Dzingle’s Landscaping LLC

I've worked with Doug for a while to get my lawn back to what I consider an attractive state.  The previous owners did what everyone else on the street has done: let the lawn become basically a spongy moss pit filled with weeds and thatch.  Doesn't work for me.
After trying a few other providers I settled on DZingle's because of online reviews regarding the work as well as Doug's responsiveness.  Met with him and we laid out a staggered bid for the work plus some other items (hardscape, planter,, irrigation,  fence).  I eventually gave the irrigation and planter business to other companies that were significantly lower with the same or better service warranty.  Nothing personal, just business.  
In the irrigation case, Doug came in at twice the price of another provider whose quote was nearly identical, but with a faster delivery of work.  This is not even including the Angieslist discount they offered, which put the irrigation work even lower than what it cost for Doug to renovate the entire lawn.  
In the case of the planter work, Doug provided a list of items included in the work as part of his bid; another company did basically all of those items for 10% of what Doug was bidding.  I didn't share what Doug was proposing with the other company, they just did it because "...we have to do a one-time cleanup anyway."  That company is now my full lawn and planter maintenance provider: - the cost of them to mow, edge, weed, and moss my lawn plus fully clean and organize the planter areas was 25% of Doug's bid for just the planter areas, just to put things in perspective.
In the case of the hardscape bid, I have not moved or approved this one yet because I want to get the fence in first, but the bid was lower than Doug's by a few hundred bucks only.   The fence will determine whether and how I proceed (and Doug had the best bid for the fence).
April wrapped up the second half of the lawn renovation work.
The first half involved basically thatching the whole lawn down to nothing and setting weed and moss control, then letting the lawn recover on its own.  The second half (which was combined with an aeration and overseed from TruGreen) involved basically cutting all of the grass out, laying down seed and topsoil and raking everything in, then letting it grow out again.  
While Doug and the workers, as well as some other guys, estimated this should take 2 weeks, I'd be expecting somewhere around a month.  This is with periods of rain and sun which should have provided optimal conditions.  We're now the first week of May, almost 3 weeks after, and the lawn is definitely visibly recovering but not nearly to full (see photos).  I'm thinking that constant sun would be the key to faster growth.  The side of the house hasn't grown nearly as consistently, and it gets the least amount of sun.
Doug and the guys are extremely flexible and hard working and they care about quality.  Price might be a concern when comparing bids, they're not the cheapest, and by their admission don't want to be, because of the quality you should expect.  While this is a fair stance, I do think that in some cases, it's a matter of how they explain the services.  Were you to read what the work entails, you would question how they can justify the costs.    That said, I have not been dissatisfied with the services provided.  The lawn is recovering and definitely looking better than it did before I did the work.
If I were to give feedback, it's that more detail should be given as to the actual scope of work so it's clear what is involved and why it costs what it costs (i.e. instead of "topsoil", maybe "lay down enriched soil to full lawn, apply seed, weed and moss control, rake to evenness, monitor over growth period".  I don't know.  Something.  

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It went wonderfully!  I had spoken to several landscapers & gotten quotes.  I chose Dzingle's Landscape for several reasons:  Russ was professional,  he arrived as scheduled, he quickly saw the scope of the job that needed to be done, had good ideas and gave me the feeling that he would work with me both with the repair and my budget.  I could not be more pleased with the job that was done.  Russ is extremely knowledgeable about plants, what will work and what won't.  He also has good ideas on design.  In spite of what looked overwhelming to me Russ seemed to have an eye for exactly what needed to be done & was clear in his thoughts and explanation of the process to reach that goal.  I was so overwhelmed by the horrible mess the septic company had left and the damage that had been done I was desperately in need of a man like Russ that could look at the damage and  reduce it down to what needed to be done.......if that makes sense?  It was clear that he had the knowledge and experience to tackle my "project".   He gave me an estimate of the price it would cost and even though I "added on" a few things
in the process  I was amazed that he actually did all he said plus the extra things and still came in under budget!.............  In my experience that is a very rare happening I might go further & say it is rather unheard of! 
   I was concerned by some of the reviews on Angie's List; folks saying that they felt a lack of communication with this company.  That did concern me because I had just been through that very same thing with the septic company that installed my septic system.  That certainly was not the case with Russ.  He was always available to me if I had questions or concerns, He  listened to me, gave me ideas, asked me what I thought/wanted even went with me to the nursery and we picked out plants.  Taking him to a nursery is like taking a plant encyclopedia!  Wonderful experience!  I found him to be sensitive to my limited budget and worked  within it even to the degree of salvaging and relocating the plants that managed to survive.  He found ways to "recycle" in order to cut my expense.  His crew worked very hard and they all were very skilled at  their jobs.  If I could give this company a grade higher than an A+ I would.  There is still some work I would like done and I most definitely will hire them again without reservation. I look forward to working with them in the future.

