August 7, 2024 at 2:45 pm

A Construction Crew Threw Dirt On His Property And Didn’t Remove It, So He Made Them Tear Down What They Built And Start Over

by Jayne Elliott

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge/Pexels/Alfo Medeiros

In order for a building or a wall to last a long time and to be safe, it needs to be build correctly.

In today’s story, one homeowner shares a story about some workers who tried to build a retaining wall incorrectly and what he did to get revenge.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

Don’t want to remove the dirt you dumped on my property? Challenge accepted.

I used to own the townhome at the end of our building immediately next to an empty lot that was full of trees.

The empty lot was a much lower grade and we had a 3-4 foot retaining wall built from stone that capped off our property about 3 feet before the property line.

Eventually, someone decided to build on the empty lot.

One day, the trees started getting ripped out as it was clear someone intended to build.

The process was slow. They hired two guys with a pickup to cut up all the trees and remove the debris.

After about one year, they started bringing in dirt to better grade the property for building next to the street.

They prepped 6 lots, right up to our property line.

The people moving the dirt ended up putting dirt on OP’s property.

This is where things took a turn.

The team moving the dirt decided that they needed the grade to go higher than ours did, but they didn’t want to do it properly. So they dumped pile after pile and used a small tractor.

They crossed into our property with this dirt one day and when I saw it it was too late.

The dirt was so high that they had completely covered our 3-foot gap between the property they were building on and ours AND completely covered our 3-4 foot retaining wall.

OP confronted the workers.

I ran outside and started yelling at them to stop.

The person turned off the tractor and brought out his supervisor.

They told me they’d clean it up, but I said you have to stop now you are doing this wrong.

They tried to tell me they would clean it up before the weekend so I let it go for the time being.

They didn’t exactly fix the problem.

Fast forward to the weekend where they dug SOME of the dirt up, but not all.

They left over half of it, and much of our retaining wall was still buried.

They then BUILT A RETAINING WALL ON TOP OF IT on their side that was about 2 feet tall.

OP got out a shovel and started removing the dirt himself.

I’d had enough.

I took matters into my own hands.

That weekend, I got out my shovel and started throwing the excess dirt into their property.

But I specifically targeted digging out the area at the bottom of the retaining wall on my side of the property line.

Creating a scenario where the wall they had built would almost certainly collapse with no support and loose dirt.

OP didn’t back down when the manager tried to negotiate.

After an hour of digging, I was approached by someone from the crew.

They asked me to please stop and for my number for their boss.

The boss called and asked what I want.

They offered to plant some trees to better separate the property, but I held firm that the dirt needed to be removed, and the wall needed to be rebuilt.

The crew came back and did things correctly this time.

Two days later a crew of 5 to 6 was out there removing the entire retaining wall for a two or three day project, digging out the dirt they added and resurfacing our retaining wall.

Then they rebuilt their wall correctly about 4 feet tall.

Had they not done this, I would have taken further action with the city to get this resolved, however, my approach felt more effective because I didn’t have any photos of the area before they started dumping their dirt on my property.

This doesn’t even sound like revenge. OP just wanted them to build the wall correctly, and they did.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted…

This reader would’ve done things differently.

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge

Another reader points out the potential danger the construction crew was creating.

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge

This person doubts the construction company pulled permits.

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge

Another reader considers OP lucky.

Source: Reddit/Petty Revenge

It really is scary to think what could have happened if the construction crew hadn’t been forced to rebuild.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.