MW LAWN & LANDSCAPE INC

I've used MW Lawn for sprinkler winterization and some other yard work for several years. They winterized my sprinkler system last fall. This spring when I wanted to get everything started up again the lid to the main sprinkler shutoff box was stuck. I could rotate the lid like normal, but one side was locked in position and couldn't be lifted up. I hadn't had any issues in the previous 8 years, so I called MW Lawn thinking that perhaps the technician installed it wrong after winterization since that was the last time it was removed/replaced. A couple weeks later the technician showed up and used the leverage from a shovel to force open the lid. He was at my house for less than 5 minutes and left. After he left I took a closer look and noticed the box was damaged. Two of the plastic tabs in the box were sheared off and one was damaged. My thought was that it was most likely that the technician caused the damage by forcing on the lid incorrectly after the fall winterization, or when removing it with a shovel. A few days later I received a bill for $80. Through a dozen email exchanges I presented my case that I shouldn't be liable for the stuck cover considering 1) MW Lawn was the last one to remove/replace it 2) there was significant damage after the technician visit and 3) the technician visit lasted less than 5 minutes. It didn't matter though. I was given excuses like "it is a plastic piece in the ground and anything can happen" and "since you called us for the visit it is a minimum $80 Charge". It's true that I can't prove that the technician installed the cover incorrectly or damaged it, but I think it's by far the likeliest scenario. So now I've paid the $80 bill and am left will a broken sprinkler box. Needless to say I would highly recommend against using MW Lawn.

They are always thorough and I've been using them for a long time, very responsive.

VERY poor workmanship with many critical step skipped or shortcut. The joint sand was sprinkled on and the workers jumped up and down on the surface rather that using a Plate vibrator. The short wall was poorly installed and moved allowing the base sand to wash out. It is embarrassing to take visitors onto the patio . The owner come out an looked at the situation and offered a minimal repair option. He quoted a repair price and said that he had to break even on his crew labor. I would not recommend this company.

tree was trim too short and they killed the tree and they did not take responsibility for killing it and it took them two times to trim it because they did not trim correct the first time they do not take responsibility for killing the tree when they clearly kill it because they did not know how short to trim it they should've known because they said the service people where experts obviously we're not did not take spots ability always blames homeowner.

They are very honest. The owner is very straight forward, and easy to work with. They are easy to get a hold of over the phone. This is my first time using them. They are still working, but so far I cannot complain. They were the best offer of the 3 I got.

unknown

The agreed price for weekly mowing was reasonable: $39 for our average sized front and back yard.  We were told lawn treatments, including weed killer and fertilizer, is done on a set schedule and we just missed the last round for our area.  So we deal with weeds for another month?  Yes.
Our requests for weed removal from planter beds, mulch, shrub trimming, and address back yard drainage issues was ignored for several weeks.  We emailed and called to ask status and were finally told a bid was requested from a subcontractor for the drainage issues and "additional weeding, yard clean up, and trimming" is a separate hourly rate.  Great! WHAT IS THE RATE?!  We’ve only been asking for exactly that since we first called several weeks ago.
The crew showed up on Wednesdays as promised; they were always in and out in less than an hour.  They used large stand-on mowers that left the grass way too long in most of the back yard (5+ inches).  We called to request they mow the grass shorter and we were advised the message had been passed along to the crew. Two more weeks of mowing and the grass is still way too long throughout the majority of the back yard – some places were missed entirely.  We understand the ground in our yard may be too bumpy for a large mower to cut evenly, but a push mower does a great job; clearly the big mowers are not working out in this instance.
Overall our experience was not good.  The company seemed unresponsive to our needs and the local crew was disengaged / disconnected from the people we interacted with over the phone and via e-mail.

I would highly recommend M&W.  I researched them and took note of the few somewhat negative early reviews, and specifically addressed these reviews prior to hiring M&W.  Aaron and his crew were extremely responsive from start to finish.  Aaron designed and managed the entire project - he was immediately responsive on a daily basis to questions and supervised the work (along with other employees) personally.  The crew who did the job were professional, friendly, cleaned up every day, and were a great group of guys.  Answered any and all questions and kept us up to speed on a daily basis with progress.  We are thrilled with the results and have received lots of compliments on the job.  I would highly recommend this company.

