Beck Landscaping

Our experience with Beck Landscaping is a one ½ year project that is still unfinished. We experienced a lot of overpromising, under delivering, lack of attention to detail on making the backyard hold up for the price, and extreme slowness to responding. In the beginning and along the way, Brian will tell you things will get taken care of, but then forgets or refuses to complete his end of the agreement. From afar, our backyard looks really nice, when you get up to it though, there is a huge lack of awareness on the details. We've got travertine pieces cut incorrectly, pieces moving, and 1/2 gaps between pieces with no filling. Our full, detailed review was too many characters to fit into Google, so my overall impression is that Beck Landscaping can make something look pretty to the distant eye, but there will be a severe lack of quality and lack of longevity to your expensive investment into upgrading your yard. You’ll get an expensive temporary bandaid. I’ve built houses, decks, installed electrical lines, installed new plumbing lines, and have a solid understanding of major projects and scheduling. I found that Brian would answer questions with whatever answer needed to make you happy in the moment, but then would not follow through with quality workmanship and with commitment to his word. On a positive note, his crew was extremely respectful and tidy. When he had other teams that he contracted with through Cary Chapman sent out, they were terrible. They had poor workmanship and left their trash. Brian’s prime guys would clean up after them and tried to do the best they could. I think there was a major lack in communication from Brian and down to his crew on expectations and agreements. We used Beck Landscaping for two projects. The first a few years ago to replace the main water line to the house and install sprinklers. That went quickly and the workers were great. Along the way, Brian promised that he would sketch out where the sprinklers and lines were installed. He never did that even after we asked a few times. That should have been our first red flag, but I chalked it up to a one off and decided to use Beck Landscaping again. Our second project - resurfacing a pool, tearing out old decking, and replacing with travertine - officially began mid January 2021. It's June 2022 and is STILL not complete. In January 2021, we were promised it'd be complete by the end of March 2021. We last reached out to Brian three weeks ago with the list of things needed to wrap up the project and still haven't heard back. Three weeks! Our detailed review was took long to post in Google. The explanations in the pictures aren’t even half of it. I’m happy to share details with anyone who reaches out with more information and we will update this review if Beck Landscaping ever follows through and finishes the project. • Took more than a year to get the pool gunite in and plastered. Delays blamed on COVID even though we saw multiple friends get pools installed without delays. First plastering was HORRENDOUS and splotchy. We notified the crew of the issue the day off. Still made us wait three weeks and fight for a fix. Took a few months to get the plaster ripped out and redone. We paid for the extra waters and pool chemicals at our own expense even though we identified the issue immediately. The issues cost us time and money that were not reimbursed. • Poor measuring on the travertine cuts, causing the deck pattern to be offset. Brian requested our agreement many times that the travertine would be squared off to the pool and forewarned us that it might not align against the house correctly. It was well communicated and we understood, but the opposite happened and the travertine was not squared off to the pool, causing issues in the primary hang out spot. Brian promised to fix it. Then refused to fix it and said he’d rather write us a check. Then said we could propose a discount. Then retracted that and is asking us to pay the full costs for travertine that is not aligned as we agreed. • We specifically told Brian that we were worried about weeds growing between the travertine. He assured us it would not be a problem because the pieces would be tightly together and have stabilized sand between them. We’ve got travertine with ½ gaps and no sand. It was not cheap at all for travertine and it looks terrible when you walk over it. Also not practical for maintenance to have gaps. • One side of our yard was torn up for lay pool plumbing. We were told that the pavers pulled up would be put back exactly as they were. We had sand between the pavers, but Brian’s crew wouldn’t put it back between the pavers, again causing issues with maintenance. • Tour up concrete ramp without permission, replaced with gravel that spills under our gate and into the yard, causing issues with mowing. Brian would not replace the concrete that was torn up without our permission. • We paid extra to get the pool drains up to code and do a split drain. The plumbing from the pool drain to the pumps wasn’t even installed. Brian told us he’d refund us for it, but now won’t. • Brian’s workers accidentally cut out a small tree, promised to replace it, then wouldn’t. • Siding was damaged. We had to pay the guy sent to fix it with the promise of reimbursement. Had to fight to get reimbursed, but the guy did a terrible freaking job. There was a garbage bag temporarily covering the spot. The guy left a freaking garbage