SACRED SPACE GARDENS

Whenever I hire a professional to work on my house, I'm filled with trepidation. We've all heard the horror stories about jobs that, after they're started, are extended so much that they go weeks or even months past the agreed-upon deadline; about workers who are disrespectful; about corners being cut; about shoddy workmanship; and about owners not understanding the vision the customer has in mind, and/or the end product not resembling that vision. Sacred Space Gardens allayed all those fears, and proved to be one of the best companies we've ever worked with. Chris - who is always on time - met with us a few times to hear about our ideas and commit them to paper. He suggested a flagstone patio, a surrounding stone seating wall, a wooden pergola-like frame to replace the one being torn down, a flagstone reading area, artificial turf for our dog, multiple varieties of plants, a number of pathways, a drip/sprinkler system, and a nighttime lighting system. We took virtually all of his suggestions and hired him without even talking to anyone else. The two workers from Sacred Space Gardens (Lobsang [the construction manager] and Mr. Salvador), fixtures in our yard for many weeks, were a dream. I sort of miss them. They were friendly and professional, got along with each other famously, were always on time, worked incredibly hard, and cut no corners. Everything they did was artistic and rock-solid. We've rarely seen such knowledgeable attention to detail. They were also, by the way, very strong. Because there is no long, straight way to transport things from the garage into the backyard, they had to hand-carry everything, including dozens and dozens of heavy cement bags, one at a time through our downstairs hallway and laundry room. The schedule did run a couple of weeks long, but it was in no way anyone's fault. We had some unforeseen problems, including rain delays, and our soil turned out to be so riddled with rock that Lobsang and Mr. Salvador had to drill away at the rock for days in order to prepare the soil for planting. In the end, our yard turned out to be much more beautiful than we ever imagined. The patios, the stonework, the plants, and even our dog's area are stunning. We feel like we're in Paradise out there. Now I need to go stare at the yard for an hour, because that's what I continue to do on a regular basis.

The planting and upgrade to water system is very satisfactory. Communication with Sacred Space personal is great. They are providing monthly servicing to my gardens. The price is higher than other but based from my past experience using two different landscapers, it is well worth it. I loved working with Chris deciding what needed to be done. There was no sales pressure. He is very knowledgeable and strives to provide exemplary service.

We are delighted with the results! Christopher's ideas transformed a yard that I was very unhappy with to one that I'm in love with! The back yard/garden now looks like a zen garden! It is gorgeous during the day and night. Christopher and his team were also a pleasure to work with. They were professional. prompt, flexible, and cleaned up after themselves each day. I also want to commend Christopher for his willingness to go the extra yard to find affordable solutions that I would be happy with.

I spent $12000 on the job. The man, who runs the company, is very nice. He listens to me. He is polite and courteous. He knows his job. He did a very nice job. His crew was quiet, hardworking, and polite. His maintenance team was very good. I will use them again in the future.

I thought that he was really terrific but his follow-through was lacking. He didn?t get it to me when he said it would and I had to nag him for it and it still came a couple days later. On the basis of him not meeting time commitments I decided I did not want to do business with him. He was punctual for the appointment we made.

We hired to maintain our backyard lawn and planters. They were responsive to get us onboard but after the first visit we noticed something was off. They moved our lawn furniture and never placed it back. After each visit they would just keep doing the same thing moving things to clean up weeks and not putting them back were they were. In addition the planters were so overgrown they were covering half the side walk. We called and asked for a trim again they came out but it was a terrible job. Just half done unfortunately. We have busy lives and have little time to micromanage every visit so it was disappointing that even with our small needs a lot of things were left undone or half done.

I met Christopher and he understood what I wanted so well that I accepted his first design immediately. I was very particular about what I wanted for a fence, and Sacred Space listened and built exactly what I wanted. I was more vague about the fountain, but they understood my taste and created a wonderful fountain and stairs that were perfect for me. They started work immediately and worked diligently. Mike, who was the primary person on my job, was terrific and thorough. Each day the workers left their things stacked neatly in the garage. The thoroughness and professionalism was amazing, and although this wasn't the cheapest project, it was worth every penny. Everyone who sees the new yard agrees -- an amazing transformation and thorough, friendly, professional experience. I recommend Sacred Space without reservation.

Called Sacred Space Gardens and scheduled an appointment to have a free estimate for our lighting project. Date and time were set. Got a message from Chris Hurley saying he wanted to get more details on our project. Called back a few times and only got his office manager. A week later, I got a message from his office manager saying Chris wanted 380 dollars to come to the peninsula to give an estimate and look at the project, of which half was refundable with the job. I called back and only got the office manager. Told her that I was under the impression it was a free estimate, but she said since he had to drive to the peninsula he would charge 380 dollars. I said I probably wasn't interested, but she said she would talk to Chris since they haven't done much work on the peninsula, he may want to remove the fee to improve business in the peninsula (palo alto). She said he'd call me back. About another week went by and still never got a call back from the office manager or Chris Hurley. I called him a few days before the planned meeting. He said he would still charge 380 dollars. He seems a likeable guy on the phone, but the 380 dollars just to meet and get an estimate was not what i expected, not was it mentioned on our initial planning for meeting. Chris also said he does work on the peninsula and is not sure why the office manager said they aren't doing work in the peninsula. Either way, the lack of responsiveness in getting back to me after my discussions with the office manager, and the 380 bucks just to get an estimate did not seem right. We did not go forward with the meeting. Chris says the office manager is new and she doesn't know the company that well yet. That may be true, but based on this initial interaction, we're not interested in working with them.

I didn't use them because I got a quote from another company that was much lower. They were very professional. I think they are used to working for rich people and I'm not. I would not use them in the future; they were obviously too expensive for me.

They are thorough with their service. They completed the work in one day. We changed it from a big to a small sprinkler and a drip system. They were very accommodating and offered some options on what to do.

Everything has been absolutely wonderful. They have made some great suggestions and have come up with some wonderful ideas. I can communicate with them by email, and they will research plants online for me and then bring and plant them. They are very timely, and if they go over their hour, they do not charge me extra. They do really good, efficient work, and they have a knowledge of plants. Jamie, the head gardener is wonderful and she is the one with whom I have communicated. They are multi-talented and I will continue to use them.

It was a lot of fun to select plants together. We loved the workers, they were a great crew and fun to meet. Two years later, the landscape area looks beautiful and fits in as if it had always been there and the irrigation is just right.

Christopher came over for an initial visit and took his time walking through the garden, very thoughtfully advising me. His gentle manner inspired confidence. We received his estimate 1 week later, broken down into 3 parts as we requested. We hired him for part 1, which was the tree removal, pruning, weeding and cleanup. Christopher and his charming crew of 2 arrived as scheduled and spent about 6 hours doing the work. I was particularly concerned that the pruning be done artfully, we wanted to maintain the natural lushness and privacy but give it a more contained or kept look at the same time. They achieved this to perfection. They were very careful removing the trees and carrying them through the house to get to their truck. They left everything clean and kept. The skillful removal of trees, several of them at Christopher's suggestion, has completely opened up the back part of our garden, creating a sunny area and space for new plantings as we had hoped.

A VERY SATISFACTORY EXPERIENCE. CHRIS HURLEY IS A LOVELY GUY, & HIS ASSISTANTS ARE ALSO VERY PLEASANT. THEY KNOW THEIR BASICS & ARE THOROUGHLY RELIABLE.