STEEL CITY LANDSCAPE, INC.

It worked! Mark and his main foreman Shaun and the entire crew were terrific - very professional, courteous and clean. The project ran into a couple of unexpected snags (with stuff encountered underground, etc.) and it took them a couple of days longer than they had anticipated, but they stood by everything they did and did not charge a penny more than we had agreed. It looks great at the border between my lawn and the slope in the back, and it solved the problem beyond my expectations. I would hire them again in a heartbeat should I need anything else in their areas of expertise. I recommended them to my next door neighbor, who also had long standing issues with water seepage and pooling, Shaun and the crew came in not long ago and fixed his issues, and he is as satisfied as I am with the high caliber and professionalism of their work.

they did a good job. though they did not call ahead that they were coming o do the workthey just showed up one day three weeks after I returned the estimate.

First and foremost, I must say that Mark was extremely engaged and professional throughout the entire process. His responsiveness was exceptional, starting from our contacting the company for an estimate and receiving a quick scheduling, through providing status updates while the job was ongoing, and his on site presence throughout the project to check in, provide feedback to his crew, and ensure perfection. Whenever we sent him an email with questions, he not only responded immediately (like within an hour of sending in most cases), but most times did so via a phone call to ensure clarity on his responses, and answer any follow up questions we may have had. We never encountered delayed responses, or unresponsiveness of any kind, from start to finish. To be open... being that this was our first time hiring professional landscaping, we did receive a number of different estimates to compare both pricing and proposed solutions. While there were some cheaper options (hence my only "B" above for pricing), I would highly recommend to anyone reading this, that you get what you pay for. We were able to see other jobs completed by Steel City prior to going with them, and knew we would receive the highest quality, worthy of a little extra cost. Having seen completed work by some of the other cheaper estimates we received, we can't say the same for the quality that they provided their customers. As far as proposed solutions, we were also impressed with the proposals Mark offered vs. other estimates. His expertise in evaluating our yard, knowledge of unique options, and his overall design vision were better than most. Almost all of the other companies proposed the same types of solutions, proposing the same basic and bland shrubs and flowers. I told my wife that the other solutions, while I'm sure would look nice, reminded me of what you'd see outside an office building or restaurant. Cookie cutter greens and yellows, minimal colors, nothing unique that stands out. Mark proposed some different options, even stating at times "I'm sure you won't see this anywhere in your neighborhood". He also made his proposals based on things like sun exposure, water exposure, spacing, deer/rabbits, etc. His proposed solution was very well thought out, unique and included lots of different colors too. While we focused on updating the main beds that were existing, he also included cleaning up, re-edging, and even creating a few new beds around some prominent trees as part of his overall design solution. Being a corner house at the beginning of our neighborhood, our front two beds are on display for all to see, and his solution including some cleaned up and new beds, now makes our house pop. We've since noticed cars driving by slowly to see the finished product, and neighbors have stopped by to ask us what some of the trees/flowers are, stating they've never seen them before. To me, that's what we desired and expected, and was worth the little bit of extra cost compared to other companies. Mark was also the only one that proposed a different concept for the French drain, in which he proposed an "open French drain" concept around the patio area... where instead of just covering it with dirt, instead top it off with layer of river rock up against our re-built retaining wall (which looks fabulous!). Also, he was one of the few that realized the issue was not just the water coming down from our neighbors yard... but also the raised beds around the patio were creating a "bowl", and leaving the water no where to drain to. Also, he noticed that our yard was not graded properly and was sloping towards the patio, instead of away from it. Again, his ability to assess the whole problem, and propose the necessary solutions, stood out against the rest. His crew was polite, clean and professional. It was easy to communicate with them as the job was ongoing, they asked our opinions when needed, and were open to feedback and making changes in areas we requested changes. They were always on time, worked efficiently, and we never got the sense they were cutting corners or slacking off. Lastly, to be open again, along the process and even after his crew finalized the job, there were some areas that needed to be fixed and/or re-addressed. We received some very heavy storms during and right after the process, which put the drainage solutions to the test on the spot. There were some areas which needed to be fixed/re-addressed (some minor additional re-grading, some areas with light mulch that washed away, etc.), and again Mark showed his exceptional professionalism in agreeing to make the necessary fixes, ensuring perfection on the job. The good news was, after those heavy storms, we had NO pooling of water on our Patio, and NO layers of mud to scrape off!!! The French drain solution worked to perfection! We now have new outdoor sectional furniture, lounge chairs, sun screens, planters full of flowers, surrounded by beautiful and colorful landscaping... the whole area is now peaceful, tranquil, and we can finally utilize the patio to relax or entertain guests!! As stated above, the front beds now look clean and unique, gaining the attention of all that drive by it. I would highly recommend you to Mark and Steel City for your landscaping needs, and already told Mark should we have any further needs in the future, we will look no further than him.