The project went very smoothly.  Dzingle's was the second company I had requested a quote from to get synthetic turf installed in my yard, was initially interested in verifying the previous quote - but after discussing the project with the foreman (Doug Dzingle), I felt more comfortable with them and ultimately used them for the project. 

After receiving the quote, I took some time to review and contemplate - after thinking about it, I got back to Doug and asked if we could modify the scope a bit to reduce the cost and fit into my budget.  He was very much willing to help, we discussed some minor changes to the project and my target budget, Dzingle's was great to work with in that regard.

When it came time to start the project, Dzingle's was willing to work around the fact that we have a dog with a dog door - closing it during the day would cause my dog stress (which he would take out on the house), there were not any issues at all - despite them being on site for about seven total days, they kept the gates shut and he was safe at home every day.  Doug would give me daily updates on the project, including photos of progress.  We were able to communicate frequently to confirm exactly what was being done in real time, avoiding any potential re-work or disappointment down the road. 

As for how it all turned out, I really couldn't be much happier, the yard looks great and we got it done within budget (synethetic turf is not cheap, but they were very competitive and have a great product).  My dog now has a year-round perfect grass yard for him to run around and play on, and we have very little maintenance to keep it that way.  I'd give them an A+ rating!

We had to get some yard work done and he was kind of arrogant during the estimate. But we went with him because his prices seemed good and he could get the job done fast. He was also willing to give us a deal because we were close to his business in Auburn. They missed the cement base in one of our fence post holes, so we called him regarding this. He then told us that there was no way that they had missed it. However the fence was quite wobbly and we dug down to check for cement, and there was none. He made us take pictures to send to him and he never contacted us back. We paid him the full amount for this (and EARLY too.) He never gave us an invoice, so we asked for one at the end of the year and he never got back to us. We had to ask 3 times to get a stupid invoice so we could file our taxes. My husband actually had to threaten to contact the Better Business Bureau to get them to send us an invoice. They finally sent us an invoice....but they never fixed our fence.

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It was a hurry, hurry job by the provider. We wanted a natural look and got water coming out of a black plastic pipe. I have never seen water coming out of a black pipe in nature. We got no instruction on how to clean the filters, or where they are, where the pumps are if they ever need repair. For what we paid we feel we were really taken advantage of. Then hurry and pay as he had to close his book by year end.

It was pretty good. They were good people to work with. There's a little bit of trouble getting some follow up. I know they're busy but we needed a little bit of attention following up the install just to check on the condition of the lawn and how the grass was coming in and to answer some questions. That's the only issue we've encountered. It was pretty labor intensive after they left. We didn't retain them to water it in and all that stuff. We've had several landscapers working out here and these guys were the best so far. When they were doing the job, they were right on top of it.

The work is excellent. The quality, professionalism, and responsiveness are excellent. Our yard has never looked better.

My expectations were far exceeded. I love, love, love my yards. Russ and his team are extraordinary and very talented. See before and after pictures of my back yard with my review under and quot;DZINGLE'S LANDSCAPINGand quot;.

I contacted four different landscapers and chose Dzingle's Landscaping and worked with Russ Dzingle. If you like the short version, give Russ a call, he is AMAZING! The work he and his team did far exceeded my expectations! For the longer version, keep reading. Russ is very nice, professional and timely. I came to know Russ through a neighbor whose yards were transformed by him. During the bid process he met with me several times, more than once in my yards and also at the Dzingle's site where he showed me landscaping styles, different plants and materials. I liked his ideas and concepts for my yards, his focus on building a good foundation and doing the job right the first time and using high quality material (which includes lights). He listened and made note of styles, materials and plants I liked. He was the only landscaper to include both a sketched drawing of his concept and a list of suggested plants with the bid. His bid's price quote was competitive and he worked with me to plan a job within my budget. (In all honesty I initially thought the cost was a bit high but now that it's doneand hellip;wow, I got my money's worth!) Considering the enormous transformation of my yards, I can't believe how fast they got it done. They also power-washed and cleaned up before leaving. Russ treated my yard like it was his own, doing things the way he would want them done in his yard. Russ was often on site and he was always available by phone (before, during and after the project) and we had a walk through/wrap-up meeting when the project was complete. He is pleasant, personable and calm which makes him a pleasure to work with and he has good interaction with his employees (who were also hard working and pleasant). I never liked being in my yard until I had a yard I liked being in! I LOVE it during the day and at night! Call Russ!

They are reliable, dependable and do a great job.

