Swink's Creations

Mark had great design ideas and the crew was very professional and timely. The end result was beautiful and we're very happy that we invested in the work.

Excellent!

Every time has been great. Mark and Mike are always a pleasure to work with.

Everything went very well.  We had Swink's do totally redo our front yard as well as our backyard in the past.  We didn't even get other bids because we knew from the past how professional they are and what good work they do.  The young woman, Brianna, who does the landscaping was particularly wonderful to work with.  If anyone lives in our area they should drive by and see the front yard.  The artificial turf looks so much like real grass we notice people stopping to feel it.  We've even seen people slow down in their cars to look at the yard.

Project was absolutely perfect in all respects. Provider was not the lowest bid, but far and away the most through and the most professional. On hind site I would have payed the extra gladly for the type of service and and quality provided. The job was completed on time and for the amount quoted. I cannot say enough about the quality and efficiency with which they performed. Out of five stars they rate a six. DO NOT hesitate to pay a little extra for what these people bring to the table. The job they do is problem and stress FREE.

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Outstanding service they were great all around

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We are thrilled with our outdoor space! We wanted to create an outdoor space that was fun for the kids but relaxing for the adults. The result is a gorgeous, custom outdoor oasis, where we can entertain, hang out with friends and family, and just enjoy on a quiet Sunday morning. Mark was professional, responsive, respectful, and patient. We made changes along the way, which slowed things down a bit, and Mark always welcomed our input and changes with professionalism and a positive attitude. The office staff was always professional, courteous, and communicative. Mark's crews are experts in their respective trades, and were respectful, hard-working, clean and thorough. We chose a ledgestone that needed to be hand placed, stone by stone, and Edwin, the masonry lead, was incredible-- patient and incredibly skilled. There was a LOT of stonework, which took longer than expected, and Edwin took great care to make sure each piece was placed just right. Everything from the custom patio covers to the complicated pattern we chose for the pavers, was done with impressive attention to detail and a positive attitude. I was very involved in every design decision, from materials to physical design to every flower and shrub, perhaps more so than the average person, and Mark was right there offering patient guidance and expertise every step of the way. Thanks to Mark and his amazing crew for our beautiful back yard!

Overall well, finished product is gorgeous; workers seemed quite skilled; they were backed up &
time between when we agreed to contract & work was started & completed was longer (several months) than we'd have preferred.
Don't know yet if we'll get rebated for tearing out lawn.     
Several neighboors have commented favorably on final results including that they had never seen artificial turf that looked so real (our opinion also).
We'd recommend them tho they're not cheap.
- .Pete & Ellen Kossoris; [email protected]

Wonderful! We love our new yard and everything was on time and perfect.

The entire project went as planned.

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Mark Swink and his team, including sub-contractors were great.  The thing that immediately impressed me about Mark was his attention to detail, patience and focus on doing it right (no short cuts).  
All the work occurred on schedule.  
Our pool was built back in 1978 and was in need of a complete make-over.  After the work was done, it looks brand new and absolutely beautiful.  I highly recommend Swink's. The whole team was very attentive.  Even those who were clearly sub-contractors (plasterers, tile guys, and pool start-up service) were all very professional and friendly.  We made the right choice and I have no regrets whatsoever.

It went well. Did a good job. Very professional.

Have worked with Mark Swink for many years on two properties in Simi Valley and have been impressed with the work from him team and the exceptional service her provides along with his office personnel, Stephanie and Mike his "crew boss". I became disgruntled with paying high water bills to water ugly turf lawn each month and costly gardening bills to go along with it. This was before all of the media frenzy surrounding the drought in CA. I decided to replace my grass with a drought tolerant landscape. Mark came out to discuss my options, my budget and take measurements. Chris came up with the design. Stephanie made the scheduling arrangements and Mike was on-site to make sure I was happy with the install. Everything went well and now I have a beautiful drought tolerant yard which I love! I highly recommend Swink's to anyone!

Great design team, listened to what we wanted.  stayed on schedule, excellent construction supervisor.

They were very reliable and clean. They had fair pricing.

Mark Swinks and his team did an incredible job from start to finish.  On time, professional, ethical and true to their word.  Each day things were left clean and in the end, we could not be happier.  I highly recommend them and plan to use them again to build upon the work they just completed.  Thank you.

I have had good experience with Swink's Creations and they did fantastic job. In fact, I will be using the again. I like everything they did.

