Community pitches in to help family coping with MND
A gardening contractor has apologised to a family for work he did on a garden makeover which is ending up having to be completed by others.
But he denied the family’s claim that he abandoned the project and said he stopped only after the contract was terminated.
The Vale garden belongs to Chris and Sam Holland and the work followed Mrs Holland, 57, being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in March this year.
That left the family scrambling to make the Vale house and garden suitable for when the degenerative disease progresses.
‘This was mum’s space,’ said Mrs Holland’s son Ben, 24.
‘And with MND being such a restrictive disease, we want to give her as much space as possible, and we have not be able to do that.’
They contacted a local gardening contractor after seeing an advert on Facebook showing promising before and after photos.
They said that they spent £15,000 on the project.
The agreed plan was to remove the grass and install wheelchair-friendly paving.
A summer room would be created at the back of the small garden, so Mrs Holland could meet friends there and enjoy the garden.
The contractor, who the family have not named, they said, while they were considering pursuing legal options to get their money back, said in March he could do the work in nine days, so the garden would be ready for use in April.
‘It started really well,’ said Mrs Holland’s husband Chris.
There was a tile layer working with the gardener, who seemed to be doing a good job.
But when the two contractors fell out, the gardener carried on with the tiling. The family said that the work was poor and the paving uneven and not safe for a wheelchair. They also grew concerned that they would often only see the contractor for a few hours, and then he would disappear for days.
Feeling helpless, they wrote him a letter, setting an eight-day deadline to finish the work.
‘I should have been more prompt, but I had issues with other sites I was working on,’ he admitted.
He said that after being given the deadline he continued to work when he could and sent an email offering to correct the problems, specifically with the summer house, but this was never answered. Instead he received another letter terminating the contract, he said, at which point he removed his equipment and left the site.
Mr and Mrs Holland contacted other contractors, but these were reluctant to take on a half-finished project, especially one with problems.
Mrs Holland is currently in hospital, but when at home she spends most of her time in the sitting room, which overlooks the garden.
All she could see of her formerly beloved space was an unusable, half-finished space.
‘It was very soul-crushing,’ her husband said.
They are currently seeking legal advice to see if they can recoup any of the costs, though their contractor said that he was out of pocket on the project.
The contractor said he would write to the family to ‘offer an olive branch’.
‘If I can make things right, I will,’ he said. ‘I’m very sorry for how things turned out.’
