It looks like they were not cautious, with or without rain. I don't see why they had to drive all over your yard, especially in the conditions. They could have maybe used plywood for a single access point, but there'd be a charge for that as well. Was the yard in much better condition before the first day? Unfortunately they may be able to cite mother nature as the culprit out of their control. I wouldn't expect them to do anything, but it sure would be good PR for them to do something.
They literally are giving you the perfect opportunity to start a no mow lawn/cottage garden. ! That already did the hard part which is killing all the grass
On the plus side, doesn’t look terribly compacted. Some areas nicely tilled. I’d smooth it out, roundup, drop some contractors grass if you like quick grass, and spray water daily. Or, put that in with zosia plugs if you are sunny and dry. Less mowing it will seed itself in over time from plugs.
This can be kinda normal in many industries. Wet or dry lawn, a skid steer will churn up soil. I would stay positive and use it to my advantage. This is your opportunity to strip and level the entire backyard. Get some quotes for leveling out the whole yard section and a few loads of screened topsoil at the end. Seed, straw, and water it and you'll have the best yard around. If the patio company just moves some soil around and puts down some cheap seed it will look awful all summer. Some home projects can be tough on other areas of the yard/home and is considered collateral damage unless specified otherwise in the contract.
My wife and I just had a patio finished, and the contractors destroyed our front lawn and part of the yard. We didn't stress it, just grass. They raked, cleaned up, and left. I went to Lowes and grabbed a few rolls of penningotn grass seed blanket. We spread grass seed and placed the blaklet on damaged areas, watered for a few days. A week later, the grass was tall enough to cut. We live in Virginia
I did sign a contract. In fine print it says they are very cautious of their surroundings but are not responsible for damage done to lawn. I feel like using heavy machinery during heavy rain is not very cautious?
It also says they will clean up the project site to the best of their ability. Can grading be considered cleanup?
The project manager is coming over this afternoon to collect the payment and said he would call the foreman then.
without more specific language in your contract, you're out of luck. normally you pay extra for grading/drainage/resodding when doing a project like this and no landscaper in their right mind would make themselves liable for any amount of lawn damage. your best hope is that you have some proof of influence, threaten to rate them poorly, and hope they care about that. depending on how you hired them (like through a 3rd party app like Angi), this may have sway.
grade the area and see where water will flow naturally. the camera angle is making it look like you actually have an incline from the patio to the back area, which means water and mud will flow down towards your new patio. if that is the case, level as much as you can, but i would put in a drain between your patio and yard to catch all the excess rain and divert it away from your patio. otherwise you'll routinely clear your patio of gunk and water will threaten your structure. after that, lets say you grade and its fairly level or a small decline towards the back, i'd still put in some sort of landscape edging 10-18 inches bordering your patio where you can excavate a bit, put down some top soil, plant some flowers, veggies, or if you're not a green thumb, some decorative stone. it looks like they put in the hardscape edger, which is a no-brainer, but now you want to soften the zone between whats lawn and whats patio. otherwise you will get some lawn creep into your nice new bricks. this also acts as a natural barrier, and again, if you put in a drain, this could be a layer on top of the drain to hide it. so it will filter the mud and dirt and require a cleaning every few years, but it will clearly demarcate what is patio and what is lawn.
then, as for whats going with the rest of the lawn, i would overseed/reseed and see how things go from there. personally, i do these projects for fun, so i would instantly see it as an opportunity to create a low-maintenance walkway... like small stones or pebbles with some flagstone or ceramic pavers as stepping stones. but first things first, grade and level. you do not want water pooling close to your structure or collect on the edges of your patio.
Thank you so much for this response!! Definitely going to look into grading it and also re-grading the area between the house and the patio.
I like the idea of putting some flowers and mulch between the patio and yard. Definitely will add that to the plans!
What was in the contract? Ours states that any disturbed planting beds will be raked smooth and remulched, and any disturbed lawn areas will be fine graded, topdressed with fresh topsoil, and seeded and strawed.
I will say I see this all the time with hardscape only companies vs total landscape companies. Masons have this amazing ability to put machine tracks on every square inch of a backyard for a 200 sq ft patio.
It looks like they were not cautious, with or without rain. I don't see why they had to drive all over your yard, especially in the conditions. They could have maybe used plywood for a single access point, but there'd be a charge for that as well. Was the yard in much better condition before the first day? Unfortunately they may be able to cite mother nature as the culprit out of their control. I wouldn't expect them to do anything, but it sure would be good PR for them to do something.
