AES Septic in Magnolia, TX

Response from the owner

Thank you so much for the kind words about Chris, Juan! Things like this are always great to hear.

Response from the owner

Andrew and Magnolia Finlay, We respectfully disagree with this characterization of events. AES Septic remained responsive throughout the process and provided multiple revisions, site visits, technical discussions, scheduling accommodations, and contract updates over an extended negotiation period, all at no charge whatsoever. To this day, AES has not performed any contracted work for this customer and has not charged the customer any money. AES visited the property in November and December of 2025 and did not hear back from the project manager regarding moving forward with construction until April 10, 2026, approximately four months later. Therefore, if there were extended delays in the overall project timeline, they were not attributable to AES. Additionally, during those visits AES explained what site and driveway work would need to be completed in order to safely deliver and install the tanks. As of late May 2026, that work still had not been completed, meaning the system could not have been installed in the sites current condition even if contracts had already been signed. The primary issue was not whether AES was willing to perform the work, but rather that the parties could not reach agreement on contract language related to scheduling guarantees and liability for delays caused by factors outside of a contractor’s control. While this was a relatively standard residential septic installation, the project involved substantially more contract revisions, negotiations, and scheduling-related demands than what AES typically encounters on residential projects. We do not believe it is fair to state that AES showed “zero flexibility” when the contract language and revisions went back and forth numerous times throughout the negotiation process. Ultimately, there was simply one contractual provision AES could not agree to. As explained throughout the process, septic installation scheduling can be affected by weather, site access, inspections, supplier scheduling, needed pre-site work, and ongoing construction conditions. While we believed (and still believe) there was adequate time remaining to complete the installation, AES could not agree to contract terms making the permit deadline an automatic material breach regardless of outside circumstances. Realistically, none of these issues would most likely have become a problem and much of the disagreement centered around hypothetical scenarios and contractual risk allocation. Like the vast majority of installations AES performs, we believe this project likely would have proceeded smoothly without issue regarding permitting or inspections. We genuinely attempted to accommodate the project beyond our standard residential scheduling procedures. Ultimately, the parties were simply unable to reach mutually agreeable contract terms. We wish you the best moving forward with your project.

Response from the owner

Thank you so much for the kind words, Jared!