Decorating Elves

They designed and installed my landscape lighting for my yard several years Ago Used them again to light my lanai outdoor kitchen area They were here today and did yearly maintenance cleaning and replacing lights and trimming landscaping around lights This is a great local company Reliable , fair pricing and quality work Highly recommended

From start to finish, the installation of our new outdoor lighting went beautifully. Nick was helpful in recommending the best use of lights in our small yard. Robert arrived on time and described the installation procedure with us, and the work was completed in the time frame promised. The lighting looks wonderful. We would highly recommend Decorating Elves!

AT first it went wonderfully. The lights were well-placed and looked marvelous. Then, after the warranty ran out, the rains came and the timer kept tripping out due to moisture. It is supposed to be waterproof, but clearly is not. I called to get some assistance, and was told there would be a substantial trip charge. BUT, eventually, a few months later, somebody came out and repaired the unit at no charge, adding electrician tape to the plug n to keep out moisture. SO in the final analysis, I have to give them a good rating because they did what was necessary, and that is what it is all about. Had they come out when I first called them, I would have given them an "A". But I CAN recommend them because overall it was a great job, and I would use them again; and probably will use them to hang Christmas lights from my second floor - a job that scares the h*** out of me.

They came right away whenever I had light outage. After the holidays, they came promptly to take the lights down. It was a great service and I've thought of using them again. They were a little pricey, however.

I hired Decorating Elves to maintain and fix an older existing landscape lighting system. Some of the lights in the front weren't working and a couple of the lights in the back were out.
To begin with, they charged a $45 service fee for an estimate which I felt was an odd way of doing business. In their defense, they advised me of the fee in advance - but I thought it was odd to charge $45.00 for an initial visit without crediting that amount toward service. Normally, in most service industries a credit is applied to any work that is completed. That was not the case - but - as I said - they didn't suggest they would do that.
They came out, did an assessment and recommended an entirely brand new system. They also immediately went into a sales pitch about signing up for their maintenance membership before they even concluded the analysis. I didn't want that at all.
I agreed to a new system in the front yard. To be fair, my old system was 7 years old and was not the newest form of LED lighting. I knew that I didn't really need a new system - I just wanted the old one fixed so the lights came back on. But I did agree to get the new system - as weather and age likely do take a toll on outdoor lights. In hindsight, it probably could have been fixed to be operational with an electrician. It wouldn't have been new - but it would have worked.
I also hired them to check the connections and get the older system back in shape in the backyard. Basically, two of the 8 lights were out in the back yard. They also recommended a brand new system for the backyard. I didn't want to pay $2000.00 for 8 lights and an entirely new system so we agreed they would check over everything and make sure the two lights were working and fine tune everything else.
The front yard installation went as planned and it was installed on time within the two-three week period as promised. The system looks good and works fine.
In the back yard, however, they didn't get all the lights to work. Basically, the installer just overlooked one light. No big deal overall. When I called them, they did come back out and fix the light they forgot. However, they did kind of complain about it suggesting the light might just not work. I knew that to be incorrect as it worked fine before they came out. It was not one of the lights that hadn't been working. Lo and behold they came back - and got it to work.
Unfortunately, within one week, the entire back yard lights were out. This was not just the two lights that had burnt out. I had never had that problem before. When I called they sent someone back out. They told me that due to them tightening the connections there was too much wattage on the transformer and that I either needed an entirely new transformer or an entire new system. The transfomer would cost $550 + labor. The new system would cost about $2,000. I was a bit frustrated, but I told them to send me an estimate of the entire new system.
Well, before they even sent the estimate - they BILLED ME another $45.00 for a service call to diagnose the problem. Keep in mind this was within weeks of me paying them the $45.00 diagnostic fee and a $1,500.00 new install and maintenance fee. This was one of the reasons I had hired them in the first place.
I wrote an email explaining that I felt they were nickle and diming me - especially since I was considering the entire new system in the back. I told them that I WOULD pay the fee if they insisted but that it would seriously cause me concern as to any future business relationship.
This is the exact verbatim exchange:

