Areas are cheap because they are undesirable to invest/live there's no significant inefficiencies anymore. 

I pay $1.59 per yard for 6 pound pad.

He may tell you to 'pound sand'... but he may agree and offer you some compensation.  

I agree with not being penny-wise and pound-foolish. 

If that is the case, I'd get some new ones, stack them in front of the old ones, and get rebar or similar strong metal poles pounded in to hold them in place.  

It is massively different in the Uks market as years ago there was a big market boom where house started went Up by £100,000s of pound  sand the henchmen the economy crash happened and now money is made throughout rentals and lease deals Anschluss house flips.

This is a very important and expensive transaction - this isnt the place to be penny wise and pound foolish.

That alone would make me tell them to pound sand.

I'm going to keep pounding my head on these issues until I find a solution to moving forward.

Even if the tenant is 100% wrong and completely bonkers, telling them to pound sand because they are wrong won't likely make the problem go away.