My neighbor contracted with owner, Aaron Stormont to replace the fence around his back yard and install a concrete stem wall. He asked whether I would be opposed to the stem wall & I decided to also contract for a full back yard fence with Stormont so that ours would be the same.
I paid Stormont $1500 down to get started and told him that I wanted the fence high enough to not be able to see my neighbor's window from my back door, to not poor stem wall where the gates were so I could get my lawnmower through, nothing more than an inch gap at the bottom between the wood panels and the stem wall, and to use quality product. He assured me on several occasions that these requests would be met and that the work of his company was guaranteed.
Stormont had another or others jobs going while doing ours, so he would disappear for days on end. The job drug out for over two months (while the neighbor's pool remained fenceless). I was home from work when he was setting the posts and it had been raining. He dug the holes too deep and the poles were sinking in too far. They were placed in at all different heights. When I reminded him about the height I wanted, he again assured me.
Sometime later, the stem walls began going up. They were crooked and uneven with no footing; the poles ran from side to middle to other side, rather than all being in the middle, and across the gate openings. When my stem wall got to where my neighbor's (other neighbor) driveway was, my stem wall sloped all the way down and disappeared into the driveway, leaving a gap large enough for small dogs, cats, skunks (of which I've had 3 visits thus far), etc. To get through approximately two thirds the length of my backyard. There were clumps of concrete lumped up around the bottom of each post and all over our lawns, and my rose bushes were either covered in concrete or simply smashed my wood panels thrown on them.
I left several voice mails for Stormont requesting a call back. He did not call back but finally answered his phone a few days later and acted as if he didn't know what I was referring to, as he'd not been there, but blamed the mess on the person he contracted with to do the stem walls. He asked me what I wanted him to do and I said, "Make it right and don't do any further work over there until you can meet me there and we can go over it." He assured me he would do both.
I didn't hear from him for a few more days so started calling him again. He neither answered nor returned my calls.
I went home from work one day, the poles had been cut short and the wood panels were up. One of the gate handles/hardware was put on upside down and in other places there were no screws put in at all. Nothing had been done about the concrete mess other than the biggest concrete patties having been scooped up. Again I made attempts to call Stormont but got the same result. Meanwhile, I receive a notice of property lien he had filed against my home for the remaining balance, with the assistance of his brother who is an attorney, in an amount that was considerably more than agreed upon.
I have had two additional fence installation companies come over and both have stated that the work is appalling, that the fence poles are too thin and flimsy for Oklahoma wind, the wood panels are of poor quality, and it would cost many thousands to try to get the concrete abomination out of my yard and put it back to former status.
My neighbors took Stormont to court and won their case. I shall be following suit.
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