Desert Designer Landscape & Development

Design is right in the name and that's what sets Rob and his team apart. They came up with a significantly better design than we could have imagined and much better than the other companies we tried to work with. You have to be diligent to review work and ask for little fixes, but no more than with any other good contractor. They were responsive in fixing everything to my satisfaction with an exceptional final product.

Unfortunately we cannot recommend Desert Designer. We hired Desert Designer a year ago for a major backyard renovation project in Scottsdale - hardscape and landscape. The experience had been a truly excellent one - smart design, highly collaborative, pleasant and professional. But I made the mistake of - at the contractor's request - completing the final payment before the project was done. From that point forward, we found Desert Designer to be highly unresponsive and disappointing on every dimension. The project dragged on for months and months. Contracting errors were extremely slow to address, and often had to be addressed repeatedly. At the end, the company's owner declined to address our concerns, and at times company representatives were unpleasant and, oddly, even hostile. I have never written a negative review before (and my wife and I have owned homes in Brookline, Mass., Washington, D.C., Great Falls, Va., and Scottsdale over the past 30 years and have owned our Scottsdale home since 2005), but I felt obliged to write this as a warning to others. It is a shame since the entire experience - up until the end - was highly positive and professional. Very disappointing.

We are so happy with our homes landscape now. When we first purchased our home the landscape was a nightmare. We worked with Rob on our landscape project and he did a fantastic job. There were some aspects of the design we weren't too sure about, but we trusted in Rob's design and it turned out even greater than we imagined.

Devon is a great designer. My front yard had a number of challenges including an oddly placed water meter. Devon was patient and provided several design versions for my front landscaping until picky me was satisfied. I had contacted a number of companies for design recommendations and Devon's were the most unique and stunning! The team installing the landscape were professional and courteous. I was able to work from home during the installation and everytime I freaked out Devon was available to address my concerns and offer solutions or reassurances. The price for the landscape was about the same for all the companies I contacted. I wish I had found Devon before I had my backyard done! I would've hired him for that as well.

Overall the experience was great! Rob Plowright (co-owner) was the point of contact throughout the entire project. Rob was prepared from the start. At our first meeting he did his homework, came not only with ideas but with knowledge about our property. He was very upfront about how he approached a project. He has a dedicated crew and when he starts the project the crew is on site for the duration so it gets done in a timely matter. Rob checked in daily and was easy to get a hold of. Rob takes the upfront time (lead time) to design, discuss and put down to scale the project, materials and cost. Our project was big enough and he even broke it down into sections so we were able to make an informed decision about the cost and the work. Our original idea included several walls, a very nice BBQ area with a formal fireplace, some pavers, rock landscape and a side area for trailer/RV. When we got the quote, Rob had broken it down into sections so we could decide if we wanted to move forward with each part of the project based on our budget. Rob was professional and down to earth. He would listen and discuss any options we brought up and gave us honest input. He did not over promise and delivered. Bottom line, we have done several renovations, both interior and exterior on 3 different houses. This by far was above all the best planned and executed experience...not blowing smoke up here...BTW, we have never had a project go perfect, nor should you ever have an expectation that nothing will go wrong, no matter how minor. The true test is, if something doesn't go right or it did not quite turn out as expected, how well does it get corrected...Rob and his crew get flying colors! We did not have any major setbacks due to at the detailed planning by Rob. Were there hiccups? Yes, but they recovered and exceeded our expectations. Absolutely would hire him again!! Rob knows what he is doing, his crew is skilled and the outcome is exactly what we wanted!

This is the 3rd time I've hired Desert Designer to do a project for me (2 at previously owned homes). We completed a new build in May 2017 in Buckeye on bit of a hillside. I gave our designer, Cory, our inspirations for a zen backyard. It isn't a large yard and I wanted to create a calm relaxing space. Additionally, I wanted part of the yard to serve as a pollinator area for bees and butterflies. Cory came up with a fantastic solution. We went back and forth on a few of the details and he worked within our budget. The finished project is just as amazing as our prior projects. Thank you so much!!! Now, time to think about some work on the front yard.

