H & M LANDSCAPING LLC

Thanks to Michigan weather the project got delayed several times due to flooding. Once the flooding had resolved, they knocked out the project in 4 days! This was removing old grass/weeds, laying new dirt topsoil, grading, laying the sod and cleanup! Insane, can’t wait to show off the new yard!

It definitely didn't go well in any of the areas we hired them for: (1) The company only brought in 1/2 the amount of soil that we paid for. And it wasn't until we questioned and pushed them that they had another load delivered. However, we still believe with that second load it didn't meet the delivery amount we paid for (we called the supplier who unfortunately wouldn't release to us the amount delivered). (2) When they graded the lawn, the entire back corner of our lawn was pitted with large tire tracks from their bobcat vs. graded smoothly. This certainly wasn't ideal for growing the lawn back there...and then forget about trying to drive a lawn mower over it! We ended up having to bring our own dirt in and filling it ourselves to remedy the issue. (3) On the day scheduled for hydroseed, their machine broke. So they only hydroseed we saw was what spilled from the machine onto a small section of the lawn, which was a bright greenish/blue hydroseed mixture. They returned the following day to complete the job. This time the hydroseed mixture was almost purely white in color, as if they paper mixture was in there, but not the seed mix that had been greenish/blue just the day before. (Bonus: We also received a nice amount of the mixture on all of our house siding, and all the way up to our windows that we had to spend a while power washing off later) Long story short, after much watering, and many unreturned phone calls contesting that they actually "heavily seeded", let along seeded at all, we were met with no response, and no solution. We were told that we weren't watering it enough and they had done their job. We finally resorted to laying down our seed, and watered just as we had done before...and miracle of miracles the grass grew just fine when we did it. Morale of the story. Save your money and don't hire this company unless you feel like dumping those dollars straight down the drain. We hope this helps you avoid what was the most expensive mistake we ever made.

Worst experience of my life. I wouldn’t trust these guys to mow my lawn. Oh wait over two months in and still not a full lawn. Let’s start with the dirt. We were shorted on topsoil that we ordered so that the ground would be more conducive to growing grass. When Dan came out I called him out on it. He said, “Oh yeah I guess that doesn’t look like enough. Like they didn’t know what they had delivered to the site? They ordered another load, still short. Luckily my wife was home that day or we wouldn’t have even gotten that. Leveling: There is a large patch in the back that did not get leveled. Dan said it couldn’t be done. I believe impossible were his words. Brian said it wouldn’t be an issue when they quoted the job. No response from Brian for resolution on that. What might have fixed it is the rest of the dirt we paid for but didn’t get. Guess what it is fixable and I am currently in the process of fixing it myself (I am not a landscaper and apparently am able to accomplish the impossible) Hydroseeding: They brought 7 bags (have pictorial evidence of that) for a 17000 sq ft lot. When discussing with other landscapers (after the fact unfortunately) they said a lot that big would take AT LEAST 10 BAGS (our contract says that they will HEAVILY hydroseed). Unfortunately on day one when my wife was home after they loader their hydroseed machine they couldn’t even get it to work. So the first 3 bags down. Luckily some leaked onto the ground and driveway showing that when 3 bags were loaded it was indeed the blue color it should be (this will be important later). The next day we weren’t able to skip work another day to verify their work. After we got home the ground had NO COLOR to it. They must have just used the remaining 4 bags for the entire 17000 sq ft lot. When questioned, we were shocked to actually get a reply from Brian on this, must have wanted to get his check. (You have to pay within 5 days or you get a penalty, must be a pressure technique so that they don’t have time to fix any issues before they actually get a check). Brian’s response, “Don’t worry about there not being color, it depends on the manufacturer some don’t have color.” Follow up emails and phone call, “Then why was there color day one when it leaked?” Not surprising, no response to this. Talked to other landscapers on this and they all said either our landscaper doesn’t know what he is talking about or was scamming us by diluting the hydroseed bags to much. I imagine it is a little of both. Have email, picture, video and recorded conversations of the entire process and have talked to a couple lawyers and are considering a lawsuit for breach of contract. Brian continually said that it was simply because we didn’t water enough. Our 5 hours a day of watering (had to do zones individually) and approximately $2000 water bill beg to differ. Luckily I hand seeded about 150 lbs of seed. That didn’t seem to have any issue growing. This saved part of the front of our yard. After 2 months we only have about 70% coverage and about half is weeds. Oh yeah I almost forgot the gravel / stone area for the shed. Brian said mark off the area and they would just take care of that area. We emailed Brian about two weeks before the job that we were going a little bit bigger. Brian apparently just moved our markers to the original dimensions and did not discuss with my wife that was home that day. We didn’t check it until we were ready to start installing the shed (trusting that he did that correctly, oops). Further we have weeds growing through the 4 inches (NOT) or gravel used on the space, pretty sure that isn’t supposed to happen if done properly. In closing AVOID THESE GUYS AT ALL COST !!!!!

