Zenscape

Brian, the owner, is fantastic to work with and his crew are dedicated to perfection.  Our San Francisco garden is beautiful and we would highly recommend Brian and his business, Zenscape, to anyone.

It was smooth going, we only had one problem with the payment not going through quickly but that isnt their fault.

We were looking for a major overhaul of our back yard and when the time came to select a contractor, we interviewed several candidates. Zenscape was the only one that did not come with a personal recommendation, but the reviews on Yelp were so good that we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We met with several high-profile and reputable companies, but after a few meetings, it became clear that Brian was the one we wanted to work with. He had a clear and compelling vision for what the backyard could become, but more so than the other candidates, he seemed flexible in terms of accommodating our desires and needs.
Although Brian’s process is a little different than what we are used to working with, we actually enjoyed and would highly recommend it. Instead of a traditional approach where the architect creates a detailed design plan and the workers come in and implement that plan, Brian used a much more iterative approach -- He did create a conceptual plan that roughly showed proportions and where major design elements would be. We found this was more than enough to understand and appreciate his vision. During
the actual construction, things were extremely fluid and we were able to make changes based on how things actually looked in person rather than on paper.
Brian’s work ethic, attention to detail, and integrity also far exceeded our expectations. My wife is extremely picky when it comes to construction details – this is probably the first time that we met a contractor who was actually pickier than us! Brian wanted to create the perfect backyard experience for us and spared no time or expense in making this so. For example, he made one of his workers remove the concrete footings for a bench not once, but twice because he didn’t like the location in relationship to the overall site once he saw it in place. Another example was when he put in a large Japanese maple. He must have had his poor worker move it
to 10 different locations, moving it a few inches and rotating it a few degrees so he could make sure it was just right!
Brian also spent a lot of time making sure that the new backyard was not just going to have a pretty face. It turns out that the “soil” in our yard was mostly clay, which is why we were having so many drainage problems. Brian’s team replaced most of the clay with good soil and put in extra drainage pipes to ensure that there would be no future problems.
It goes without saying that we highly, highly recommend Brian and his Zenscapes team for your next landscape project. You’ll be fortunate to have him on your team.

I originally found Zenscape on Yelp!, where it had the most positive reviews of any landscaping business in San Francisco. (No small feat) Brian Ott's work on my patio has transformed my living experience. In November 2011 we met a handful of times and soon agreed on a general design and budget. The finished product he and his team delivered on a 10 day schedule in December 2011 exceeded my expectations and continues to charm all my house guests. The garden he created has become the cornerstone for a zen like experience for my guests, as well as a source of constant complements from them! Brian brings an artists creativity, a botanists knowledge of plants, and a business like efficiency to his work. Nearly a year has passed and Brian has proven to be responsive, punctual, and reasonably priced for the garden's on going maintenance. I highly recommend working with Brian and his team if you're in the market for a premium quality patio or garden for your living or work space!

He gave us an accurate idea of timing, described in detail the design based on our initial meetings where we described what we were looking for, and the cost. Other bells and whistles had an added cost and they were clearly defined in the proposal. When we got started, the first hurdle was to get rid of an ancient cast iron tub that the previous owners had used as a planter. Brian and the team figured out a way to get it out for us. I'm not sure how--it must have been 500 pounds and too large to fit through the door. From there, he installed the deck, started creating the garden and slate walkway, and in a month's time, our backyard was totally transformed. Since we had family coming the middle of October, he and his team worked hard the final week to meet that date and the outcome was amazing. We now use the space daily and we're thrilled!

The owner is very personable and did more than he said he was going to do. They made my backyard look beautiful. Their pricing was fairly high.

We ran across Zenscape through Yelp! and fell in love with the portfolio posted at zenscape.com. This was the style we were searching forand hellip;.something tranquil and zen with a modern twist. Our original front and side yards were boring and stale, and the backyard was an unusable slate of cement and pebbles. The main guy of Zenscape is Brian Ott. Super down to earth, friendly, and honest. He brought a book full of his other projects, many of which were not on his website, and we were convinced that we had to hire him. Beyond just redoing the yard, Zenscape installed a new cedar fence, small deck with his signature curve, an elevated veggie garden and a small putting green (he outsourced this). Brian had free reign for his design; the only thing I requested was a few large boulders and some bamboo. It wasn't like on HGTV where the homeowners are given a detailed diagram of exactly what the yard was going to look like. It was more blind faith that you entrusted in him and ndash; we knew we liked his style of work and let him run with it. I have to admit, it was a little nerve-racking not having the exact plans, but Brian is an artist and very passionate about his creation. He moved around fully planted trees and big rocks several times until he got it to his taste. We whole-heartedly recommend Zenscape. We paid another landscaper around $10k the first time we did our yard as we thought we could handle the main design and pick out the plantsand hellip;.what a disaster and complete waste of money (especially since most of it has now been gutted). Zenscape is multiple of this but you get what you pay for. All the new plants and veggies (except the ones that we personally planted, go figure) are thriving. They installed more rocks/boulders than what I would have thought, the black bamboo was taller than expected, and most importantly, we love our yard!

My backyard was an embarassing story of years of neglect. It was an unsightly mess. I researched a few landscaping companies. I was interested in a paving system of some sort to decrease the amount of upkeep I would need to do later. Brian Ott, owner of Zenscape, was resposible, timely and easy to work with. He did everything he said he would do. He purchased a pallate of slate, he removed the weeds and top soil. He placed the slate over the patio area while making certain that the area would drain properly come the Winter rains. He put some lovely plantings along the edges of the patio are. He went above and beyond by landscaping some of my other areas, including pruning my apple tree! I recommend him highly.