TERRAFIRMA INC

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I had landscaping done. In the end they tried over charging us and even my wife went over the bill with Eric we found areas where they over charged above what was agreed. The rocks they used are also chipping and breaking apart and I called Eric but he does not return the calls! There are so many other companies out there, I would pass on this one! Wish I had!!

unknown

unknown

Not that great. Initially could not get system to work. Ended up being a cut wire that they had damaged the prior year during another projct for the previous owner. Had to dig up a number of valves and wires to finally get the system to work. Ended up damaging the main line valve, which began to leak. Came out and just removed the valve.
Probably won't use them again.

When arranging for the consultation, David (did not leave card so not sure) insisted that I obtain a plot plan in advance of his arrival. This was a bit puzzling, since these are readily attainable from the county via internet. It turned out he may have wanted something more detailed, but was not specific enough for me, not a landscaper or architect, to understand.
The road up to my house is closed for construction, and he was aware of that at the time of my initial contact with him. Interestingly, 15 min before arriving, he called asking directions. I explained that the road was closed but he noted that he knew that but needed to know where along the street I was. This was actually pretty surprising, since most people, especially those involved in building and landscapting, have GPS systems or will look on maps to determine locations of potential jobs. He did arrive extremely promptly. I had a bit of problem answering the door quickly (it took me about 3 minutes), and he appeared to be walking away when I got there.
I told him I had a plot diagram but not something with elevations on it, but he would not let me finish my sentence. Looking over the yard, he commented that he really could not do the job without doing a survey of the land, involving taking soil bores and determining the depth of the water table. Although I did establish with him that this was NOT Ann Arbor city and we did not have a storm drains (it was a bit surprising that he did not know that in advance of arriving to discuss the situation), he then ask if I was on a well, which seemed rather obvious, since it was popping up about 20 feet from where we were standing, and when you are not on sewer and have no storm drains that is usually the case. But, I am not an expert in these things....
He then mentioned several approaches with which I am unfamiliar: however, I am very interested and able to learn. He even said he would show me a picture. Then, we walked to the other side of the yard and I asked him to explain the drain tile stuff to me. He staired over the lot and basically stated that it was not possible to solve my problem. I then stated that I was going back into the house because if there is no solution to my problem, then we were simply wasting time.
This was absolutely fascinating because I have had other contractors with equal credentials make proposals for the solution.
I do NOT recommend wasting time with even getting a quote form this company if: a) you do not live in the city, b) you are not comfortable with a landscape architect who does not have GPS or prepare for meetings, c) you like to understand what is going on before spending money and making alterations to your property, d) you don't want to overpay for a job (based upon what he needed to even start and that he works at a high hourly rate), or e) you don't like be condescended to.

.They were very quick and decisive. The price was pretty competitive with other companies. They were very responsive and followed up quite well.

They were prompt and thorough. They seem to be very experience d and very knowledgeable.

They did an excellent job and it was done very well. They created a creative solution to a drainage problem. Their professionalism was excellent. They even performed a last minute request to remove a large 6' diameter shrub. The price was reasonable. The final price was the same as the initial estimate. While their prices are not inexpensive you get what you pay for.

My backyard does not flood anymore. They were helpful and available when I needed them. I had received several bids and Terrafirma's bid seemed more reliable.

It went very well. The foreman was very professional and they completed the work in a timely manner. We haven't had any problems since.

A field guy came out and evaluated the project and getting them to come out was fne. They were very professional and punctual. There was some misunderstanding about what I wanted done. We eventually came to an agreement and kept what they had done. The work has held up and is serving its purpose. I am not sure that I would use them again because of the experience I had with them as they're very expensive and I was expecting something completely different from what was installed. Communication was less than stellar.

We were very pleased and had received several estimates. They were the only company who saw the scope and complexity of the problem and they addressed it well. The person who was in charge was communicative and was very thorough in explaining what and why things were happening. They were punctual and showed up on time but it did take awhile to get them to come out. I did need to call them to check on scheduling the job a couple times, which most likely related to the size of the job. They left the worksite in good shape and did a good job of monitoring the weather to make sure they could complete the work without interruption. Had they known bad weather was coming they would have come out sooner. They did need to hire a subcontractor to move and then reinstall an air compressor which caused our AC not to be hooked up until spring. It was too cold to reconnect the AC back up and Terrafirma was a little frustrated, as were we, with this minor inconvenience because the subcontractor did not communicate that to us or to Terrafirma. I would recommend their services to others. Of all the contractors we talked to they were the most expensive and it was more money than we wanted to spend but we were happy to spend it as we felt that they we had peace of mind with Terrafirma as again they were the only ones who fully understood the full scope of the project. We've had no problem since.

