Green Life Landscaping & Lighting LLC

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Initial plan with pictures was approved and a 50% deposit was made. Crew showed up and seemed very hardworking. The irrigation was busted when some shrubs were installed. My inquiry to Jerry the crew chief, was to make sure that all irrigation was checked, and he assured me his irrigation guy had taken care of it. The same irrigation guy also did the walk way. You do not want this guy anywhere near your landscaping or walk way. My wife stated that the system was never checked. Upon finalizing the project, my wife noted that some plants were not in certain beds. Jerry said it was an oversight and took off over $200.00. I never checked the irrigation and two days later I found three zones didn't work. I called the Irrigation guy ( had his card because he was soliciting business) and he never returned my call. Jerry came out and fixed one zone, but would need to bring out another guy in a few days. So, with some of my new expensive landscaping not getting water, I called a great company who came out and fixed the other zones the next day, which had been damaged due to their work. Joe June, the owner, stated and in an email that he would reimburse my $300.00. After two weeks, I never received it after getting another response from him. To date no check. The extended walkway is uneven and causes a drainage problem which I have to address as another expense. Jerry was coming back out, but is still a no show. If you hire this company, make sure you check everything, because when their gone their gone and Joe June evidently doesn't care about doing the right thing.

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I contacted Green life in May 2013 based on the Angie's list reviews and what seemed to be a well run and professional landscaping company.  Jerry came out and met with me to go over our vision for the front yard.  He came back a few days later with a drawing and price quote.  My wife and I spent time reviewing the drawing and decided we wanted to make some minor changes to the layout and plants/trees that would be insatlled.  Jerry came back out to go over our changes, but you could sense he was irritated with our changes.  His tone was brash and he was not responding in a manner that made us feel he wanted to ensure we were happy with the end result.  The crew came out as planned to install the plants, flowers, and trees.  Jerry was here for a short period of time to oversee the start of installation.  The crew laid out all of the plants where they were going to be planted.  Once they had everything laid out, we realized we did not like the way a couple of the plants were arranged and asked Jerry if we could move them.  Again, his response was one of irritation and you could tell it was an inconvenience for him.  The appropriate response would have been "No problem, anything you want.  Your my customer and I want to make sure you are extremely satisfied and happy with how everything looks".    Next, the sod company came out to install the sod.  90% of the sod looked good, but the last pallet they laid was leftover scraps and mostly dead sod so there was an large area that looked terrilble.   My belief is that instead of getting a new pallet of sod, they used the scraps and dead sod so they could save a little money.  The sod in that area got worse so I asked Jerry to have the sod company come back out and replace the area of sod.  After a few weeks they finally sent someone out who patched some areas with new sod, but did not replace all of it and to this day the sod in that area looks terrible, with large dead spots and weeds.  
About a month after the project was completed, we noticed one of the yellow flowering plants were starting to die off.   All of the other plants were doing fine and looked great.     I spoke to Jerry about this and he told me he would have the dead plants replaced right away.  I didn't hear back from Jerry for a couple weeks so I followed up with him to find out when he was going to come out and replace the dead plants.  He told me he would be out that day, but never showed up.  I asked him what happened and he said there was a mix up, but he would be out later in the week to take care of it.  Again, he never showed up and now he won't respond.  One other thing that I forgot to mention was that my wife and I counted all of the plants and cross referenced the numbers with the final invoice we paid.   We discovered that one of the plants we were charged  $400 for was not installed.  We brought this to Jerry's attention and they did admit to the mistake and we received a refund.  

