Island Associates
About us
Island Associates is a full-service landscape design build firm and masonry contractor. Offering the following services: Complete Landscape Design from concept to completion. Natural Stone & Paving Stone Systems. Outdoor Cooking & Entertainment Areas. Water Management: Ponds, Waterfalls Irrigation Systems. Custom Exterior Illumination Lighting.
Business highlights
Services we offer
& basement waterproofing, Landscape design, arbors & gazebos, blue stone, illumination design, irrigation systems, masonry services, outdoor BBQ areas, paving stones, putting greens, tree & shrub planting, water features, waterfalls
Amenities
Emergency Services
Yes
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 56% | ||
| 6% | ||
| 13% | ||
| 13% | ||
| 13% |
The design consultation, to the work, to the follow up were all handled exceeding my expectations.
I originally received 4 estimates for having my driveway completed. Island was by far the most thorough. The initial consultation (Matt) included drawings of my new driveway and stoop. Other contractors just came and did a once over measurement and gave me a price. This was one of the driving points for me.
Overall I am quite pleased with the work. I would recommend you at least give them an opportunity to bid on your project. I will update in the future with pictures.
There workers were seen urinating in our yard. They also crashed a truck into our driveway basketball net. All along promising that everything would be fine and we wouldnt notice what we had been complaining about all along. We have not set foot on our court until another professional comes to do a safety review of the equipment that is there. Their work is so sloppy!!!! It is mind blowing how wrong this project went!
Initally I was satisfied. Since then I've had two major leaks, a notice from the local water company that the intial job was done completely wrong, and a less than optimal and quot;re-doand quot;.
As you can imagine, with any large project of this size, as it is being installed there were questions we had with how things looked in relation to the design drawing. For example after one patio was installed, my wife felt it wasn't big enough. I called Doug the owner, he came by and discussed options with me and wanted only to make us happy with the end result.
Their quality of workmanship and dedication to customer service far exceeds most contractors.
I am planning a major renovation to the front of our home and I would not even consider another contractor.
All this said, they as a company are an excellent contractor and I would HIGHLY recommend them to anyone!
After a and quot;truck broke downand quot; on the scheduled start day, they started two days later. Two hours after the excavation had begun, my doorbell rang and I was told by their project manager that the stump was much more imposing than originally thought and they would need to do more than expected, at MY extra expense, to remove the roots. I expressed my displeasure, quoted my sales consultant's assurances and informed him that I would not foot that extra expense. I asked him if we were talking around $100, or $1000, let me put this in perspective. His response was that and quot;well we certainly are talking more than $100and quot;. He politely told me to give him time to see what would need to be done.
I'll just add right here that I then called my sales consultant, left a calm message that there was a problem, and I did not feel comfortable quoting his and quot;wordand quot; to others, I'd appreciate a callback so that he could personally either back me up or dispute what I was thinking.
No callback.
The next day, after waiting well past 9 AM for him to get his desk in order before returning my call, I realized I wasn't getting a callback today either, I called again, voicemail again,and politely asked that he return my call.
No callback.
I mentioned to subsequent associates about no callback from this salesman so I won't accept that he never got my messages.
Finally the project manager got back to me and told me it would be around $300, and just because this man was polite and professional, I offered to split the cost, let's just get the project moving again.
In all fairness, and because I might forget to add this before I submit this report, they put in a step from my old patio up to my new patio at no expense to me, and ultimately did not ask for the half of the $300 either. This was nice but did not make up for the days at a time that they left me stewing between problems about which I've already written, and problems I've yet to describe.
They finished a few days later, I knew they were done because the cars and trucks in front of the house were gone. I would have tipped the guys as I always do, but there was no communication, things like and quot;Good morning, we're here to continueand quot;, or and quot;Good evening, we're done for the dayand quot;. I know, I live in another world. Anyway, there was a mild rain coming down and my patio was sparkling and shiny and looked gorgeous! I called the project manager and told him I was happy and come and get his balance when convenient.
The next day, the sun came out and I received my first lesson in EFFLORESCENCE. Google it. The two pathways were just like the stones that I picked out, but the main 12 X 16 patio was made up of washed out, cloudy stones,that looked defective. I called for someone to come down and have a look-see,and was left to wonder what that was all about for three more days, thinking that they might have to rip it up again, or give me my money back or who knows what? Since then, I've read up about the phenomenon and wonder why it isn't in their normal procedures to explain to customers what they should expect. When I saw the condition of my dry patio, of course I tried to clean it myself. I used Murphy Soap Oil, a common cleaner. When I told Island Associates' project manager that it didn't work, he told me I should NEVER use an oil based soap on my patio. My reply was that now is a pretty poor time to notify me of that fact too! Imagine using soap to wash something!
Just as annoying was the concrete splashes that have hardened and look like they'll be with me for a long time. I will take pictures of these conditions today, a month after the patio was installed and two weeks after they came back to wash the stones for me. I was told that if I wasn't happy with the results of the first washing, they will come back for a second washing. I won't call them back, I'll just wait for the efflorescence to wash out by itself, experts say between two weeks and two years. Wonderful.
I don't blame Island Associates for efflorescence, I blame them for not thinking a customer would want to know about it immediately. I blame them for their sales consultant ignoring my calls after the first bump in the road (no pun intended). I blame them for allowing days to go by before dealing with issues. I blame them for all the little concrete splashes that I'll look at for who knows how long. They tried to make good by coming and washing my patio but when I think about it, it really is the LEAST they could have done.
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