Terrafirma redesigned the landscaping for our whole yard. There was a lot of deconstruction (removal of trees, plants, ground cover, etc.) before the new construction could begin. They relaid the patio and the front walk in new stones. The design is lovely and the work was done in a timely and professional manner. They were a little expensive, but we thought it was worth the extra cost.

I had several contractors out to give me an estimate / solution for a drainage issue I have at my home. A little background- My driveway slopes toward the house, and water pools near the garage. I had researched the solution extensively myself, and had an approximate idea of the solution. Essentially a drainage channel needed to be installed in the concrete and a discharge pipe run to the backyard. The biggest issue is a large pine tree's roots in the way of where the pipe would need to go.
I called Terrafirma and they explained my issue, and they had David Silverman call me back the next day. I was open to multiple times, but I expained that one specific day I was busy and would not be home. We set a specific appointment time for him to come out. A few days later on the day I had told him I would not be available, I got a voicemail from David saying that he was at my home and I wasn't there. I called him back within 10 minuts of recieving the message from him and he did not answer. I left a message stating that our appointment was set for a different day, and that I was not available, and requested a call back.
The next morning he called me back and I again said that our appointment was a different day, he checked into it and said that he made a mistake and would be there at the correct appointment time. I understand that simple mistakes get made, so I was not upset.
David then asked me what my budget was for this project and I was somewhat shocked that he would ask for a budget before even meeting with me in person, or discussing any proposed scope of work. I said my budget was what it cost to get the job done and that I was not even talking money untill I had met with him in person.
Prior to David coming out I had met with 3 other contractors so I had an idea of what the job entailed. I somewhat played dumb while he explained what his proposal was. The first thing he said was that the pine tree in my yard would need to be removed to complete the job. All 3 other contractors had stated that while the large pine trees roots were an issue, that they would be be able to cut through them, or lay pipe around arounf the roots and the tree would not need to be removed to complete the job. I asked David if cutting through or working around them would be possible ( I did not mention the other contractors ) and he stated that it would not be possible to do this.
He then stated that a driveway trench drain would need to be installed, which I 100% agreed with. From my research I knew that the method for installing this was cuttiing a rectangular trench section of concrete out of the driveway, setting a channel drain, and then repouring the cement in the trench. This is the exact method that all 3 other contractors suggested. Again, I did not mention this to David, and I let him explain what he wanted to do.
David started talking about breaking up an entire section of my driveway (roughly 12 foot x 6 foot) being necessary to install the trench. At this point I asked why that would be necessary and why he could not just cut a trench, and mentioned that 3 others had propsoed this. When I mentioned that he backtracked and said that It might be a possible option.
He then starting walking around and said that we also needed to find ways to 'limit the water runoff to the driveway.and quot; and that we and quot;needed to be realistic about what could be done.and quot; So then I asked him if he was saying that the job wasn't even feasable, and he said that it was. At this point I asked him to provide me with an estimate for the job.
when i got his estimate it was over 2 thousand dollars higher than the next highest bid I had recieved for the exact same scope of work ( I asked every contractor to also include a quote for the job with the removal of the pine tree in the yard)
Quite frankly I was pretty turned off by Davids approach from the start. I felt that him asking for my budget up front was completely unprofessional. This paired with the fact that it was obivious that he was not considering options that 3 other contracts showed me David's only intention was to maximize profit, rather than provide good service.

