I would not recommend you hire this contractor especially in the area of Masonry. In talking with Luis, business owner, at time of hire I specifically asked for 4 retaining walls. Luis assured me his team had Masonry experience and would provide professional quality workmanship. Luis and I were able to work together on my first concern (picture attached) I came home disheartened to find first run placement and mortar joints were not of quality workmanship. My second concern was I asked for PVC sleeves to be installed at time of wall build for a new dripper system to be placed by another contractor. The walls that had pipe placed were not usable and the wall in which the pipe was forgotten Luis team cut a square hole in first run (picture attached) which ruined the esthetics and completely unusable as PVC pipe is ran underground all of which I would expect a professional landscaper that does complete remodels to know. My third concern was vertical rebar was not placed at time of foundation pour. I called 2 contractors on this they both stated that ideally most contractors will place vertical rebar and tie to horizontal rebar at time of foundation pour for strength but technically you could install after pour. Contractors both stated vertical rebar would need to be drilled down properly and epoxied into footer, when I talked to Luis on this before he installed vertical rebar he disagreed with what the contractors told me he stated he hammers in and that is stronger. My fourth concern was Luis had poured fresh mortar late afternoon on February 20th, rain hit the valley hard starting that evening for a couple days at which time Luis did not call or come over to check on and/or cover walls. After this fourth concern as any homeowner would do I lost a little faith so I started educating myself on retaining walls. This led to some significant concerns on the foundational components of the walls Luis built which two experienced contractors came over and confirmed. Luis and I did not agree on foundational concerns and the importance of drainage, our only option was to part ways. I have since had to have the walls removed and redone. A proper footer and rebar are essential to a retaining walls strength and durability. My concerns were confirmed at time of removal inclusive of shallow trenches, round footers, horizontal rebar placed on bottom of footer, horizontal rebar placed on top of footer, and thin footers ranged from 2-4 inches each piece inconsistent. There are a handful of other items that in my opinion would fall under poor workmanship pertaining to the walls Luis and his team built all of which I have pictures and video to substantiate this review.
