I don’t want to say cheap, because1. It isn’t and 2. Cheap has a a bad reputation.

We’re reusing some things (rebuilt and expanded the deck.  Ahem,.. Patio.), and trying to save money by picking up our own dirt, when it’s offered on kijiji, etc.  Well, last week this backfired on me. Big time.

On July 31, 2012, I answered a kijiji ad for free top soil.

http://edmonton.kijiji.ca/c-resumes-construction-trades-Free-Top-Soil-W0QQAdIdZ389795890

We have free topsoil to give away come and get it , it is none screened we will load it for you can call 780 264 1345 for more info it is on south side Rabbithill are

The ad indicated that they would load the vehicle.

Note: Aug 9, 2012, Kijiji has been borked for a few days.  The ad is still there, but it won’t load.  If you do a search on his phone number, you’ll see the ad but can’t click on it.

The phone number I called was (780) 264-1345.  This is the business number for Chaney and Sons Contracting out of Warburg, AB.   4904 55 Avenue, Box 302, Warburg, AB T0C 2T0

I spoke with Dwayne, the owner.  I indicated that I would be arriving in an F350 (one ton) truck.  He gave me directions to their construction site off Rabbit Hill Road, near May Dr. in Terwillegar (South Edmonton) and told me to tell the loader operator that I had spoken to “Dwayne”.

He reiterated what was in the ad, that the top soil was unscreened.  I indicated that this was not a problem.  My intention was to use our roto-tiller to break up the larger chunks of top soil.  My understanding of top soil is as follows:

Topsoil

• Soil is a complex, ever-changing medium comprised of sand, silt, clay, decayed and decaying organic matter, water and air in varying amounts depending on the location. The uppermost layer of soil is the topsoil, is usually darker than the layer of subsoil beneath it, contains a large amount of organic matter and has a higher activity of earthworms and microorganisms than any other layer. Highly desirable topsoil is 40 to 65 percent sand, 25 to 60 percent silt and 5 to 20 percent clay.
• Because the term “topsoil” refers to the top layer of soil, and sellers are not required to meet any other guidelines to use the term, purchased topsoil may contain stones and rocks and large pieces of organic matter such as sticks or twigs. In unscreened topsoil, these pieces of debris, although naturally occurring can be quite large, over 3 inches long, and thus, a detriment to your gardening or landscaping project.

Unscreened

http://www.ehow.com/info_10033118_screened-top-soil.html#ixzz2365CFLy2

This seems to be similar to what Dwayne’s website says (sic), so I figured we were on the same page:

The outermost layer of soil or dirt, topsoil is usually the top 2 inches to 8 inches of sediment on the ground. It has contains the highest concentration of nutrients and organisms of all layers of soil, and is where most acts of growing occur.

http://www.candscontracting.ca/en/products_and_services.html

Besides, I mostly needed the soil to grow raspberries.  They’re not too picky, as long as it’s not un-amended clay.

I indicated that I would be there about 3:30 or 4pm.  I arrived at about 3:45pm, and told the loader operator that Dwayne had sent me, and that I was there for top soil.

The loader operator noted that the truck was a “one ton” so was well aware of the carrying capacity of the truck, and mentioned that he had a scale in the loader.

He told me where to park the truck so he could load it, and I did as he asked.   I then exited the vehicle, and stood about 10 ft away from it on the side opposite where he was loading.  I did this to watch the way the truck settled when the dirt was loaded.

I signed no waiver absolving them of responsibility for the damage to my vehicle or my person.

He put the load into the truck then stopped when he thought he’d loaded enough. While he was dumping it into the truck, I noticed a large piece of clay hit the rear window, and was concerned that the window was going to be broken, but somehow (luckily) that didn’t happen, it only left a big smudge on the back window where it had been.

He showed me that the leaf springs were almost flat and said that loading more wasn’t a good idea.  At that point he said, “I broke someone’s springs yesterday, and I’ll probably break someone’s tomorrow, I don’t want to be that a**hole today.”

If I’d known that before he loaded the truck, it wouldn’t have been there for him to load it.  I asked him how much weight he’d put into the bed, and he responded that apparently his equipment didn’t measure anything under a ton.  I assumed that meant there was less than a ton of dirt in the truck as a result.

We walked around the truck at that point, and realized that he’d crushed the side of the truck box with a huge clump of clay.  This clump was more than 3 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot in size (6 cu. Ft.).  We didn’t know at the time how big it was, because it was partially buried.

 

 

His response was “Oops!  Sorry about that”, then mentioned that the truck really should have been loaded by a bobcat, it would have been more appropriate for the size of the truck.

I asked him if he thought that it could be straightened.  He said sure, maybe just use a block of wood and a floor jack.

I tarped and secured the load and drove home.

I noticed while driving home that the truck seemed heavy to steer, and slower to stop or accelerate, which didn’t make a lot of sense for a load of less than a ton of dirt.  I arrived home and parked it in the back yard to unload the soil where we needed it.  As I was shoveling, I noticed that it was all hard wet clumps of clay.  All of it.  There was no top soil at all in the load.

Hauling clay home explained a little about why the truck was harder to handle.  Now we had a truck full of clay we couldn’t use, and a damaged financed truck.

I emailed Dwayne to tell him that there was significant damage to our vehicle and that I was going to get an estimate.

