Neighbors and Pool Installation (LONG)

[gonefishin]

I hate to say it...

But it seems like they may be going after you for an entire new lawn (and possibly landscaping as well), due to the sprinkler system being down. You have bent over backwards, but it was not good enough. I've no doubt that whatever agreement you come to will never be good enough and that as long as you continue to "make good" that you will prolong your own agony...and (I'd bet) they'll continue to throw more and more demands at you as well.

I would kindly inform them that you will not be continuing with this any more. I would offer up no explanations or appologies...it seems that this will only add fuel for them to come at you with further demands.

I'd also seek legal advice on how to bring this to an end.

good luck,
dan

[momof2grlz]

Wow! What a couple of wackos. We haven't started construction of our pool yet, but I hope our "good" neighbor doesn't turn out like yours. Before I spent another dime on sprinkler repairs and pineapple plants, I would spend money to consult with an attorney. I'll bet once he sends them a nice letter indicating that you are willing to return their property to its original condition -and nothing more, their shenanigans will stop. I'm sure he will also point out their duty to mitigate any damage. In other words they can't refuse to run their entire sprinkler system and let their yard die because of a couple of broken sprinkler heads and then expect you to replace their yard.

I wouldn't worry about trying to appease these people any more. After everything they've put you through, I doubt you're ever going to be one big, happy Wisteria Lane neighborhood.

[tenax]

i agree that it's time to take it to an attorney. likely for 150 dollars max you can get a letter from the lawyer to them if you provide a quick chronological sequence of events from start to present on paper. i'm not a lawyer, but have been involved enough with lawyers/hr folk in issues with people who work for me or my reports to know that:

a) when someone starts putting things on paper, there's a reason.

b) there is also a reason that they pepper with words like "anxiety".

a few bucks now will safeguard you down the road from any potentially more expensive issues.

[Simmons99]

Update - met with the guy tonight and took video of all the sprinklers working correctly - he still seems to think that the grade is not right. So we are going to move some dirt, but it looks like it is draining correctly. We live in a swamp that was filled to build houses, so the drainage is not great anyway.

Gas company rescheduled us until next Tuesday - so we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

[CarlD]

This is so sad. All the drainage problems I had with my three neighbors at the back corner of my property are all nicely resolved. We worked it out, I don't believe there are any hard feelings, and it's all done. I literally had a swamp growing because the landscaper popped open and artesian spring, and walked away. The customer (my neighbor) also had a soggy yard so solving HIS problems with the landscaper solved part of mine. The rest were solved by me splitting repairs with my next door neighbor and the catty-corner one having HIS landscaper adjust things.

Sometimes people ARE better than you expect. Sometimes they are worse.

[tenax]

meant to mention having read the letter they provided to you that at least on paper they still appear to be relatively cordial (More cordial than i thought they would be at given the situations you've had with them)..but, it still appears this issue is being "papered" for backup if necessary.

[Unabomber007]

You have a LOT of patience!

I would have told my neighbor, "Suck it, Trebeck!" a long time ago.

[Simmons99]

Now they have called the city building department about the grade being incorrect. The only reason I know about it is because the head inspector for the building department went to high school with our project manager. I have no idea what this guy expects...

The pool builder tells me that the grade matches the initial survey on our property - but DH and I will check it tonight anyway - How do you determine height without a surveyor? My foundation is supposed to be at 16.33' and the side yard is supposed to be at 15.5' - do I take a stake and run a string and measure the difference?

Neighbor guy left a couple of voice mails on my cell this morning (I was in meetings) about how rude our sprinkler people were and that they don't return his calls - then they call him at work and yell at him...

I call him back and he starts ranting - so I say "well there are always to sides to the story, but I am sorry that he upset you - but from what I understand the sprinkler head that was broken is already fixed" He continues with - "he called me at work!" - I apologize again (god I hate these people) - I get him to agree that he will meet up with us tonight to make sure that the installation is acceptable. Probably won't be - but at least we can come to an agreement - and I will send it over in writing. Then if they keep it up - I will have our attorney issue them a letter to send all correspondence through him - This is such a pain