that no permit was filed for the electrical work that was done. We contacted MD&S about the failed inspection. On September 1st we were told: “Let's handle that this week my repair crew should be done another job tomorrow and be ready to come to your house.” We are still waiting.