The price just kept going up!
We wanted to re-build the patio in our backyard, add a wood deck and do some landscaping. Terrafirma came out on June 6 and provided an initial estimate. This estimate was above our budget but we saw the value and liked their quality, so decided to proceed. After two months of back and forth on the design, we were presented with a detailed cost quote that was 30% higher than the initial estimate even though we had taken considerable content out of the project (water feature, fire pit, lighting). We did add one tree to the project but overall the content was considerably lower than the original plan.
Terrafirma charges $85 per hour for design and planning time, whereas this service was included in the quotes from all the other contractors. This and quot;planning timeand quot; included the cost for developing the estimates and cost quotes. In total we were charged for 15 hours of design, planning and estimating.
As I said above, when we received the detailed cost quote, it was 30% higher than the initial quote for considerably less content. When we questioned this, the owner blamed it on us, saying we had added more content. Part of the reason for the higher cost was a 2% and quot;fuel surchargeand quot; buried in the fine print of the contract. Every element of the detailed cost quote was higher than comparable quotes from other reputable contractors.
When we decided to cut ties with Terrafirma, we asked for the final design bill so we could pay our sunk costs and move on. The company calculated some of the estimating time at $125 per hour rather than the agreed $85 per hour. We were also charged $75 for 'blueprintsand quot; which were actually just hand-drawn landscape designs rather than blueprints.
After all this we just lost faith in Terrafirma.

unknown

I haven't actually had them do the work. I am thinking about doing a more comprehensive landscaping plan which I started to investigate it last year, so I had them draw up an initial plan as I was thinking about just doing the front of the house, but the more I got into it, I thought may be I should do more landscaping on the back as well as on the front, so it just started to turn into more of a project that I wasn't able to do at all last year, so I postponed the whole thing to either this year or next year, and I will probably do a more complete landscaping. They do detailed plans and get the blueprints and everything with measurements everywhere, and I was going to have them build a stone wall and so on, so it was pretty elaborate. Their price was probably a little more than I initially expected. They were technically professional and they knew their work. I am not sure that I would continue to use them because their price might be too high. I probably could consult them again and say them not to draw any more elaborate blueprints just yet based on the initial plan that they had already done, and I might ask them for an estimate if they could come back and build me a deck or something in the back and do additional landscaping out there, but I am not sure I would actually use them.

Terrafirma worked closely with us to determine what we wanted. The actual work was done quickly, professionaly, and exactly as planned. The price is on the steeper side for landscaping, but you are paying for quality service and work.

My experience with Terrafirma Inc. Company has been good. However, I think they are overpriced. They also do other services that I have not hired them for because of their price. I have had some discussions with them on their pricing. Their prices are more gear to big contracts so I think they should work on their residential prices. I have had them do work inside the house and I wasn't pleased with that. Their landscaping services have been excellent. They do a great job with that. They are very responsive. They always do what they say. I would never hire them to do work inside my house though. They don't seem to be specialized in that.

They were very pleasant and easy to work with. There was no actual job done but there were number of things and they were very good.

Initially contacted Ken Johnson via email. Mr. Johnson followed up promptly with some questions and shortly thereafter he stopped by and surveyed the yard. That same day we received a quotation which was reasonably priced based on other quotations we received from 4 other sprinkler system contractors.

We kicked off the work, and it took about a week and a half for the licensed plumber to arrive and install the tap and pressure vacuum breaker. These were installed neatly and quickly and the plumber cleaned up everything afterward. Ken then scheduled the sprinkler system installation about a week and a half after. Timing on these met our expectations as permits needed to be obtained and parts ordered.

Ken stopped by the night before the installation and walked me through what would happen. He answered all the questions I had thoroughly and was professional and courteous.

The install team showed up exactly on the date planned and on time. They first showed me what they intended to do and verified my approval regarding routing of pipes, location of valve box, etc. It took about 8 hours for them to complete the job. The crew cleaned up thoroughly, tamped down the grass (from trenching), filled any low spots with dirt, and seeded. I was then shown how to operate the controller and provided with recommended settings.

Overall the experience was very satisfying and I would recommend them again to anyone that needs a sprinkler system installed.

This company came highly recommended by two contractors we use -- one only because of the company's heavy advertising. The owner stopped by, struck us as a bit cocky (he kept repeating about all the experience he has doing this type of job), promised an estimate by the end of the week, and only sent one about two weeks later after repeated calls requesting the estimate. We ultimately decided to go with another company because the owner spent a good deal of time explaining to us exactly what needed to be done -- and also came up with a price of about $500 less. And we have not regretted our decision. Yet...

It was fine. We've been using them for 10-11 years. They came when they were scheduled. They were courteous and efficient. We don't really notice them because all of the work is outside. In the spring I am sure they will come back and turn it on and make sure that nothing broke over the winter.

In the past and again for this repair arrive when scheduled. Friendly, professional, and efficient. The problem was fixed in less than 30 minutes and they didn't charge for the repair. Darn good value for great service