Below is a copy of the text I pasted into the “contact form” on their website: http://www.candscontracting.ca/

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 1:51 PM

Subject: 2012 Truck damage – Chaney and Sons – email submitted to Chaney and Sons website.

Hi Dwayne,

Can you please contact me about the damage done to our truck when I picked up “dirt” on Tuesday.  We’d spoken on the phone, I told you I would be coming in an F-350 for the top soil you offered in Kijiji.

When I got there, the loader put, from what I can now tell is an entire load of fill dirt filled with huge chunks of clay, including at least > one 24″x10″x “we’re not even sure yet of the depth” chunk of clay that crushed the side of our box.

I understand that you had said that the dirt was unscreened, but blocks of clay that are over 2 cubic feet are not top soil.  Top soil would not have crushed our box.   At the time, it looked like it wasn’t a big deal, a block of wood and a jack is what your loader operator suggested, so I didn’t pursue it.  However, as we’re slowly uncovering the damage, I’m seeing folded metal, and the box is bowed outward.  Wood and a jack isn’t going to fix that.

The true extent of the damage may not be known right away either, because any damage done to the bed of the truck (I don’t care about scratches, it’s huge dents I’m concerned about) won’t be seen until I figure out how to get 3/4 of a box of fill dirt that I can’t use out of it.

I have an appointment with the body shop, because the damage is looking worse and worse as we’re uncovering more of the bed of the truck, and will have estimate in hand for your review.

I made an appointment with the body shop in town here to have an estimate made for the damage.  $4000 damage.  I think I’d rather my springs ruined.  That would have cost under $1000 to fix.

When I got home there was a response to my email to Dwayne. (It’s a response from kijiji because the contact form on his website doesn’t send a copy of the email to the sender.  I needed proof I’d sent him an email and didn’t have his email address.)

 From: Dwayne C [mailto:dwayneachaney@ ]

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 3:19 PM

To: Me

Subject: Re: Reply to your “Free Top Soil” Ad on Kijiji

Loading is your responsibility make sure the product is what you want u

have the choice in taking it or not and we are not responsible for how

much u would take that’s owners responsible

Sent from my iPhone

This message angered me, because it indicates that he has no intention whatsoever of taking responsibility for what his company had done.   I sent him the following response that was never answered.

 From: Me

Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 3:36 PM

To: ‘Dwayne C’

Subject: RE: Reply to your “Free Top Soil” Ad on Kijiji

So be it,.. that’s why I didn’t ask for your help getting rid of the  clay.  The fact still remains that the truck didn’t have $4000 damage before your operator missed the bed of the truck and hit the side of  it.

Yes, you read that right.  I just came back from the body shop.  Your loader caused $4000 damage.  He’s actually lucky he didn’t take out my back window.  I saw a large chunk of clay hit that too on the way down.

How can loading be my responsibility when you say that you will load and it’s done with machinery and a licensed operator?  If I had shoveled it myself, I can see it.

Can we reasonably discuss this?

I haven’t heard from him since.   We contacted our insurance company to find out what the process will be to get this truck fixed, which is necessary, since it’s a financed truck.  The insurance company told us to make a police report.  I mentioned that I had been there after the body shop, and had been told that it wasn’t required to get the work fixed, because it was a property damage accident, not a collision.  They still wanted the report made.   An adjuster friend of ours also said it was a good idea, because it would make it easier for the city to get in contact with this contractor, if they’d had other complaints about their practices.

We looked up how much weight the truck carried home on the following websites:

http://www.soilbuildingsystems.com/PickupConversions.php – this told us our truck would hold up to 2.5 cubic yards of “soil”, and it was likely 85% full, which converts to approximately 57.375 cubic feet.

And http://www.reade.com/Particle_Briefings/spec_gra2.html – which told us that the weight of the clay we brought home (excavated, or wet – it was certainly not dry) weighed in between 100 to 114lbs per cubic foot.

Even at its lightest (100lbs per ft cu), the load I carried home was likely more than 5700lbs.   It also indicates that the chunk of clay that hit our truck’s bed was likely more than 600 pounds.

That’s more than 1.5x what the truck is safely rated to carry (3500lbs), and also seems to indicate that the “scale” in the loader is not working.  How many other people have they sent out of there dangerously overloaded?  I would have not driven it if I’d known how severely overloaded that truck was.

By the loader’s own admission, they’ve been breaking people’s vehicles on an almost daily basis.

This company appears to be operating in at the very least an irresponsible manner, and at worst an unsafe manner.

There seems to be a conception that these construction workers can just do damage to a person’s vehicle and not be held responsible at all.  I understand that most of them carry the most basic insurance that says that if the vehicle is inappropriate for the use that the policy doesn’t cover them (and nothing other than a dump truck is considered appropriate), but that’s an insurance policy.  Surely, legally, they must be responsible for damage they cause?

We are not in a financial position at this point to be able to expend $4000 fixing damage that someone else caused and chooses to ignore.  We are, however, required to fix it, based on our financial agreement with the bank.

We provide exceptional custom topsoil screening services! Topsoil screening equipment separates soils, rocks, gravel, compost, wood chips, garden debris and other materials.

The vibratory action of the process separates sediment at a construction site for recycling and reusing.