We hired Swink's Creations to remodel our pool.  The pool was built back in the 70's and was all original. The plaster was flaking off, tiles were missing and brick on the raised bond beam at the back of the pool had disintegrated.  Our goal in the remodel was to replace the plaster, tile, raised bond beam, plumbing and filter.  Many companies that we spoke with said that in order to replace the plumbing we would have to demo all of the decks and pour new concrete, which can be very expensive, and was out of our budget.  Mark, the owner of Swink's, was the first person to propose running the plumbing along the outside of the pool "shell" and then they would pour new concrete coping around the pool.  This strategy allowed us to do everything on our list and stay within budget.  In addition to his recommendations, Mark was really professional and it seemed like he knew what he was talking about.
The actual process took about 3 weeks from start to finish.  Mark's project manager, Denis, stopped by the house to check the progress at least once a day, and communicated how things were going and what would happen next.  Denis and Mark both paid close attention to the aesthetics of the design, for instance due to the construction, one of the cracks in our existing deck became quite a bit deeper.  Denis proposed building out the step nearby to get rid of the crack but also line up the step with the new coping.  I'm the type of person that obsesses over small details, so I appreciated that Denis noticed this problem and suggested a reasonable solution.  I think some companies would just carry on as originally planned and not worry about the ugly crack.
The Swink's crew set the bar pretty high for future contractors that work on our property.  I cannot say enough good things about them and our pool looks great.  I can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can finally swim in our "new" pool.

We found Swink's Creations through a word of mouth referral, and we feel tremendously fortunate that we did! I had no idea that watching our (huge!) backyard project come to life would be such a special experience. In a world of artificially created, prefabricated conveniences, it was such a treat to witness true craftsmanship, each stone tended to by hand, with such care and attention to detail. Each crew that came in for the next step was a skilled expert at his craft... Skills that we hold great appreciation for. Every detail was thoroughly discussed and reviewed. Questions and feedback (even changes in decisions) were consistently and kindly welcomed. All staff members were easily and readily accessible at all times. Time frames were shared very frequently and with all possible accuracy. Discussions and pricings were based on common sense, courtesy, and getting the project done in a way that was meaningful to our family and our hopes for our backyard.
As a woman, I appreciated having another woman, Stephanie, as my primary contact... A woman who also happened to be very personable, kind, welcoming and knowledgable. Both my husband and I were very thankful to have Dennis as our project supervisor. Dennis kindly responded to all of our questions, helped us figure out every last detail, and guided us through decisions we felt unsure about. And finally, I can say with ease that Mark Swink is a man of his word. Our project was a pretty large scale endeavor, and it was completed with NO SURPRISES! So refreshing to remember that integrity and forthrightness still exist! As Mark said in one of our meetings, something to the effect of, if it were up to him, we could just shake hands on it, and that'd be enough. He is not just a man of his word, but a man of his work. He upheld high standards for the quality of the work, and had he not mentioned certain considerations to assure our long term satisfaction, we never would have known. He was under no obligation to tell us about those details, but he told us because he takes ownership of his work. Again, so refreshing to see that ownership, a personal sense of responsibility, and just plain kind consideration are still alive.
Ultimately, we ended up with a backyard space that truly exceeded all of our expectations. Everything looks more beautiful than I would've ever imagined. We are so thankful to Mark and to every member of his crew! We appreciate the work that was done, and we feel equally grateful for having worked with a great group of people. Thank you!!!
Needless to say, a number of our friends have already called Swink's Creations for their own home projects! We are also hoping to work with Swink's in the near future for our next big home project!

Did a great job!  Showed up as scheduled.  Cleaned up all mess.  Very efficient.

This project went great.  We'd heard a lot of horror stories about pool building projects but experienced none of that.  We looked at a number of pool contractors but felt very comfortable right away with Mark Swink.  We had hired another very good pool designer to design our pool so that we could get comparable quotes.  We took that plan to Mark and several other well recommended contractors and he provided a quote that was better than any other quote we received.  He was very reasonable during negotiations and helped us select finish materials, explaining the quality vs cost tradeoffs on the various products.  We also adjusted the project to make some improvements to the design. One of the important considerations for us was how much time the project would take. He gave us a a two month estimate, which went through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.  Even with time off for holidays, they finished within a week of the estimate and most of that delay was attributable to rain.  We had one glitch when the pre-cast coping came in late and was wrong. Rather than simply "make it work" Mark was concerned that it wouldn't look right and we'd be dissatisfied.  We ended using cast in place coping, which after sealing, looks very nice.  There was no change in contract price.
The only issue we did not expect and was not included in the contracted cost came from the strict LA County code regarding enclosing the pool.  We thought our fences and property line walls would be okay but had some concerns so we arranged a meeting in advance with the inspector and learned he wanted the fences and walls higher.  Mark's company worked with the inspector to be very clear on what needed to be done and we approved the expenditure.  When the inspector came back, the enclosure modifications were approved without a hitch. It was our impression that Swink's honest and non-confrontational approach to dealing with the inspectors is why all the inspections went so smoothly.
All throughout the project Mark and his project manager were available by cell phone for any questions we had.  His office staff was friendly and professional and we were constantly kept informed about the coming schedule and when workers or inspectors would be at our home.  Swink's crew and his subcontractors were always professional, polite and very hardworking.  We never really understood why pools cost so much money until we saw how much work goes into building them.  The end result looks fantastic and though it's only been full of water for three weeks everything seems great.  We're really happy and looking forward to summer!

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