Dean Bjorkstrand Inc
About us
Minneapolis Landscaping Design Company. Specializing in Natural Stone patios, retaining walls, and walks. Our Landscape installation is of the highest quality. Owner Designed and Supervised since 1983. Serving the twin cities metro area. Many other services are offered from Gutter Cleaning to Window Cleaning. Award winning.
Business highlights
Services we offer
Landscaping design & installation, arbors, drainage correction, excavation, fountains, garden design, gutter cleaning & minor gutter repair, irrigation and water features, landscape lighting, natural stone patios, perennial and shrub gardens, pergolas, pondless waterfalls, ponds, roof snow & ice removal, shrub trimming & pruning, snow plowing & shoveling, tree installation, walkways, waterproofing, window cleaning & pressure washing., wood structures
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
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63% | ||
23% | ||
8% | ||
3% | ||
3% |
solutions, giving some options, as I told him cost could be an issue. He came with a schematic drawing that very clearly depicted his ideas , was in color and even named the plants he was recommending. I really liked Dean's design but it was over the top for this
neighborhood and too expensive for me. I think the cost was $100 for the bid and design which I think was very fair.
This is the second large project I have done with Dean. He's got quality people working with him and all went very smoothly. The only thing I would do differently is to have somewhat smaller rocks for the dry river bed, because it is an ankle twister walking on big rocks, and I wish that the grass that was chewed up was replaced with sod rather than seed.
worth of labor. Dean come over and was on time and seemed very
knowledgeable. He had some good ideas and then sent me an estimate for
around $5000. The estimate was not itemized, at all, so it was hard to
figure out where the costs were, but I imagine he would have been able to break
it down. Regardless, it was more than we planned to spend at the time, as we
had just completed a very expensive interior remodel. I asked him if we
could do it the following year -- he said "sure, anytime".
When I got back to him this year, we
set up a time to meet again. He followed up to tell me that the time had
expired and I would just get the amount I paid. I understand that was in
the fine print, which is common with these deals, but it is also common that
the provider continues to honor them after the time period, especially if you
have started the process. I just sent him a note to say it would have
been helpful if he had mentioned that last year when he told me it was fine to
wait -- it was just basic feedback and I was not confrontational. At that
point he became really hostile and completely rude, sarcastic, disrespectful
and condescending. He went on to tell me that he will never do a big
deal, again. I'm sorry that he doesn't think it worked out for him, but
if not for that deal, we would have never called him. If he hadn't
treated me so poorly, we might have spent a great deal of money with him and, assuming
he does good work, our neighbors with the same beach issues would have used him,
too.
It would have been really easy for him to simply apologize to his customer for the
misunderstanding. He wouldn?t have
had to honor any more than the $600 ? I wasn?t even asking him to do
that. Instead, I have a really
uncomfortable relationship with him and I don?t like him or trust him. It?s really too bad, because our initial
meeting was very pleasant. I feel like
he got burned by a bunch of customers only hiring him for the $1,200 worth of
work and he is taking it out on me.
I regret that I didn?t just have him start the work, get my $1,200 worth and then
decide if I wanted to bring him back this year for the additional work. I
thought deferring the whole project was more fair to him, and since he was open
to that (without mentioning that he wouldn?t honor the deal), I assumed that
since we started our discussions before the coupon expired, it would just carry
forward. Still, I recognize that I didn't get the work done before the expiration and I accept that responsibility. I just don't accept the way he responded to me. Since he and I went back and forth, I sent him a note to say he should
work directly with my husband, instead, since our relationship was now
fractured. I thought that would be better to have a fresh start. He
was very surprised that I thought our relationship wasn't good. Not
only is he rude and a complete jerk, but he doesn't even realize it.
That could be a big part of the problem.
