Hinkle Outdoor Living

What they were doing was really rebuilding something that they had made five, six years ago.  It looks nice, but the fact that they had to re-do some work that they had done five or six years ago, let's just say B for quality.  The workers are really nice and very good, so I'll give them a B for professionalism.  It took forever to schedule with them.  It took over a year.  We were trying to get this fixed for a year, and we could not get them to - sometimes it was return calls, and you know, the whole bit. 

unknown

They are excellent from the initial concept or design, to the customers and they aim to please.

The entire process was very professional from start to finish. We explained what we were interested in and Zach Hinkle provided several great ideas and recommendations. He then provided a detailed drawing and itemized costs. We made several changes and each time he was very patient and helpful. The crew was very professional, friendly and neat. The company they used to deliver the brick accidentally damaged a small section of yard and they installed new sod at no charge. I was extremely impressed with the professionalism, dedication to quality and craftsmanship. I would highly recommend them for any hardscape project.

The entire process was very professional from start to finish. We explained what we were interested in and Zach Hinkle provided several great ideas and recommendations. He then provided a detailed drawing and itemized costs. We made several changes and each time he was very patient and helpful. The crew was very professional, friendly and neat. The company they used to deliver the brick accidentally damaged a small section of yard and they installed new sod at no charge. I was extremely impressed with the professionalism, dedication to quality and craftsmanship. I would highly recommend them for any hardscape projects.

Looked great upon completion. And then the problems began. The steps never got grout even though promised. The waterfall leaked within 6 months. The stamped concrete developed a crack in under a year. To top it all off, the retaining wall started to give just after 3 years. It has since collapsed. Zach told me all work is only guaranteed for 2 years, but he failed to fix any of the problems which were evident in that time frame. After promising to fix it "at cost", he backed out of that deal claiming that a local landscaper could do it as efficiently. If you choose to use this company, get a guarantee in writing and be prepared for problems. Update the contractor has contacted me and wants to "make it right".

unknown

.

.

They were really good and responsive but I think they had a pretty big back up. They said it was going to be around six weeks and it was about three or four months before they got done.

unknown

.

I typically don't leave negative reviews, just look at my past reviews, but felt obligated to post about our experience with KC Lawn and will try to be as impartial as possible.
Starting with the estimate, Ken came out to see what we wanted done.   He showed up on time.  This was the third company we received an estimate from.  He immediately had much better ideas for our patio than the previous two companies, who wanted to pour just rectangle patios.  Ken's idea was much more fluid and decorative.  The price of estimate was about $500-1000 more than the other two bids, but Ken's creativity won the deal.
We set a date 2 months in advance for the work so it coordinated with the end of our exterior siding project.  But KC Lawn did have openings starting in 3 weeks is we wanted to move that fast.  I know it's not great to stack work infront of and behind contractors, but KC Lawn had a window of 3 days to complete the work.
Over the next 2 months we had a few questions about stain colors and stamp patterns, and Ken always got back to us with an answer within 24 hours.
Fast forward to the week of the project.  Our date got pushed one day because they wanted to stack projects in the same neighborhood to reduce travel costs and cement truck trips.  I understand that form a business standpoint, but it defeats the reason we planned 2 months in advance.
The day they arrived, we had a dumpster taking up 1 spot in our 3 car wide driveway.  I ran out before they got setup and said the dumpter company will be here in one hour to pick up the dumpster.    Door bell rings 90 minutes later, dumpter pickup driver can't get the dumpster because KC Lawn had dumped a truck load of gravel directly in front of the dumpster.  The foreman hadn't communicated my request to the workers.  Not too bad, it didn't cost us anything to reschedule dumpster pickup.
So then the cement is poured, we immediately notice the edge of the patio, where it meets a wall near the door, does not go the outside of the door, but the inside.  On the KC lawn provided drawing that we signed off on, the patio extended pass the door by 8-10", the width of the cobble stone pattern border.  KC lawn's response was 'the door was not drawn to scale or proper location in the drawing, but the patio is the correct length per drawings scale."  
Then next issue occurred with the cobblestone border.  Looking at KC lawns website of pictures, we saw a patio they did that had stamped borders.  We sent this to Ken during our quote process and he added it to the drawing.  But after the cement had been poured and dried, we arrived home from work and there was no stamped borders.  KCLawn said 'this is how we do patios'.  After mentioning the quote and drawing, they did take a cement saw and cut lines every 8" to give a look of the cobblestone stamp we wanted, but way less polished the what the actual stamp would of looked like.  No apologies for the lower quality product.
We also requested conduit be run under each side of the patio, so we could run landscape lights and sprinklers in the future.  The workers only installed one conduit.  This resulted in us having to run an extra 150' of power cable for lighting to reach the other end of the patio.
One thing we didn't notice until weeks later is the cement stamp pattern is visible.  We did a random textured stamp pattern in the middle of the patio, but the worker did not rotate the stamp and pressed too h****** the outer edges.  So you can clearly see  a grid patter in the patio where the same texture occurs over and over and the edges are way darker.
Finally, since the house had brand new siding, we requested that plastic be taped to the walls all around where cement would be poured.  Foreman said yes.  After the cement was poured and stained, we found splatter all over the walls and stain in some places.  Foreman said his team claims they 'held' up plastic during the pour process.  I wasn't there to see that, but know it was not taped up like requested.  We had to repaint the 3 walls that were damaged, which we wanted deducted from our cost after all the other issues that had occured.  KC Lawn finally agreed after claiming we were ripping them off and then wanting to see quotes and invoices from the painters before deducting the cost.
We never got apologies or acknowledgement of the mistakes, but as the mistakes piled up the KC lawn contact got harder and harder to talk to.  
I think if this company can give more time and attention from the foreman to his work sites, and seem less like a spread thin sub contracting group, their quality would improve.  

