I have had a landscape gardener in to do a parking area of…

I have had a landscape gardener in to do a 'parking area' of 36 square metres. I did not want to spend too much and said this on several occasions. The landscape gardener suggested using crushed limestone and suggested "throwing in a bit of concrete to firm it up". He said this wouldn't be expensive but did not say how much. I then asked him if he could help with a leaning fence which had been leaning towards the neighbours house for years because of a lower retaining wall on their side. He had a quick look and said he could just straighten this up. Then it was agreed that he would also put a 'thin layer' of topdress soil on the grass using landscape mix. Unfortunately I have been quite busy with other matters and did not think to get a quote in writing as I usually would have with any other job. He breifly showed me a figure of about $2000 writen on a scrap of paper and I thought this was more than I intended to spend but agreed knowing that it included all the materials and labour time so assumed this to be what I should have expected. He indicated the jobs would be done in a couple of days. This was just before the easter weekend. They started on the Tuesday. By the Thursday the place was a complete shambles. They had first started to dig out the fence only to discover it was cracked along the bottom. I told them to leave the fence and get on with the parking area as I wanted that finished first. He kept insisting on doing the fence and saying he wanted to put in a new colourbond one. I initially thought that I would let him do it as that was the less expensive alternative. I then spoke to my neighbour who didn't want colourbond but insisted on the hardifence to replace the super six. I then told them I would get quotes from the 'professionals' to get the fence done. Before the job started (Monday) the crushed limestone and the landscape mix was delivered at the same time. They (plus 3 young Irishmen) spread the landscape mix over the grass very roughly and did not smooth it out and it was much too thick. It was left with mounds everywhere. I asked them on several occasions to smooth it out only to find them trying to do it with a steel rake and not a smoother.!! As for the limestone - they were using a cement mixer on my grass and putting the limestone mix on in batches. They made a horrendous mess which was then left over the easter weekend (including removed plants left on the verge) but the limestone was half done and didnt look like it was being done to the height that I had requested. I had given them a drawing of where I wanted it to go but didnt write down the height - I only told them I wanted it to be no higher than the surrounding area of garden and grass. Over the easter weekend I spent many hours out there in the hot sun, after purchasing a smoother of my own, smoothing the soil over the lawn and consequently shovelling the excess soil away. It ruined my easter weekend with my children but I didn't want the grass to grow in all the mounds that were left and leave a bumpy grassed area. I was so annoyed that I wrote a long email to the landscape gardener with a list of complaints about the jobs he was doing at my property. On the easter Sunday he had emailed me a bill of some $4313.40 in addition to another one for $510 for the delivery of soil and crushed limestone. I was shocked at this as it was nowhere near what I had anticipated - he was charging $50 an hour each for his 3 workmen whom I had observed on several occasions doing nothing while they were waiting for the main man to go and get things. They were also taking smoko breaks and text messaging (I have a photo of this) I told him to collect his gear and leave and I would have to pay someone else to fix it all up. He turned up the next morning (while I had a migraine headache due to the stress) and continued working. When I went out to confront him he said he didn't get my email. I told him to finish up as best he could and I would not be paying him until it was done to my satisfaction. They made an attempt to clean up the mess and finished off the limestone area while I had to go to a doctors appointment with my son. They disappeared without a word and I haven't heard from them since. The limestone parking area is already crumbling at the edges and is full of undulations. They had also cemented around the trees where I had told them to leave a gap. On another occasion a rather large rock had to be moved and the 4 'men' had no idea how to do this so I had to give them instructions on how to move the rock. The whole area is about 20cms too high and I have since made enquiries about this kind of job and have found it was supposed to have reinforcing mesh used in a parking area and cut lines to prevent cracking. They have left a mess on the wall and chips out of my letterbox. I have not paid them anything at all so far and I have spent about 20 hours tidying up myself. I'm not sure what to do - can you please help.