Brought back Morning Star to do some Winter clean up after the bad freeze and get a plan for Spring plantings. Jodi and her crew did a great job, added winter color, did some light pruning on the trees, and mulched. They also added a few landscape lights and did some interior painting touch-ups. I have used them for large and smaller projects and never been disappointed. Looking forward to landscaping in the Spring as well as new hardscaping. Great job.

Overall, we are really pleased with the end product that transformed a muddy mess into a useable backyard. The crew was great and after the work started they showed up each day through the construction. Would highly recommend Jodi and her team.

Paid the Angi's deal for consulatation; they never called me or reached out. I called them and left multiple messages but never heard back.

Morningstar is great to work with. From the initial consult to the final install day, they were professional all the way. They listened to our concerns and goals and solved our issues very successfully. We will be hiring them again in the future.

Good and beautiful

Jodi and her team were great to work with and I would highly recommend them. They did a full overhaul of our landscaping after the Feb 2021 freeze and some terracing on a slope in our backyard. Jodi had great recommendations for plants and trees that are hardy and easy to care for. You can tell she has a passion for landscaping and is very knowledgeable.

Jodi Phillips is just the last in a long line of bad contractors I’ve sadly hired who flourish in Austin and are hated by the reputable contractors. Reviews in Yelp and AngiesList indicate most people hire Morningstar for relatively small jobs compared to mine. Mine was a $65,000 dollar job. Angie’s List photos show mainly hardscaping, not landscaping. Morningstar’s website is very pretty. There are a number of awards and professional associations listed so I looked them up. • American Horticultural Society: $35 membership fee, anyone can be a member, no certification involved. • American Horticultural Therapy Association: $145 and you are a member. AHTA Mission Statement: The dissemination of information relating to the principles and practices of horticultural therapy as a treatment modality. Are you hiring a landscaper or looking for a treatment modality? Either way, all you need is $145 to join; there are no professional requirements or training. I wanted a landscaper, not plant therapy. • 2016 Austin Small Business Excellence Award: This is for marketing, not for the quality of services. I found an online article about these types of awards being handed out after a cash donation to the group. I’m not claiming Jodi Phillips paid to get the award, but it’s recognition for marketing and promotion and not for any landscaping excellence. • Angie’s Super Service Award There are a lot of Five Star reviews on YELP and Angie’s. This reviewer doesn’t imply that those are not accurate. I notice most accompanying photographs show primarily hardscaping, not landscape. Little planting areas wouldn’t be hard. My job was just the opposite, lots of drainage and landscaping, and not so much hardscaping. I was sucked into hiring Morningstar by only reading the five star reviews, and I fault myself for not being more thorough. I started talking with Morningstar Landscaping in November/2017. I was ready to get started. When meeting with Jodi, I provided my landscaping plan designed by a professional. I also emphasized the fairly complex drainage issues I needed addressed. I gave Jodi a detailed plat of my drainage problems, showing storm water runoff flow patterns. At the initial meeting with Jodi, I walked the property, pointing out my main drainage concerns. “I LOVE DRAINAGE!!”, Jodi gushed. She effused how much she loves projects like mine, has some great ideas, selling enthusiasm that she’s going to deliver everything you want, and more!! Sign a contract and a very different reality sets in as the months pass by…….. Project Delays My first emails with Jodi are dated November 17, 2017, the last one on July 26, 2018. Read the dates on my emails. Some of the excuses from the beginning: • Can’t get the plants until Spring • Cat bit or scratched her and she has an infected arm • Dogs are sick and are taking her time and keeping her up at night. • Jodi’s sick. SHE'S SICK A LOT. • Her first subcontractor (not her employee) came and I had to walk him through the entire project again after I’d explained all this with Jodi. I gave him detailed rainwater runoff flow sketches of the property, showing how the water flowed and where the problems were. He and I designed the drainage, not Jodi. I gave him the only copy of my lawn irrigation system zones. Jodi was never on site for more than a few minutes, usually just to get a check. • Three weeks later, hearing nothing