This is a lesson in using Angie's List as a tool, but to be aware that if a business has just a few reviews, the scores may not be reflective of the service.  I had MW Lawn and Landscaping recommended to me by a friend who had used them.  I called, and Charlotte came out to look at the area.  We talked about a couple goals I had with the plantings (low maintenance, didn't want it overgrown in a couple years, provide a screen when we are sitting out on the patio, etc.)  Charlotte was a great listener, and came up with ideas within a couple days.  We went through a couple iterations of design, as I kept adding questions.
Before making the final decision, I did look them up on Angie's List.  This is where the lesson came in.  What I read were a couple of bad scores and comments from people who didn't have them do the work.  It caused me to question things.  In the end, I went with my gut and friend referral.  I couldn't be happier at this point.  
After arriving at a final plan, they started on a Tuesday.  The two workers showed up every day by 8:00 and worked solid until 5:00.  They were neat, and cleaned up the job site each day before leaving, to the point you wouldn't even know they had been working.  Charlotte came to check things out every day, making sure things were in the right place.  Tracy, the sprinkler guy, also came by on the days the sprinkler work was being done to make sure everything was happening.
The work was completed on Friday of that week, and Charlotte provided me with a watering and maintenance instruction email.    We had neighbors stopping by that weekend to look things over, and all raved about the end result.  It really gives a great finished look to our patio project.  I would recommend MW Lawn and Landscape to anyone who was looking for these services. 
I was initially worried about doing such a project so late in the fall, but MW was confident that the plantings will do well throughout the winter and spring if watered regularly.  I will update this as needed.

The job is closed. I believe that the ownership of the company wants to do the best for the customer.

Our experience with MW started in 2013 when they installed paver patio in our front yard.  We were impressed with the work, and the patio looked great.  Their bid was accurate, and customer service was great.  We hired them to manage our irrigation system, and in 2014 they relaid an existing paver patio in our back yard and redid our front landscaping.  In 2015 we had 3 major issues with MW: 
1.  We asked for assistance with a water issue in our back yard.  Communication with the MW team was terrible.  Several calls and messages went unanswered, they didn't show for meetings, and when they arrived unannounced to complete the work, I had no idea what they were doing.  Several calls later, they finally explained that they would be placing a large drain.  I was unhappy with the work and asked for it to be redone.  Several calls and months later the work has still not been fixed.
2.  Our front paver patio started letting water into the basement and several new plantings died.  They initially were responsive and replaced 1 plant; however it was planted incorrectly and soon started to die.  Again calls went unanswered.  Service calls went unfulfilled and I was not informed when they finally came out to work on the patio.  Their solution was to caulk the edges of the front stoop.  That was 3 months ago and we still have water coming into the basement.  I hired another landscaping company and quickly learned that the soil under the new landscaping was not compacted and the patio was not graded correctly.
3.  Our irrigation system was programmed incorrectly, despite being serviced twice annually by MW.  After consulting with another company, it was discovered that our system was in fact not operating at all and several zones needed repairs.  
In one final phone call to MW, I voiced my complaints so they sent out a project manager.  We had a useless discussion in which he made it clear that he had no idea that MW was managing our landscaping and irrigation, as he repeatedly questioned how and when our landscaping and irrigation were installed.  He promised to come back to fix drainage but never showed. 
MW appeared to be a reliable company in 2013, but 2 years later quality and customer service are a miserable failure .

unknown

I had a very good experience with them.  The contractor did a great of the patio and the workmanship was very good.  The crew were very professional.  They were always courteous and they cleaned up after themselves.

unknown

This company installed our sprinkler system around 3 years back as well as servicing it in the fall and spring.

