Home warranty can be frustrating - part 2
 

I finally received this letter from home Warranty after refusing to pay the $85 to Tri County Landscapes for inspection of yard for drainage. Tri County was called on 4/6/16 because Warranty would do nothing until Tri County did their thing. I suppose I should be pleased that home Warranty finally did respond after Tri County’s urging. The letter is dated 8/4/16 and the visit to our house was in June as I was back in Ohio all of July.

“Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you last month to inspect your concerns about drainage. Our investigation confirms that the grading of your property is consistent with the Master Grading Plan. The Villages cannot offer warranty service for diminished turf health in the swale areas as this is the responsibility of the homeowner or his/her lawn maintenance company.

I am enclosing the Empire Turf Owner’s Guide that may offer some helpful suggestions on maintaining turf in these moisture prone areas. Thank you for your inquiry.

Ronald G. Hess
Project Manager”

The Tri County person didn’t feel that gutters would solve the problem. When talking to Mr. Hess during his look see, he observed areas that were not draining. I would be happy to replace the grass at my cost if they correct the drainage. Maybe I should ask to see the paperwork of his investigation to help me find answers to prevent moisture prone areas. What are your suggestions?

Just walk down the block and look at our drainage issues to see how far we got. We did get about 50% improvement by having the yard core aerated and top dressed a few times (at our own expense, of course). Rumor has it they are putting French drains in all new construction over by Pine Ridge.

We had a similar problem with the area between out 2 houses being very wet. It turns out that the irrigation was to blame. My neighbor was over watering due to incorrect settings on the controller, and I had a broken sprinkler head. Jim Baumgardener was very helpful in finding the problem. I was sure that there was a broken pipe. You might want to check both irrigation systems.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice but that is the first thing everyone (Tri County & Warranty) checks. Our next door neighbor is with us on this one and is hoping for a solution.

This is called obfuscation....

And one should eschew obfuscation.

Since irrigation was checked, did anyone suggest cutting back on irrigation in this area, using different spray heads or eliminating some heads completely?

If that was looked at, then you and your neighbor are probably looking at some form of auxiliary drain, a French drain or some form of buried porous pipe to a lower part of the lawn.

I do not know if the master gardener would be able to help in this matter. It might be worth taking detailed pictures and asking them for some help. They might have some other ideas.

I know some folks who persisted and the Warranty Department installed French Drains between the houses.

:clap2:

Today, I am paying the $85 “service charge for inspection of yard for drainage” to Tri County Landscapes. It’s a scam in that warranty will not respond until a Tri County person visits your property. I say visit because that is all they do. They give you no paperwork, analysis of anything other than a bill.

My letter to Mr. Hess has been ignored and I thought I was being nice!

Dear Mr. Hess,

I received you letter of 8/4/16 discussing the drainage issues around my house. As your visit to my house was in June not July, you may be thinking about the wrong house. As you didn’t take pictures or any measurements of the property during the visit in June, I am a little perplexed that anyone would know that the grading is correct. If you made measurements after that first visit, I would request to see those measurements to present to people who can correct the issues.

Maintaining turf is not the issue but having soggy ground for extended periods of time is. I will be happy to provide you with pictures of wet ground that isn’t draining. As I would like to resolve the draining issues, any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

I love the Villages except for shenanigans like this. I will pray that your house as well as mine survives Matthew without damage.

We had an area between our houses that would only grow weeds and was wet and muddy. We decided that even weeds were better than nothing and maybe getting some vegetation there would help the problem. We stopped spraying weed killer between the houses and let the weeds grow and even fertilized the weeds, we just mowed them along with the rest of the lawn. Eventually it all filled in with a mix of weeds and grass and the drainage problem was solved. Now grass has taken over and it looks good.

I do, too. You know...the wheel that squeaks the loudest...

Squeaky wheel should not be a problem.:wave:

Good luck with that, neighbor. I had a group meeting with the owner of the contracting company that built our house, the owner of our landscaping service, and the head of home warranty. Outcome---it was the other guys fault, it was no one's fault, it was a combination of issues etc,etc. Of course, nobody would fix it. At least they all left with wet shoes:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Vito and Rocco Are free after the storm.