Royal Garden Landscaping

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I actually waited a few months to write this review, but we keep finding issues with the work that was done so I felt like now is the time. John's crew never arrived on time and were so lazy they never worked more than 5 hours a day. They would start a project, not finish it, start another project, not finish it, and then not show up for days at a time. Granted it was a very rainy winter but even when the sun was out on a Saturday or Sunday after not working all week, they wouldn't show. John keep asking for weekly payments even though nothing was getting finished. My husband and I ended up having to actually go out, take over his crew and work ourselves just to get a couple of time sensitive projects done. If I hire someone I should have to be out doing manual labor myself as well when I have paid someone to do it. We ended up having to fire John and now we are in danger of losing several of our trees which were pruned incorrectly by his "experts".  We have had to go back and re-do or finish most of what he was paid to do. They took out plants that were not supposed to be removed, and then John told us he would replace them, but never did. They were supposed to dig a trench 8" deep and install a snake fence, but the trench was only dug 1-2" in places so my husband ended up having to do the entire thing over. They didn't finish the playground so we had to and now the wood border they did install is falling apart because it wasn't properly secured. 

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I own a house in Rocklin and hired John to make a safe and maintenance free yard for my relatives/tenants who live there, including 5 little kids.  John was absolutely wonderful to work with.  His work was on time and on budget and of the highest quality.  He is a exceptionally pleasant person and brought ideas and an open mind to our initial planning meeting, then kept me informed at each phase of the project with progress reports and suggestions to keep our costs on target.  He understood our
objectives of creating a safe play space, making choices and repairs to ensure durability, enhancing privacy, and creating the least maintenance needs possible.  What a great job he did!  We got exactly what we wanted.  I would not hesitate for a second to recommend John and his crew.

Poured cement and then stained cement.

My initial impression of John was very positive.  He is very friendly and outgoing and was usually punctual.  His quote was well below other bidders and was one of three that actually submitted a bid.  Of the 12 contractors we contacted only 6 showed up and of those only 3 gave us a bid.  The initial contract was only for the retaining walls.  We told John that if we liked his work we would give him the patio paver job.
The work started right away and went on for about 2 weeks at a steady pace.  There was a lot of dirt to remove and the hill side was steep which made it difficult to get the dirt down to the street.  On the third week nobody showed up.  It took a few voice mails to John before he called me back and said they are working another job that week.  That seemed odd to me to pack up at one job, go to another, and then come back a week later.  The walls were finished the next week and looked great.  John started complaining about the cost of the dirt removal and wanted to discuss dump runs and extra payment.  I told him we can discuss that after the patio pavers were done.  He gave me an estimate right away for the pavers and said he could start in a week.  It took many phone calls and emails to finally get a start date a month later.  That was frustrating.  It only took them 2 days to get the pavers done.
I mentioned over and over to John that there was a lot of clean up to be done.  He kept giving me dates and then putting it off longer and longer.  A few weeks go by with no sign of John coming to clean up all the debris and rock piles that his guys left all over the yard.  There were also left over retaining wall blocks and pieces of concrete that were cut from an existing wall.  I finally called John and told him to forget about coming back and payment for extra dump runs and I ended up spending about 3 days cleaning everything up myself.
The work they did is some of the best I have seen, but the broken promises were very frustrating.  I really wanted to find a contractor I could use for numerous other projects and I was hoping it was John.  I asked him over and over to just keep me updated, but that failed to happen.

John did a wonderful job.  The project was completed in a timely manner and at a fair price.  He fixed all the little problems that came up at no extra charge.  After a few weeks the lawn looks great.

We had been trying to install a patio in our backyard for several months to replace a damaged wooden deck that a previous owner had built (and bulit very poorly at that). With our own labor, we had demolished the deck, attempted to shore up the wooden patio cover, and excavated a pit for a paving stone patio... and then we ran out of gas. After calling several contractors, we finally chose John Irwin and Royal Garden Landscaping, as he indicated that he could do all the work that we wanted, which included re-using pavers that had been installed elsewhere in our yard for the new patio and doing some work on the patio cover to anchor it more securely.
The weekend before the work started was the tail end of the big storm system that swept through Northern California in early December, so the entire backyard was flooded, including the pit that we had dug for the foundation of the patio. John came over on a Saturday afternoon with a sump pump that he loaned us to drain the yard, and the work started the following Monday.
The entire week was on and off rain, but the Royal Garden Landscaping crew worked tirelessly over several days to complete the job. The mason did a great job, and the prep crew worked their butts off to get everything ready for the installation. When it came time to work on the patio cover, there were some significant difficulties for the crew, as the existing structure, like the deck that it once covered, was not especially well-built, but they literally worked into DARKNESS (remember this was early December) to get the work done. The entire job took four days total (an additional day was lost due to rain) and finished by Friday evening. John returned with the mason and the carpenter once the work was completed to do some follow up work, and he also made sure that the clean up was done properly. We are very happy with our new patio and appreciate all the work that John Irwin and Royal Garden Landscaping did to get it done in a timely and professional manner.

