Hartley Bros Landscaping Inc

We had Hartley Borthers come out to do an estimate in the middle of Aug, they said they would get it to us in writing in a week and we got it about two weeks later. At that time they estimated the project would take 3-4 weeks and that they could start right away. Their proposal added some interesting touches, better lighting, larger bar, nice fire pit, and more paver area. Of the 3 proposals we got Hartley offered the most for a bit less money.
Hartley ended up starting around the 4th of Sept. At that time I told them to book the plumber and book the electrian since I didn't want to have to worry about scheduling them to be there when Hartley needed them. Work moved quickly at first and they held to the agreed upon payment schedule with few issues. The work was good quality and things were going well.
Then the issues started. They conitnued to not get a plumber out to the job and they kept holding off on bringing in the electrician. There was absolutley no reason the electrician could not have been out there in the first week to tap in to our electrical system and run it outside but he wasn't brought in till the end. Finally I had to hire a plumber myself since Hartley could not get someone to the job.
They also screwed up the math on the final counter and bar heights in relationship to the pavers. The countertop has 3-4 inches too low and so was the bar height. This is critical when buying chairs and stools. This all had to be corrected after the fact hurting some of the work and design IMO.
This all brings us to two things, time and money. About 9 weeks in to the job, yes you read that right 9 weeks in to a and quot;3-4 weekand quot; job, and they weren't finished yet they started to press me for final payment. The contract clearly stated no final payment until the job was done and there were still 5-10 parts that needed to be finished. They told me they had bills they had to pay, insurance they needed to pay, and payroll they needed to make. I told him I will put that check in your hand the second you finish just like the contract says and you are NOT finished. This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine from builders of all types. All to often they take money from their next job to cover their current job. If you end up being the last job of the season like we were or they hit a slow patch during your job their cash flow goes to $0 and they can't finish the job.
At this point they started to rush to get things done as they needed payment. Part of the job included removing some rocks, a rock wall and bobcat work. This job was rushed and poorly done. A large rock that was supposed to be covered is no sticking through the dirt and needs to be fixed. The seeding ended up being to late to grow and we were left with a bad impression of the whole job.
11 weeks after the first payment was made and 13 weeks after they came out to look at the yard our and quot;3-4 weeksand quot; project was done. It was obvisous to us that they under priced the job, under estimated the time, and have company cash flow problems all leading to a very poor ending impression for us.
It is too bad the good work was tainted by horrendous book keeping and business management, but sadly these tactics aren't uncommon in the building trade.

They are fine and the grass looks pretty good this year.

We had an issue with them when they were digging the slates caved in our front steps. They haven't done anything to warrant that and now we have to spend the money to put in new steps. I thought they'd take some money off the bill but we haven't even heard back from them about it. Other than that they did a good job. Their price was high.

Their work is characterized by incredible promptness, constant follow-up, high level of workmanship and professionalism.

They were true to their word. They did what the quoted. They did a very good job. They were neat and professional. I would use them again in the future.

Overall, it went pretty went. They were professional. They were trust-worthy. They had to come back a couple of times because there were things that I saw weren't done as we had agreed, but they did come back. Then they fixed the problem. It sounds like a good experience. They did a good work. It was an unusual job. They had to find similar kind of boulders. It was a weird job. They suggested ideas and it was overall very good. The rockwork was a larger expense.

I have had them do everything from a $170 lawn care application to a $100,000 barn. It's a family owned company. They keep their employees for a long time, so it's always people that we know that are doing the work. They do things the way I would do it if I was doing it myself. I have always been really happy with their work. If ever there has been a problem it has always been resolved to my satisfaction. When we call we actually get a real person on the phone. They definitely go the extra mile for me. We definitely get what we pay for, but they are not the cheapest.