Austin Dreamscapes

We have had the patio and pergola for a little over a year now and couldn’t be more pleased. The pergola is everything we wanted it to be. It is great being able to host parties in our backyard. Have had no problems with fence. Jim was very easy to work with and kept us informed on how the work was going to proceed.

Did a great job! Completed work in one day. Will use again in the future for fence repair.

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I’m sitting here enjoying my new backyard
patio/recreation/basketball area.  Jim
said to me often (though, come to find out he didn’t even know he was saying
it), “going to make it beautiful!”  That
statement instilled a confidence in him, letting me know that I could rely on
him to make me happy with the results. 
And I AM!  In fact, I am more and
more pleased every day that my family enjoys it since completion.
I called Austin Dreamscapes for a bid to create a basketball
court in an area of my yard that was on a slope.  The job would involve cutting into the side
of the slope, into solid rock, to level the area for a court.  His bid wasn’t the cheapest or the most
expensive, but he seemed like he would be easy to work with; approachable and
open to my input, which was important to me.
Excavation was the 1st major part.  They weren’t able to bring in large
equipment, so this had to be completed with a jackhammer; poor Marco did all of
this.  [Oh, before I go on, I should say
Marco and Hugo, his main guys, are the best; hard working and very pleasant to
be around.]  The excavation, took a
better part of a week due to the amount that had to be removed.  When this was complete, they put the basketball
goal in the ground, and we decided that the goal would look better placed
behind the retaining wall – we were right (or maybe it was Jim’s idea).  The retaining wall was built, and we then
decided to expand the project with upper stone patio, which was on the inside curve
of stone steps leading down to the court. 
The slab was poured.  After that I
asked them to put a stone planter at the other edge of the area, so that the
area would have a nice finished and uniform look.
The upper patio (about 4 feet above the court area) area
became a concern for both Jim and I due to the risk of someone falling
off.  So Jim suggested putting columns
and 1 rail across the top to prevent the accidental fall, yet leaving it mostly
open for an unobstructed view of the court.
The posts for the netting were initially going to be placed
in front of the existing iron fence, but I asked Jim if we could use the
existing posts.  He was open to the idea
of trying to find poles that could be placed inside of the square fence posts,
and found some that fit perfectly.  He
special ordered the nets and when these were up, they looked great, without having
2 fences making the area look too busy or cluttered.
Between the fence and the edge of the concrete, there were
some areas of cement that came underneath the form board, and I asked Jim to
get some river rock to put over it so that this could not be seen.  That really added a nice finishing touch to
the edge. 
On the side of the house, I had a small cedar gate (fence
was long ago removed); the gate remained because it screened our trash cans
from the street, even though it was old and weathered. Jim and crew removed the
gate (& posts which were set in cement), made a flagstone pad/porch to keep
the cans from killing the grass, and replaced the gate with a beautifully
stained cedar screen.
Lastly, Jim brought in mulch and grass to make the area look
neat and finished. 
It was a pleasure working with Jim and his crew.  I always felt he wanted to “make it beautiful”
and that pleasing me was his goal.  He
was very easy to work with and listened to my ideas.  Since the area was initially undefined, the
whole plan grew and changed and gradually came together; each time Jim
consulted me and got my input before continuing.  The result was better than I pictured and we
are enjoying our new play/outdoor area.  My
boys are much easier to get outdoors now that they have a place to play a
variety of games:  basketball, 4-square,
tetherball, badminton, just to name a few.
Oh, almost forgot.  I
had a stair landing that was abandoned (we moved the stairs to face a different
direction in the yard), and Marco removed that with the jackhammer too.  And they removed the wooden swing set (which
was in cement) so that we could put our trampoline in that spot. 
OK, so nobody is that perfect, just so you know he is not
superman, I have to give him a few points off for bits of debris left
behind.   I’m still finding bits of plastic and other
debris.  But I know if I pointed it out
to them at the time, they would have cleaned it up.
Jim is a “can do” guy, and I will definitely use him and
Austin Dreamscapes for my next project. 
 

I can not say enough good things about him,it was a great experience.

The overall project took 6 weeks from start to finish with the slow down being from getting permits.

Jim and his team worked very fast and efficient. No waste and very little redo. Super easy to work with and pleasant to be around. I originally only wanted him to to do some tile work but just kept giving him more and more to do until the job was complete. Do ask him to help you with the design work. His designs are classic or traditional hill country. He is a real artist.