bag taped over the space and stuck the siding on top of it. Put no moisture barrier in place. I ended up noticing and refused to let him proceed replacing siding on our house without moisture barrier. He tried not to, but we kept pushing. Brian promised to fix it at the garage, then never did. • The wrong pool ladder was ordered for us. We eventually gave in on letting them install it because we were done dealing with it. Our fault. It was then installed incorrectly and was wobbly. Beck Landscaping’s solution? Cement in the part of the handles that are not supposed to be cemented, without our permission! Now we can’t remove the handles without cracking into the travertine. • We were supposed to get a bubbler installed as a makeup for a ridiculous upcharge that was put on us due to delays. Never got the bubbler. We’ve been asking and it’s still not installed. • Our pool pump and booster were left to run dry on THREE separate occasions. One of the times was for weeks while we were out of the country and Beck Landscaping was taking care of pool startup. Anyone who knows anytime about pool pumps know they cavitate when running dry. Brian said he’d refund us the cost of pool pump replacement, but now hasn’t followed through. • We had weed barrier installed under Blackstar gravel, but the weed barrier doesn’t cover the whole area! There are at least one inch gaps where the barrier doesn’t go all the way up to the fence line, so of course we paid extra for weed barrier and already have it growing in the gaps. • We were told we’d get movable eyeball fittings installed for the pool, we didn’t We’re also still missing parts. • Our pool ended up leaking. It went on for weeks and we were getting no answers on how to deal with it. Finally we agreed that we would pay for the leak check and repair and Brian would reimburse us. So we paid. Mistake. Brian again backed out and won’t reimburse. • The backwash line from our pool pump to sewage drain was pulled out and not replaced. Brian told us he’d reimburse us if we replaced it, but now won’t. • PVC piping was installed to our booster pump instead of the appropriate flex line (which is what we had originally and the type of plumbing that should be installed for a high rpm pump). We notified Brian and were told he’d reimburse us for the replacement, but no will not. • We were constantly given a date that people would be here for work, so we’d take off work, losing money and productivity for us. Then we’d get a no show, no notification. • We were told we’d get 8 – 10 spare pieces of waterline tile. We got two good pieces and two chipped pieces. Last we were told is that we could take the chipped pieces to the store for replacement ourselves. We need to be the ones to follow through on getting good pieces when we paid for a project manager to mange the project?? • Our travertine was sloped incorrectly and during a heavy rain, it flooded into our house. Thankfully, Brian sent someone out immediately to correct it, but the cost of repair the damage inside of our house was all on us. • The lowest level of siding on our house was damaged by Beck Landscaping workers. We were the ones who identified that the siding needed fixed before the rest of the travertine could be placed. Brian was extremely confused about it and was very frustrated that we held fast to fixing the siding before finishing the travertine first. It’s very obvious that when the travertine is down, you can’t access the lowest level of siding anymore. It was one of those things that we expected the project manager to be aware of and tracking that we had to catch. • We didn’t really need new gutters, but Brian convinced us that we should get larger gutters so that when it rains, the water wouldn’t spill over. So we got the new, larger gutters. First rain and the rain is spilling over the top. We take a video and send it to Brian to show him that it’s not what we paid for. He promised to fix it, never did. • The edge of our travertine that butts up against the Blackstar gravel is not straight! On each of the two ends, it awkwardly angles inward. • Brian told us his crew would arrange all our potted plants nicely once the project was finished. Not only did it not happen, but everything that was moved to our front and side yards for a year was left there for us to move back ourselves. • Trash from pool plumbing was left in our side yard for six months before we finally demanded that it be removed. • Whenever we reached out to Brian to finish the project, he’d tell us that he’d try to work us in. Work us in? For a project that started in January 2022? If Brian does not finish your project within a few days, be prepared for it to take months to a year. If you have a very small, specifically gardening related project, I think Brian and Beck Landscaping can handle something small and quick. For larger projects or for creating a backyard that will last you more than a year, I cannot recommend Beck Landscaping. Your time and your funds are worth more than covering up the details with something that looks temporarily pretty. Your home is an investment. Choose a company that is in it for the long game and that understands the details of materials and project management/scheduling. If you keep hearing from Beck Landscaping that everything will be taken care of and look amazing, that is a red flag. It needs to look amazing up close, it needs to last you a long time, and it needs to be functional.