unknown

unknown

My experience with them was excellent. They completed their work on time and we were very happy with the results. Their pricing was reasonable. It's not the cheapest.

Ken came out and created a design to resolve drainage issues we've had for a number of years.  Although we were skeptical of his plan to fill the excavated area with sand and lay sod over that, he insisted that this was an old golf course "trick" that he'd done many times and guaranteed it would work just fine. We accepted the design and his bid.  Work to begin about 3 weeks later.
The first day, Thomas and his team began the excavation and dumped the excavated dirt over our old dry creek bed (our earlier attempt to resolve our issues).  Thomas discovered that the concrete pad outside our basement door was almost 8 inches thick (rather than the normal 4 inches) and, without complaint, left and returned with a rented jackhammer to remove it.  His team also worked to extend the existing retaining wall. Luckily I noticed that the "expert" assigned to do this project had left some of the existing packed dirt between an existing base stone and the next base stone he was laying which would result in the next levels of stones above it to not be staggered. Even I knew better than to do that!  I called it to Thomas's attention and he showed the "expert" how to do it correctly.  They also dug a trench to the middle of the yard and installed the french drain.
The second day, a different team came to pour, stamp and stain the new concrete patio, finish grading the area where the dry creek bed had been (on the east side of the extended retaining wall) and lay sod over the whole area.  They brought the sod with them that morning. By the time that Guillermo had finished the concrete work, it was late in the afternoon and the sod was looking much the worse for wear.  To top it off, they had not brought enough sod for the area east of the retaining wall and were calling their boss saying that they needed another roll or two. I happened to be there and realized that they need a lot more sod than that because they had not even started laying sod over the area they had excavated and filled with the 6 inches of sand. I brought this to their attention and they looked at me like I was crazy. Why would I want to put sod over the sand?  I told them that this was what Ken had designed and was there an issue with doing it that way.  They looked puzzled but said "no" and asked the boss for delivery of more sod for that as well.  Ultimately the sod was laid and it appeared the job was complete except for sealing the concrete - to be done in 2-3 weeks.
About a week or so later, it had become apparent that much of the sod, particularly the sod that they laid behind the retaining wall. was practically dead even though I had fertilized it as recommended and regularly watered it 3 times every  day.  I called and, ultimately Thomas's team came out to replace the sod. Unfortunately they, again. had not brought enough and needed about a roll and a half extra. They called their boss who was extremely reluctant to provide it. Thomas's team managed to piece together some of the best of the original (dying) sod and (with enough fertilizer and constant watering) was basically surviving. Now we were just waiting for the sealing of the concrete for the job to be completed. 
Then we got (officially) 1 inch of rain and had problems.  I had called Zach (the boss) earlier that morning to find out when they were coming out to seal the concrete since it had been over three weeks.  He said they had meant to get out there but were delayed by the rain.  I thought that was odd since we had had no rain for weeks until the night before.  He promised to send someone out that day.  I then went out into the yard and noticed that a significant patch of the yard (where they had laid the sand) had sunk 6 inches.  I went out to the middle of the yard and looked at the french drain and there was sand around the outside edge of it and the drain itself appeared to be full of sand.  I called Zach back and told him about the issue and he said he would come first thing the next morning to look at it and they'd postpone the sealing until that time.  Late the next morning, Juan came out to seal the concrete but there was no sign of Zach.  I explained the situation to Juan and also told him we'd like to have Zach also look at the concrete before he sealed it since we had noticed some small spots that looked like the  concrete was chipping away.  He called Zach, who apologized for the delay and said they would both be back early that afternoon.   Zach showed up a little later with Juan and another employee and they looked at the french drain and dug up part of the sunken area.  Zack pointed out an area were the pipes connected that he said was the problem and said they could just fix that, force water through the pipes (that were now filled with sand)  and replace the sand. I told him that would not satisfy me since by this point  I had discussed this with a few people I know who had done this kind of work and strongly recommended using gravel and topsoil instead. Zach ultimately agreed to this and had his team set to work, telling me they could get it done in about 2 hours.  It took Juan and his associate more than 6 hours to complete the job. The pipe running to the french drain in the middle of the yard was so full of sand that they could not "wash it out" and had to dig the whole thing up.  It was so full of sand that the 2 of them could not lift it. They had to cut the pipe in half and it still took both of them to lift each piece and remove the sand.  They ultimately got the job completed, including sealing the concrete.  (at least I hope so - I'm waiting for the next rain before I can consider the job to be done.   I do have to note that  I was impressed with the efforts of Thomas and Juan.  Zach should take good care of these two!            

