thedude111222
New member
A little backstory: We moved into our new home in Stonegate in late January and learned that our neighbors lived in China and had no plans to move in anytime soon. Well they finally arrived and of course speak absolutely ZERO English, I think they are just here to take care of some house related stuff before going back to the homeland. Anyways, they started construction on their landscaping within a week or two of moving in (highly doubt that they bothered submitting plans to the HOA and DRC). It's pretty hideous looking, looks like a carbon copy the design of the IP models with clay brick pavers and a mess of all green leafy plants. Anyways, they finished all of the work within about 4 days, which made me a little worried about the quality of the work as most of our other neighbors were taking close to a month from start to finish. Their lot sits about 2 feet higher than ours.
The problem: My concerns about the quality of work were proven to be true...Whenever their sprinklers turn on, a rush of water comes in from underneath the stone wall and settles in a pool about 2-3 inches deep in our back yard (still not landscaped). I'm fairly certain that their contractor either failed to use the existing grade and sloped all surfaces away from the house towards the fences, failed to hook up drainage to the existing lines, or improperly installed sprinklers too close to the wall. We are about to start our landscaping and want this resolved as soon as possible, so we first tried to talk to the neighbors but they are never home and can't understand anything anyways. We then contacted the HOA since they set forth the guidelines for landscaping and their rules book clearly states that the neighbors have violated the design guidelines which clearly state that drainage should not run off onto community property or adjacent lots. They responded by saying it is our responsibility to work it out with our neighbors. Needless to say this got me a bit riled up as the HOA and DRC charge a substantial amount of money to approve design plans and even hold a deposit from all residents, yet they do not actually regulate that the actual landscaping is done according the guidlines.
The problem: My concerns about the quality of work were proven to be true...Whenever their sprinklers turn on, a rush of water comes in from underneath the stone wall and settles in a pool about 2-3 inches deep in our back yard (still not landscaped). I'm fairly certain that their contractor either failed to use the existing grade and sloped all surfaces away from the house towards the fences, failed to hook up drainage to the existing lines, or improperly installed sprinklers too close to the wall. We are about to start our landscaping and want this resolved as soon as possible, so we first tried to talk to the neighbors but they are never home and can't understand anything anyways. We then contacted the HOA since they set forth the guidelines for landscaping and their rules book clearly states that the neighbors have violated the design guidelines which clearly state that drainage should not run off onto community property or adjacent lots. They responded by saying it is our responsibility to work it out with our neighbors. Needless to say this got me a bit riled up as the HOA and DRC charge a substantial amount of money to approve design plans and even hold a deposit from all residents, yet they do not actually regulate that the actual landscaping is done according the guidlines.