I stepped aside and had him deal directly with my husband. He sent another bid to do less work, but the cost was higher than the first bid. They tried to find some middle ground, but within a week, my husband was so annoyed with him. Dean denied that the prior bid included certain aspects that we definitely discussed. Anyway, by the time they were done talking, we decided to just have him send a "crew" to help spread sand on the beach. He sent one nice guy, but he came pretty unprepared to do any labor (didn't even have proper work shoes). Since Dean deducted the time he spent arguing with me and then my husband, we didn't have a full day of work out of this deal. One of our neighbors came over and helped us finish the job and we got more out of him (for a 6-pack of craft beer) than we did with the $600 investment in Dean Bjorkstrand. Dean said he will not do another Big Deal and I will not buy another Big Deal. I can see from the reviews that others bought the deal and didn't want to spend any additional dollars. Obviously, that wasn't what he expected and I get that. However, I planned to spend more money with him but then he behaved so badly. It was a lose-lose situation.
"This project was completed 6 months ago. There has not been sufficient time for your project to look like the projects on my website. All my projects are designed to look their best when the plant material is fully mature (3rd season and beyond for most shrubs and perennials). Your project was a major upgrade to what you had and looks very nice. I was completely taken by surprise that you are unhappy, I heard nothing but praise while we were working on your project and when we were finished with your project. Please contact me next summer and I would be happy to address any of your concerns."
"Thank you for your very well written review of our working together. I very much appreciate your accuracy of most of the review you wrote. The only discrepancies from my end are that I never stopped out once the project was finished and that you requested several more stones in an area for visual impact. I have been by and have taken a look at your place after the crew was finished. I may have missed something and if I did I apologize, but I do not recall receiving an email or a phone call from you about adding additional stone to what we already changed. Please contact me if this has not been resolved to your satisfaction. I am happy to stop out and go over it with you on site. Thanks Again, Dean"
"[member name removed], we appreciate you taking the time to write a review and we thank you for your business."
"Thank you for being a long standing customer and for writing a review for us. Dean Bjorkstrand"
"Hello [member name removed], I am sorry that I could not deliver what you wanted. With that said, I am surprised at the poor grading you gave me/us (I personally worked with you on your design as I do with all of our customers). The big deal was for landscaping services, not window cleaning which you continually asked for. I met with you, discussed a major landscaping plan (per your request), measured your entire property, completed the design, met with you again to go over the plan, provided a complete itemized cost proposal for each service that was detailed on that plan. Yes all the various patios, pergolas, fire features, stone edging, plantings, rock removal, tree removal, sod replacement, excavation, complete garden renovation, plantings, mulching, and disposal all have a different cost associated with them. The two in home consultations, the extensive design plan, and the cost proposal actually took more time for us than the 16 hours the big deal offered. I offered you 6 extra hours as I hoped you would want to use that time as a credit discount for the landscaping plan you hired me to create. You had implied that you would want to move forward at least with stage 1 of the project. When you asked me to clean your windows for the remaining 6 hours I was surprised to say the least. That is when I informed you that the big deal offer you bought was for landscaping. For your "extra" time you had asked us to trim a lilac hedge that was about 12 feet tall and 100 feet long. I informed you that we would not be able to finish it in the time you had left and that we would not be able to haul the debris unless you paid extra. We did all and more than you asked. I disagree with your review and the grades you gave me. In my opinion we delivered an A+ grade in all aspects."
"Thank You [member name removed]! We are glad to hear that you and your neighbors are happy with your new Landscaping. We were happy with the wonderful transformation as well."
"Thank you. It was fun to throw ideas back and forth with you as well. You are doing a great job with your gardens, keep up the good work. The addition of the Pavers and Flagstone looks great."
I wouldn't recommend the Angie's list "big deal" which offerred 16 hours of labor for $600. Bought it this summer, and completely due to me I didn't have him do the work until this September. Pretty sure he spent the $600 bucks, and just bid the job with the $600 bucks gone. I figured the work he did was was 2 guys working for a day which should have been previously paid for plus materials which should have been no more than $500. I ended up paying another $1000, and his first bid was for more. I ended up getting one guy working for a day and still paying another $1000 (in fairness materials were $500). In my mind I just paid him full price for what the job was worth and it still wasn't cheap.
