It was an odd situation Dave, I have done 3 jobs for them before and whilst they have always been a little "can you just" and "while you are here" about things, they have been good to work for and haven't messed about with money before. This job started off fine, although there was an archaeological watch brief thrown at me last minute (although we agreed a rate should we be delayed),but as things went on, before I had even finished, there was suddenly this 6mm tolerance thrown in and they started refusing my work before I had completed it! Suddenly I needed a laser grade box, tractors etc which they knew full well I didn't own and had no intention of using! The job was worth 8K to me - someone with that kit would have been a lot more expensive!
Then there was a meeting on site with them do discuss this tolerance. By then I had completed the work to my satisfaction and we walked the job while they checked it. They started misreading the tape measure, saying 25mm when it was maybe 11mm? The attitude was very negative, it was my fault for the extra stone, I would have to warranty the job if the top carpet moved due to the extra depth of grit (that they ordered by the way!) It was a right stitch up! I held my ground, explained that using their maths, I would never have had enough stone anyway and that was before an extra path was added! The response was they didn't use 2.2t per m3 (which I had discussed with them before in a separate off hand conversation about working out quantities) They used 2.1t per m3. Well guess what, that didn't add up either! Due to a lorry not delivering a proper 20t, I was short by over 8t on the MUGA alone, and that was before the 18m long path that needed another 10t! This is basic schoolboy stuff, and they insisted it was my digging!
Not to be put off, I wrote a very strong email to them detailing how these things weren't my problem, and requesting in writing, the 6mm tolerance which they were quoting from sports England - but I couldn't find any evidence of. On the back of this, we came up with this compromise of splitting it 50%. A fine turf contractor came in for the day with a small tractor and a levelling bar that you could drag around by hand. These guys were actually surprised they were asked to sort it and had been told it was a lot worse!!!? They started off with the tractor but this was causing more damage than good, so ended up just pulling this bar around. What they did do though was take a lot of the small stones off and use more dust to get it to where it needed to be. They also didn't vibro roll it (which I was told it had to be) as it was making the stone go down in waves. Dead rolling it solved that and having seen what they did, I think I could have done similar myself. But when you're told your work is a million miles off, you don't think it will be an easy fix like that.
Effectively we fell out over 4mm as they wanted 6mm and I achieved 10mm. I've been paid, made a little bit of money on it but it cost me a lot more time and headache. Lesson learned. I'm not perfect and have got a lot to learn, we all have, especially when doing something new, but I'm no idiot and it really showed me that despite working extra long days, weekends, as hard as you like - if the jobs priced wrong it wont work out. Oh, and then they tried to offer me a job working direct for them as "it looked like I was struggling with running my own business" - which I was - due to their lack of understanding about how much you actually get when you order an 8 wheeler of stone!
Here's some more pictures from the job I will never forget!