Sculptured Gardens Alive

The whole process with Sculptured Gardens went great. We worked with them on several projects over the course of three months to completely re-work our backyard. Dan, the owner, was outstanding to work with. He listened to what we wanted and came up with excellent ideas and solutions. He has a really good sense of aesthetics and as a result our backyard now looks fabulous. The work crew was very punctual and cleaned up at the end of every day. All work was completed on schedule. We look forward to working with them again next year on our front yard. Originally, we contacted Sculptured Gardens to put in a new raised slumpstone planter around a tree, fix some irrigation issues, and place sod in some dead areas of the lawn. We also wanted them to look into a drainage issue, which we had several other contractors look at. In heavy rain, the backyard would not drain well and would flood into the garage. Dan determined that the one drainage pipe in the backyard was now going uphill in one spot and was just ending underground. He proposed putting in two new drainage pipes that went all the way to the street, along with trenching out some concrete near the garage and putting in another drainage trench to re-route the water from there. We liked this approach more than ones proposed by other contractors, and went forward with the drainage work along with the landscaping. This was done in early January. The big test was a major rain storm that came through the end of February. The new system worked great. There was no garage flooding and no puddling anywhere in the backyard. We were very happy with the way the new lawn looked and how well the drainage worked, so we contracted with them to come back in March and really spruce up the backyard. They placed many new planting beds in the backyard and filled them up with a wide variety of plants. The combination of plants is great, and makes our backyard look gorgeous.

He was very professional and punctual. He did superb work but IMHO it was a bit costly. I feel that I did get what I paid for, however.

In the process of redoing the yard, many plants died. Contractor wrote me a note saying he had put enough money into my yard (ie the re-do of the botched gas line) and I should find another person to replace dead plants, etc. that had been guaranteed for a year. In addition, the decompossed granite that he put down is now breaking off to the point that you can see the black cloth he put underneath for the weed protection. I'm planning on having it redone this spring. Do Not Use this company. Seriously bad news!

It went well. I am pleased with the outcome.

We hired Sculptured Gardens Alive to landscape our front yard this past January. After dealing with a horrible landscape company for our backyard we were very skeptical about any landscaper?s credentials. It is really difficult to weed out the good ones from the bad ones even with checking references, licenses, reviews etc. We went with Dan because he really took the time to work with us. He was always prompt in returning phone calls. Dan is very knowledgeable about specifics varieties of plants and trees that would work in our yard. Other landscapers suggested more generic plants that work in most places. We wanted something more unique. We were looking to take out the grass in our front yard and put in something with low maintenance and lower water and chemical requirements. We also wanted low voltage lighting. We?re very happy that we went with Dan because he worked with us on every phase of the project. During the design phase, he showed us some landscapes that he has done that were similar to what we were looking for, as well as, taking us to look at plant and tree options. He was at our house nearly every day that there was work being done. If there were adjustments or corrections that needed to be made, it was done right away. Dan had a lot of great ideas that improved the look and function of our front yard. He also has a very artistic eye for choosing and placing the lights. After the project was completed Dan was accessible for questions. He periodically checked up to see how the plants and trees were doing. After 6 months our front yard looks even better. The plants and trees are thriving. The lighting looks beautiful. Without hesitation we would recommend Sculptured Gardens Alive. We would definitely use him again if we had the need.

The whole process went very smoothly. The main landscaper, Dan Tyson, was a very easy person to work with. He arrived for an initial visit right on time and got an idea of what my vision was for the new landscape. We discussed options where he talked me out of having a large tree saying the space was too small and proposed a more modest size tree. Besides the tree all his other suggestions pretty much matched what I had in mind. On the first visit he also gave me a ballpark figure for the cost. He came by again a couple of weeks later and gave me a proposal which matched his cost ballpark estimate from the first day. This proposal was fairly detail in writing and included a computer graphic of what it would look like. I agreed to his proposal and price. My work schedule went crazy about the time the work started. Luckily I felt very comfortable leaving the house while they were working The workers were very professional and seemed to know what they were doing. It turned out looking very nice. I was a little doubtful of how the decomposed granite pathway would look while it was first being put in. Once completed though it really does look good.The whole yard is a big improvement over how it looked before.

They were customer-oriented. They had outstanding customer service. They listen to customers and the company owner incorporated our thoughts into his ideas. The people that he has working for him were very diligent and they were very punctual. They came when they said they would and they completed the job when they said they would.

