Summit Group Inc.

The work was done professionally and promptly. The drainage works fine, just the way it was supposed to.

We hired Summit Group to provide us with an outside oasis and we could not be happier with the results. In 7 days Victor and his crew transformed our Plain Jane backyard into a beautiful outdoor living space complete with a paver patio surrounded by tropical plants. In addition to the back yard project, they repaved a screened room to match the outside patio, landscaped the front yard, created a parking area in the font and hauled away all of the old pavers. The crew arrived everyday on time and worked through several rain storms. Victor showed up every day to make sure everything was progressing as expected. They far exceeded our expectations for efficiency and professionalism. We would definitely hire them again!

Summit Group was the only company who agreed that a simple grass-lined swale (trench) was a solution. Other companies wanted to get fancy with underground pipes and boxes, or with deep trenches filled with rocks, which we did not want. Once our job was scheduled, the company came out within the time frame stated, although I did call a couple of times to make sure. The workmen in the crew did a good job in creating the trench and lining it with sod. They were very efficient and pleasant to work with. The owner, Victor, came out a few days later to help us by putting up "caution" tape on stakes to keep the lawn crew from cutting the new sod. This was a courtesy on his part. We wanted some adjustments to the angle of the trench--the V was too sharp in some places, not gradual enough. The owner sent a small crew out to lift the sod and re-grade those areas. Subsequently we needed more sod put down along the side of the house because a different contractor was unable to do additional work in a timely way. Not wanting to leave bare dirt, I asked for Summit Group to come back. They did so, for a small additional charge, which was only fair since this wasn't part of the original plan. All I have needed to do is make sure the sod is watered enough.

The job they did was amazing!

Quality work was done with quality materials.

I was disappointed. It took a while to get ahold of the gentleman. It was 6 weeks to 2 months later. He came out, asked me a few questions and I got a hand drawn sketch back and a quote of $3700 to do the work. I expected more then just a hand drawn sketch. They could have given me some options and spend more time talking to me about the good and bad of the things they were talking to me about doing. I would tell them to go with someone else.

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I needed to get some ideas to spruce of my landscaping so I purchased a Big Deal from the Summit Group to get some ideas from a landscaping professional. The deal  provides a "complete outdoor design package, including computer-generated designs and consultations with drawings". Victor Lamb, the owner, came to my home and I gave him a brief overview of what I was trying to accomplish. Victor never asked me to clarify my overview, never took pictures and never took measurements. A few days later I received an email with a rough sketch of my property drawn in colored pencil and a quote. I am replacing sod and his replacement estimate is for approximately twice the size that I told him I wanted replaced. The sketch I received looked as though it was drawn by a middle-schooler, rather than the "computer-generated designs and consultations that I purchased. Another area that I specifically stated needed to be colorful plants with enough space in between, when grown in, to allow me to bring my trash cans through he recommended ground cover. Not practical and not what I wanted. I was totally disappointed and frustrated by this experience. I have purchased Big Deals before and have always received what was advertised but after this I probably won't look to Angie's List as a reliable source for vendors anymore.

Summit Group (Victor Lamb) was recommended by a friend.  We did not hire them from Angie's List.  I called Victor when he did not call me in response to my friend's text to do an estimate.  He looked at the property on 2/19/16 and emailed  the written estimate on 2/21/16.  The actual work was started on 3/7/16.  The work could not be completed because he could not get the tree we agreed to.  All the other plantings were put in, but no tree or mulch.  We went back and forth trying to get this completed for a month.  Apparently the tree was the issue.  Victor could not get it from his preferred vendors or any one else for that matter.  Victor responded to my email requesting a status on 3/15/16.  He was just ordering the tree at this point. The problem is he did not contact us during the past month.  We always had to contact him to get a status.  We finally agreed to getting another tree on 3/30/16.  We just wanted the work completed at this point.  He finally completed the work on 3/31/16.  It just took too much prodding and contact on our part for my satisfaction.  Victor said we should not be angry with him because he could not get the tree and complete the work.  I admit that we are because we expected better from someone who came highly recommended.  I do not think it is too much to ask for a

contractor to keep in touch with a customer.

It was excellent. I would recommend them to my neighbors.

