Adams Landscaping

One wall runs alongside my driveway, and the other around my side entrance door, each with built-in steps. The final wall sections total about 80 feet in length, with an average height of about 2 feet, and look great! Stephen made a couple of visits to my house to work out the project plan before we started, and stopped by during the project to check on progress. The work was carried out by typically 3 to 4 workers per day (this varied somewhat depending on what they were working on), with one person, Mike, there every day as the foreman, and in charge of the overall construction. The job took longer than planned, but Adams workers were polite, conscientious and worked every day to get the job done (except for a couple of weather delays, and a longer delay due to another contractor). I had Adams stop work near completion to allow my adjacent driveway to be paved before winter. My separately-hired paving contractor made slow progress, not showing up for weeks, and left the driveway unfinished until spring. Adams waited patiently for the paving contractor to finish, so they could finish off their work, this caused their last finishing touches to get delayed until spring too. Adams protected the job site from weather during their work, covering everything in tarps before a heavy rain to prevent flooding and washout, and taped and blocked off the area to keep people out, especially at Halloween, which came during their work. The work was not inexpensive, but I think was worth the cost, due to the quality of work, materials and time that went into it, and the large amount of tools and equipment needed for the job. Work began by removing my old wood ties, and a considerable amount of soil underneath and behind, to create a good base and drainage behind the wall. Adams put in a base of Item 4 gravel for the wall along my driveway, leveled and compacted for stability. At my side door, they excavated by hand due to close working quarters that prevented use of machinery, and put in a concrete footing for the wall. Behind the wall, they filled in with crushed stone, geo-mesh, and landscape fabric, with a drain pipe to keep water from building up behind the wall, topped off with topsoil, seeded and covered with straw mulch. They also threw in some pachysandra and bark mulch in one section at no extra change, this was not called for in the agreement. We also made a couple of changes during the project, including rebuilding old concrete and stone steps that were in the middle of my retaining wall that I originally planned to keep (after seeing how much excavation the new wall required, it became obvious that replacing the steps, rather than trying to fit a new wall around the old steps, would improve the project). This was an extra-cost add-on to the project. Other changes included removing more existing vegetation than originally planned, and removing a screen wall at my side door, rather than modifying it to fit the new wall and step configuration as originally planned. These other changes were accommodated with no changes in the charges. At my side door, new pavers were installed between the wall and steps and the door, placed on a bed of crushed stone with a drain underneath, topped with stone dust and filled in with polymeric sand to seal between the pavers, and with a floor drain to carry away any water that might get near the door. Adams wasn't perfect, but they came the closest out of 5 different contractors I've dealt with recently. There's a few minor imperfections in the block in a few places, and I think the workers had a bit of difficulty figuring out all the angles etc. to build a stepped wall on a hill with intersecting steps. As a result they laid the starter course of block in a way that caused them more cutting of block later, that they then cemented together with adhesive. I think this slowed them down, and is part of why the job took longer than planned. But the result came out looking great, and the wall held up well through the first winter. All is good so far. I was happy with Adams. They dealt with me honestly, tried hard to please, and didn't skimp on materials, and I would not hesitate to hire them again. I'm already thinking I could use new walkways and landscaping work.

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The provider, and especially the service manager, Marianne, were very responsive, gave us options for product to be purchased and delivered 30 yards of mulch on time and on top of the tarps left for them. Perfect job. 

The actual work was fine. The patio looks great once again and I only hope it stays that way.
The big problem we had was "communication." I had to wait over 2 weeks to get an estimate that was promised in just
a few days. The scheduling was also a real problem. At first I was told that the work could probably be done
in a few weeks. Not hearing from them, a month later I called and was told that the work was scheduled for a day that was not acceptable to me.
Wouldn't it have been better and more professional to call me to discuss a date for the work? I had to speak to the manager directly to express my displeasure. He placed me on the schedule. The work itself went fine, except (and here's another communication issue) I was expecting the work to be completed in one day. It took two days without the benefit of any explanation from Bron or the two workers. I endured all of this "failure to communicate" because I respect Adams and have dealt with them a number of times over the years. Their pricing and quality of work are exceptional. In this area, Adams has always enjoyed an excellent reputation. I only hope that they're not getting overconfident and starting to take customers for granted. I probably would turn to them in the future but not with the same enthusiasm as in the past.

It went well.

Adams Landscaping did very well. We did it in two phases, it started last spring and then we had them come back this spring and fill in some more. We were satisfied with what they did for us but it wasn't quite as full as we would have liked so they came back and did that. They are extremely knowledgeable, they absolutely knew what they were doing and did a great job with it. The workers are very efficient and pleasant to work with.

It went just great! We wouldn't have changed a thing. The finished product has improved both the appearance and value of our home tremendously. We are so glad that we went with Adams Landscaping!

Adams was fabulous. Bron Bialys came to our house and using lasers was able to get perfect dimensions. We then went to his office where he showed us on a computer exactly what would be done, with graphics and dimensions. The crew was immaculate, they were quick and it took exactly the amount of time they said they would take to finish the project. I can't believe how hard working they were. And the patio and steps are perfect. Our house is on top of a hill and they made the patio perfectly level which required some extra work. I would absolutely recommend Adams. I'm not exactly sure of the precise dates, but it was definitely fall, 2010.