I can't tell you how impressed we are with Steel City's performance. hard working, professional, responsive, and perfectionists. Mark and Shaun obviously take pride in their workmanship and will stay with it until the job is done the right way, even if it means additional time and materials for them, and the crew is equally professional and concerned with quality of the job, including clelan up and reseeding. I would hire Steel City again without hesitation.

Shaun, the Hardscape Manager, was very nice when he came to give us an estimate. He said it was not a problem to do. We signed the contract and was scheduled for the work to be done on Nov. 4. As it wasn't a really big job, it only took a day to do. Part of the back yard and the yard on the side had dirt added (5 tons of it!) and was rolled to compact. They sowed in grass seed and covered with straw matting. Front bushes were trimmed very nicely and the mulch bed was extended. It looks really nice now. We didn't have much to compare on prices since we had difficulty getting someone, but we thought the price was reasonable and was happy that we got someone who would do the work. We would definitely call them again for any future jobs.

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Service from the Steel City Landscape team was professional and efficient. They responded promptly to my initial inquiry and were able to come and provide an estimate within a few days. During the job, they handled everything from removing the existing retaining wall stones to the cleanup after installing the new walls. The final product is two new retaining walls that are of excellent quality.

The retaining wall is great. It looks like the last one we got from them. Great quality and price. We just had a concrete contractor at our house to give us an estimate on another job and he said we should have took Steel City to the justice of the peace to get our money back on the driveway job since it was poured 2 inches and cracked after 6 months. Their work is great, but the subcontractor for concrete didn't know what they were doing. They did not guarantee the work too and just filled in the cracks.

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When we bought our house in June, I received a postcard from Steel City Landscape promoting their services.

Now that I am in a place to begin a dialogue with a landscaper about plans for multi-year work beginning next spring, I wanted to meet with some landscapers and see who was a good fit.  I called Steel City and did get a return call from Mark.  We played a good bit of phone tag, and I will give him credit for trying.

However, I was really upset when the last message I got from Mark said that we live "too far out for them to work with us."  We live eight miles from the home base!  And if we were so far out, why target us with a postcard mailing.

I get the sense that Mark just didn't want to be bothered in trying to connect, and I find that extremely unprofessional.  I admire responsive, dedicated people.  I suppose Mark's business is so good that he does not need a long-term contract with a solid client.  Good for him, but I don't feel good about my experience and would caution others to give serious thought to using this company. 

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Steel City was fantastic.  Shawn is a manager and he cam to our house and gave us our estimates.  They arrived to complete the work about 1 week after we signed the estimate/contract.  The team did a great job and worked very efficiently. We really enjoyed our experience and will be calling them for the second part of the estimate for sure.  We have already referred them to other people.  They were great to work with!

They did a great job, came regularly and left things tidy. 
We also used them to weed our flower beds.  We just bought the house last summer and the
beds were overrun with weeds.  They made fast work of it, especially considering how bad they were.  This year we have them scheduled to clean out all of the beds and put down mulch.  I'm looking forward to seeing everything neat and clean.  It feels like they have a big enough crew that they can respond pretty quickly in spite of weather issues.

They have done an excellent job on both the spring and fall clean up.  We have worked with other companies in the past but they by far have been the best.  Would highly recommend them.  They mow our lawn weekly and are very punctual. Pricing is reasonable.

They were excellent.  Arrived as promised.  Did all of the work in one day.  Came back and cleaned up after themselves.  They went above and beyond, and we literally get compliments on the yard all the time.  Excellent work.