The first job of the driveway and sidewalk project went well, as did the second job of landscaping and initial landscape lighting. We were really impressed with this work and asked Victor to do more jobs for us. The next job was the lanai area which included resanding and resealing the pavers. The patio looked great, however, we have had loose pavers ever since even after multiple attempts to get them taken care of. The next job was a major challenge for Victor and his employees, and still is a problem for us. I sent Victor pictures of what type of water feature I was looking for and we agreed on a price. One of his employees built it and really struggled with it. The rocks he used had sharp edges all around and looked like they had just been piled on top of our existing planter. It looked nothing like the pictures I sent. They sanded down the rough edges and refaced the blue tile on the front and sides with something that looked more natural. It looked better, although the big problem now was that it leaked. This was in the August/ September timeframe. They have been out at least a dozen times to try to repair the leak to no avail - it still leaks. There has been no follow up from Victor and we have finally stopped calling or emailing him as it has proven to be too difficult a job for him or his employees. We spent $4,000 on a waterfall that is just shut off 95% of the time. If we use it, we lose chemicals and water, and it stains the lanai. Also, the last job was the fireplace, patio, and landscape lighting in the back yard. I must say the fireplace is beautiful, however, they built it on top of a sprinkler (I had to have this capped off as we were getting a lot of water built up around it), and did a really shoddy job of installing the landscape lights. Some were not working, others were barely placed in the ground, and others were installed with no bulbs. After Victor sent out one of his other employees to fix, they still were not working, and we finally purchased a big deal from another company to come out and repair these brand new lights. We paid Victor in full in good faith upon completion of each job, assuming we were good customers and that he would make good on the issues. We have been very disappointed in the inconsistent quality of their work, their inability and/or lack of concern to fix the problems, and overall lack of follow up. I will now have to hire and pay yet another contractor to repair the waterfall that has never worked properly.

The crew showed up on time, worked hard, and did a beautiful job!

Driveway had to be coordinated with the City of Clearwater who was replacing the curb.  Victor Lamb, owner of Summit Group handled the coordination with the city.  All work was done in a timely manner.  All employees on job were dedicated workers who knew what they were doing. 

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2013:  Initially things went well.  Workers showed up on time and often the owner (Victor) stopped out as well.  Despite heavy watering after being planted, one of the installed trees died - Summit Group replaced it. 
A few weeks after installation the retaining wall started to bow from the pressure of the backfilled dirt.  Summit Group sent workers to install additional supports.
2014:  It's been a year and small "sink holes" are appearing on the bank where the dirt was backfilled.  I dug near the wall and determined that no drainage was installed behind the wall to relieve the water behind the wall.  Dirt is eroding under the wall causing the small sink holes (approximately 12" in diameter).  I contacted Summit Group 6/16/2014 for an estimate to remedy the issue; Victor responded that he would be out for an estimate but never showed.  
Paver area is now uneven.  It is apparent that the base installed under the pavers was not sufficient and that a weed block membrane was not put down prior to paver installation.
I will not be using Summit Group for any future work, nor do I recommend them.

Did not use

After seeing/inspecting the old pavers and noting the leak under the garage door Victor Lamb (Owner) gave a quote to replace our old pavers and install a deco drain in the drive in front of garage door. The quoted price was approximately $11,670.
At the start of removing the pavers his crew broke sprinkler lines due to fact they did not make them out prior to removal/digging. They then installed the pavers on a new bed of packed sand. These pavers have large gaps in numerous areas.  Over our front door step/patio they installed large pavers which I have been informed by city inspector does not meet code.
The pavers installed in the drive way are slopped towards the garage making all the heavey rains flow to one corner and water coming under door worse then before they completed job. Victor Lamb "DESIGNED" installing a 1 inch deco drain along the front of the door to stop the water from entering the garage has failed to work. I have sent Victor Lamb pictures of the water in the garage on two different occasions since they completed the job and numerous emails explaining the issues.
During this time period we have had three other contractors and city inspector view the area. They have all noted: 1) The slop of the pavers is incorrect, 2) The pavers in front of the garage are higher than the garage floor, 3) The 1 inch deco drain design recommended by Victor Lamb is way to small, meant for around a swiming pool.
Victor Lamb's responses to my complaints, pictures have been as follows:
First complaint: a) It will cost $750 for him to fix the deco drain design he recommended/installed. b) Who said tiles on front patio are to high. Plus he would only give that price if we contracted with him to do the pavers around our pool area.
Second complaint: a) It will cost $650 for him to fix the deco drain design he recommend/installed and he can "NOT" ensure it will correct the issue. b) The issue of the pavers being higher than the garage floor not addressed, c) numerous large gaps in paver throughout the drive not addressed, d) Patio pavers exceeding code, Victor wants to know what we want to do. Supposedly the style of pavers we have on the drive only come in 2" thick size not thin pavers. I have contacted "Flagstone Pavers, the manufacture and they have assured me the style we have in the drive also come in "Thin". Therefore if Victor Lamb would have used the thin paver there would be no code issue. He now expects us to pay to have the proper size pavers put in over the patio area/front entrance.
Note there has been approximately 7 email complaints/letters to Victor Lamb requesting the issues bee properly resolved. In every case unless he is paid additional money he is unwilling to correct his design, quality of work.
Victor Lamb continues to ensure us his customers are very important to him,  also his quality of work and he wants to work with us to resolve the issue. Keep in mind, he wants to work with us "ONLY" if we pay the added cost of correcting in poor design (drain), unven pavers, numerous large gaps between pavers and patio steps exceeding code requirements.
It should also be noted when the pavers arrived they had to be placed in our front yard. Due to recent rains (Nov time period) the ground was soft but due to space there was no other place to leave the pavers. Victor and his crew used a front end loader to move the pallets of pavers in the front yard. In doing so, they tore up a large area of soil. In an effort to correct the lawn they simply got a pallet of sod and just laid them over the area tore up by the front end loader. The grass area is uneven, looks bad and some grass dying because it was just laid upon other dead,uneven grass.
I would not recommend Summit, Victor Lamb to any friends for paver or landscaping work and everything with him shouldbe documented in writing. Areas where trust was given were then found to be inaccurate, I can only blame myself for not going the additional step of double checking code requirements, having alternate source inspect/approve recommended design.

