Serene Settings
About us
Serene Settings of North Florida provides you with a unique landscape and lawn experience by eliminating the need to hire a multitude of businesses to meet your landscaping and lawn maintenance needs. We are a “full service” company capable of handling everything from the landscape design and installation to the maintenance of the property. We serve St. Johns, Volusia, and Flagler Counties.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Lawn and yard work, hardscaping and pavers and landscape lighting., landscaping, lawn irrigation, water fitting at landscaping
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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70% | ||
0% | ||
0% | ||
20% | ||
10% |
The irrigation system installed by Serene-Settings never worked correctly & even after tweaking the sprays (and seeing that we were STILL watering more fence than lawn & missing huge swaths of lawn) the Serene-Settings remedy was for US to 'call the 800 number' of the manufacturer. The company we hired AFTER Serene-Settings to fix the issue had no problems re-positioning the pipes so our lawn & plants were watered & our fence stayed dry.
Serene-Settings was contracted to remove old debris from the property before laying the new, but instead, their workers tossed trash over the fence into our neighbor's yard or in another area of our property hidden behind a fence. We're not talking a water bottle or two, which would have been bad enough, no. We're talking at least 5 wheelbarrows full of broken concrete, plastic pots and old brick.
We spoke to the foreman or the office of Serene-Settings to discuss these & other aspects of the project -such as sod squares dropped over existing hardscapes & plants, a row of sod stopped short of finishing a row, leaving behind an empty dirt space in the lawn - or in another case - heavy panels of sod just dropped in such a careless way so that we weren't able to open or close one of our gates! When we informed the foreman of these & other issues, he'd tell us 'no problemo.' We ARE talking a dozen or so small tweaks. Cut the squares to fit the space! Make sure your client can open the gate to their back yard! Don't just drop sod or omit sod & think the job is done, right?
At this point, we essentially had paid for the job - all but for $1000.00 of the project. Then I got a call from the Serene-Settings office, from the wife of the designer. From Dena. I remember that I had been cleaning out some of the debris they left behind when the phone rang . . . I knew Ms Serene-Settings had a knock list of the areas needing completion, but her attitude this day towards us was hostile. Now up until that call, I would have glossed over the myriad minor issues all over the project and say a blanket 'it went okay' if someone probed for my opinion about the company Serene-Settings - not wanting to speak ill of a business in an economic downturn. Remember, this was before our major rainage issues came to light. Those came to light after the very first rain storm we had.
Dena called us 'insane clients' for wanting Serene-Settings to make these tweaks. We're insane because we want our irrigation system to work? We're insane for wanting to be able to enter our back yard through a gate that currently won't open? We're insane for being p***** that our workers tossed the debris from this job into our neighbor's yard? Insane.
In a subsequent swap of emails, I discovered that Dena based her "insane clients" comment on a belief that we didn't pay for any upgrades (plans called for 15 gal trees & we switched to 30 gal after looking at them) - but she was misinformed! We paid for the upgrades! We never thought otherwise! She started the 'insane clients' call by asking about the knock list consisting of about a dozen items - "how are things going?" and "when are we getting the final payment?" & I responded that I still can't open my gate & that I'm still a quarter way through removing the barrels full of trash (& more. There was more. There were other minor issues not described in this review.)
So obviously there was miscommunication all around, but theirs was deliberate. It wasn't because most of their workers spoke no English either because we speak enough Spanish to convey a point. No. Their foreman told my husband & told me - separately - that the other spouse had decided on NOT installing a berm. Not true!! The serene-Settings foreman said the berm "wasn't needed" despite it being on the last design plans we received. I think that the foreman installed the plants & trees prematurely - and rather than remedy this - he lied. Definitely to us, perhaps to the office too. Let me emphasize... We needed the berm because of the poor drainage in our yard. The company we hired the next year to fix the shoddy work of Serene-Settings could tell IMMEDIATELY what was needed - what was missing - and they viewed the property after a long dry spell.
I hate leaving completely bad reviews - but the only people I can compliment at Serene-Settings were the men who installed our pavers. Not one of them spoke English, but HEY, I'm sure that Serene-Settings pays them a living wage w/health benefits, right? These men did a good job on the pathways & they easily made changes we asked for to make the actual design look better than what was represented on the original plans. Again, we paid for the change . .. & surely a contractor knows that some things are hard to see on paper? Or are we insane for believing this is true?
It's been 4+ years since this experience & there never was a moment -especially after that 'insane client' call - never a moment of serenity involved in our dealings with Serene-Settings. On a positive note, their shoddy work only makes me appreciate the people I got to fix the mess-appreciate the MUTUAL respect REAL professionals who came in & wiped the Serene-Settings plans off the map.
You would have to be INSANE to want to do business with this company.
"Our company was not maintaining your property for the past five years since this work was completed, and unfortunately poor maintenance practices have led to your problems. Because of this, your review is especially misleading. We made necessary adjustments to the sprinkler system within one week of the job's completion. We completed the lawn installation to perfection. We came back six months later and replaced dying plants, but as discussed before the job was agreed upon, we do not guarantee transplants. As for weeds, it is very common for weeds to return if proper maintenance is not performed on landscaping, which is the case here."
"Please do not allow our employees to perform side work, report it to us immediately. None of our current employees were responsible for this and if we had known at the time, the individual would have been immediately fired. We also believe this should not be a bad review for our company, it was not Serene Settings that performed the work, the reviewer allowed someone to do this on the side, without the protection of business licensing and insurance. Please also keep in mind that a $600.00 job is not too small for our company."
Licensing
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