Matt Peak
1/5
We hired Black Diamond for a very large project: A complete redo of our front and back yards. Yet not long after beginning our project, we realized our mistake. From the beginning, our project was plagued by an absence of governance, poor quality workmanship and a lack of project management.
In hindsight, the warning signs were present from the beginning. The contract was poorly written, with ambiguous language, conflicting statements and inappropriate terms. For example, buried deep is language that voids the warranty of the driveway pavers should a typical pickup truck drive on them. Even after the contract's execution, Black Diamond gave little regard to its terms. For example, we negotiated the pricing of prospective contract modifications and included these details in our contract so that we wouldn't be distracted by this process should we wish to change our scope of work. A modification did come up, but Black Diamond billed us according to their normal (higher) rates and terms, thus prompting time-consuming and distracting discussions and negotiations to resolve the issue.
When it came to the project buildout itself, we experienced a litany of issues and aggravations from the very beginning through the end. These issues were meaningful, occurred repeatedly, added up to a significant amount of time, and in several cases were material to the project's outcome. A short-list of issues include: removal of the wrong plants on our property that we wanted to keep; garbage and litter strewn throughout the worksite and into the street; poor quality craftsmanship resulting in incorrectly designed and installed items; incorrect drainage design and installation; damaged personal property; use of defective parts and replacement of those defective parts with more defective parts; unaddressed sewage from the porta potty; and on and on.
Perhaps the core problem with Black Diamond is that it's hard to know where the "buck stops". Black Diamond subcontracts out the primary on-site work to other landscape construction firms. Thus, we thought that one of Black Diamond's core value-adds would be project management, including managing the subcontractor by undertaking responsibilities such as overseeing their work, double-checking their work quality, and ensuring we received a high-quality deliverable according to specifications.
Yet when quality of work issues arose, as they did frequently, it was on our shoulders to identify the problems and bring them to attention. Black Diamond seem to put little effort into quality control. When we brought problems to Black Diamond's attention, it seems their sole action was to simply pass along our words to the subcontractor. That was the apparent extent of their actions. It thus remained on our shoulders to oversee the subcontractor's corrections and to ensure they were actually completed. This made us wonder what it was we were paying for with Black Diamond. It would have saved significant money and perhaps even improved the project execution had we simply hired a subcontractor directly.
Since completion, we've repeatedly had problems with plants that were either defective when planted, or planted incorrectly, thereby stunting their growth or killing them. The plants come with a limited duration warranty, so we had them replaced during this window of time. Yet when the replacement plants failed to grow or starting to die off as well, Black Diamond refused to address the underlying cause of this repeated issue, despite the fact that we repeatedly brought it to their attention and sought resolution during the warranty window.
We write this review reluctantly. This yard project was the retirement dream of an elderly man. We desperately wanted to love it. But the fact is, dealing with Black Diamond was tedious, exhausting, stressful, and disappointing. It was an eight-month source of anxiety and stress. We hope that our words prompt prospective customers to give more consideration to alternatives to Black Diamond, a suggestion we wish we had received in advance of our selection.
