NICK MARTIN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT INC

I almost never write a review but felt it necessary to help people make an informed decision when shopping around for a backyard design company and considering this individual for hire. 1. This is NOT a company with all of the safeguards and protections that go with that but rather a solitary elderly gentleman approximately 75-80+ years old that requires a cash payment through zello. In other words, you have no protection for your investment through a credit card or company if he were to die or as in our case not deliver on the product we thought we were purchaing. You money dissapears without recourse and believe me, once he has your cash you can forget a refund. 2. To add to point number 1, Nick is not able to deliver a modern product that is standard with other professional design services such as providing a 3d rendering of your project. Almost anyplace else will provide this for less than what you pay him for a flat drawing that is VERY hard to visualize the end result. 3. Read through his documentation before signing and paying and be sure you understand the services he CANNOT provide because he will not explain that to you as a non-construction consumer. He cannot provide a design for structures attached to the home, you will have to pay a separate company to do that for which you can hire a firm that CAN for far less than Nick will charge you for a 2D landscape drawing. 4. He overcharges for his services, shop around. You can get far better a far better product elsewhere. 5. Finally, this guy is retired and super hard to contact (read other reviews) to get an appointment and once he has your money, even harder to respond or read your emails. Just make sure you shop around and know what your getting before hiring this individual, we lost money and a couple months of our time messing with this guy. VERY frustrating.

Contractor did not contact me.

Nick was great to work with. Because of our yard's unique challenges (multiple slopes and septic field), we decided to utilize Nick's professional expertise as a landscape architect to help us design a yard that was both beautiful, functional, and complied with local health dept. laws due to the septic system. He communicated timely (via email, phone and in-person meetings) all throughout the design process and helped with referrals to a surveyor, septic contractor, architect, and landscape contractor when it was time to engage these professionals. Further, because of the scope of our design and budgetary concerns, he also helped identify appropriate phases of construction of the design that our landscape contractor could easily implement.

I went through two different "Landscape Architects" before I met with Nick. The original two called themselves Landscape Architects, but they were really just designers that would help you pick out plants.. Nice is a true Landscape Architect, and has helped us develop a full set of plans for our yard, including retaining walls, pool cabana, firepit, walkways, lighting, irrigation and drainage, the full package. We've had many sessions with Nick, and he always takes the time to listen and understand what we want, and has helped us put together the plans for what we knew we wanted, but didn't have the skills to bring together on our own. I would recommend Nick to anyone looking to take on this sort of project.

It was good and excellent. He understood what we wanted. We liked his concept of design.

He did a wonderful job. He was very thorough and we would definitely hire him again. We would highly recommend him.

We were in search of a Landscape Architect for our backyard makeover, which included a new pool/spa, fire pit and sitting area, BBQ island and patio. Nick came highly recommended to us by a friend who he had worked with. From the first visit he was always punctual and fully prepared with ideas/suggestions. He was very flexible in coming to meet with us on evenings and weekends. He would always bring prints of the landscape designs with updated changes. The design process was very collaborative and over a 4 month period, we came up with a design that we love. He was also very helpful in helping us find multiple contractors, which can be a daunting task given the scope of our project. All in all, we would highly recommend Nick to anyone who is looking for a Landscape Architect.

Very pleased! They're professional and friendly. They took their time but they're not lazy. I actually have recommended them. I like their customer service and their service.

Contracted for a landscape architecture plan.  This was for just the plan, with the intent to use those plans to accept multiple bids from contractors.  Plans were for both front and back yard.
Company's gallery and website are quite good.  We met for our initial meeting and decided to use this company.  Initial rate given was about $1000 over market rate.  Renegotiated for a fairer price.
Initial plans were exceedingly slow to develop.  The only responsiveness seemed to be when a payment was due.  After over three months, we still do not have a complete set of plans.
Breakdown of grades:
Overall:                    D  After three months, we still don't have a complete set of plans.
Price:                       C  Initial price was high, but company quickly came down to market price.
Quality:                    B  Drawings and plan were good and very detailed.  Having said that, the plans could not be built inside the
                                      budget given to the design team.  Additionally, plant selection did not account for household pets (i.e. some
                                      plants selected were poisous to pets and design team did not know this.)
Responsiveness:  F  Does not return emails, slow returning calls, does not deliver plans in agreed timeframe.
Puntuality:               D  (could be a C)  Tends to run about 15 to 30 minutes late.
Professionalism:  D  This is largely based on responsiveness and following through on agreed timelines.  In terms of personal
                                       interactions, company was professional and courteous.  Only excpetion was when owner made it clear
                                       he did not need our business because he was so busy with other jobs.  This probably just came out wrong,
                                       but it was clear we were not his priority.