Proscapes Landscaping & Outdoor Lighting

My wife contacted this group on the recommendations of some friends.   A representative came out, and gave us an estimate of $550.  They were delayed by several weeks in performing the work, and we started to get a little annoyed.  Phone calls at first went unreturned, but they did finally get back to us and apologized for their tardiness.   Finally, they did arrive and started work.  

At first, they were a bit taken aback by what they had got themselves into.   The removal of the tree roots created a lot of loose dirt, and the mulch bed and retaining wall stones all had to be removed.  They obviously had not budgeted the correct amount of time for the job.   Yet, the continued over a couple days, removing all the old material, grading the lawn, and placing new top soil down.  I did have to press them politely to try and give a smoother grade to the lawn, pointing out other sections of lawn we had asked them to match.  They complied.  I also noticed that there was a noticeable mound in the new lawn where the old tree stump was.  When asked about this, they said that the area that had been ground out would settle noticeably over the next year or two.   So they were building it up an extra 6"-12" now to account for it.

For the bluegrass sod, they warned us that planting sod in the middle of the summer was a bit dangerous.  We diligently watered the sod, but it took weeks for the roots to grab, and we did lose about 5% of the grass in dead patches.   All of the grass seed they planted in the seams washed away, leaving bare dirt.  To my knowledge, they did not roll the sod, which I believe would have helped.  Also, they simply sprinkled grass into the loose top soil in the seams instead of pressing it down to have a firm contact with the soil.  Also, some overlying straw may have helped prevent being washed away.

Several months later, the sod has taken in nicely.   There are still barren spots at the seams between the sod & old lawn, but they are growing smaller.  The grading looks good, and the bump in the location of the old stump has settled and is barely noticeable.  I expect it to be gone by next year.  I really appreciate their expertise in that matter.

Final price was $600.  This wasn't a bad company, they just weren't great.