We took three bids on our project, and KC Lawn and Landscaping came in very fairly priced.  What made the difference for us in the bid stage was Zach's professionalism and the time he took to answer our questions and talk about options.  Initially we selected a stamped concrete application but after a few weeks' consideration changed to pavers.  They installed the pavers on a concrete base and we are very glad that was done - it looks terrific and we have no concerns about shifting or settling.  The installation took about a week and the crew took pains to protect our lawn and existing landscape.  Each member of the team was courteous and professional and the install went very smoothly.  We are completely happy with the result and the experience we had with KC Lawn and Landscaping.  Very highly recommended!

We couldn't be more impressed with KC
Lawn & Landscaping! We received numerous bids for tearing out our
existing patio and installing a larger pad of stamped concrete, a
couple of beautiful columns, seat wall, and grill island. Zach was
very efficient in organizing the work. Once they began work, the
work was steady until completion. All of the employees worked
incredibly hard and were professional, respectful and friendly.
After the project was completed they were thorough in leaving the
area nice and ready to use. Where bare dirt was left, they put out
seed and fertilizer. Will definitely use again!

We had a very positive experience from our initial contact through the job being completed.  We provided the owner, Zach, with an idea of what we wanted to have done in our yard and he provided us with a great detailed design.  Zach and his staff were very attentive and professional in the handling of our project.  The preparation and completion of the project was done in a timely manner and everything was cleaned up and left in great shape. 
We encountered a significant change to the plan as the prep work was being done.  Zach and the entire group addressed the change without missing a step.  This didn't slow the process down or delay any of the work.
We would definitely use KC Lawn and Landscape again!

Zach and I had some email correspondence
and he came out for a estimate. Arrived later than originally agreed upon but
he called and ok'd the later arrival. Estimate received within two days of on
site visit, agreed upon services to be provided, Zach has his team out the next
day for the installation. Crew missed mulching one tree and trimming two bushes
and Zach had them back out that afternoon to finish up, they guys sheepishly
grinned that that just did not see the areas needing attention, apologized sincerely
and commenced to fixing the oversight. After the work was performed Zach called
for payment and I told him I appreciated his company doing a great job in a
very timely manner, I would highly recommend Zach for any landscape needs.

The salesman had a binder of concrete color and antiquing examples, but he had to guess as to what the names of the examples were.  I took his word for it and the color and antiquing came out fine.  The workers seemed to have a little trouble figuring out how to stamp the pattern on the wet concrete.  I called the supervisor, he reassured me that he would call them and make sure they knew how to arrange the stamps to create the pattern.  The finished job was sealed but some sealant was applied too heavily because it ponded on the surface of the patio in some places.  This caused an uneven appearance to the patio for more that six months until the sealant thoroughly soaked in or cured.  In several spots, it appears as though the stamping equipment stuck to the concrete slightly when pulled off leaving raised areas that are not as smooth as the rest of the patio.
It has been 1.5 years since the patio was installed and it looks fine.  Many people have shared compliments on the appearance.  It has not cracked or shifted in any way.  The experience wasn't totally stress free, but I think in the end I got a nice looking patio.  I would give the entire job a B or B+.
I'm not sure if I would use them again.  I would definitely get an estimate from them for a future job, but would also do more shopping around. 

They got some great people that do their tinting and they did a great job. The followed the directions exactly and got the right slope to it so the water would run off.

The overall experience was good.   We wanted to replace our sewer line which runs under the patio between the demolition of the original patio and the terracing.  KC Lawn was very accommodating and worked with the plumber's schedule.
KC Lawn gave us the most expensive bid we received for this work.   We thought that given their experience the extra cost would be warranted.   In the end, I think we may have overpaid, but the concrete and grading work appear to be well done.
Two complaints,  as part of this patio re-design we contracted with KC Lawn to place sod in an area where a planting bed was removed - and that sod was laid.  However,  some sod was laid over old stepping stones that should have been removed with the bed.   A portion of the sod died because there was no soil to grow into.   Additionally, KC Lawn failed to tell us that another, rather large, portion of our yard would be ruined by the bobcat and earth moving activities.  Had we been aware, we would have had sod laid in that area as well.   We did ask that seed be placed in that area, and KC Lawn accommodated that request.

I had a great experience.  The people who answered the phone were extremely friendly and easy to work with.  They showed up right on time and got the job done in a timely manner.  I feel like they respected my time and my home.  They listened to what I said I was wanting and made suggestions to give me the best possible outcome.  Very professional and courteous staff.  They were great to work with and did high quality work.  I couldnt be happier.