For $2800 Steve R., owner of CCL & Bobcat Services was to create a "lawn" 16' x 80' intended to flatten out the edge of a steep slope behind my walkout basement. The original flattish area to be further flattened and extended was only a few feet beyond my deck posts, which I wanted to make more stable by adding gravel, but he wanted to use topsoil. I did not want the extra expense of using topsoil to fill in part of a slope but he suggested it would be better that way because then I could plant shrubs along the edge, which would need deeper soil than grass. On the existing flattish area he was to further level it with at least 4" of topsoil and plant grass on the whole area. Sounds ok but that is not what I got. When I complained, prior to paying him, he came back and used MY OWN pressure treated boards and MY OWN rebar to create a barrier a short distance down the side of the slope so he could fill it in with topsoil to bring it level, as he had failed to do on the first attempt. (On his first attempt he simply spread 3 or 4 inches of topsoil on the existing "flattish" area, continuing on down the adjacent steep slope in order to come up with the 16' indicated in the contract.) THE AREA WAS STILL NOT FLAT/LEVEL and ONLY 14' WIDE, NOT 16' AS INDICATED IN THE CONTRACT but I was tired of fighting with him so I paid him. I should say that prior to installing the topsoil over my gravel, he had his 2 helpers go in with weed whackers and cut back all of the many weeds that covered the gravel. I told him that did not seem correct, won't the weeds grow back through the soil. He said no, they won't grow back through 4" of topsoil. They did. Besides that, after he put down the grass seed (which he also got all over the small stones I had spread under my deck which I now have to apply weed killer on) and pellet fertilizer, he blew chopped straw over it all and put it down too thick on about 40% of the area which is now mostly BARREN of grass. Not even the weeds all grew back through it. I called him several times and he was not answering his cell phone nor returning the several messages I left on his cell phone and on his business phone. I left messages asking him to pull up the weeds that had all grown back when he said they would not. I asked him what to do about all the barren spots where no grass grew. I asked him to at least call me to tell me how to get hold of the same grass seed so I could fill in the bare spots. He never returned any calls and I have given up. I have posted photos of the final result of his work so that anyone thinking of using his services can actually see what they might expect as a final product. Of course this is all only my opinion and maybe someone else might think he did a fine job. Note that I have never cut this "grass" because I expected him to respond to my messages and come to see the weeds. I guess I can safely try to address the issues myself because he became unreachable after he got his money. He evidently has no interest in correcting anything. read more