landscape fabric problem

[Stonewall]

A new client of mine (a developer) told me he used a road-building fabric in his flower beds instead of regular landscape fabric because it was cheaper. The fabric he used allows water to soak through, but it won't allow the water to evaporate. As a result, the beds hold way too much water and he plans to cap the sprinkler heads that irrigate them. The azaleas and various other shrubs in the beds have not grown very much in the 18 months they've been installed. Could this weird fabric contribute to their slow growth? Has anybody else run into this before?

[Redmowers]

All the roads around here are built,rebuilt with the stuff we usually have a roll of in stock.Suppose to allow water to go through but not up through.We have been told you can lay the stuff down on swamp land and build a road on it ,and it will stabilize it.We have never tried that yet but it seems it would hold moisture in the beds. One advantage-disadvantage is the rolls are 12'-15' wide bigger coverage ,or harder to handle?