We worked with Rob and Devin to redo our front yard. Rob created a great design, Devin made sure that work was progressing well, the workers did a great job of building our new yard. This was a big project. Retaining walls had to be removed, new walls built, and a lot of dirt hauled away. There were no surprises along the way. Any questions I had were answered quickly. Rob even had a great design tweek in the middle of the project that made a lot of sense and made the yard look even better. Before and after pics attached. Will look even better once the new retaining walls are painted. We are very happy with the work and the way our new front yard looks.

Rob Plowright  602-550-8074 started with a consult and asking questions to understand what we wanted to accomplish. He was patient and offered alternatives and creative ideas to enhance our understanding on the scope of the project design and tight timeframe we had to accomplish the work.

He scheduled a follow up meeting to review plan designs and recommendations with cost estimates (on a line item basis) for all variables that we were introducing to the process.  The visibility into the cost per item and overall scope made the process very easy for us to understand and make choices as the process unfolded. Every step of the process felt as if we had a trusted advisor or partner and never did we feel that we were being "upsold" or "oversold" on items or labor. 

Upon selection of materials and design scope, Rob introduced us to his vendors at various locations to confirm materials, design and availability.  This was a unique perspective to allow us to speak with others that confirmed or brought up other questions for consideration. He spent time unselfishly with us and that was the biggest part of building trust and developing a true partnership between vendor and consumer.

During the work, Robert was present every day to check in with the workers and confirm that both the process and quality of the work was meeting our expectations. As requested, modifications were made and costs were clearly displayed in advance to the work being completed. His crews were the most professional and polite of the crews that were involved in the entire process. Safety & professionalism were never an issue with his personnel and our comfort with his teams was very high.

He came out to the house after the work process was completed and reviewed the punch list to our satisfaction and insured that we were satisfied prior to his departure.

Rob was excellent to work with. He was very creative with the design work and knows a lot about desert landscape. He was very professional and did all the paper work and present to the HOA. The crew was hard working and paid attention to detail. The rabbits ate two of my plants and they replaced them. They really did an excellent job and Rob and his crew had pride in there work and wanted to make sure we were satisfied with the job There became a problem with the irrigation system and they came back and fixed it. . I would highly recommend this company

Rob was incredibly helpful. The team arrived on time and was able to complete the work and clean up in 2 days.They were amazing. Since the installation I've called for help with sprinklers and plant placement. Rob has always responded quickly and took care of the problems.

Excellent! The stone work is beautiful and the bench looks great. They were able to reuse some of our existing landscaping, fix some irrigation issues. We used a walnut travertine to march some previous work this vendor had done for us the prior year. It matched beautifully and has added much value to our home.

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After reviewing numerous landscapers on Angie's List, I contacted Rob Plowright of Desert Designers because I liked the reviews I had read.  Of course cost was a priority, but I especially liked the repeated remarks about how easy Rob and his crew were to work with.  I have had experiences in the recent past where working with contractors on other projects had been a nightmare and I didn't want to go through that again.  Rob was able to come out within a few days to view my situation and listen to my "wish list".  He was
very personable and professional, gave suggestions and options when I asked for them.  He told me that he would go back, draw up some plans and get them back to me within a few days.  I assumed he would need a check to pay for the plans, but I assumed wrong.
I had intended to interview another landscaper I had picked out from Angie's List before making a decision, but I was so impressed with Rob and what he had to offer that I told him that if he could have the plans back to me by a certain date (the date I had set up for the other interview), and if I liked what he showed me, I would cancel the other interview.   True to form, Rob indeed had the plans to me in a few days and I liked what I saw and heard.
Rob initially told me that the startup time would be three weeks since they were in the middle of other projects, but he was able to move it up to one week, working between other jobs.  I thought it would be a long, drawn out project since they were squeezing me in, but it ended up taking one week from start to finish.  The crew started work at 7:00 each morning and usually stopped between 4:00 and 5:00 each afternoon.  On the first day Rob introduced his foreman and crew members and explained that he would be on site each day to oversee the work, answering my questions or concerns, and directing the crew.  He would then go on to other projects, but he emphasized that I could reach him by phone any time I need to and he would come back to my project if needed at any time.   This proved to be accurate.   The crew turned out to be extremely polite and skilled workers.  They always cleaned up at the end of the day, never leaving tools or trash laying around.
The scope of the project was installing new pavers, new plantings, pea gravel, watering system, lighting system and a barbecue island.  I met Rob at a stone company to pick out the pavers which I really appreciated since he had experience and knowledge which I didn't have.  I'm very pleased with the pavers which were laid in a herringbone pattern, making my small space look elegant.  I had approved the plants which were on the plans (looked at them online first), but when they were delivered I wasn't happy with some of them so Rob had them returned and we decided on some alternate plants.  Again, I limited my choices because I'm partial to some colors over other colors but Rob had options for me to choose from.  Rob even came back to hang some trellises I purchased for the vining plants.  It's great to have a watering system that works, not having to worry while I'm gone on vacation.  The barbecue island Rob's crew built for me is spacious, has a pull-out drawer for the propane tank, and lighting for use at night.  Several lights were also installed in the landscaping which shine on the tree and several of the plants.  They thought of everything!  
I would definitely use Desert Designers Landscapers for any future outside project I might have, and would recommend them to anyone needing a landscaping/lighting job done.