To begin with, I asked him if he was familiar with a process known as DG or decomposed granite. I showed him many pictures of exactly what I wanted. I showed him brochures from companies who sold DG and and which detailed the correct application. As it turned out, he had no prior experience with the procedure. I quickly realized this, and began to email him Youtube videos of how to do this procedure accurately. At the end, he admitted that he had never done this process before and cavalierly said "we learned together."Which is all very nice and easy for him to say since it was my money. To this day the job has never been done correctly. Pieces have eroded and broken off. He put in a black cloth to prevent weeds from growing. The black cloth is now evident in many areas of my yard. There was insufficient decomposed granite put on top of it to sufficiently cover it for more than a month or so. He installed a gas firepit in my back yard. When I hired him, I explained that I was a retired Deputy District Attorney who had worked in the Workers Compensation unit and that I wanted to make sure that he was properly licensed, used licensed people, did work up to code, etc. As it turned out, I found out by a city permit worker, that Dan should have gotten a permit for the fire pit project since it cost way over $500 and involved totally digging up my backyard and installing gas pipes. When I confronted him about this, several months after the project had been initially completed, he had several different versions that were told to me over several weeks. At first he said he didn't get the permit in order to save me money....$59 or so on an expensive backyard remodel! Then he came back and admitted that he needed to get the permit, and would of course redo the work, but it shouldn't be a problem as all work was done "up to code." He came back a couple of Saturdays later (I was no longer a priority for him to come and set a start date) and admitted to me that in fact, the work was not done up to code. But, he said, he didn't know that Jaimie, his subcontractor had not done the job properly. After at least a month of stalling, he eventually hired a licensed plumber to do the work again. It required him to totally re-dig my backyard. It seems that besides using the wrong size pipe, which could have been a huge safety issue, he didn't put in the tracer wire required by the city to deal with gas leaks. He promised me that everything would be put back together. It was not. He additionally guaranteed all of his plants for a year. He has not abided by that. When he did the backyard over again in November, he had to put a black cover over several plants in order to spare them from all the work and workers. Those plants died almost immediately. Others did also. He has refused to plant new ones. More than anything, its Dan's attitude. Once he has your money, which he asked of me for all throughout the project, and I stupidly gave before the project was completed, he's "done." Getting him to show up to complete things is impossible. He would come and go as he pleased into my back yard to complete some of the things that needed to be done over the course of a month or so. He would just walk into my backyard whenever it was convenient for him. I had to warn him specifically to NEVER enter my property without first ringing the bell and alerting me of his presence. Additionally, during the approximately two weeks it took to redo the backyard in November, he behaved as if it were "my fault" that he hadn't complied with the code and now had to redo the work. His attitude was intolerable. Dan is knowledgeable about plants. If all you want is for someone to plant some new plants in your yard, I think he would do a good job. Anything more, be extremely cautious. I regret that I hired him to do my backyard.

We were getting ready to list our house for sale, and our back yard looked terrible -- dead lawn, overgrown trees and bushes, ivy choking what few plants were still alive. Dan and his crew turned our back yard into a little jewel, and I'm sure it was a big factor in our house selling so fast. If I wasn't moving out of state, I would definitely use Sculptured Gardens Alive for any future landscaping.

Quick service; my mother is extremely satisfied.

Dan was very pleasant in helping me figuring out what I wanted and what could be done to improve my garden. I gave him total freedom in designing the landscape and selecting the plants (my only input was to request succulent types of plants), and I would advise any potential customer to do same...Dan knows his stuff and what he did a superb job. I will definitely use his services again in future landscaping projects.

Overall went well and was done in a timely manner. Subsequently @ 10 plants perished out of @ 100 in the past six months. No replacement of plants was done.

We decided to spruce up our back yard after living in our home for almost 18 years. It all started with having a few trees and a fence removed. Once that was done, we saw the potential for a great yard. After re-financing our house, we decided to move ahead with the project. We found Dan Tyson, Sculptured Gardens Alive, on Angie's List. After interviewing several contractors, we selected Dan for several reasons. First of all, we were impressed with how responsive and respectful he was. He made us feel like we were the most important customer he had. He invested several hours with us just in the preliminary stages. We talked about the many possible things we could do with the yard and he had great ideas and suggestions. He took us to other projects he had completed so we could see some of the special ideas he had. He put the plan on paper, we made changes and came up with our final vision for what we wanted. Dan acted as our general contractor for all the work that needed to be done. In addition to the landscaping, our project required a patio cover contractor, a tile contractor and an electrician. His sources were excellent and we were happy with the work each of them did. Dan was ever present with each step of the project and followed up continually to ensure the work was being done and being done to our satisfaction. Dan and his crew worked very hard as did the other contractors involved. Our gardener and several neighbors even commented on what a great job they were doing. All of the workers were respectful and cleaned up after themselves each day. We have had precious experience with contractors when we re-modeled our home several years ago. They were all a nightmare. Dan was truly a breath of fresh air. He did what he said he was going to do and he did it well. He kept in constant contact with us as we went through the various stages of the project. If there was a problem, he was on it immediately. We are extremely pleased with the final result and would highly recommend Dan for any landscaping project, large or small.nn

He came over as promised, I was very impressed with his knowledge and professionalism. We thought we had to replace whole system but Dan made a few adjustments and we are good to go.