The end result was good, but I can't help but feel the $600 for 2 days of labor was just a teaser to get bid a larger project. I'll never fault anyone for making money, but if that's what he charges for work I don't see myself using him for any further work. Don't buy the Angie's list "Big Deal"!
"Thanks, I appreciate your review. Sometimes the big deal is not suited for the work wanted. I believe this is the case with your project. The big deal that was offered did not include material, machine usage, disposal, or power tools. The big deal offered was strictly meant for on site l labor such as planting small plants, weeding, applying your supplied mulch or your supplied pavers. As described in the offer is that any materials, machine labor, truck hauling and the like would cost extra. You were aware of this but I think the big deal just did not suit your project very well. I appreciate you trying this out and hope you enjoy your new side yard and overgrown shrub filled entryway."
"Thank You for the kind words [Member name removed]. It has been a pleasure working with you over the years."
That was incredibly frustrating and very disappointing.
The quality of the work was good. (However, I was surprised about how torn up my yard was afterwards ? my expectations in regards to what condition the yard would be in afterwards were not set.)
The project details:
We hired them to dig out a space for a paver patio and we paid extra for a load of Class 5 rock and sand for the base. The cost of the materials was $300 (average). They used a Bobcat to do this work and had it finished in the 8 hours. Since we paid for 16 hours, I thought they would also be able to the pavers, but because they used the Bobcat, we only got the 8 hours and we ended up installing the pavers.
The work was good, the people were good. But the price and accuracy of the Big Deal left us not feeling good.
"I am sorry that you were not happy with the big deal that you purchased. I too get frustrated when a coupon is not what I expected. However, it did state manual labor not machinery, hauling, and the like. I wanted to do the work that you requested as best I could so that is why I suggested using the machinery for 8 hours. We were able to get 4 times the amount of work done that we would have for you if we gave you 16 hours of the crew with shovels, and wheel barrows. I know it does not seem like it but you actually got a way better deal than you would have otherwise. I did discuss the damage that would happen to your lawn with your husband and he said that it was to be expected and not a concern. We used a small machine that treads much lighter than a skid steere or bobcat would. If I did a poor job explaining that I am sorry. Thank you for using our service."
Update as of 10/21/13: He came out to repair it but he does everything when I?m not home. I don?t think he should do work for anybody. He is totally unwilling to do anything. I had two other companies come out and check their work. They said they would have to rip out everything and do it again because they didn't put in any leveling sand. When I walk on it, the stones lifts up. There's no repair that was done because it looks exactly the same from when he came out.
"I have met with her and discussed the problems she was having with the patio. The patio is exactly what we agreed upon in our contract together. It is NOT dangerous, looks great, and performs as agreed upon. I personally cam out to level some of the stones she had complaint about (this was after her and I met and agreed on the leveling needed.) This is a permeable Bluestone patio that has space for water to filter and a base of 1 1/2 inch drainage rock. If her kids try to manipulate the permeable Bluestone patio, which is essentially laying on a bed of drainage stone, of course it will move and will not sit correctly. She is located in a very wet area with a city drainage pond 50-75 feet from her house. The patio was built this way because the patio she had (that we removed) was pavers and set on a base of class 5 leveling sand (not granite sand that we installed.) Her old patio shifted immensely, which was why she said she hired me and which is why she needed a permeable patio set on rock. The patio we installed takes specific craftsmanship to build. I do not believe that she understands this. I have not been in business for 30 years because I do bad work. I care about my clients, employees, and my finished projects."
"Thank you for your feedback [removed members name]. The deal was for 16 hours. The deal includes 2 hours for initial consultation and walk through with Dean and 14 hours with the crew on site. That is what we provided. We were able to get a lot of work done for 1 day. I'm glad to hear you were happy with the work we provided."
Dean:
Your men did a good job. They analyzed the situation, came up with a plan, discussed it with me, and got to work. It looks good.
George
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