Beechtree Landscape & Design
About us
Beechtree Landscape and Design is a full service residential design and build landscaping firm serving Baltimore and its surrounding areas. We offer a wide range of services from lush perennial gardens to complete outdoor living spaces. With a focus on customer service and attention to detail Beechtree’s skilled designers, craftsmen and masons can turn key your project from start to finish. Having over 25 years of residential design experience in the region’s finest communities, Scott Michel, owner of Beechtree Landscape, can put his years of knowledge to work for you.
Services we offer
Drainage & Grading, Landscaping - Hardscaping & Pavers, Large Tree Installation, Lighting, Maintenance. Patios & Walkways
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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| 93% | ||
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Scott came out and looked at our yard and suggested the best type of trees and then had us come to his lot and pick the trees we wanted. We picked an 18 foot and 3 -13 foot Bosque Elm. Scott and his team arrived on their scheduled day, professionally installed the trees and put down new sod to fix our lawn. So far we are very happy with our experience with Beechtree and we are very excited to see our new trees come to life this spring. Also the trees come with a 1 year warranty!
Scott uses high quality products and has perfected his design skills. From early spring to late fall, there is color and texture in our gardens. It was a very cold winter last year, so a few plants including a large crape myrtle had died within the first year. Scott replaced everything at no charge without hesitation. He comes out periodically during the year to check on things and seems to really love his job.
Scott's crew dug down at least two feet to install the foundation for sidewalk pavers and flagstone for our patio. We are confident that it will last 100 years! For the footer for our front porch step, he had the crew dig four feet. He worked with our lighting guy to layout the perfect lighting plan and made recommendations on how and where to install the irrigation. We really appreciate all that he's done to make our property beautiful.
As above- Scott was able to visualize a harmonious final product (despite the chaos during pool construction), coordinate its execution, manage the delivery, and articulate what was required to all parties along the way. I had a few other landscapers early on take a look at the project and they were flummoxed by the scope and complexity. Beechtree was clearly the only company that had a clue.
The high attention to detail, daily communication, professionalism, and follow up were a much needed and welcome relief from the abysmal experience with the pool company. Scott offered lots of advice along the way-- everything from how to prepare the ground for decking prep by using soaker hoses to settle the soil to suggesting the stone masons come back to fire edge the coping stones to advising on the placement of conduit and drain lines. With not a lot of advance notice he put together a comprehensive plantings package to bring out the best in the hardscape and overall environment of the site. His team are very hardworking, experts in their craft, respectful of the homeowner, punctual, and friendly. As opposed to many supervisors, Scott was on the jobsite everyday ensuring quality, making adjustments, and at times going out his way to fix aberrations or mistakes made by the previous contractors.
I have used Beechtree on 5 projects over 6 years including masonry, brickwork, transplantation, tree plantings, and landscaping. Not one of the dozens of trees has died, the masonry is more solid that the foundation of the house itself, and the plants are all thriving. I am certain that the value of the property has increased at a multiple of what we spent on Beechtree's services-- so I view this as more of an investment than a transaction.
Scott provided a detailed landscape design. We have a large lot. However, the area for the landscape was in front of and down the side of the house. The existing landscape was just in front of the house. While we went through the bushes/shrubs/trees in person, frankly except for a few specimens, I was not familiar with a good number of plants. It was no problem as the design had all of the precise names on them. I reviewed all of the plants prior to install. I really like the idea of the miniature butterfly bushes. All of the plants needed to be deer friendly as we are constantly visited by the deer. All of the plants appear to be deer friendly. One week after the landscape design was in the deer came through with no apparent damage.
Landscape design was great. We had another estimate from the company that did the initial clean up. That design, while it was less expensive, was not as detailed. Also, what separates Beechtree from the rest is the quality of the job. I struggled a little on whether the price should be a "A" or "B" above. They are a little more expensive than other providers. However, the workers and workmanship is "A" quality. I have no issues whatsoever on the install, quality of in the install, or timing. The work site was clear and no messy. The grass area that was damaged was repaired with their green mesh. They have a 1 year guarantee on their plants. We actually did a much larger job at our old house 4-5 years ago that required expensive landscape sloping, new turf, etc. Not as big of a job this time. I would feel comfortable recommending Beechtreee to another. If you want the cheapest landscaper in town, then Beechtree is not your company. If you want quality work, thorough landscape design, backed by someone that has years of experience, then Beechtree is your company. The price is a good price for high quality work.