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The entire project was a "textbook" operation.  Completed very professionally on-time and on-budget.

I was very nervous since I prepaid for half the job in February and they refused my calls until June. I was threatening towards them since they cashed my check and I had an event happening mid June. One week prior to the event, (3 days) they had come while I was at work and completed the job. I was shocked and amazed at the finished quality. Lots of complements from others and work was done well. Unfortunately many of my new shrubs and bushes have died and when I called, I was told they will not replace until the following Spring to see if they were only shocked. I have pictures and expect replacement. I do recommend them, but prefer to work with Bryan and NOT Dan.

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Very pleased with the work that H&M did in our front yard. Again, the crew was professional and they were in and out in one day. I would definitely recommend H&M in the future to anyone looking to get landscaping done.

The work done was excellent.  They were prompt and professional.  They were receptive to our own ideas and requested changes to the original plan.  The clean-up after the job was finished was great.  I can't really say if the total cost was competitive since they were the only company I brought to the house.

unknown

H & M Landscaping installed a drainage area for me in 2013.  I called Brian, as the ground had settled and it was not functioning as installed.  Brian came out and looked at the problem himself, and shortly (about 3 weeks) he had some of his crew to do the repair.  Brian and his whole crew know what they are doing and how to do it.  I would recommend them for any size job.

I called Brian in May and he came out and surmised what we needed and wanted.  We had a standing water problem which was caused by water draining from neighbors into our lawn.  H&M Landscaping was the highest bid out of the three landscapers we talked to, but I felt he better understood the problem and how to solve it.  So he was our pick and we are so glad we made that decision.  We set a tentative start date.
Brian brought a team of 8 guys here and they set to work...each one knowing what to do and how to do it, working simultaneously.  They worked up dirt in the rest of an 85' area, put in a surface French drain, and a 85' hard pipe drain with 1 12" bin and 2 4" direct drains.  They proceeded to reseed this area, after refilling the dirt into the trench.  They created a new area behind the shed to draw the shed into the total landscape.  They put down 10 yards of topsoil in the new garden area.  The guys  planted 7 arborvitae and 1 shrub (we bought) into this basically Hosta garden.  All of this 85' area was outlined in 12" rocks and then filled with black mulch.  They also planted a Rose of Sharon tree aside our deck. (We bought the tree).  Then they pulled out an old lilac tree in the front.  They had black mulch left over and were kind enough to put it on all my front and back garden around the base of the house. 
I am very pleased with everything they did.  The guys were wonderful young men and conducted themselves accordingly.  They were here to please the customer.....me.  This crew cleaned up behind themselves....although black stain is on my driveway and on the street, which will take time to wear off.  I would not hesitate to use them again for any landscape need, and probably will.  In fact, I will never use a contractor who is not listed on Angie's List with reviews.  This was one of my better contractor experiences.

Brian came out initially and estimated the job, made a return trip to confirm and alter the estimate based on several ideas we had in the interim.  Work began on 4/23/13 and was completed by 4/25/13.
During the construction phase we experienced rain and several snow showers, but the team worked through the poor conditions.
The end product was a total renovation of the landscaping look we had in the back yard. After completion of the work, Brian visited the job to ensure we were completely satisfied with the work. We were very happy with the professionalism of the team, the clean up of the area, and of course the end result. We elected to only work on the backyard in the spring, but have estimates for work on both side yards, which
we may begin this fall, or at the latest next spring. H & M has also done other work in our neighborhood ,and I have personally spoken to one neighbor who was also very pleased with their work.
H & M will continue to fertilize through the balance of this year, and I am sure we will retain for many years to come.