back, Jodi tells me she had to fire him. I lost three weeks and the ONLY copy of my irrigation zone layout. I had to start all over with a new sub contractor and repeat designing my drainage, the landscaping, and the irrigation system for a third time with him. Jodi was never there. • She didn't start my project until late April-2018, and instead of first installing the landscape beds and installing plants early in the year, Jodi instructs the crew boss to first do the driveway, sidewalks, patio. The concrete would not interfere with the majority of the landscaping beds which should have been installed first before July. Jodi’s probably going to respond that the concrete had to be done first. It didn’t. Doing it first pushed back the planting dates. Summer‘s heat and drought was right around the corner. In late April, Jodi calls me to say a roll-off dumpster was going to be delivered and I needed to meet the driver as early as 6 am and tell him where to put it. I had never had a roll off dumpster delivered before. In the predawn hours, the driver and I discovered the dumpster could not be placed because of my heavily treed property. Jodi did not find a location, did not meet the dumpster delivery herself, and as usual, was nowhere to be seen. At this point it becomes obvious Jodi had nothing to do with job oversight management. I sent her an email telling her I expected her to start taking responsibility for her company’s jobsite. After that, she stopped by occasionally, but was never on site for more than a ten minute drive-by, never overseeing the work nor even talking to me unless I approached her. I ended up being the default contractor for the job. The crew chief would constantly be asking about the job details, something Jodi should be taking care of. Imagine hiring a builder for your new home, then being asked construction details by the carpenters, electricians, plumbers. That was my experience. At some point, I realized the sub contractor doing my job was just some jack of all trades crew Jodi had found. Jodi had not presented him with the full scope of work, so he had underbid the job. He knew nothing of the planting and irrigation that was specified for the entire backside of the house. The contract specified Morningstar was to follow the landscape design specifications. That did not happen. I got ½” inch of decomposed granite on the pathways, versus the several inches specified. Nor did I get the contract’s specified compost which would be crucial to the new plants. Jodi’s lack of job oversight and semblance of planning resulted in all my plants being installed in July/2018, absolutely the worst time to plant during the heat and drought of Texas summer. During the rushed planting, I was talking to one of the crew. He said he was a roofer but he was hired for my job. These guys did not amend my thick, heavy clay soil when planting. No compost around each plant. They dug a hole in the hard clay and buried a lot of the plants too deep. Then they threw mulch over the beds, half covering many of the plants and high up on the trunks of my live oaks. Plants started dying immediately. The drip irrigation installed was not good. Regardless of a plant’s water requirements, they all got the same amount, if they got any at all. In one instance, 2500 square feet of landscape bed ran off one source, far too much area for the irrigation to function properly. Upslope plants got no water; lower areas flooded and became swamps. There were problems I wanted addressed, but Jodi did not respond, she’d gotten her money. More about that in a minute. Drainage I’d been pointing out all along wasn’t done, my little bit of decomposed granite was being washed away when it rained. Dead plants that died because of the way they were planted and the lousy drip irrigation (she doesn’t warranty dead plants ) There were immediate problems and contractual work not performed. One landscape bed by the front entry door had no plants in it whatsoever when Jodi thought the job was finished. She wouldn’t have known it wasn’t planted because she never was onsite. She and a helper drove up on a Saturday morning and hastily stuck the plants in the ground in a few minutes. I never saw her again, but did have very unprofessional emails/texts afterwards. Speaking of money: Jodi wants all your checks written to Jodi Phillips, not Morningstar. If your project is over $10,000 thousand dollars, she will ask for checks amounts less than $10,000. In my case, that was $9,900 dollars. Why? Jodi takes your checks to your bank and cashes them. Federal banking law requires all cash transactions of $10,000 dollars or more to be reported, so it’s probably not r

Amazing! Install exactly as requested, quickly and mindful of existing landscaping and lights. Crew was friendly and cleaned up after themselves. Would definitely use again!