I had the opportunity to talk with Scott at length at our house before we started the project and he goes through great lengths to keep his crew happy. "Happy crew equals good work" - he said something to that effect. Good quality work.
It is my plan to have Beechtree do the year round maintenance for our landscape.
"Thank you for your kind words [removed member name]. It's been a pleasure working with you and Adam over the years. I'm glad we had the opportunity to landscape both of your houses."
"It was a pleasure doing business with you and [member name removed]. This project was very unique because of the location and the rustic nature of the back yard. Thanks for your nice review."
"Thank you for taking the time to write us this review [Member name removed]. We look forward to working with you again in the future."
"Thank you [Member name removed]. It's been a pleasure working with you and [Member name removed] all these years and we look forward to many years to come."
Scott used plant materials that can best deter, as well as any can, the deer from consuming them. His knowledge of plant material is extensive and I appreciate the naturalness of the design of the stream bed and it plantings.
Over the course of the work a number of Beechtree crews worked on my yard. I learned a lot by watching them work and see the quality of it in the results. At the end of each day tools were carefully stowed and any debris taken away.
And a final note, all of my emails and phone calls were responded to and questions answered timely.
"Thanks for the nice response [member name removed]. We enjoyed installing your project. Between the deer, shade and water run-off issues it sure was a challenge. We're glad we came up with a positive solution to your problem."
"Thank you [member name removed] for your continuing business."
"(Member name removed), thanks for the kind words. We appreciate your business and look forward to working with you in the future."
That being said, here is the bad. Part of the estimate included an option for stairs, which we decided to wait on, until the project was about a week in, then changed our minds and wanted stairs. Scott said they were too busy to do it now, however, if we called him back in January or February, he would come back out when it's not so cold and do the stairs for the same price. I called him back at the end of January and told him we wanted to schedule the stairs......he told me that he never said he would do it for the same price and then gave me a new estimate that was approximately 30% higher than the previous November. Needless to say, we gave the job to someone else.
Lastly, half-way through the job, he said he no longer had any of the 8-10' Crape-Myrtle's in stock, so he was going to be putting in 10-12' ones instead, we said that was fine. When we met to pay the remaining balance, the trees were not $350.00 he originally quoted, but $500.00. When asked about this discrepancy, he responded that he had to charge more since they were bigger trees (he neglected however to mention that part when he told us he no longer had the smaller trees in stock).
Overall, I actually like Scott and his crew and I think they do good work. However, he proved himself to be a normal contractor when it comes to money. Watch your step with him on any changes and always get what you can in writing!
"We installed the homeowner's project in the Fall of 2009. As we do with all of our projects we provided detailed architectural plans and detailed written contracts for each phase of the project along with tree sizes and options. The job was completed in November of the same year. Along with the patio and fire pit we installed 5 crape myrtles and quoted the trees for two sizes. We ended up installing 8-10' crape myrtles at a discounted rate. These trees were over-sized and Scott felt it was a great value for the price to choose the smaller of the two options. The job was completed in a timely manner as shown on the plan. We increased the fire pit size at no charge and provided firewood at no cost. We also cleared, graded and seeded an area much larger than shown on the plan for the same quoted price as the smaller area because we already had the equipment on site. Along with the plans and written quotes we took the homeowner on a tour of other projects in the area with similar work we had done to ensure he felt comfortable before advancing with the project. All in all, the job went well and we ended up installing four other projects in the neighborhood. As for the steps, our quote included pouring a concrete footer with rebar attached to it to prevent settlement. This is highly recommended for all steps (especially on new houses). Our quote also included building natural stone steps with custom bluestone treads which is more expensive than the manufactured stone block that is usually used. The natural stone step building process is much more costly than just laying this manufactured block on CR6 (crushed stone) on top of the soil. Pouring the footer ensures that you will not have settlement issues occur. Because of the cost of the steps they were to be installed at a later date. Other expenses for building the steps after the original project was completed would include having to remove the paver stones that had been laid in their place. The job went smoothly and we were able to provide extra services because of the scope of the project. We received many referrals from this job. We thank the homeowners for their business and appreciate the opportunity to be able to work on this project."
"I'm glad we could make a difference on your property [Member name removed]. Thanks for the nice write up."
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