John was replacing a neighbors front yard when I noticed the preparation work for the sod. I walked up and asked him about landscaping my back yard so he walked down that day and looked at the yard and set an appointment for 3 days later. He showed up on time, took measurements, and we talked about what I wanted. John noticed the poor placement of the brick patio we installed ourselves and was very polite about it. He prepared a scope of work  and emailed it within the 3 days of the appointment. The workers were very prompt and prepared when they arrived. The workers were considerate of our privacy and our dogs. They cleaned  the work areas daily. John always told me what their plans were for upcoming parts of the job. He took me with him to Green Acres Nursery to pick out the trees and plants which was important to me because I knew what I wanted. Work began within a week and took 3 weeks which was well within our expectations. I had so much fun working with them and watching the progress. I never thought my yard could look so beautiful! I  plan on hiring them to landscape the front yard next Spring.

John was very personable and I willing allowed him to extend the term of the project as he claimed an illness, an equipment fire, other projects and I can't remember how many other excuses.  The work on the project began on February 8, 2011.  He continually asked for advances to purchase materials as well as to pay for labor.  Unfortunately, he duped me into giving him his finally payment before the project was actually completed.  It was "mostly" completed at the end of April, so I gave him his final payment, with the understanding that he would complete the work while I was traveling.
When I returned from my vacation, I contacted him about plants that were stressed and others that had died.  He agreed to replace them and we were going to discuss other work that I wanted done in the front yard.  He seemed to be more interested in planning for the new work, than completing the work that still needed to be addressed in the backyard.  We continued to communicate, but he repeatedly had excuses about why he didn't show for appointments or get work completed.
In addition to having numerous plants die, the lighting system had bulbs burn out within weeks of there installation.  When I tried to figure out how to change the bulbs, there didn't seem to be a way to do it!  When I called John, he sent one of his people to do it, and they couldn't do it either.  Finally, he came and looked at it and said it took some kind of a special screwdriver, and promised to replace the bulbs himself.  I told him I did not want a lighting system I couldn't service and he said he would change them for different fixtures.  He dropped off catalogues for me to select something else, but he never followed through on the replacements - he also never changed the burned out bulbs.
John Irwin is a very likable individual.  However, he has difficulty following through with commitments and I have serious doubts about his knowledge of plants and lighting systems.  I would NOT recommend him.

They did an excellent job. They owner came when they first arrived, but he didn’t stay too long, but the person in charge did a really good job. His helper was a little bit lazy and didn’t follow through quite as much as we would’ve liked him to, but it was sufficient.

Quickly responded to initial call. Estimate provided in a timely manner.  Work commenced right away even though weather was unpredictable. A 3-5 man knowledgeable crew each day.  Completed job to my specifications, available for questions and advise. Immediate response to questions.  Completed job in committed time frame, while dealing with nasty weather and my changes to the job.  Owner on-site daily, received calls  as updates available, and has provided follow-up since job completion.

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The outside of my house looks awesome. Would definitely recommend this company for any outdoor work. 

Liked this company so much we decided use them for so more cosmetic work (fence replacement), to make yard immaculate

It went really well overall. When they put down the new drive; the previous drive way, had no rock bed and no wiring in the concrete. They made sure all of that had been done correctly, this time around. When they did the drive way we had it done in aggregate and we had a bridge laid along the sides. It’s edged in brick in a ladder and then it plum creek aggregate with a seed rock. It turned out really, really nice and as soon as we have money enough we want to have them to do our back yard as well. We have about a quarter acre, backyard; so we got to save a lot of money. It was a fabulous experience though it took a little longer than we expected. We ran into bigger tree roots than we expected. We originally thought it would only be about 3 or 4 jump lands and it ended up being closer to 8 or 9 between the soil and concrete. We ended up having to lay down more gravel for bedding underneath the drive way because it turned out that we don't have a septic system. They had been disconnected but it is still leaching and the leaching is underneath the drive way. They had to put more rock out to be able to handle the leaching so that our drive way didn't sink. It took twice as much the gravel in order to firm up the ground and everything. The new lawn is fabulous, it sticks really well and he set up the timer system on it as well. I don't think we would have gotten a better deal in price anywhere else after all that work.

It was great experience...

The landscaping at my in-laws in Davis had not been taken care of in a couple of years. No kidding my eight year old could easily have hid in the grass. But John had been hired to redesign our yard at our house and I asked him to come take a look and see if he could help us get it back in shape. He was very gung-ho from the beginning and wanted to help us in any way he could. First he took a look around came up with some suggestions and we set a date for him and his crew to start. They have even worked through the rain. Most of the debris was cleaned out in two days time. Removed the existing lawn, removed or fixed spinklers rebuilt the valves and cylinods and put on a timer,  and they conditioned the soil before putting in new sod. We went shopping with him at Green Acres Nursery in Sacramento and had fun picking out new plants for both yards. When he was done with the landscaping he and his crew power-washed the brick patios. Then laid the bark with landscaping fabric. It looks so Awesome!  We are looking forward to having him and his crew work on our home soon!