We had been wanting to re landscape our front yard and decided to get an estimate from Sculptured Gardens Alive. Dan Tyson came out and gave us wonderful ideas as to what we could do and seemed from the "get go" to understand what it was we were trying to do.We decided to go with him and within the week had an initial design to look at. He has an artistic eye and we loved what he had put together in a very short time. Within the week we were on our way. Trees were removed and the hardscape began. The workers he contracts are amazing. They worked hard, did exemplary work, were courteous and did a great job in their clean up. We were more than happy with all aspects of the job. The final outcome was competed in 3 weeks from start to finish. The garden is beautiful and is easy maintenance. The irrigation system was entirely upgraded and is much more efficient than what we had before. Dan is a good listener and chose plants that were perfect for what we were after. He took the time to explain the basics of each plant that was chosen and also easily incorporated plants that we had requested. I would recommend this company with no reservations. Thank you Dan!

Working with Dan and Javier was a great experience. Dan understood exactly what we wanted, offered great advice and provided a wonderful end product. Javier and his crew did a fantastic job. I highly recommend them. I was so satisfied with their work, I've hired Javier for our weekly maintenance.

We had redone our front yard about 10 years ago with what we thought would be low-water usage plants. However, many plants turned out not to be so, or were water hogs sucking the life out of other plantings (e.g. Rosemary, Pride of Madeira, Red Valerian, New Zealand Flax). We decided to remove them, the sole remnants of the previous landscaping (Camellias & Pittosporum) and replace them with California native plants such as Manzanita, Heuchera, Encelia, Monkey flowers, Origanum, Dendromechon, Ceanothus, etc... all of which I did myself. We first contacted Dan to help with our irrigation system and low voltage lighting, knowing full well that he dealt with CA natives. Our many conversations were interesting and informative and we decided to finish off the front by having Dan redo the difficult sloped area in the front with natives as well. Dan supplied the river rock terracing, the native plants and adjusted the irrigation. We are thrilled at how the yard has turned out, and so are our neighbors. If you plan on converting your yard to low water usage, you should contact Dan and hear his ideas.

The entire process went very well. Dan was very prompt in returning our initial call and in keeping his first appointment to provide an estimate. He listened to what we were looking for in the way of landscaping and offered suggestions as to the types of plants that would do well in our area. After the initial meeting Dan came back to draw up a plan for our Homeowners Association. During the review process the HOA commented the plan Dan prepared was the most detailed they had ever received. The work started shortly after the plan was approved and was finished on time. Dan and his crew cleaned up the area at the end of each day. On his own initiative he has also made periodic follow up visits just to make sure the plants are doing well and the sprinkler system is providing sufficient water. His work and his dedication to making sure everything went well far exceeded my expectations.

Initially, the landscaper was generally courteous and knowledgeable while meeting to discuss possible parameters for a large landscaping project. Prices are higher than other service providers to be found on Angie's List in the area. However, communications broke down later in the process. I had no problems whatsoever with the landscaper's perspective on the project, but a large-scale home improvement project of necessity should be a two-way process, ideally in which the landscaper helps the home owner realize his or her needs. We had reservations about condescension as well as the terseness of requiring an $85.00 per hour design consultation fee -- something I have not ever encountered with anyone before -- that led to a less than stellar experience. Other Angie's List reviews have been quite good, and I believe that the landscaper does generally fine work -- grade is based upon our own experiences, which we could not in good conscience recommend to friends or neighbors.

We purchased a house, and the irrigation system was in disrepair. Dan and his employees tested and troubleshooted the system and then re-wired the electrical and replaced some of the valves. The process required some detective work, and they did a great job. The owner, Dan Tyson, followed up after the work to make sure that we were happy.

Very reasonable and reliable. Finished all work on time and within budget. Will call again

Dan was a complete professional throughout our project. He had us pay him as the project progressed so we knew where our money was going. He used a couple of sub-contractors that he obviously had worked with before and it went very well. He had a guy come remove the old deck and truck it away and it was all gone within hours. He did the same for the tree removal. He had a stone/pavers guy come in and do the pavers in the courtyard and I would see them out there discussing stone placement. They were all professional crews. Dan and his team did all the design, plantings, lighting, sprinklers/drip systems, and drainage work. It went quite well. Dan got my wife and I involved in selecting the type/color of the lights and the stone used for the pavers (we went to the stone yard ourselves and selected the Pennsylvania field stone that they used). We knew we needed several new pots so Dan described the rough size and number of pots and where we might find them. We went to a store he suggested that had a huge selection and very low prices. We enjoyed it. After his crew would leave for the day my wife and I would walk through the yard and marvel at the transformation. The whole project took a couple of weeks and his crew cleaned up every day before they left. At the end of the project we did a walk through with Dan and he addressed any questions or concerns we had. After a week or two he came back to check on the sprinklers to make sure the plants were getting enough water. We are very pleased with our new yard and definitely recommend Dan and his team at Sculptured Gardens Alive.

It was an entirely good experience.

Dan is professional and courteous. I interviewed several landscapers. Dan is by far the most knowledgeable of all I have met. Dan's work is meticulous. He oversees and is involved in all the work that is done. Every aspect of the job met my expectations. Further, Dan has returned to check on the progress of the new plantings and irrigation. I will rely on Dan for all of my future landscaping needs.

They did an excellent job and were very professional throughout the process. We were very pleased with the outcome.