Outsiders Landscaping Group

They dusted out the whole neighborhood and my vehicles. No consideration to tell me what was going on. Went over to try to talk to them, they couldn’t speak English, or at least act like they couldn’t. They leaned stuff against my fence. Urinating against the back of the fence. No professional.

I first saw the Outsiders crew at my next door neighbor's house in Madeira. I liked their work and my neighbor was happy with them too. So, I gave them a call to do some work for my yard. John and his crew were great to deal with. Professional, punctual, and honest. They gave my home a long over do "clean up" and added a few shrubs which made a huge improvement in the look of my yard (it's amazing what a little bit of professional landscaping can do). John's prices were reasonable and competitive given the level of service provided. I have used this company several times and plan to use them in the future.

I called John because I am putting my property up for sale and needed a spring clean up for the first showings that will begin then, which is April first. I live in the Madeira area where he lives, and he had put door hangers (advertisements) on all the doors on my street; I found the hanger on my door and called immediately; I didn't check out Angie's list first and now I have much regret.

John came right out and gave a quote of $375. He told me it would take one worker 8 or 9 hours just to shovel edge the front two beds. I told him the house would be listed April first and he wrote down and said that he would come out before it was listed. He sent a contract via email first, and demanded a $150 deposit. That should of set off flags right there. I paid the $150 and much to my surprise, saw John and two workers in my front yard the very next morning at 8 am. I immediately called John and left a message and told him that I wanted the work done right before the listing, not 2+ weeks beforehand. He immediately called and assured me it would be 'fresh' looking for weeks/months to come. Much to my surprise they finished the work in less than 4 hours. It looked fine except the edging of the beds was somewhat extreme (the edging is actual a 4.5 inch trench along the bed) but better than no edging at all.

I called John again later that day, March 13th, because I was so surprised they were done (he had said it'd be an all day project, which to me justified the expense) and he said they were done. He said he would bill me the remainder. I re-explained how some of the trees in back still held onto their dead leaves and they would all be dropping as the new leaf buds formed. He texted me and told me that he would come out and blow them off the property before the house went up for sale; he told me to contact him and remind him. When I rec'd the bill it had $25 tax added; I've had lots of work done here and this is the first time tax was added; I wish I would've known that beforehand only because other contractors include tax in their bids, so technically, John was almost 7% more than other bids. So the total I paid was about $400, and this did not including any mulching or mowing. I sent a $250 check for the balance and wrote in the memo that it was 'contingent on the leaf clearing in the back yard to be finished.' The check has cleared the bank.

I emailed John on March 29th and asked him to come clear out the dropped leaves in the back yard and he emailed back that he would be charging me for it. Consider the texts and emails between he and I, I was very surprised that he would try to get yet more money from me. He called and said that he 'did a favor' for me in getting the yard done immediately (really?) just to make me 'happy.' At that point I told and emailed him not to come back on the property, because he lied. I have gotten many, many contractors to work on my house from Angie's list, as you can see from my reviews, I pay more for good work and I speak up about my experiences. When John lied on the phone, and then via email to me, I told him I'd be putting a review here. If nothing else there is a trail of emails and text messages between us, why lie?

I think It's important to give work to the honest folks and weed out the dishonest ones. I don't recommend Outsiders Landscaping group and strongly recommend that you go elsewhere. There are so many other choices out there and because of John's dishonesty, he would never have my recommendation. 

May 1st update: I paid another worker $75 to clear the leaves left by John and another $125 to mulch the front beds that John had not mulched. The Outsider group had used 'super powered' blowers to get the leaves out from under the bushes, and that pushed the mulch out as well. All in all, my yard cost me well over $500. Lesson learned.