Silvis Group

The Silvis group did landscaping in front of my house and trimmed the current bushes around the side of the house.. The Silvis group was excellent in every category. They were very professional and the plants and were of good quality and a nice variety. Everything was planted with perfection and so neatly done. Their service was exceptional. It was designed ahead of time, so I was able to choose what i preferred. Chris Boucher was excellent with the customer service. After the project was finished the clean up was very thorough and neat. I would recommend them to anyone.

The work went very well. The workers cleaned up a large weed filled hillside, replaced landscape cloth and put down 15 tons of large river rock. Hillside looks great. They also built a hardscape patio and landscape bed. Looks just like we hoped it would. I gave a "B" for price because I do think the price was a bit high but they did do great work... In this case I suppose you get what you pay for. They have been extremely responsive and professional. I would hire them again, in fact I've asked for a quote for hillside maintenance...

Very well! We got the yard and landscaping that we always dreamed about. The yard looks great. We have received many compliments from friends and neighbors.

Overall it was a really great experience; Jay, Paul and their team were great to work with. We had an initial concept of what we wanted and Jay + the landscape architects on staff came with a plan that improved on our initial concept. This is a good sign in any home improvement contractor or architect. A few challenges/issues that came up along the way (as they do), but discussing the issues together were able to quickly find a solution and the final product came out great. They paid a lot of attention with the patio installation particularly with respect to site preparation, drainage and other small details, which adds to the overall value/quality of the installation. So far everything has held up great over winter, and we are looking forward to enjoying the new outside space this summer. Highly recommended landscaping contractor.

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I've been real happy with them, they stayed three hours by the time they did the trim and cleaning. I'm very satisfied with the quality of the work. I thought the price was high but that's what others have, for what they did, it was reasonable, they did everything we told them to do and they added nice things too, I usually contact them through e-mail or when the gentleman come, I go and tell them what I like done and they do whatever I ask them to do and their employees, no one speaks English so I do like sign language, there are English staffs I can talk to through e-mail, its very minor.

Very responsive. Came out the next day after we agreed on price. Saw the aftermath and it looked good. Maybe could have been cut a little shorter. Very professional. Would use again.

We since then have decided to go with Silvis. The price is a bit higher than what we wanted to pay but we are impressed with the professionalism and the presentation of the estimate. The work hasn't started yet, but I will update afterwards. So far so good !





***UPDATE May 14, 2013***





Silvis has completed the work on the landscaping, tree installation and total lawn replacement. The quality of the work that was performed on the landscaping was done with good results. They had to revise the plants in one area, which they did so without telling me first, but it was the correct thing to do.





During the installation of the sidewalk pavers, I had asked about a slight grade to allow drainage away from the house. This inquire was ignored and now I have small areas where water will puddle on the walk. I brought this to the attention of Silvis and they responded favorably and repaired the problem areas.





Part of the installation was the removal of our existing yard grass, then grade, remove all intrusive rocks, and seed the entire yard. Right after they completed the yard seed install we got 90 degree temps and no rain for about 1.5 months. We tried to keep the yard moist but it was a loosing battle. I pointed out to Silvis that the grass had not grown as designed and that I had a terrible crab grass problem as a result of the bad weather. They had agreed to work with me and agreed to reseed the lawn, add a special crabgrass killer and fertilizer called and quot;Tenacityand quot;, and remove a few rocks that were missed earlier. So far all that has happened is the over seeding. To my knowledge, there has not been any of the Tenacity added. Which is one point of why I am downgrading the original rating... communication.





The two rocks that were missed... I was told by Silvis that they had been removed and that topsoil was added to the area. I asked the worker how big the rocks were and they held up their hands to show me how big. Received a bill from Silvis with and quot;Remove two rocks - Warrantyand quot;. Fast forward to this past weekend... I was cutting grass after a few days of rain and BANG!!! I hit something. Turns out that the two rocks had not been removed after all. All that was done is dirt added around the rocks to raise the level around them and they were never removed. I e-mailed Silvis that Sunday afternoon and didn't hear anything from them all day Monday. So I called my account manager later in the afternoon and talked to him. He said he would get back to me the next day. Early afternoon the next day and still haven't heard anything. I never received a response from the person I e-mailed or anyone else from Silvis except for when I called them first.