I found them on Angie's List. I was very satisfied with their service. They were very good and I would use them again. I think that they did a very good job. It was a very difficult job. They were professional. They were working on a slope and they had muddying problems when they were installing the drainage. That's why it was difficult.

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Desert Designer was referred to us and contacted in early May 2014. We met with the designer late June and worked out a design plan with some modifications.  In July we were told we were on a ?list? which indicated the work was about six weeks out.  On July 17th we met with the designer in Chandler AZ to pick out travertine tile for the patio.  Then we got notice that the work was
scheduled for late August.  At that time we asked for an earlier start date in order to re-schedule a short vacation.  On August 18th we were told the project was set for September 7th. All of their responses were prompted by us.
 Within a couple of weeks after the project was finished, five plants were dying and Desert Designer was contacted for replacement as per their warranty.  The plants were replaced October 24th.  The replacement plants were in terrible shape
and one is now dead.  We could have bought bigger and better plants at Home Depot or Lowe?s.  The entire project was frustrating to us.  The travertine patio and artificial turf look nice.

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Very friendly and efficent, work was done well and on time and budget

Great. Can't believe what this crew could do in 1 day. Rob created the new design, worked with my HOA through approval and was at the job site to see the process through. He even rolled up his sleeves and finished up the loose ends. Looking forward to using him again in the future.

We have used Rob and his crew in the past for a complete back yard design. Again, they did a wonderful job. Professional, courteous and best of all great work.

This is the second time I have used Desert Designer and did so based on my prior experience with them designing and installing a revision to my backyard landscape and reviewing Angie's list comments on recent projects. In my 2010 review they executed on the plan to perfection and we could not be happier with the result. Unfortunately we did not have the same experience or outcome this time around.
Our job was broken up into two parts and price quotes (one for around the pool and south side of the yard and the second was a refresh of existing sod area on the north side and reshaping a paver patio. If I could I would rate the project around the pool and south yard a and quot;Band quot; but the north side was a and quot;Dand quot;.
The Good:

1. 1. The design process was good. The proposed plan was presented after meeting with Desert Designer and we made some modifications including additions.