This is my second "project" using Morningstar. Jodi & Morningstar did a great job removing my old fence & installing a new one! Not only do they have competitive pricing, but they were able to schedule my job quickly and completed everything in about 2 days. The workers always cleaned up after finishing work for the day and we're always professional. Will definitely hire again for a few more projects I have in mind for my backyard.

From start to finish, everything was done perfectly, and the owner’s suggestions for replacement tile and plaster colors were on point! We are so happy with our results! We highly recommend Morningstar Landscaping!

Third time using them and never fails. Had the house cleaned up and beautified for the holidays but also wanted a consult and design ideas for a future pool. Jodi has a lot of knowledge of poop construction and great design ideas. She went over pricing and what is expected. I was very happy and when I’m ready for the pool, they will be who we choose. Never fails.

I had a great experience with Morningstar! Jodi was very communicative and designed a beautiful outdoor patio & pergola for my backyard. Her crew worked hard and cleaned up after they were finished each day. Will definitely be using Morningstar again for additional backyard projects next spring!

The experience of working with Jodi and her team was excellent. She was very communicative, answered all my questions quickly and thoroughly and worked with me to create the outdoor space that we love. Her team did excellent work. She has a good vision and was able to guide us through some elements of the design process that we weren’t as familiar with.

They were thorough, on time and knew what they were doing. They were also cheerful and joked and laughed which my land and I appreciated.

Excellent!! Great communication, timely work, highly professional work and great follow-up. Our pool was completely damaged by the storm and the patio also needed a refresh. Jodi and her team delivered! We now have our family oasis back with all the added upgrades, thanks to their excellent work. The quality of the work is commendable! Jamie is quite gifted! She has the vision and the attention to details all wrapped up into one, which led to a remarkable outcome. I didn’t imagine things would turn out as beautiful as they did. I am a stickler for details and she and her team exceeded my expectations! Thanks, Morningstar Landscaping and Construction!!

Jodi and her crew were great to work with. It is obvious that she has high standards and won’t call a job complete until it’s just right. Listened to all of our ideas and went way above what we expected. Hoping to use Morningstar again for future landscaping projects.

Morningstar did a fantastic job on our project. Always communicative. Very happy with the finished project.

Jodi and her crew were very professional and fun. Jodi listened carefully to what we wanted and helped us achieve our goal. We wanter a privacy wall that was also beautiful. We got what we wanted. There were delays that were caused by the wettest weather in Austin history but we got there in the end. Highly recommend this company.

We loved working with Jodi and her team. She worked with us to identify what plants would come back after the February freeze and choose new plants that are hardy and beautiful. We love our new stone lined beds and natural stone walkway. Great team to work with!

I was so pleased with the work. Jodi left the few plants that survived the winter storm and selected beautiful plants to replace those that didn’t survive. I will definitely hire her again!

Great! Jodi and her crew were terrific. We had a design for them to work from, and Jodi had lots of good ideas for additions/changes. All the work was done according to the plan, and the crew worked quickly and carefully and cleaned up everything when finished. We've had many compliments from neighbors!

I’ve worked with Jodi and her crew previously, and Morningstar Landscaping will always be my go-to for all my future projects. Exceptional craftsmanship, professional & courteous crew, and always a clean job site. I showed Jodi a few inspo pictures, had an in-person consult to discuss and they absolutely nailed it. Even better than I imagined.

I can’t recommend Morningstar and Jodi enough. She is super knowledgeable and flexible, and just a great person. Her team are all very decent and kind people, and all super talented. We have done multiple projects with them, ranging from having a tree removed after a storm to installing a new fence to major backyard renovation work. She has been responsive and extremely trustworthy throughout. We will definitely be using her services again

I couldn't be happier. I interviewed a lot of landscapers before I hired Morningstar Landscaping. Lucky me, to get them. The work was terrific.

Great. They did a good job.