First, it is important to know that I have a very unique yard for Florida.... I have a lot of slope and my soil has a solid clay base.  Also, in full disclosure the early delays were caused by the city permitting department (about 3.5 weeks).  I own a company that manages construction jobs (not landscaping though) around the country, so I'm very accustomed to the process, obstacles, and how to manage those.
I placed my deposit on April 2nd and my final payment was made July 3rd upon completion.  Even with the delays of the city permits, this project took much longer than it should have.  The original quote was to be done in 2 weeks, but I think that 4 weeks would have been an appropriate expectation.  So, in the ratings above in punctuality I docked them not because they were late for meetings or start times (they were generally on time), but because the job took so much longer than necessary.  We came to understand that much of team works full-time at other businesses, making it impossible for them to give our job their full focus and attention.  I don't begrudge them for starting a business while working for another, but I was unaware of the limitations at the onset and it obviously became a factor. 
The problem with a job that takes so long is that everyone involved in the project gets frustrated.  The contractors were frustrated because they have worked a lot of hours and still need to work more before they get their big pay day.  My wife and kids were frustrated because they had to walk through a mud pit for so long (and of course it gets tracked into the house).  The neighbors were frustrated because the workers kept parking in front of their house or on the edge of their lawn.  Etc. Etc.
We had several problems and delays along the way, which is somewhat normal on a project of this scale.  I often felt that I had to take control and manage the project, although at the end I believe Joe stepped in and led his team across the finish line.  Through all of the obstacles and setbacks, the guys hung in there and kept at it until they got it right.  I give them a ton of credit for pushing through to get the job done to my satisfaction (I'm particular and I generally do not let go until things are to the standards that I believe we agreed to in the beginning). 
It is normal for a price overruns to be 10% or less.  In this case, they were higher (not included the changes that I requested) but we negotiated to what I believe to be a fair price.  
Overall, I'm very pleased with the end result and we get tons of compliments on our driveways and landscape.  It was a long, hard road to get to this point and I believe a lot of that could have been avoided by better project management.  In the end, I spoke with Joe about these items and he assured me that he made procedural and policy changes based upon their experiences on my job.  I believe he did.  Joe is talented and knowledgeable with good connections.  
My recommendation for anyone hiring for a large project (these helped us work together to get to a successful finish):
 - Don't just sign a quote, use a detailed contract that defines quality standards, what "complete" means, be descriptive of what the contractor will and will not do (this protects the contractor too, which is fair).  The contract should create milestones that must be done in order for the next payment to be made.
 - talk in detail about your expectations and use a drawing that everyone agrees to before the final price is set.  (our drawing was after the fact and that caused us a few problems).
  - as you have status meetings, make sure the person you meet with writes down your comments, or follow up with an email to them later.  (I think this would have saved them a lot of rework because the project manager didn't write things down and inevitably key things were left out).
  - near the end of the project, use a punch list for things to be completed before the final payment is made.  note: always make the final payment large enough to keep their attention.
Good luck and God Bless!

There was no wait to schedule the job, and the work was finished in a very timely manner. Best of all we love the look of the new landscaping and it goes perfectly with the style of our home!

Jerry and 2 landscape workers arrived on Monday morning as scheduled. We walked through where the various plants were to go. They then proceeded to clear out the old plants and planted the new ones. I didn't like the light peach color for the drift roses so he exchanged them at the nursery for a darker pink. Making that adjustment for color was certainly appreciated! The job was completed that day to our satisfaction. Jerry checked back and I mentioned they ran out of mulch along a very long hedge so within a few days more mulch was delivered and spread. We were pleased with the quality of the work and the plants and topiary trees.

I Called left a message and Joe called back right away. Jerry came out and we discussed what we wanted. The Lowest maintenance backyard as possible.
Jerry came up with a plan and a price. Their crew came out that weekend. I had to call a couple of time's to ask when things  were going to be finished, like straighten the fence that was pushed over, level out the ruts left in the front yard and pick up the trash. It seemed to me that no one was running the job or they were running it by phone. Everything looked good except the Jasmine was not 1Gal containers. Around 10 days later a lot of grass and weeds were coming up through the mulch. I called Joe he said Jerry will be out. Never saw or heard from him. A week later I called Jerry he said he would send someone out. Needless to say after 4 weeks and many call's with the same answer, "we'll be out" , the weeds and grass have taken  over and have choked out the jasmine.  Our landscape job is now a nightmare.   Jerry's phone stopped working around May 1st  I left a few message's and was called back by a different Landscape Company saying the job I called about was not theirs  and Jerry didn't work for them any more. Talking to them I was told the reason the weeds were coming up is the mulch should have a minimum of 4" deep. Could be why they took away about half the mulch they originally delivered when the job was done.
It seemed to me as soon as Joe  gets a hold of your money your on your own.