If you require me to pay this service fee, I will, but I am upset that less than 30 days ago - I paid the remainder of the $1500.00 (not to mention the initial $45.00 for the original diagnosis) to have my lighting updated in the front and made functional in the back. Changes were made to the back and the system has not worked properly since. If the transformer was an issue for an overload - it should have been idenitifed at that time rather than determined due to a service call. While I understand you did not guarantee the work done on the back - I would expect, at the minimum, that this service would be incorporated in what i have alread paid to have done. Specifically, any potential transformer issues should have been tested and identified at that time. That problem was one in which you were hired to identify in diagnosing my system. I can guarantee you, that legally and under Florida Statutes, I am right - as I routinely involved with construction litigation.
I am waiting on Nick to get me a proposal for an entire new systm for the backyard - which we are considering. I feel this "fee" is a nickel and dime approach on what I was hopeful would be a long lasting business relationship. If you insist that I pay this bill, I will, but it will call into question my decision as to whether this is a company I want to continue to maintain a professiona l working relationship with in the future.
The following is their exact response:
I am sorry you feel this way, we are going to zero out any open balance on your account. Unfortunately, at this time we are no longer going to be able to do any futher service or work at your residence, all warranties and craftsmanships are still in effect on brand new product.
Once again, they didn't charge me - but they "fire" me as a client. That was really suspicious to me. As such, I immediatley called a trusted electrician out to my back yard because I felt that what he told me didn't make sense. Why after he "adjusted" things would my transfomer go out.
When I explained the situation to the electrician- he thought the whole thing sounded fishy. He came out, found two wires that weren't fastened correctly. He made a few adjustments to the wires, charged me $65.00 and now the entire backyard works fine. I wanted to wait a few days to make sure nothing shorted out again. I have now had no problems in over two weeks.
I have never written a review before - but I felt this was highly suspect. The fact that a business professional would stop servicing a new customer over a $45.00 service fee - on a system that he was hired to fix - seems ridiculous. And when questioned about it, instead of simply agreeing to fix what they already were paid to do - they said they didn't want to service our home any longer.
It turned out that it worked out best in my favor. I saved $1000's of dollars on a system that I didn't need in the first place.
I also will note, that I do have very high defintiion survellance cameras in my front and backyard. If anything happens to anything in my front or back house - it will all be captured effectively for police review.

Nicholas Schriver and crew was a pleasure to work with. My husband and I truley love the look that thelights bring out to our home. We will be using Decorating Elves again for our future backyard project.

They were on time and did the job, although the guys broke a water line and our sprinkler system was not working after they were done. They sent back out their guys but they could not find the problem. We hired a sprinkler guy to come out he found were the lighting guys broke an undergroud pipe so we were losing water underground. It cost us $90.00 to fix it and I called Decorating Elves asked them to reimburse us for the repair bill, the owner told us he would send a check we are still waiting have not received it yet.

Every person we had contact with at this company was excellent, very professional. A+ in very way. I will definitely be recommending this company to my friends and neighbors.

They were very neat and did a quality job. I was really pleased with them and still am.

Excellent. Both men who came out were very thorough and speedy. They made great suggestions for the future but never pressured.

I would not recommend this company because I was not treated fairly.

We loved it. We had a lot of positive feedback from the neighborhoods around us and we were very happy with them. We would use them again. They did a very good job. They actually ran into some problems and they didn't leave until they got them corrected. They were very thorough. They provided very good service.

The original visit for estimate told me these guys were very professional, experienced, and competent. The installers did not disappoint - they were too. Only 1 problem that was followed up on until corrected.

We met Nick (the owner) at a Tropicana Field Home Show in January this year. He was the only company offering outdoor lights. Nick was very knowledgable and spent much time describing the different products. We had 3 different outdoor lighting systems over the years with mixed success. After speaking with Nick, we were considering an updated halogen light system. We had 3 different estimates; the other 2 companies were offering mostly a replacement system for what we had at that time. Decorating Elves by far had the most options to choose from. Nick was very thorough in giving us an estimate. When we got closer to making a decision, Nick voluntarily called us to let us know that he was able to offer a special promotion using LED lights. We felt that LED offered distinct advantages over the halogen system. We went ahead with the LED system install and are very pleased with the product, service, and professionalism we received.

In addition, we went ahead and had a security sensor light system installed. This gave us 3 areas around the perimeter of the house to have lights go on immediately at night if someone passed by. These were a bit of challenge; Nick and his installers came back a few times in a short period to ensure they worked.

We would highly recommend Decorating Elves!!

They were polite, professional, neat and the lighting is beautiful.

they were hired to decorate our Christmas tree. They were there 8 hours to decorate a 10' tree and a banister. They put the bows on the tree instead of the banister even though I told them not to. The entire middle section of the tree was out. They did such a bad job with the lights that we couldn't get them off and ended up throwing them out with the tree. They charged by the hour which was evident why they spent 8 hours at $65/ plus a $35 trip charge. In the past it took no more than 4 hours to decorate the tree and we had lights installed outside. At the end of 8 hours we just told them the job was finished since we didn't want to spend any more money. I would definitely never use them again and would advise against anyone else doing so.

Overall, their service has been excellent, just a great company. They are very nice people to work with. If I have any problems, they always come back to fix them.

In the three years we've been hiring Decorating Elves to put up Christmas decorations we've been very happy with their service and had no complaints.

Everything has been great. They stand behind their work. This is the first year we had no problems with blown fuses because we had an electrician create a dedicated line. However, in the previous years he was always willing to come out and help us fix the fuses and replace the blown lights after storms. He is nice, polite, and respectful and is always neat. It is a good company to work with, and he does a very nice job. He always works with us to determine the color scheme and themes, and comes with his own ideas while also listening to what his customers want.I have been very happy with their service and will continue to use them.

It was average to good. They got them up quickly and took them down quickly as well. The service was fine. However, sections of the lights kept going out so I called them back five or six times. They did come back each time within a day or two, but I would prefer that they used lights that would have stayed lit if one bulb went out. You expect that the lights would have been fine for the entire season without having to continually call them out. Next year I plan to get some competitive bids from other companies.

They are excellent, courteous, prompt, fun and very professional. They are always on time, always polite and hard working.