NATURAL ESCAPES

For the initial meeting, Dave had a good proposal and design.  We had 2 other bids, and he was the middle quote.  He offered more detailed work than the higher bid.  On the first day, they started digging for the sprinkler lines without calling the utility company and cut the phone / cable / internet line.  Though the crew was friendly, they were slow.  What was promised in 4 weeks took 8 weeks...not because of rain, but because of the random work hours.  If they showed up, it was around 9 - 10 AM then breaking for lunch and leaving around 3:30.  When they were there, not much work was going on.  For the front yard, they did not grade the lot.  Plants promised were not used but replace with cheap holly and smaller trees.  For the back yard, they did not level as promised - in fact, no dirt was brought in.  They did install a french drain but without the dirt work, we still have a swamp in a portion of the back yard.  Dave ran out of money to finish the grass so we gave him a payment to buy grass.  The grass looked terrible to start and then it sat in our front yard for a week dying before it was laid.  When he said he was finished, the promised rock work was only half finished.  When confronted, he said he was out of money and couldn't finish, so he offered $1200 off.  This does not even cover how much we were short changed.  Though the landscape lighting looks nice, the box has wires hanging out and was not sealed up.  My husband has spent hours trying to fix the sprinkler system to actually water what it was supposed to.  We ended up paying him what was contracted just to be done with him since we don't have the time to sue him.  We have since brought in another landscaper to estimate how much it will cost to fix the inadequate work done by Natural Escapes.  Things such as the lumpy grass will take years to fix unless we rip it all back out.  The work is so bad that the neighbors though we did ourselves!
I can't stress it enough.....do not use this company!