GRADEX was hired by my builder in June, 2014 to complete grading on my property and and my neighbour's property. They came in July, 2014 and made a mess of the grade - two guys showed up in rented machines, and neither one had much experience. They spent more time smoking and talking than actually working. Despite stakes in the yard they missed the grade by as much as 55 cm (almost 2 feet!) at the rear of the property. Repeated calls to the builder indicated that GRADEX then attempted to charge them for 10 tandem loads of dirt which were, allegedly, delivered to the property, despite the fact that we were present when they made the mess, and were pulling dirt off a nearby pile and none was trucked in. In short, they billed my builder for 3 times what the agreed upon price was, based on the grading company spending 24 full hours on my property. I could have graded it better with a shovel and wheelbarrow in less time than that. GRADEX apparently admitted to the builder that the "subbed-out" the work at my place.
After they left I had intended to build my deck, but instead I spent 6 hours wheel barrowing clay and fill in to raise the grade where the deck would be installed to ensure proper drainage away from the house. I then went to the front of the house, where I dug out 4 inches of packed clay that they had placed to bring the grade up in line with the sidewalks and driveway - in so doing I discovered that they had covered over a concrete washout, and I had to dig that section out using a pick axe and shovel - another 4 hours of hard labour for something that I had already paid for.
When we complained, repeatedly, about the work, including a two foot gap under my rear fence, two gentlemen from GRADEX showed up (In September) to survey the lot. When I asked, they advised that they were there to fix the problems - yet nothing was done. I was subsequently advised that one of these gentlemen who was present was an owner of the company, but had not identified himself to me despite being on my property, and clearly aware of the deficiencies. Subsequente to their attendance and absence of any effort to fix the problems, they continued to argue with my builder and deny any responsibility.
It is now October 20th, 2014, and my grade has been passed by the city, despite the fact that the grade, at the property line, is still two feet below the prescribed grade - I have registered a complaint with the City, and I now need to fix this myself, by trucking in dirt and renting a skid steer to do the work myself, despite GRADEX being paid to do the work already.
Interestingly the same company is now working on my other neighbour's property, and the skid steer operator on site remarked about how poor a job was done with the grading. When he called his boss to question whether he could fix the obvious deficiencies he was told 'no'. When we called GRADEX to ask them to reconsider, or to allow us to pay for the corrections, we were hung up on by a female company representative. Quality customer service there.
In fairness the neighbour's property is looking really good, but why doesn't ours? Same company, different service. I recommend you find a different contractor who will stand behind their work. Please bear in mind that I am not even the one who paid them for this work - I'm just a homeowner stuck in the middle of a dispute between a builder and a contractor. This is remarkably disappointing.