Destra Solutions and Earth Management

Used John At Destra Solutions and we were very pleased! He came to our house after having multiple tons of earth and boulders dropped into my front yard by a transport company. He then took my vision for how it should look and enhanced it by adding landscape features that would greatly improve overall drainage. Now water sheds like never before! Also removed several trees with very little impact on our natural setting. I will use him again whenever I need this kind of work in the future!

We needed our yard graded, leveled and have topsoil distributed so that we could seed in the fall. We began this process in May, it is now August. From the onset things did not go smoothly. Many excuses followed one after another as to why it was taking so long to get the job done. When he did finally get the job done we unfortunately were not home that day. When we got home we could not understand why such a poor job was done and why he insisted it was complete. First and foremost, we ordered 67 cubic yards of topsoil. I argued with him regarding the amount of soil and he assured me that he was not trying to cheat me out of soil. But in retrospect, and with many calculations trying to make the numbers work, at best we had 35 cubic yards of soil delivered. This assumes that I spread the soil to 6 inches in depth. But honestly, it was about 4. If there was 67 cubic yards in the area that the soil was spread it would be 10 inches in depth! It is certainly not that. Two other landscape companies confirmed that. The contract stated 5.5 loads of 12 cubic yards of topsoil be delivered. From some research I learned that the gooseneck dump trailers are not capable of carrying 12 cubic yards (approximately 12 tons, or 24K pounds) of soil. He stated that this was possible. He did bring 5.5 loads of dirt, at most it was probably 6 cubic yards per load. When we discussed our issues he stated that he did the job stated and that if we would like him to make the yard nice we should sign a second contract and he would get the extra soil needed and level to our satisfaction. We felt that he was responsive and we also felt we needed the work done so we reluctantly signed a second contract. He wanted the utility lines marked again and I called for the service that day we signed his contract. He returned the next day and was upset that they were not marked yet and demanded his deposit. I don’t have control of the utility markings, but informed him that the portion of the job requiring the lines to be marked was very small and the rest of the job could be completed without it. He was insistent that they be marked. So rather than waiting for the utility companies to come I dug up a portion and exposed the cable line for a visual reference. This was not adequate for him to begin the job. So in the meantime he began another job and we were put on hold. Then he went on vacation, I thought for one week, however it was for two and he did not inform us how long he would be away until I sent an email with an automatic «I’m out of the office until such and such date» (two weeks later). Needless to say I did not hear from him regarding my concerns until a week after his supposed return from vacation with an email stating that he is voiding the second contract and will charge us 30% plus administration fees. The administration fees alone turned out to be $ 250 and he was going to write us a check back for $ 10 from our total deposit. We still have not received such a check. I wrote back and said that he can’t do that and that he needed to contact me regarding our concerns before he voided the contract. He said he tried calling, but I received no calls or messages from him regarding this matter. I tried calling but he would not return my calls. The only reply was that he felt the situation could not be solved amicably and that he would not return our deposit. So we are left with a yard that still needs all the work done from the beginning with nothing but a big loss of cash for it. John Bartucca will talk your ear off, write diatribes for emails explaining why he can’t get the work complete and ultimately blame the customer for his inability to complete the work. Whatever happened to customer service and trying to work with your customers? This guy cannot do this. He is very unprofessional and in the end very costly.