M & A Landscapes job done and outcome

We demolished our old house aka "the hovel" late in 2008. In September 2009 we took possession of our newly constructed house and set about having the driveway and other works completed, some of which were required under our DA or in order to get an occupation certificate.  For this work we engaged M and A Landscapes of Campbelltown Road Denham Court. License number 697C.  I guess this is the place to start the record of actually completing the landscaping of our new house, so here are some photographs of the work that was done by M and A Landscapes.

This ramp has a gradient of 1 in 2

Our termite barrier was breached. Downpipes were not separated from the concrete

Steps do not comply with the building code

Finish of the driveway is inconsistent and unsightly

Can you see that the bottom step is not level. The smooth edge is also very wide.

After two very stressful years of legal dispute, in January 2012 the CTTT awarded us damages of $36908.30. This money is to have the many defects in the work rectified. The court also ordered that M and A Landscapes were required to pay costs for the latter part of the legal proceedings. Fortunately, we did not pay for a large proportion of the work and so the money that was due under the contract was held in trust during the legal dispute and returned to us when we won the judgement described above. As at 18th May 2012 M and A Landscapes still owes us over $12,000 of the damages award.  As they have not paid the money ordered by the court, their license has been suspended and the money owing to us will be paid by the insurance company along with the costs of obtaining the judgement against M and A Landscapes. It is not clear how much of our legal and expert's fees will be paid at this stage.
To date, we have outlayed something in the order of $40,000 in fees to our solicitor and our building consultant. It would appear likely that when all is said and done we will be out of pocket by a considerable sum. Perhaps as much as $26,000. Best case scenario the insurance might pay all of our legal and consultant's fees. We won't know for sure until the claim from the insurance is finalised. 
Worst case scenario we are likely to be about $10,000 better off than if we had not taken the legal action, and of course, other people will be able to see that M and A Landscapes have had a judgement against them when they do a search of their license on the NSW Fair Trading website.

So. Now that the legal dispute is over we are still left with defective and dangerous landscaping which we need to have rectified. However, the upside is that when we go outside we can look at our yard with cheerful anticipation rather than just stress and depression. Now we can finally make our garden beautiful again... and put up a clothesline! 

The Way we were... a bit later...

A fairly inadequate photograph of Melaleula Fulgens. A beautiful fairly open bush, but the flowers with their prominent golden tips on bright red brushes, are truly beautiful.

More of the native section, with Geraldton Wax on the right and Prostanthera Incisa on the left. Both have been great in the light sandy soil in that position. The prostantera is tough in all locations in the garden I have tried it including full sun and heavier soil. Both these bushes are still going strong tucked away down in that corner of the yard. Real troupers.

 Looking back from the bush garden to the rose garden and chook shed with Golden Celebration and Charles Austin flowering in front of the shed.

 A seedling iris I picked up at one of Rainbow Ridges open days at Burnt Yards out near Orange. .. with some evening primrose looking abundant and happy.

Climbing Lorraine Lee and.. I can't recall which red climber it is. Hybrid Tea at any rate.

Bearded Iris - Romantic Evening

Dianthus - Mars I think it is. Wonderful, tough and drought tolerant ground cover. It put on a wonderful display every year and I never had to touch it. Even so it always looked neat and tidy.

 The pink and white rose to the left of the red climber is Princess De Monaco.

The purple iris in this shot is Titan's Glory. A beautiful flower, but I didn't find it to be a particularly vigorous grower. The young rose, which did get much much larger was a real performer.  I have a mental block as to the name. One of the classic HTs. Totally reliable in this gentle eastern facing position but the blooms did tend to fade in the sun.

Crepuscule growing through Winter Honeysuckle. A wonderful combination as when the rose is quiet in winter, the honeysuckle flowers. This is a combination I would like to include in the garden again - though it does require a reasonable amount of space.

the rose in this shot is Pink Panther. Not much smell but it is a pretty flower. The salvia red and white in front is, I believe, lipstick salvia.. and it gets really large.  Quite a tough useful bush and pretty, but it does like to monopolise the bed if left to its own.

the dark red rose is Papa Meilland. It is being embraced by a rambler rose Alberic Barbier. this is a tough position with quite a lot of root competition from the nearby Coral Tree.

Alberic Barbier close up. This was a good year for ol' Alberic but overall the position was too tough for him and he really needed more water and food to flower well consistently.

You can just see a glimpse of Albertine there behind Alberic Barbier.

Golden Celebration above, followed by Charles Austin below.

The Wilderness. Really challenging area of the garden this. Out of sight at the right of the shot is a mature Coral tree. this is behind the old chook shed and no doubt this corner of the yard once accommodated a flock of chickens in the shade. 

This was about as good as Alberic Barbier got for me.  Great glossy healthy foliage.

The way we were.....

Ok. As I have confessed the state to which the garden has deteriorated over our demolition / construction / legal battle period.. here are some lovely photos my daughter took a few years prior to our letting the garden run away from us.. Didn't do too bad considering the garden was established in the years of drought, so not much watering going on really.

Hmm, I believe this is Dainty Bess... or might be Lavender Pinocchio but I believe Dainty Bess is more likely.

..anonymous red rose... pooossibly my fave from Bishop's Lodge

Tipsy Imperial Concubine. These are some of the first flowers she produced for me. and yes, she is not only beautiful - she has a gorgeous perfume as well - and she's pretty tough in the ground too.