Minnesota Outdoor Solutions Inc

Dan got back to me right away after leaving him a message on his phone. He is located in the west suburbs, so was able to get out to our home to discuss the project within 1 week. He gave us great suggestions, pictures and references of other homes in the area that he had completed projects that we could view. He was priced reasonable, and he was able to fit our needs and timeline. Dan & his crew were very courteous and professional and we were very pleased with all the suggestions he made for our project. We would hire him again and would recommend to friends & relatives.

No follow through as yet, and it is 4 weeks today.

I would give them an outstanding rating. I have recommended them to a few neighbors. It went well. They did a good job. It was quality work. They were here on time. They got it done in a timely manner. A couple of years later it looked like some of the pavers were sinking. It was actually chipmunks and they came out and fixed it for free. It wasn't their fault and I would have paid them because it had nothing to do with them.

I got three estimates. One was extremely high, one was extremely low and the other one was the one we were expecting but we didn’t feel comfortable around the salesman. It gives us a bad feeling if we don’t feel comfortable. He knew what I was talking about. I was talking about the rubberized texture that goes behind the shower for water proofing. He actually knows the brand name. The other didn’t know what I was talking about; I had to pull up pictures.

It well from the very beginning. I had put together all my ideas of what I was looking for. They really listened to what I wanted. Although parts of what I wanted wouldn't work based on the way my house was set up plus the size of my yard, they helped me to modify my plans so that I still got the essence of what I wanted. Started on time, kept me informed along the way. Very polite and respectful. Plan to hire them again for my next round of landscaping. Price was very reasonable and fair. They were very good about helping me put a multiple step plan in place based on my budget.

Jim came to our house as planned, sat down and listened to our ideas and needs. He asked numerous questions before going out and looking at the area and making sure we were on the same page. We discussed a couple of options and prices before deciding on what we should choose. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and timing ( we wanted a couple of bids ) didn't work out so we'll have to wait until next year to readdress this job. I was very impressed with the professionalism, knowledge, and helpfulness of the owner and am very interested in potentially using this company in the future.

We had him come over and give us a quote. We decided to hold off. We were reworking our back yard. We will revisit this project in the Spring.

Was to show up on Friday the 19th in the am, (big window) and never did. No show, no call, NOTHING!. Has no idea of who we are, what opportunity he might have missed out on, just whatever. Life is good for Dan. Yay Dan.

It was quite excellent. I thought they were very helpful. They weren’t sure about something so they came back and put a couple more lights on at no extra charge; we were quite pleased with their service.

If he can’t do the project, he will be honest, upfront and tell me. They are extremely trustworthy. Dan and all of his workers are great.

They did a really nice job. They were very good. We would hire them again if we had a need.

The service was good. Their billing was very difficult. They couldn’t keep track of whether or not they had billed me on their service. They would double bill me sometimes. I had to keep all the bills. The service they gave was very good, but the billing finally got to me and I changed services.

It turned out great. I would recommend them.

They were very good. They were punctual, on time, and they had really good workers. They were really good to work with.

He was very nice. They seemed like they knew what they were doing. I ended doing the work myself.

I really liked Dan a lot. We haven’t proceeded yet. He was very responsive. I liked his personality. He was very low pressure. I may end up doing the job myself since I have other house repairs to do first, but I would highly recommend him.

They are very good. The owner of the business is good. He is very competent and thorough. I really like the way the people work who work for him. A realtor has used him in her home and she is who recommended him to me. We had some things go beyond schedule due to scheduling and ordering through other companies. Minnesota Outdoor Solutions workers are very talented guys. They were very trustworthy. There was a paint job completed while waiting on the supplies to come in. He helped me pick out the right color. He even finished taken off the adhesive from the wallpaper that had been removed. He did a great job.

They did a great job. All of the workmen were easy to work with and diligent during the job itself.

Dan Claar provided a bid for a simple rectangular patio and walk of 185 sq. ft. (requiring 300 sq. ft. of material because of waste, etc). Work started 06-15-11 and completed by 06-19-11. The finished patio is less than 165 sq. ft. and that is being generous with many of the dimensions. 20 square feet is a pretty big discrepancy for a small and simple patio. Material purchased for this project and detailed on the invoice was returned to the supplier without my receiving any credit or the option to keep the excess. The stone used for the project cost $6.40 a sq. ft. according to the invoice, leading to a discrepancy of $128. Labor for the extra square footage was also not refunded. I brought all this up with Dan Claar multiple times and he did not take me seriously at all and tried to pass it off as being caused by nominal measurements. I understand how he is trying to get away with that excuse... the 3 ft. wide walkway is actually 2' 11", but for calculating the 265 sq. ft. I simply used the 3 foot number, and so on for the rest of patio. Another very frustrating issue was that four truckloads of dirt were removed from the site, but additional dirt was required after the patio was installed to fill in around the edges. I was charged $40 extra for a small load of dirt that was insufficient to complete the job and I had to bring in additional dirt (from another source) to finish. Filling in with dirt around the edges was not listed on the invoice, so I could have let that go even though I hardly think leaving the project in that state is very professional for a landscape company. However, he took my dirt away without telling me I would need any of it at the end, then charged me to bring different dirt back! This he tried to tell me was because my dirt at this site is so lousy. That is actually true since I have very hard clay, but it is the dirt I have so he really should have given me the choice. I had told him up front that the soil here was clay, and when I reminded him he said "I never listen to homeowners when they tell me about their soil." Well, that would be a good policy if they are telling you the soil is good, but I was trying to warn him about how bad it was. The job was more difficult than Dan Claar expected it to be, and it is clear to me that he made up the difference using these shady practices. I was referred to Minnesota Outdoor Solutions/Dan Claar by a landscape supply company called Hedberg Landscape & Masonry Supplies in Plymouth, MN (a great company that was very helpful). After the project was complete, I found that Dan Claar had not used Hedberg for the materials, as would generally be expected. Also, a request to find out the actual supplier so I can attempt to match stone for some additional work was denied. I will credit the two men who actually did the work for Dan Claar for being very professional and friendly, I was home during most of the work and the guys worked hard and from what I could tell did a quality job as well.

Quality work, well managed project, professional, fair prices, proven track record of standing by their work several years later.

After talking with two other landscaping companies, decided to go with Minnesota Outdoor Solutions due to their promptness and extensive experience. Paver walks and patio have now survived their first winter and look fabulous. Boulder walls look great and helped level out a sloping site. Employees were hardworking and very knowledgable about plants and trees and were very friendly and easy to work with. Shrubs and trees are excellent quality. Curb appeal is amazing.

This was a good company to work with. They always did quality work. However, my husband decided to take over the yard work about one year ago. We found that their season clean up bills got to be a little high.

He got into an disagreement and started yelling at her over the phone.

The experience was good. They showed up on time and everything was done on time. What they quoted me for was the actual price.

I called up Minnesota Outdoor Solutions to add a patio to the back of our house. We used their designer, Dan Claar, to design a great paver patio. They dug up our old cement patio and replaced it. They put in new plants that complimented around the new patio. They added shrubs and trees and mulch that makes my yard look much nicer.