Karen Sierzega of Through the Arbor

I was referred to Karen by my mother and sister who had had past experience with her. I was looking for landscape design expertise from someone who was very knowledgeable. She came out to assess my yard and she asked for my budget. At the outset, I told her I did NOT know my budget because I wasn't sure what had to be done. I asked her what services she provided, how long something like my yard would take (to design) and what she charged for various services. She told me that she'd have to spend more than 6 hours developing a design for my yard, but initially we agreed to meet once more to discuss plants and measure beds. She came back and we went over a hand written list of plants she recommended. Then she helped me "chunk" out the work that needed attention based on my immediate priorities. For those two meetings she charged me $175. She said that she would get me a typed copy of the list of plants she recommended (which I still have not received). I made Karen aware of the fact that I have access to landscaping labor and that my mother has a nursery license so I would most likely require her design services and her help with bed care ongoing. She quoted me $40/hr/person for labor. There were several action items for me from the "chunked out" list. I began working through them and I put a down payment down on several of the plants/trees that I needed to purchase at Steinkopf's nursery on 4/25/12. While at the nursery, they showed me that they had a unique varietal of boxwood that I was looking for. They were exactly what I was looking for, but the boxwoods were not my first priority and I didn't know exactly how many to purchase from Karen yet. Coincidentally, she called me while I was on my way home from the nursery to ask if I'd made progress and tell me she had an immediate (the next day) opening in her schedule where she and a crew member could come cut a new bed (from the chunked list) and plant something. I told her I'd found the boxwood I wanted and since I had been playing phone tag with my usual labor I took her up on her offer. She again quoted me the $40/hr/person and said she wanted to check the boxwood out first b/c she didn't plant anything she didn't inspect herself. She never told me she would charge me for this service. Once she okayed the boxwood, I ordered them and set up delivery for the next day. This was not a planned expense for me and I was already sticker shocked by the unexpected investment in the boxwood, but I was willing to move ahead in the interest of finally making some progress on my yard. Because of the last-minute nature of the situation I didn't have an estimate in writing. Half an hour before she arrived to start on the project she texted to see if I had any compost. I did not and I was not aware that it was necessary so she stopped to purchase it on the way. I had an appointment and had to leave one hour into the work. When I left I asked her for her invoice so I could pay her. When she itemized her services, she charged me $50/hr/person she said because of the amount of weeds. However, she had seen the weeds both times she was at my house and I had told her I didn't have a chance to pull them prior to the snap boxwood decision so she knew to expect them and did not disclose that would be additional. Then she charged me 30 minutes time for stopping at Home Depot to pick up the compost (also not disclosed). She also charged me $50 for her visit to the nursery the day before despite the fact that I had found those boxwoods and notified her of them (also not disclosed). When I asked her about that she said that she needed to charge me since she wasn't making any money on the plants! I paid her $542 and I asked her what I'd need to do for next steps. She said, "we might not get all of them in tonight, but we'll leave you with a nice smooth middle section so that all you have to do is get it weed guarded and mulched." I took that to mean that there might be maybe 10 that didn't get planted or something and I would take it from there. When I returned home at 6:45 PM that night (work had commenced at 2:30), there were only 20 ish boxwoods planted and the 2 perennials. I was shocked that she hadn't finished, but figured she'd be coming back to complete the job so I called and asked what was the plan. She said they'd come back on Sunday (4/29) to finish. In the meantime she sent me several texts asking me to arrange to have mulch delivered and to mark where I'd like another tree I purchased placed. I texted back to tell her I was way over unexpected costs and that I would take care of the mulch and tree myself. She came back at 12:30 on Sunday with 2 crew members and planted the rest of the boxwood. I was very surprised to find another invoice in my mailbox for an additional $360 also for planting boxwood services--something I thought I'd paid for already. I called her and have discussed at length that I don't feel I owe her any more money. She disagrees. She admits that she underestimated the job, but feels that I should have to pay her for the hours she put in. I maintain that I should not be charged for her mistake in estimating. I also feel she withheld fees and tried to add on additional services even after I made it very clear that I was long past my comfort level spending wise. I have spoken to Karen twice. She offered to discount the remaining $360 by $90 since she charged me $50/hr/person instead of the $40 she quoted me. I feel very strongly that I have paid for the services. I shouldn't be penalized for her underestimation and I don't feel the services I received were worth $1,000 in labor. What's more, if I'd know that's what it would have cost I would have waited on the project entirely and used my other, more affordable service option.