I spent over $24K and contracted them to maintain the landscaping. I pay my invoices to them quickly. One would think that better treatment would be an automatic given... NOT SO. They are very nice people at Silvis but they need to learn to communicate better and take care of their customers in a timely manner. I will let you know if they step up to the plate.

***UPDATE***

January 12, 2014 - I am at a loss to find the words that express my opinion of Silvis. I will admit that they and quot;triedand quot; to make me a happy customer but I still think they need to LISTEN to their customers. Silvis sprayed the weeds in part of my drive way to offer a goodwill offering, which was very nice of them, but I just wanted the work in question to be done. There were still times when I was charged for services that were not performed, which when pointed out they retracted.

SUMMARY - Silvis in a very nice company which, I believe, has their heart in the right place. I think they viewed me as a and quot;problemand quot; customer, but all I wanted was what they promised. They need to listen to their customers and ask what would make them happy rather than assume something else will. Their management and communication is subpar. Make your own decision.

***UPDATE***

June 18, 2014 - I had to contact the manufacturer of the pavers that were installed by Silvis to verify the installation. There was an 1/2 inch sag in the sidewalk that ran almost the entire length of the walk. (Photos posted) He said that the pavers should not have that and, in fact, should have a slight crown or pitch to allow water to drain off.

In the meantime, I had a dispute with Silvis about the service that they were charging me for from 2013. I contracted them to perform PGM all year and 5 lawn treatments. I had to stop them from performing their service. They still charged me full price as if all the work was performed, when only 4 of 12 PGM's were performed and 4 of 5 treatments. I was in discussion with them when they sent me a registered letter demanding payment in full. I CONSIDER THIS TO BE VERY BACKHANDED AND UNPROFESSIONAL !!! I begrudgingly paid.

Back to the pavers... I had to have Silvis do the repairs to the pavers, as per Uni-lock. The representative from Uni-lock called me to tell me that Silvis would be out sometime in the next 1 to 1.5 months. They showed up today. Once again, they didn't know what needed to be done... I had to inform them how to repair the installation by putting a crown on the entire length of the sidewalk.

***FINAL SUMMARY***

I am DONE with Silvis !!! I tried to work with them and they threatened me with legal action... they have no idea what they are doing. Of the $24,000 plus another $2,600 spent, I have (2) dead trees, (6) dead Daisy plants, (1) Service Berry tree that looses it's leaves 1 month after it gets them, and a lawn that looks like it did before they touched it... full of weeds and lifeless. Do yourself a favor, stay away from them.

They came out and looked at my yard. They said they would call me back in a week, and they never called me back. They were more interested in telling me who the company was versus what work I needed done.
Wow, what a surprise, after my review became available online, the company started calling me back. However, after almost two months, I had already found other reputable companies to perform the services. It just goes to show that Angie's List does work.

The week that our job was scheduled, we had some bad weather, so it needed to be postponed until 2 days later. Their building staff members were punctual, polite, and worked very hard the entire time they were on the property. They were very careful not to disturb our vehicles, driveway, fencing or patio with their heavy equipment. The job was completed as planned, and the owner came to the property several times to make sure it was being constructed as per our design.

The project manager followed up with me after the job was initially completed, and decided that they needed to come back because the grass seed had washed out in a hard rain. They reseeded the property, smoothed out some rough edges and picked up some rocks that had made it into the screened topsoil. The project manager came out two weeks later to make sure that the drainage was functioning properly and that we were satisfied. I would definitely use Silvis Group again for any landscaping needs we have!

I would recommend Silvis to anyone looking for a landscape contractor. We received bids from 4 landscape contractors for this project and Silvis was by far the most professional in every aspect from coming out to meet us at our home and spending time with us to explain who they were, what we could expect throughout the proposal process and once we signed the paperwork, they showed up on time, did a great job and cleaned up the job site above our expectations. All workers were uniformed and professional to deal with. Our project took 3 days and the project manager was available via phone and email in the evenings with any questions we had and made sure they were meeting our expectations throughout their time on the job site. We decided during the project we wanted to sod the damaged areas which was not part of the original scope of work and they worked with us to install sod they had on hand and then helped me to find a sod supplier to finish the areas they did not have enough sod for. They used an empty lot next to our property as a staging area for the boulders, dirt, etc. and left it in better condition than when they got there. They took care of the little things that you notice after a contractor finishes a job and is gone. I will use them again for all of my landscaping needs and would recommend the same to anyone else.