The service turned out great. They did an outstanding job. I was very happy with them. They were quick to call me back, they had a guy out the very next day , and they began work two days later. They were on the ball. The price was cheaper than other quotes, so it worked out very competitive.

I will never ever use them again.  What happened was I had them doing my yard and the 2 men who came out and one of them brought some weed killer and the reason I had them come is because I plan to plant new little fruit trees and I want them taken care of.  What man did was and I caught him in the act because he was coming around the lanai, he was putting some weed killer around the base of those trees to kill the weed instead of pulling up the weeds or digging around the trees and he killed the trees.  I wrote him a letter about it and informed them of the damage that they have done.  I asked the man with whom I have made arrangements to for somebody to come to see me and he did not come and then I have other opportunity, this is some kind of a bill which was incorrect too, even though I have all that damage, I paid what they have asked for.  So my obligation for that was taken care of regardless of the damage and regardless of how I felt about their service.  But I keep responding to this bill they sent me and I said I had requested that, I think his name is Victor, to come back and see the damage that had been done and I got no response from them.  There were those people who said to me that I should sue them for the damage to the trees.  I still have the invoice that I paid for the trees and I didn’t pay that much but the work that was done to plant them, a friend did, I have no invoice for that.  He did it strictly as a friendship.  So I said I am not going to the effort of suing somebody over a hundred dollars.  The man who was responsible for that, unfortunately, cannot speak English.  This Victor is kind of a decent person, maybe the man he put on the job was new.  He didn’t have the courtesy to come to see what the damage was or at least call me and to say look, we still want to make some restitution for the cost of the trees.  I even paid them for the damage of my yard.

Removed a large fountain and wood decking.  Filled all in with dirt, packed and installed pavers.  Crew very hard working and completed job quickly. They made the place look wonderful. I would use again.

There was a bit of a delay getting started due to previous commitments but once the project got off the ground everything went smoothly.  Victor's crew worked hard and did an excellent job.  The installation of the sump pump took care of some drainage issues we have been having in that corner of the yard.  Once the job was complete, everything looked great.  It rained every day for 3 weeks after the installation highlighting an area that wasn't quite right for proper drainage on the walkway.  I called Victor and he and his crew showed up within a couple of days, made some adjustments and fixed the problem area with no extra charge.  The yard has a brand new beautiful aesthetic and the drainage issues are a thing of the past!

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Victor is very professional and responsive. He previously installed pavers in this parking lot and did a beautiful job there so I called him for new landscaping around my parent's property.   Any questions I had regarding any job, he responds immediately. 
 The plants add color to the building as he promised.  They just seemed smaller than I expected.(plants & labor $780)
  The sprinklers included 10 heads on a small strip of grass and a drip zone for around the building. (cost $1,200).  
I have asked him for a quote for sod and he is to be finishing up the rest of the pavers job that was held up due to other work in the area
It is difficult today to find someone today who will follow through and do what they say.  Victor is the exception.  

I just bought a house and the driveway and lawn needed major work. The owner Victor Lamb and his supervisor Wes came out the same day I called.  They broke all the pricing down for me. We agreed on a fair price and a start date. They were great at telling me when they would be there and kept me informed on their progress.  I was really happy with the finished product- my yard and drive way look great! And I contracted them to maintain my yard. A great experience- I highly recommend them!