ACCENT LANDSCAPING

Michael promised a lot and charged a premium but did not deliver. He cut a lot of corners and was very dishonest. He promised to come back and complete some of the work that he did not complete as agreed, and then he did not show up when he said he would. He did not show up at all. He did not complete the work. The work that he did do was poor quality. I paid him a premium to hand pull weeds and instead he knocked them down with a weed eater, sprayed a little Round Up and covered it with a half inch of mulch. I paid for 3 inches of mulch. Needless to say that the day after he left I realized all of the weeks were just knocked down under a little spray of mulch. It really violated my trust in him and was very disappointing. He is very dishonest.

I found Accent Landscaping on Angie's list and from an ad in the Oak Hill Gazette. I talked to the owner, Michael the first time I called.  I asked him to come out and give me and estimate for the work and would he pick up compost and mulch from Natural Gardner.  He said he bought all his supplies from a company called Whittlesey and said they were comparable to Natural Gardner's product and that it was organic but less expensive.  Instead of coming out to give me an estimate he said he would buy the bags and come out at seven the next morning.  I didn't like the idea but I needed it done this week so I let him talk me into it which I rarely do so that was my failing.  I agreed on price of $200 to $250 based on $6.00 a bag and square footage.  After our conversation I looked up Whittlesey and the picture of the compost looked dry and had a lot of sticks.  I called Michael back and told him I'd rather not use their product because of the way it looked and he got worked up and huffy and said he already bought all the bags and couldn't take them back. His tone and manner about my questions and concerns were far from good customer service.  He pretty much bullied his way through the whole conversation.  I ended up calling Whittlesey to ask about their compost and they said it was dark rich compost with what I knew to be correct compost ingredients that I wanted.  
I felt totally exasperated and upset with myself for being pushed into this but decided that I had done the research and to let him come out and do the job.  He did show up right at seven.  He wanted to start immediately but I asked to look at the compost and mulch first.  He threw down a couple of bags and I had to tear them open.  None of the bags said Whittlesey on them and I questioned him about it and he continued on with his grouchy put out sort of attitude and told me he got the compost from them but go the mulch from someone else.  It was Texas Native mulch so I said ok.  He hurriedly looked at the beds and said it would be about $250-300 now and that the compost was more expensive than $6.00 per bag. I reminded him he said $200-250 so finally we went with $250.  He didn't want to spread the compost thin, he complained about my asking questions and said Whittlesey sat behind a desk but he did the work and what did they know!  The product looked ok so I just let him spread it.  When he was almost finished I looked at the beds in the back and there was a bunch of gray white looking dirt in a big area.  I ask about it and he told me it was compost but probably old.  I didn't want to use that bag but all the remaining ones were like that.  We went back and forth until I got him to deduct the bags from my bill and not use them.  I paid him $230.00 which after what I went through with him was way too steep  This guy was $100% uninterested in good customer relations and could have cared less. The only thing that was good about this experience was that he did spread the mulch very well and he was fast.  Other than that there's no way I would use him because basically he gave me no reason to trust him to be honest with me. 

I have been under the weather of late and my yard was in desperate need for work.
I contacted Accent because of a flyer left on my doorstep and because they were local.
Accent is basically a one man operation that charges a premium for yard work.
The work was done satisfactorily.

Michael came out to look at our back yard, gave us a quote, and after looking at several quotes we accepted his bid. He said that he could get to work on it the following week. Because I work he was very responsive over the phone. We talked about the kinds of plants might be best in our yard and the type of trees we should chose to meet our long term needs. He and his team were on time and completed the work in two days. Our one problem with the work is that he didn't make the pea gravel area big enough to fit our specifications. That said, it is still an amazing transformation.

Michael had placed an ad in our church bulletin which is how we reached him. He gave us a reasonable estimate on the work to be done. We did not want a lawn person who came once a week as we have a two acre property. The work we scheduled him for was cutting trees, brush, plants, mulching, etc. He has always been on time and has completed the job promptly. He has two men who help him. The two men who help him are knowledgeable in masonry work. We have not used this talent as yet but plan to. We are very pleased with Michael and will keep him as our landscaper.