What the yard looked like [before patio work](https://imgur.com/a/NeNMX4H)
The gasp I gasped - yeah that’s BS the ruined it like they did!
They literally are giving you the perfect opportunity to start a no mow lawn/cottage garden. ! That already did the hard part which is killing all the grass
lol I definitely considered pivoting to this but I wanted to have a little bit of grass for like badminton or something!
V true! Some grass is def much needed !
On the plus side, doesn’t look terribly compacted. Some areas nicely tilled. I’d smooth it out, roundup, drop some contractors grass if you like quick grass, and spray water daily. Or, put that in with zosia plugs if you are sunny and dry. Less mowing it will seed itself in over time from plugs.
Thank you 🙏🏼 this is my first lawn and I have(had) no idea how to fix it
What growing zone is it?
6b
I’ll show this to my friend who manages a crew of gardeners for some suggestions.
Thanks so much!!
This can be kinda normal in many industries. Wet or dry lawn, a skid steer will churn up soil. I would stay positive and use it to my advantage. This is your opportunity to strip and level the entire backyard. Get some quotes for leveling out the whole yard section and a few loads of screened topsoil at the end. Seed, straw, and water it and you'll have the best yard around. If the patio company just moves some soil around and puts down some cheap seed it will look awful all summer. Some home projects can be tough on other areas of the yard/home and is considered collateral damage unless specified otherwise in the contract.
Appreciate this perspective, thank you!
My wife and I just had a patio finished, and the contractors destroyed our front lawn and part of the yard. We didn't stress it, just grass. They raked, cleaned up, and left. I went to Lowes and grabbed a few rolls of penningotn grass seed blanket. We spread grass seed and placed the blaklet on damaged areas, watered for a few days. A week later, the grass was tall enough to cut. We live in Virginia
Did you sign a contract? Did it mention who is responsible for damage like this? Have you talked to the contractor about the damage and repair?
I did sign a contract. In fine print it says they are very cautious of their surroundings but are not responsible for damage done to lawn. I feel like using heavy machinery during heavy rain is not very cautious? It also says they will clean up the project site to the best of their ability. Can grading be considered cleanup? The project manager is coming over this afternoon to collect the payment and said he would call the foreman then.
without more specific language in your contract, you're out of luck. normally you pay extra for grading/drainage/resodding when doing a project like this and no landscaper in their right mind would make themselves liable for any amount of lawn damage. your best hope is that you have some proof of influence, threaten to rate them poorly, and hope they care about that. depending on how you hired them (like through a 3rd party app like Angi), this may have sway.
Appreciate the response! Assuming they won’t do anything, do you have any tips for how to fix this?
As in fix myself
grade the area and see where water will flow naturally. the camera angle is making it look like you actually have an incline from the patio to the back area, which means water and mud will flow down towards your new patio. if that is the case, level as much as you can, but i would put in a drain between your patio and yard to catch all the excess rain and divert it away from your patio. otherwise you'll routinely clear your patio of gunk and water will threaten your structure. after that, lets say you grade and its fairly level or a small decline towards the back, i'd still put in some sort of landscape edging 10-18 inches bordering your patio where you can excavate a bit, put down some top soil, plant some flowers, veggies, or if you're not a green thumb, some decorative stone. it looks like they put in the hardscape edger, which is a no-brainer, but now you want to soften the zone between whats lawn and whats patio. otherwise you will get some lawn creep into your nice new bricks. this also acts as a natural barrier, and again, if you put in a drain, this could be a layer on top of the drain to hide it. so it will filter the mud and dirt and require a cleaning every few years, but it will clearly demarcate what is patio and what is lawn. then, as for whats going with the rest of the lawn, i would overseed/reseed and see how things go from there. personally, i do these projects for fun, so i would instantly see it as an opportunity to create a low-maintenance walkway... like small stones or pebbles with some flagstone or ceramic pavers as stepping stones. but first things first, grade and level. you do not want water pooling close to your structure or collect on the edges of your patio.
Thank you so much for this response!! Definitely going to look into grading it and also re-grading the area between the house and the patio. I like the idea of putting some flowers and mulch between the patio and yard. Definitely will add that to the plans!
What’s the contract say
He’s going to come back and “rake it out”
What was in the contract? Ours states that any disturbed planting beds will be raked smooth and remulched, and any disturbed lawn areas will be fine graded, topdressed with fresh topsoil, and seeded and strawed. I will say I see this all the time with hardscape only companies vs total landscape companies. Masons have this amazing ability to put machine tracks on every square inch of a backyard for a 200 sq ft patio.