STOLFA LANDSCAPING

**BEWARE​** In the early stages of our landscape projects, I spent a great deal of time promoting Stolfa Landscaping. Tony is very sharp on his understanding of plants and trees. However, there's a huge difference in being familiar with plants and being able to effectively run a landscape business. Tony has been around this area for a very long time. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. He initially comes across as a person that is very knowledgeable on landscaping projects and seems like someone you can trust. Throughout the projects, several people provided some guarded advice on doing business with Stolfa Landscaping and specifically working with Tony. I ignored the guidance because it didn't seem like the guy I'd recently met. Long before the projects were completed, I was already giving unsolicited recommendations on their work. Looking back, I think I was so excited about the prospects of how it could turn out, that I looked past the cautious advice from others and the red flags I was already starting to see. I feel compelled to reach out to all the people that have asked for insights into the projects as well as recommendations. I WAS WRONG when I recommended Stolfa Landscaping. It hurts to admit that. I'm so impressed with the people we've met when we moved here and so pleased with our home builder that I just blindly turned over the control of the landscaping to Stolfa. I never really looked for another quote or other opinion. Tony guided me to do what I could to have the broader landscaping elements removed from the home build project because my price would be better. I followed that lead and our builder was gracious enough to agree. In retrospect, I should have gone with my instincts and protected against poor quality and bad business practices. This bad review and words of caution really stem from their hardscape capabilities. For the most part, the lawn and the trees we had installed are good. There are areas where it should have been better quality on the install, but nothing to really rant over. When it comes to the hardscape, DONT DO IT through Stolfa Landscaping. Tony knows this isn't an area where he has expertise and turns it over to others that work for him. He relies on their "expertise" to design and build a quote. He'll tell you that these hardscape resources have been in business together with him for 18+ years and they have done these projects hundreds of times. I don't doubt that. All I can speak to is my personal experience. I knew it wasn't acceptable but wondered if it was only me. I showed photos to friends and had neighbors and other landscapers look at it after the fact to get their take. Its not just me. The collective group of reviews has helped me understand I have to have significant re-work done to fix the problems with Stolfa's mistakes. Stolfa Landscaping attempted to build a fire pit for us. The invoice was presented the day it was completed. We immediately expressed concerns about how it looked and performed. Payment was demanded within a few days with the promise that "we'll make it right". I knew better but still made the full payment because I thought I could trust him. Again, I was wrong. Thank God I used a credit card for this portion of the project. It took a few months and they tried twice to deliver a quality fire pit. It looked terrible and performed even worse. They designed and installed the entire thing from gas line to burner to stone work. I was charged thousands of dollars for this thing and it looked like a group of small children had put it together as part of a school project. They couldn't figure out why it wouldn't put out a much of a flame. It was so poorly done that Tony agreed to have it removed and refund this portion of our projects. After almost a month, I'd not heard back from him. I'd paid in full for this thing in August and it was now about to be December. When I reached out to see about the refund, Tony, this guy that seemed trustworthy and declared they would "make it right", wouldn't engage with me. His project manager sent me a text letting me know that the refund would be a fraction of what I was charged. I fully understand that their are some elements of the price that included other things like mulch and rock. When Tony wouldn't engage to discuss those items, I took a shot at it and adjusted the costs down to an anticipated refund of 75% of what I paid. With no further communication from them, I let them know that I'd be disputing the charge with the credit card company. Weeks later, it hadn't been fully resolved and I reached out to Tony. I acknowledged that I didn't agree with his financials, but I'd take the low refund offer just to put it behind us. He didn't reply. After another week, I called him. I was able to say "hello" and started to ask a question when he interrupted me. He spent the next 2 minutes cussing me out and then hung up on me. We were 2 months after he'd committed a refund and 4 months after he'd been paid in full. I didn't have a fire pit, I've been out almost $7K and he's cussing me out and hanging up on me?!?! As I type this today, we're almost 7 months since I paid them in full and I have no fire pit. In December, they sent me an invoice for some outstanding lawn maintenance. It would have been easy to ignore that invoice based upon the money they owe me. However, that had nothing to do with the hardscape, so I immediately paid that invoice in full. It's about doing what's right. It's about Stolfa Landscaping being run so poorly and Tony seemingly being incapable of having a mature business discussion to find a way to move forward. I'm happy to have a detailed discussion with Tony or with any of the other groups of people who've asked about these projects. When/if this is ever fully resolved, I'm happy to provide updates to this post as well. Billy Johnson