2. They were flexible in that they modified the plan for a change in the size of the pool equipment wall and added water and ran conduit for misting system lines (yes it added cost however we appreciated their flexibility).
3. Their choice of landscape lighting is very nice and installed well!
4. Their sod vendor decided to deliver the sod for my project on the street outside our gated community instead of in front of our house. This caused some added time in having to transfer the sod and it led to them having to send a partial crew on the 4th of July holiday to install it.
5. The paver installation around the pool and the new lawn on the south of the yard was done well.
The Bad
1. The crew did not install hardscape exactly to the plan drawn. This includes not placing the trash can screen wall in the right place per plan and required us to make an unexpected compromise as they had already built half of the wall when I noticed it was not even close to the proposed plan.
2. The crew did not match the plan for the south lawn area or placement of the raised garden planter. I discovered it too late in the process and had to make yet another compromise.
3. The crew did not install the sprinkler timer correctly which meant that the sprinkler valves did not come on. They hooked up the wiring incorrectly from the valves to the controller. I noticed after they installed the lawn on the 4th of July that the newly installed lawn was not being irrigated ---- I fixed the problem myself.
4. From their prior work they installed three fire pits for us in the patio using concrete planters. I asked on multiple occasions that they would be reinstalled lined up and square after they moved them for the paver patio installation and refresh. They were not square and not even close to being lined up. The gas key cutouts in the pavers were beyond substandard. They cut the pavers too large for the opening and backfilled them with sand. This is not how the original installation was done.
5. The existing fire pit gas valves needed to be raised slightly, they had a gas contractor install risers but then the gas key would not fit in the valve - Why? Well after I complained and the gas contractor came out we noticed that to raise the valve they used parts that were corroded and that's why the key did not fit into the valve? It's because they used recycled parts they had instead of spending $1.04 on a new part.
5. The north side of the yard is another story entirely. We had originally had a curved grass area which was being modified to square/rectangle and the mounding was supposed to be flattened. The list of issues on this side are numerous. They did not fix the mounding in the lawn leaving a huge hump in the square/rectangle lawn. Then they did not even move the sprinkler heads to the edge of the sod. They left them where they were originally placed - the new sod did not get watered. For the new irrigation they installed the sprinkler heads between 1/2 to 3/4 inch proud of the installed sod (???????) they are supposed to be 1/2and quot; above grade prior to installation of the sod. They also installed a sprinkler head under a rain gutter downspout (the sprinkler could never operate as it hit the rain gutter downspout). Lastly, they left so much rock debris on the lawn (large rocks and chunks of mortar) I had to spend numerous hours picking out the rocks before mowing (huge issue as the sod was Tifway 419 which is mowed with a reel mower and those mowers don't like rocks and its expensive to fix or replace a reel blade). The second part of the north side was a modification of an existing paver patio - they installed the new patio but did not bother replacing the riprap that was in place to catch water run off. Lastly, there was existing mounding around the grass area, we spoke many times about lowering the mounding and instead they increased the mounding height or did not grade it out (I assume b/c they did not want to haul off the extra dirt). Disclaimer, in fairness we had to have a trench dug through the existing sod for the pool and I did expect there to rocks around the trench but not in the newly installed lawn.
6. Clean-up: Yes they cleaned up but there are all sorts of huge chunks of mortar, rocks, caliche clumps and litter. I have cleaned up what I can but I keep finding more the more I walk the yard.
7. In general, they left me with what I estimate as two pallets of pavers (from the existing patios) stacked near the rip rap area they did not replace. I had asked the project manager that they be stacked elsewhere.
8. We have cutouts with different gravel in them (per landscapers plan) it's minus compacted and dark brown. They first installed the wrong gravel in these cutouts, I noticed and then they pulled out the gravel and put in the minus per plan but the minus they ordered was not the correct existing color. They eventually fixed it but they also buried my plans in the minus gravel. It looks wrong.
So I called to get these issues remedied (grade = c) and the saddest part is that when they fixed the mound in the lawn they installed a different variety of sod (even though I stressed that it was Tifway 419). When they fixed the sprinkler heads they left even more large rocks and they did not even fix all the sprinkler heads. They forgot to replace a dead plant and then when they came back a second time with the correct sod they missed a section so now I have mostly Tifway 419 and a patch of Midiron sod??????????
In general communication was the worst part. I checked in via phone calls and e-mail to confirm important items including sending detailed written communication and the important items never really got addressed. On the warranty items I was told they met with the crew and discussed in detail what needed to be done per my e-mail (fix sod, fix sprinkler heads, line up fire pits) but when they showed up they asked questions about each item - I was told they met, went over my e-mail and discussed what needed to be done. I would be told one thing one day and then something else the next day by the project manager during and after we finished the project.
So I am done now, though there are still a handful of issues that bug me I will do them myself - I am tired of picking up rocks out of my lawn every time they show up. Overall I am more disappointed than mad - we had a great experience in 2010 and a bad experience in 2014. I will likely be re-soding the entire north lawn in the spring (I will get all the rocks out of the lawn and I will fix those sprinkler heads too).