After purchasing the Angie's List deal, it took several weeks of playing phone tag with the company representative to finally get a home visit to inspect the work I wanted to have done. Then, it took several more weeks before the work happened. I didn't have to be home while it took place, but when I came home afterwards I noticed the extra dollars they wanted to charge me for digging, was unnecessary because the wires were exposed in a lot of places and barely covered by my rocks in other places. Not the quality I hoped for nor expected. I thought 'underground' was exactly that but I guess not so in this case.
However, I'm glad they left me with additional bulbs for my landscape lights and the lights along with the timer device, have worked exceptionally well since the installation.  I received a bill for the additional digging work (that was never performed) and ignored it, then called to dispute it and received a 'disconnected' auto message. Not sure if they are still in business at another location, but would not recommend them.

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We contacted three "A" rated Angie's list companies for estimates. 
All three responded quickly to our request and scheduled visits for the estimates.  All showed up on time to discuss the project and spent a good deal of time discussing our ideas and providing feedback and different alternatives.  One company was eliminated because, although we liked the landscape design, they did not do paver and we wanted to go with a firm that could do both the landscape and the hardscape.  
What set Green Life apart from the competition was that the landscape designer, Jerry, provided not only an estimate and listing of the planting material to be used, but also a blueprint sized drawing of our property showing the location and design of the patio and planting beds.  Within each planting bed, the location and number of each type of plant was marked.  This made easy for us to visualize what the final product was going to look like and gave us an added measure of assurance that the money we were spending was going to result in something that was both visually appealing and functional.  Jerry also had a little surprise for us.  Although we had not previously discussed this, he had added a freestanding wall to a portion of the patio.  What a great idea.  It not only would look good and set the patio off from the rest of the yard, but it was also practical in that it would provide a nice place to sit. 
We decided to proceed, even though the cost was a somewhat more than we had originally envisioned. 
Work began early on a Saturday morning.  Jerry began by laying out the beds with spray paint.  Laines and his crew worked quickly, carefully and efficiently to remove the sod to expand the old planting beds at the front of the house and to create the new beds in the back yard.  They also began to remove the old shrubs and dig up the palm trees that were to be relocated.  In the meantime, a hugh flatbed truck showed up with the planting material.  The plants were rapidly unloaded and placed on the front lawn and a load-all was brought in to lift the trees off the truck and these were also placed on the lawn.  All of the plant material was of high quality.  When all of the sod was removed, the crew relocated the two palms from the front to the backyard and began planting the new trees.  At this point, Jerry began to place the remaining plants in the beds.  When he was satisfied with the location of the plants, the crew began planting.  By the end of the day, most of the front landscaping was complete and most of the plants were placed in the backyard beds but had not yet been planted.  The crew showed up the following morning to complete the planting and spread the mulch, which took most of the day. 
Because the city requires a building permit for patios, the hardscaping could not begin until the following weekend.  Again, the crew showed up early and got to work immediately.  Construction of the patio and seating wall and small paver pad took almost the entire day; in addition, twelve additional azaleas were planted and more mulch was installed in the rear planting beds.  Laines came back on Sunday afternoon (Easter Sunday) to brush sand into the cracks between the pavers and to modify the irrigation sprinkler heads so that the new plants would get proper watering.
We were and continue to be extremely pleased with our experience with Green Life and their staff.  The installation crew was outstanding.  They worked very hard throughout every day of the project and cleaned up before they left for the day.  The landscape designer, Jerry, was at the job site every day to make sure that things were going according to plan and the owner, Joe, also stopped by each day to make sure that we were satisfied with how things were going.  The patio is a great addition to the backyard, giving us a nice area to entertain or just to sit outside an enjoy the beautiful new landscaping.  It is like our own backyard oasis.  Neighbors have also commented on how nice the new landscaping at the front of the house looks and many cars passing by slow down to admire the view.

They were very prompt and everything was just as they sad it would be.  They were very competent and did a very nice job.

