ACACIA LANDSCAPE & DESIGN

Acacia Review Huge financial and emotional mistake to pick Acacia Landscaping to do our new home. Had initially signed with Greens and Blooms, however Acacia promised to do an outstanding job. They assured us Greens and Blooms was putting TOO many plants of small size and this was why their cost was lower. Acacia convinced us to break our contract with Greens and Blooms and we awarded Acacia a massive contract, paid 100% of it via check months in advance of any work as this was needed by the owner, Brian. Absolute nightmare. Price: Astronomical. Everything was upsold at a premium price now that work had started. $1000/each tree to install. When we found out a similar tree was obtained at Milberger with FREE install for a fraction of the price, we were appalled. 11 pallets of sod installation $17k. List goes on and on. Communication: I have emails and texts showing days to weeks for communication back to resolve issues after multiple requests. This review is being posted because it has been weeks with no effort to try and resolve nearly 200 plants missing from a walk through with the owner. I have had to step away from work to deal with issues that could have been avoided if they bothered to plan with open communication. Accounting: Inflated, incorrect numbers. I have had to step away from work to do multiple invoice runs with them to get numbers straight. Then I get billed the same thing again a few weeks later! Leuder stone area billed almost 1.5-2x the area covered, materials not used, swapping of invoices without signatures, etc. I have been shorted by 20% of the plants on my invoices. This is around 200 plants. When asked why and confirmed count after a walk through by Brian, the owner, he agreed something was not making sense. He thinks it is because they installed bigger plants than they should have. No documentation, no receipts, no evidence. Just matter of fact. And if he needs to figure out why there is a discrepancy I would owe him money! The burden of proof when the count is off by so much and you have been paid in full months in advance is on the vendor! Personnel: sales people. They are very nice and friendly. Unfortunately they convince you to pay so much and initially not feel so taken advantage of. Plant install: tags left on plants, holes not deep enough allowing for plants to die, new plants installed are dying, taunted by the owner Brian that on replacement of some plants that died that they did us a favor after we spent more than 100x that replacement cost on the project. Installing plants haphazardly without following lines and symmetry. No attention to detail. Multiple inconsistencies. For example, what should have been two identical repeating berms on landscaping design is completely different and strewn together. I met with them several times, writing check after check, trusting them. What a mistake. Overall, miserable and stressful experience for a product that was under delivered for a premium price. Friendly people yes. Terrible communication. You will be taken advantage of.

The results were highly unsatisfactory: 1) drainage was not right and still isn't after them trying to fix it twice; trees and bushes are feeding the deer -- how about using deer-resistant plantings; 3) Around 25% of the planting died or are dying, probably due to poor soil prep; 4) The watering system was not designed and had to be added onto; 5) They are very difficult to communicate with -- plain unresponsive at times; 6) Some of the workmanship was plain shoddy. Last but not least, they seemed very expensive and we only went with them because our builder recommended them. Will not make that mistake again!

I had a real problem with drainage and had several other people out to look at my problem.  Brian had the best idea and results were wonderful.  My front yard now drains around the sides of my house without coming up on my front porch and into my house during heavy rains.  It is not only functional but beautiful!