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We first had them come out last year for an estimate, and when we went to go forward this year the owner, Mark, told us that the estimate was wrong and the old employee only did an estimate that covered part of the wall while we wanted the whole wall replaced, so we were a little annoyed from the beginning. Considering this is a project we needed to budget thousands of dollars for we needed to know rough numbers in advance.
After a lot of back and forth we finally got a contract signed, and then I realized that if we were going to get a permit (which we're required to do by Pittsburgh building code), they wanted us to get it ourselves. It was a huge hassle and involved hiring an independent engineer to do drawings, multiple trips to the building office, etc. When I asked if they might do the application process for us, I never got a response to the question.
We finally got the permit, and work started. Day 1 they realized that the wall was far more substantial than they initially suspected. They had to stop work for a day to get an additional piece of equipment that could tear down the wall. Then after they resumed work they told us they could only do half of the wall because the wall shared a property line with our neighbor's structurally questionable garage. They either needed to bulldoze the garage, get our neighbors to sign a liability waiver, or they could only do the part that didn't border the garage. At this point my husband got really angry and said that this should have been figured out before we signed a contract with them or started the project. We ended up not being able to get our neighbors to agree and had to just cut the project down to half of the wall.
The initial projection for the whole wall was 8-10 days, and doing half the wall ending up taking about that time. We had made it clear that we would be leaving for vacation on a certain date and that everything needed to be finished before we left or we wouldn't pay the balance. We got the final invoice on Saturday with a note that if it wasn't paid in a week we would get a 10% surcharge, and were leaving Monday. Meanwhile our yard still had one of their tarps, several pieces of rebar and other large pieces of metal. I had to email multiple times and finally call while we were sitting in Charlotte on a layover flight. They ended up having to take pictures of the cleanup so that I could pay by credit card while I was out of the country.
As a rundown, the work quality was excellent. We're really happy with the final product, but the customer service left something to be desired. I will say that Mark agreed to extend a coupon for 15% off work done in March or April to our project in May because of how long it took to get a final estimate, sign the contract and get the permits which we definitely appreciated. The cleanup was terrible and we're still finding pieces of scrap and geogrid that were left behind in the weeds on the hill. If they had done some more advance planning, handled the permitting and had done a good cleanup job I would have given them a B or possibly even an A, but these issues got them the C rating.
We would probably still use them on another project, but only if the expectations were made crystal clear from the beginning. If you use them make sure everything is spelled out in your contract and do a final review before you settle the account to make sure everything is how it's supposed to be.

I obtained five bids for this job. Steel City Landscaping was the cheapest by about $700. I found the owner Mark Purcell to be very professional and organized so I chose to go with his company. After starting the job, they realized that they had to move more fill than expected so I was told that the job was “underbid”; which somehow became my fault. I had to agree to pay an additional $639 so that they would finish the job. Then they STILL skimped me on removing the fill! Unbelievable.  I will never use them again and I don’t recommend them.

I contacted them to receive a estimate.  i was told by the owner it would take 6 - 8 weeks to come do the work which I asked if he would come give me a estimate.  All he kept saying I don't think you understand I can't start the job for at least 6 - 8 weeks.  Which I replied I do understand would you give me a quote.  The website says free estimates.  He informed me that if he came and gave a quote I would be charged for the estimate if he didn't get the job.  He was rude.  Just from my conversation I would not recommend.

Steel City Landscape was the only company that I called after moving that not only called me back, but was also able to fit me into their busy spring schedule.  The price is a little higher than I would like, but all things considered, I'm extremely happy.

Not a good experience.  They made me feel like I made up the story.

Terrible experience. I asked them about a senior discount and they said they don't give one, even though it is listed on thier profile on Angie's List. They basically weedeated my entire yard. And they never told me about extra costs for gas and tax. I would not recommend them.

Everything went well.  Mark was quick with all follow-up, as were the folks on the crew, and the job was completed within 2 days of the estimated completion.  The only issue which needed to be dealt with was that they cu through some service wires to my pool equipment, but the would have no knowledge of them being there (neither did I for that matter).  They returned all calls promptly when I had questions, and the work looks really good.