I should start by saying that part of the responsibility for the problems we encountered may have been avoided. I knew that Sandy's Nursery was a well-established, long-standing business in Tillamook, OR. Based on that, I unfortunately & erroneously assumed, that in such a small town, I could take the man at his word. I did not require a contract with Justin Howard until it became too late.
Justin Howard went out to our property & gave us a bid to install a chain link fence. His bid (by text) was very high. He provided us with separate estimate of "$60/hour per guy" for clearing the fence line. Justine indicated (by text) that he thought the guys could do it in a day or 2, and that it would run us between "$1200-$1500" "plus dump fees". We happily made the arrangements for his guys to start the following Monday. Justin was aware that we had a fast approaching deadline to meet.
When his guys came out, Justin hadn't told them what the job entailed. After looking at the job themselves, they said that it would take at least 3 1/2-4 1/2 days.
I contacted Justin and let him know that the guys were doing a very good job. And I wanted to be sure that they had updated him with their estimate for completing the job. I let him know that I was "hoping that the final bill will remain in close vicinity to your estimate of $1500.00".
And then the real problems began. Justin stated that his guys would be busy doing another job for the next few days. After a very long and heated phone conversation, Justin stated that the estimate he provided was "just a guess" & that he didn't really know how long the job would take. He refused to keep his word, to stand by the estimate. He stated that in order to complete the job, we would need to settle-up by paying the agreed upon hourly rate at the end of each day. I agreed & asked Justin to provide us with an actual contract.
Finally, he acquiesced to the guys returning the next day to complete the job in the required timeline.
When I received the "contract", the number of hours listed were inaccurate & Justin had added additional fees that he had never mentioned or discussed. I paid the guys at the end of their 2nd day & asked that Justin revise the "contract" in order to accurately reflect our conversation. He again became very agitated as evidenced by a text sent stating that he had decided he no longer wanted to work for "anyone that doesn't value us". His guys didn't show up the following day. Justin refused to return any further texts or calls. It took him 2 full days just to provide a receipt for the cash payment.
In my opinion, when someone gives you their word, you should be able to have confidence that they will follow through with what they have agreed upon. Unfortunately, Justin Howard can not be trusted to keep his word.
This review does not and should not reflect the work done by the two gentlemen that came out and worked to clear the fence line. They are very hard workers and were extremely reliable. I would strongly recommend them for a work project.
I wish I could say the same for Justin Howard and Sandy's Nursery & Landscaping. read more