Last summer we asked them to put in a Flagstone patio. After agreeing on a price we just needed the work done. Little did I know how difficult it would be for them to give me a date when work would start. I had a very heated conversation with the owner who showed his only interest was in money and zero interest in customer service. Weeks pass and still no work and now my concern is the outside temps. There is a minimum temp it has to be so the Gator Dust, a bonding agent, can set up. They came and installed the patio the second time when the temps were questionable but I was assured by the owner it would be ok as they had done the same before.

This spring/summer I notice cracks and separation between the Flagstone so I email Aaron to let him know of the problem. He responds it's normal and to just keep the Flagstone wet. The sprinkler system they put in keeps it wet so that's no problem. I noticed it getting worse and sent Aaron another email and was told just about the same as before. Eventually I sent pics to Aaron showing the gaps and he said its normal. Now the original cracks are getting worse and other areas are starting to crack. I sent another email to Aaron around three weeks ago and have not heard anything from him.

I called the company that manufactures the Gator Dust and told them about the problems. The representative asked a few questions and told me the Gator Dust needs to be

We were pleased with the patio work that was done on both occasions.  The landscaping completed in June of 2012 was decent and they did come back and plant the items that died when they returned to do work for us in 2013.  When they returned in June of 2013 our experience was not as good though.  They planted one of the bushes right under the dryer vent and when I let them know, they came and moved it on a very cold day in the fall and it has died since.   Some of the smaller flowering things they planted were so small that they didn't seem to stand a chance (I have never even seen plants sold that small at nurseries).  Additionally, a majority of the other items they planted have died in various beds (front and back).  I have contacted them several times to come fix the issue (at the very least comp out the items that they said they would) and have had little to no response.  Before I knew that so many items hadn't made it, we did hire them to mulch and do other spring maintenance in April of 2014, as well.  The mulch laid was so thin it is already gone in several spots.  Also, they didn't trim several items and I had to ask  them to come back and they over trimmed a few of the bushes that were planted in 2012 and did good the summer of 2013 and now they are barely there.   
I have never been happy with the communication or responsiveness of the team with MW Lawn (always slow to respond and usually takes following up with them over and over) but it is worse than it has ever been.  I have contacted them several times over the past two months and they have not gotten back to me and the situation has not been resolved.  I paid landscapers to help me with my yard because I wanted it to look nice.  I think it looks really terrible and I am actually embarrassed by some areas.  
We had a neighbor that was thinking of using MW Lawn and we told them our story and they decided against it.  We would not recommend them nor would we use them in the future.

We kept Wilder and Freddie hydrated and fed during the few days they were out there, and it was 90+ degrees while they were working.  Still managed to do a great job and kept up a strong pace.  The use of the vibrating plow was surprisingly effective for how hot and dry it was.  The yard didn't get beat up too badly and the raised areas where the 1" poly pipe was laid ended up sitting down after a week or so of water/rain.  Very pleased with how they did.  I received three other bids for irrigation installation:
(1) Heritage Lawns (2) TLC Lawn Care and a very close bid/presentation by a third company whose name ironically escapes me at the moment.  They are located up in the northland, but had no problem travelling out to south Olathe to bid a system for me.  Heritage Lawns was very savvy and experienced, but they were the highest priced of all the bids.  TLC was the least expensive and never met me in person to go over the details of their mailed bid.  The runner-up was in line with the price we eventually paid, and I would have felt very comfortable using them as well.  Ultimately, MW Lawns was close by and I received a recommendation from another contractor, so I thought I would use them.

Great, will use again. On time and per estimate.

unknown

Went well, very responsive company

He comes when he says he is going to come. They do a great job. I would recommend him. His service is great! He is extremely reliable and honest.

They were very consultative and gave us a great program to do our back yard. We recommend a lot of solutions that we did not have in the past.

They were a little pricey for us but they were punctual. They did what they said they were going to do.

Steve and Nick gave us estimates, as well as drew up plans for our landscaping and irrigation.  They came in basically right on budget.  The work was completed in a very timely fashion, and we couldn't have been happier with the work they did.