Newcomb Outdoors

I paid Mr. DeAngelo $24,600 to replace my patio. The patio was installed incorrectly so water stands in areas causing mold in one place and allows water to sit at my French doors which will ultimately cause wood rot. Mr. DeAngelo repeatedly lied to me stating he had my hand rail then saying it was on backorder, then saying he hired a fence company to come and install my hand rail. He knew from the beginning of the project how important the handrail is to me. I have begged and pleaded with him to at least install the hand rail to no avail. His work product is inferior. I would never recommend him or his company for any type of work.

We hired Newcomb Outdoors to clear our bank of trees and install rip-rap on our bank to prevent further erosion. This is not a positive review. They are not bad people, but their work falls far short of what we expected for the $41,000 we paid them. Here is a step by step analysis of our experience with Newcomb Outdoors.

1. Failure to file a permit with required documentation. Delayed project by two months.

Tony the owner was to submit an application with the state documenting the entire project. He left out critical information, so the permit was put on the shelf for two months. Our project that could have begun in September was now delayed until November.

2. Clearing bank of trees and vegetation. Good job of removing trees and leveling bank for rip rap installation. No real complaints.

3. Failure to use proper geosynthetic material on top of bank. Epic failure. Contract required them to use 2 layers of heavy geosynthetic material on top of bank to prevent

future growth of weeds etc. They used one layer of cheap fabric instead of the two layers of geosynthetic fabric specified in contract. The fabric ripped and moved when rock was applied and 60 days later we have a nice growth of weeds that will need to be constantly treated. This is not rocket science. Attention to detail is not their core strength.

4. Installing rip rap. No real complaint. We have a nice amount of rock, See #3.

5. Communication and customer service. Big failure. Project began mid November. We had a 10 day window of great weather. Four days into the project, work just stopped without immediate explanation. We were to learn that the owner had gone to Florida to view a wrestling tournament. Nothing happened for four days and then it began to rain and rain. We had a mountain of rock on our lawn, and it was now too muddy to get heavy equipment in to install the rest of the rock. Our project was delayed by the weather until mid-March. Our entire yard was a sea of mud and rock for four months. Had they stayed on the job, our project could have been easily completed on time.

6. Finishing the job. Failure. Once work resumed, we had rock all over our muddy yard and 12" deep tire tracks in our lawn. They made an effort to remove some of the rocks, but hundreds remained in clear sight. They seeded the ground and rocks and covered it with straw. I later removed 7 wheelbarrows of rocks from the land they had just seeded.

7. Final thoughts. If your project requires any "attention to detail or a high level of customer service" go elsewhere. Think of them as an excavation company that can move rock or pull out trees. They just do not take the time or make the effort to complete the work properly. They have a nice fancy website, but it is not an indication of quality of work you can expect from Newcomb Outdoors. The people are fine, but the quality of work certainly needs improvement. We used them for 3 projects and each one now has problems.

1. Install French Drain: French drain works well, but they were to also connect the rain gutters and run the water to the bank. We just learned that this was never done. We just hired another contractor to correct the issue. Cost to us $1100.

2. Install paver patio, retaining wall and paver path. Retaining wall improperly installed and tilted after a few months. We were told it would be fixed along with the rip-rap project, but owner balked at doing the work. We hired another contractor to install a new wall. Cost to us $2800. We initially gave them a nice review, but we would adjust our rating from 5 stars to 2 stars.

3. Rip-Rap: See above