Mawyer Enterprises

DON'T HIRE MAWYER YOU WILL NEED A LAWYER. On January 20, 2008 we entered into a contract with Mawyer Enterprises to do landscaping which included 14 items, level the entire yard, remove stumps, enrich the soil and add top soil, clean culverts, dig driveway, install fencing, install flower beds and trees and other additional small items. To date (6/09) Mr. Mawyer has not performed any of the work. He stopped calling us after we signed the contract and gave him $3,400 as a deposit. We would call him and he would make excuses for why he could not start the work. Usually the excuses were due to other work going on at our property (mostly inside the house). Even though he knew there would be other work going on when he entered into the contract he never mentioned it would be a problem until he needed it as an excuse. The work has not been done. He refuses to return the $3,400 and we have since found through the Virginia Beach small claims court website that there are others who contracted Mawyer Enterprises with the same problem. DO NOT sign a contract with him or give him any money.

HIRE A LAWYER! Initial start date was June 14th with the job taking 2 weeks. Ralph didn't start working until July 16th. I fired Ralph on September 2nd while the job was 1/4 complete. The 2.5 months I had Ralph "working" on my yard he showed up 5 days and he never worked 8 hours, more like 3 hours a day. This is not a joke. In two and a half months he showed up 5 days! This man is the master of excuses and lying about why he is not working! He should be run out of town. Do not hire Ralph Mawyer.

The completed job done in the fall in the front yard beds was okay but they did not plant some of the shrubs deep enough, leaving the top of them sticking up three inches above the dirt. It also took a lot longer than the end date in the contract but they finally did complete the job about a month later. The main problem was that he tore up the yard with his machinery, which he did not forewarn me about, and replaced the dirt but did not grade it out, leaving very uneven soil, then seeded it with an inferior grade seed which is now brown and will not grow. It almost looks like straw and not even fertilizing it made any difference. Its probably rye grass which he did not inform us that was what he planted. It was fall, he could have used decent seed or let us know and we would have seeded with a high quality seed. We'd already seeded for the year and did not feel the need to seed over what he planted. We will have to repair this in this fall. On the second job in the back yard, I signed a contract on April 12, 2008 to have this work completed by May 12th. His men finally came out to remove the shrubs and do the wooded area at the end of May. They did not thoroughly clean the work area. To date, (June 19th) the mulch in the front has not been placed in the beds and the beds are filling with weeds. On both jobs, he needed to be called several time to remind him to come and complete the job. He also insisted on "up front" payment and cashed my check on April 16th for a job that is still not completed. I paid 1000.00 for the second job which the workers completed in about two hours to remover under ten shrubs and a dozen or so saplings from the woods. He made me believe this would be a "big" job. Repeated calls to him about the mulch results in him saying "next week". When I asked him about the delay he told me that if he got to everyone in the order he gave them a contract, he'd never get anything completed. Then it was "the weather". My concern is that I have paid him and have no control now over when he will finally finish this job. The owner of this business is a nice guy as were his workers, but I would advise consumers to stay away. I think the fact that he insists on "up front" payment give him absolutely no incentive to complete your job. I learned a lesson the hard way....I will never again pay for anything up front.

None of the work they did was good at all. The edging; I and my kids could have done a better job. Then they threw the bushes that they removed in to the woods behind my house. I expected a truckload of Nature's Blends, so I could do some planting, and he brought the smallest bags you could buy and put a thin film down, it wasn't even a half an inch. I was very disappointed. He quoted me $4000, and when I said that was too much he went down 50 percent. He didn't oversee his crew. They would start something and move to something else. I am very disappointed in the quality of the work that was done, all of it.

Don't use Mawyer... you'll need a lawyer! A seemingly nice person, but undependable, & the crew does shoddy work when they finally get around to it. In our case, Ralph put in shrubs which were different than the ones he contracted for. We wanted azaleas around the front, & he didn't, so just added 2 under a tree instead. Throughout the beds, he put down inferior mulch filled with fungus. He did not remove the grass layer before putting the mulch down, & as a result we have grass & mushrooms constantly growing in the landscaped areas. 15 of the 40 shrubs died within the first 3 weeks & he has never replaced them even though they were guaranteed. He has always promised to make things right, but now he doesn't even return phone calls.

This crew is almost automatic when it comes to doing their job. They do little talking and usually finish our yard in relatively short period of time. They are always on time and are well behaved while on the property. The yard is spotless of weeds and the grass is always green. They do a fantastic job.