Exterior Design Landscaping

This company did quite a bit of work on my property, which included the planting of six expensive trees. I spent thousands. I have never written a vendor review before, but I had to write this one. I am very unhappy. The trees have really struggled. One has died and had to be removed, two are near death and the others have issues. I had a one year warranty on them which has since passed. I informed Pete (the owner) of the issue during the warranty period and when I finally got in contact with him, he said there wasn’t a real problem and they would be fine. I since called him numerous times. He did not return many calls or texts....and just over 2 weeks ago, I finally got him on the phone. He said he would come out. After numerous attempts, well here we are, and still no Pete. I have been told that they were not the right trees for the location (by an expert) and at least for the tree that died and was removed, it appears it was not planted properly. We saw early problems and made him aware. Pete is not responsive and has just walked away. There was a lot of stress and frustration dealing with him as he was basically unreachable after the work was done. I would not do business with this company and Pete again!

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They started work on weekday and called the next day to say they couldn?t make due to some other job and then it rained a few days. When they came back it seemed the workers didn?t have a sense of direction of the work that needed to be done. There were many mistakes along the way that made it very necessary for us to be on site at all times while the work was being done. It was an exhausting process to be on top of their work and to get them to complete the job. The biggest frustrations were the numerous times where Peter himself promised to come and complete work and never showed up or even called which resulted in our time being wasted as we waited from him to come. The worst part is that he charged our credit for final payment without authorization and no-showed 4 times to complete the work resulting in us having to call our credit card company and dispute. We warned Peter that we would do that if he failed to complete the job, he never responded but the day we notified him of the dispute he sent his workers over to complete the job. Overall our house got the curb appeal we wanted but the hassles of dealing with them were far too great. Sadly most of this could have been better had they just responded and followed up in a timely manner. By the time Peter followed up, too much work had been done, very disappointed with the service.

Here is a summary of our issues:

1. (1) Inconsiderate of our time, no showed on at least 5 occasions and did not return calls. Completely unreliable.

2. (2) Improperly cut veneers to accommodate a broken trim that was to be replaced. They corrected after we complained.

3. (3) Failed to route the wires for our landscape lighting via our carport and ended up drilling into our basement. Had they responded to us in time, they could have corrected it rather than having to drill into our basement. 

4. (4) Failed to actually install the lighting or the transformer. We did it ourselves.

5. (5) Put in the incorrect patio stone and initially told us it was correct until we showed him the rendering, even then it was an argument to prove it.

6. (6) Never secured our window boxes, they attempted to and put in sloppy painted wood that didn?t hold, we ended up doing it ourselves.

7. (7) Our landscaping was to be leveled and was about to remain sloped had we not been on top of it.

8. (8) The shrubs were suppose to be lush and mature to cover our meters and piping?.I guess they will grow into that state over time.

9. (9) They power washed our home before doing the work and had to use unwashed trim for repairs?power washing should have likely been done last. 

10. (10) Sloppy work, poor caulking, poor nailing and poor masonry patches (apparently the discoloration is due to setting?they don?t use different cement?it?s been a couple of weeks?still different colors?work was done with a weeks or so?.we?ll see if it eventually settles into the same color)

11. (11) They charged us without authorization without job being completed. Only once we disputed the charge did they actually show up to do the work.

Initially we would have liked to hire them back for more stonework to match but I would not hire them ever again nor would I ever recommend them. The customer service is by far the main reason for their rating.

They didn't assess my property first and foremost. They installed my fence for my dog wrongly, it opens out and not into the yard. There are so many gaps where my dog can get out. They never made sure the fence was ok and the strong winds have blown my fence apart. My dog got out the other day. I called him 5 times and he didn’t answer and when he finally answered he told me he would be over first thing in the morning, and then he never came. Currently, my fence is blown all different ways because of the strong winds. I would never recommend him to anyone! I am extremely dissatisfied.

Look above for story.

At 10:30, there is still no delivery. I call the main number. No answer and I leave a message. I leave the house at 10:45 a.m.. I get home at 11:45 and there is a message from the driver that he can't find my house. A second message from the "manager" or "owner", not sure. He says his driver has been looking for my place for an hour. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (again, keep in mind, they are 8 MINUTES from me). The pseudo-manager guy shows up with the wood. I vent that this was unacceptable. He proceeds to explain that his very old uncle was doing the delivery and even left at 9:45 a.m. This didn't help his argument. So Einstein gets his very old uncle to help out, but then doesn't check at 10 a.m. to see if he made it to my house? He was quick to blame his Uncle, but refused to accept ANY responsibility for his failure as a manager. Any one who is reading this, it's a simple lesson. If you mess up, accept responsibility...period. Just say "it was my fault. I should have checked in with him, and I shouldn't have left the message. It won't happen again, etc etc.". But not this clown. His approach is to get into an argument with the customer on the customer's property after he messed up. Just brilliant. I told him to keep his firewood and went back in my house. I wouldn't trust this business with ANY project at your house. Very unprofessional and undependable.