I had used Acacia for a fairly large landscape job when I built the house 1 year ago. I felt the price was quite high, but foolishly didn't get  other bids. Shame on me. The work was satisfactory, although we have run-off problems and some dead shrubs which we don't expect they will ever fix. Because I had used them, I had them bid on a job putting additional up/down lights in a few more tree clusters around the house, as well as a refresh on the mulch. The Rep (who was my Rep on the original job) came out, took about 20 minutes to hear the details and walk around, and then handed me a bid for $5,400 (NOT including tax). This included 7 up lights, 3 down lights (total of 10 lights) and delivery and spreading of 8 cubic yards of cedar mulch in our flower beds. I was somewhat shocked at the price and how quickly he arrived at the number, so I had 2 other reputable landscape companies in our area come out. After coming out, it took them several days to prepare the bid. Obviously Acacia was the highest bidder by far. The next highest (Landscaper "B") quoted 6 up lights, 8 down lights, and 1 up light for a future flagpole (15 lights) for $2,100. Acacia was almost 88% higher for 5 less lights (and I confirmed they were same low wattage/LED brass lights installed previously). Acacia quoted $1,397.50 for 8 yards spread of cedar mulch where "B" quoted 8 to 12 yards of black dyed mulch (higher quality), delivered and spread for $1,216.00. I didn't choose "B" as the 3rd quote was even lower for the same job with 15 lights and some river rock and diverts to help with the runoff issue Acacia never addressed. I called Acacia several days ago to speak with the Office Manager and shared my frustration. I was pointed, but never raised my voice or was rude other than to tell her how embarrassed and disappointed I was to have been fooled initially. I have not heard back from them with an explanation of how their estimate can be so wildly off of what other landscapers would bid the job for. I did not share Acacia's bid with them at any time, although I did mention to "B" after they presented their bid that it was much lower than another company I had bid the work. He asked who, I said "Acacia", he smirked and said, "yeah, they run pretty high". I don't know about the other jobs they bid, but I felt like I had "sucker" printed on my forehead. Caveat Emptor

However, he does not follow up on fixing things that don't go exactly right.  We had small issues with the sprinkler system that were eventually fixed. He is very hard to get ahold of after you pay him.  You have to go to his office and surprise him to get to talk to him. In the second phase, the pond build, he said his crew would remove all the cedar, clear the sight.  That never happened.  The guy he subcontracted to build the pond had to do it.  His crew removed part of our decking, an archway and platform, to install the water stream bed.  His crew burned it.  He wanted to charge me to rebuild it.  This was the last straw.  I love his designs, but his follow thru and customer service skills are extremely lacking.  He makes promises, doesn't write anything down and then forgets what he promised and committed to.  He also forgets to provide his crews with the landscape design drawing or provide them with specific  instructions.  I have more landscaping I need done, but it will not be with his company.

It was very difficult to get Bryan to respond to requests to return and fix things.  He avoided me.  Refused to return my calls.  He wouldn't take responsibility for work that was done by his crew.  He suggested that I install a water system that would provide 70 lbs. water pressure for the irrigation system he installed.  I did what he suggested.  The pressure caused fittings to separate.  One irrigation line had no cap on it.  Water was seeping out of the ground.  Bryan would't send anyone out to see it.  I sent photo's of the water line after I hired someone to dig where the leak appeared to be.  There had obviously not been a cap on the line.  Bryan said that his crew would not have done that and refused to even look at it.  Other fittings, approximately 5, separated and I had to have someone come to repair them.  Two landscape lights he installed fell off the trees because they were not attached properly.  Several lights in our front yard continue to burn out frequently where other lights he installed have not had to be replaced.  
Overall my experience with Bryan and Acacia Landscaping was a huge disappointment!
The reason that I am just now writing this review is that I really didn't want to do it.  I joined Angie's List some months ago after thinking that I should write a critique so that others would know about my experience but hesitated.  I have just now decided it is the right thing to do.
Thanks for listening!
Roland Ashby

Owner arrived the following day upon inquiry, he knew exactly the landscaping that needed to be done when I explained what I liked for plants and color scheme.  The crew showed up as planned, very professional group of people.  I would definitely use them again!

Overall it went very well, make sure that communication remains open.

Services performed in 2009 were good. However, the problems occurred during subsequent attempts to rehire them. In May 2010 they gave me a quote on extensive tree trimming services. I signed the contract and paid my deposit immediately, but the office would not put me on their schedule! A week later, I still did not have an appointment date or time. The closest they ever came to telling me when they could perform the service was "two months from now." To their credit, they processed my refund of deposit very quickly.

See above. We would not recommend them to anyone! The grass did not improve.