I purchased a new home that had a horrible landscape in place. I was unsure how to proceed with completely overhauling the front and porch of my house. I had one idea of what the type of patio setting that I wanted to have but no idea at all how to put my vision together. Jerry, the landscape architect was the first person to come to my house for the initial appointment, we walked around my home, I showed him a picture of the patio tile that I wanted and told him to put a proposal together for the rest. I met with him a week later, and was very impressed with his idea and design. Once i hired them they took three days to convert my outdoors, they did an amazing job. It was fast, professional, courteous, and detailed. I am extremely satisfied with their work, Joe took care of overseeing the vision and putting it into action with his crew. The whole crew was professional and courteous. I was so impressed with their work that I hired them to install my outdoor lighting, it as well was a fantastic job, quick,efficient, professional and done in one day. Eventually I will sell my home and when I do I will a absolutely hire the team again to do the landscape in my new home, Joe and Jerry were extremely knowledgeable, professional, and greatly exceeded my expectations.

The process started with a combined consultation visit from landscape lighting and a landscape specialists for the company.  After the consultation, A second visit was made to confirm the necessary work that would be done and to generate an estimate. A lot of good lighting and landscaping suggestions were made that I would not have thought of on my own.   The total cost came out to be more than I had originally planned.  But, there was a lot of work that I had not originally accounted for.  Dead trees were removed.  Nicer trees were relocated on the property. New palms were brought in.  The irrigation system needed a serious upgrade in order to accommodate all of the new landscaping.  There was also a major water's edge clean up of the lake front property. The lake clean up part took a little longer than I would have liked.  But, to be fair there was a heck of a lot of work to be done on that lake front.
In addition, I decided to have two new property entrance trees brought in.  After the trees had been planted, I decided that I wanted a different look and pair of trees in that area.  They had no problem replacing the trees with something I was more happy with.  
At the end of all the work, several neighbors approached me to ask who had done all the work.  Lot's of compliments on the new accent lighting.  The overall look of my 3+ acres has been significantly upgraded and I am very happy with the work that was completed.  I am still using this company for my monthly lawn maintenance.

They actually had to install my lights twice. The first installation was struck by lightning & destroyed all the lighting and wiring they had just installed. They were able to remove the fried lighting and wiring, and install the new equipment very quickly. We are so happy with how the new lighting came out. It makes a huge difference in the look of our landscape, and our pool deck area is now great for entertaining at night. Good job guys.

Joe and his crew did a FABULOUS job on my lighting and general yard overhaul. I needed to do some work on a very neglected yard before my daughters wedding. They removed EVERY weed around the house and removed very overgrown landscape and put in some beautiful new plants. I wasn't sure if I would like what they were going to do, but I was so busy with wedding plans that I just trusted them. I am so glad I did. I get so many compliments on my yard and I just love spending time out there. They are super kind and polite. They are really nice to be around.

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Bennie arrived on time for the estimate was very professional and did the work on the date they stated.  One of the lights didn't work properly and he promptly returned and replaced the outlet.  This couldn't of gone smoother!

I had a great experience with Green Life Landscaping.  Joe showed up on time for the free estimate and was very knowledgeable and helpful to my specific needs.  I can't be out in the sun too much so I needed plants that were very low maintenance and drought resistant.  Joe picked out a very nice selection and gave me a decent price.  I had a few questions that Joe had responded to through e-mail after the estimate and he was very good about getting back to me in the same day.  On the day of the job Joe and his co-worker showed up a little early to beat the rain, which I appreciated.  They got right to work and had everything done in a couple of hours.  Everything was done in a professional manor, they cleaned up after they were done and left it looking better than when they came.  I was very happy with their work and would definitely recommend them.

Joe & Benny of Green Life were extremely professional, and communicated with us every step of the way.  Our system gave them quite a challenge, and they dedicated many hours to fix it.  It was a "do-it-yourself" project that the previous owner of our home had installed.  It required quite a bit of updating, lines dug up, new wires installed & buried.  I was very impressed with the service, friendliness & professionalism of Green Life.  I would use them again, and certainly would recommend them to anyone.

The entire process from start to finish was flawless. Joe came to my house to evaluate the current condition and materials in place, we discussed different options, and came to a consensus of what was to be installed. His team began the next day and were finished in a few days. Joe still comes by to check on the plants to make sure they are growing and rooting as they should.