Part 1 – Renovation Summer 2010 - Over the previous 2+ years, my husband and I had devoted very little time to the upkeep of our yard, and it was a mess. The lawn was filled with dandelions, and not at all healthy looking. Weeds and grasses were growing in every nook and cranny. The flower beds were actually “weed” beds. Our recently built rockery pond was also a mess - green algae throughout the pond and a broken pump. I knew it was time to call in the pros. After having a couple bad experiences with contractors, I signed up for Angie’s List, and found Dzingle’s Landscaping. I’ll never go back to Yellow Pages surfing! Russ was prompt in visiting our home for an assessment of the situation, and giving an estimate. He was able to schedule a date for the service within the following 2 weeks. His crew was fantastic! Prompt, knowledgeable, and very efficient. I was particularly impressed with the ethics Russ displayed. The pond pump wasn’t working. Another contractor might have declared the pump ‘dead’ and charged me for a new, higher priced pump. But Russ pulled out the pump, found and removed a bit of debris, and put it back in place – without any extra charges. The end result of the renovation/clean-up was a fantastic looking yard! Part 2 – Maintenance The renovation/clean-up was done by Dzingle’s in the summer of 2010. When spring 2011 arrived, my husband and I sat down to talk about how we were going to spend our retirement days. We came to the conclusion that working on yard maintenance wasn’t high on our priority list. So we called Dzingle’s. We have now had their weekly maintenance service for a little over a year, and it’s been the best investment we’ve ever made! Every Friday, the 2-man Crew arrives. The lawn is mowed during the growing season; flower beds are raked, and weeds removed; all edges are trimmed; fertilizer and weed killer applied; shrubs and small trees are trimmed; Fall leaves are removed; and the list goes on. Our yard is pretty simple - certainly nothing noteworthy enough to post in Better Homes and Garden! But thanks to Dzingle’s, we have the best looking yard in the neighborhood – all year long!

The best experience I have ever had with a contractor. He is truly amazing. He never ever nickle and dimed me. In fact, was always stopping by to tweak things here and there, add this and that(like an entire retaining wall) without putting more on my bill. He was patient with me when I would panic or have difficulty looking at samples. He is constantly trying to keep costs down. He understands that sometimes you have to do things in stages due to cash flow. He stopped by before winter to turn of my sprinkler system and will return in the spring to reset it. You will be very pleased if you use Russ and his brother for your work. You will not regret it. I got Russ's number from a friend when I saw the work he did in her yard. He gets many referrals from word of mouth for sure! I have to add that he has a wonderful calm personality and is always reachable by phone. He was on site quite often to oversea and do much of the work. His assistants were also highly skilled and reliable. They never left the work site messy.

We have worked with them previously. It was a very small area and we were just doing one segment of the yard as 10x14 was all the lawn we had. We thought they did a really good job. When we had problems they came back and dealt with the problems. We felt they did a good job. We had some problems with some bare patches in the lawn so they came back and reseated those areas. They were on the higher side of the bids that we received but we were impressed because we had heard about them from somebody as well. We've actually found somebody else that was working for a neighbor here so we didn't call them on the work we were doing. I don't know if they do hardscaping because that's what we are doing right now.

The work they did was top notch and it was done quickly. We were extremely happy with it for the first few months. Now we are only pretty happy with it. The job they did with the retaining wall was perfect, and the flagstones look great. The job they did with the stairs was somewhat dissapointing in that they seemed to run out of and quot;Gator-Dustand quot;, (a kind of mortar), as they went along and now we have a lot of weeds growing up through the stairs. Also, some of the stairs have begun to settle and become uneven. Our contract called for at least two inches of top soil for the lawn but we began to see large brown spots form at the slightest dry spells. I took core samples at these locations and found that the topsoil was much less than two inches. Where the grass was green, we had at least two inches of topsoil.

I called doug early this spring and asked if I could buy some grass seed and gator dust to repair the problems I was seeing. I was willing to do the work myself and pay him for the materials. He said sure and said he would come to my house and take a look at the situation. When I hadn't heard from him in over a month, I called him again and he again said he would stop over. It is now almost November and too late to do the repairs this season. I wanted the exact seed and Gator-Dust used on my yard so they would match perfectly. Now it looks like I'll have to go out and find my own in order to fix my yard next year.

We really can't complain about the work that was done for the money charged considering all of the extras they and quot;threw inand quot;. I am very dissapointed at Doug's lack of response to my requests for repair materials however.

I would recommend Dzingle's in spite of the problems I had, with the suggestion that you have someone there to keep an eye on things to see that the work is done exactly according to the contract specifications and to your satisfaction.

They are amazing. They have done waterfalls and commercial jobs. We will be contracting them for more work. Everything was phenomenal. The people working were quick and fast. I felt a little bad for them because they would come at 8:00 in the morning and work straight through until 5:00 at night with one half-hour break. They broke their backs and worked hard all day. They were amazing. I still have people stop to ask me who did the front yard. The house is 100 years old. I have gotten a lot of compliments. I knew that I would be paying top dollar, so I hired the best company for the job, not the company with the best price. We have had them back several times to do some weeding and up-keep, and they have been amazing.

Russ and Doug Dzingle have been awesome to work with each time we have needed their services. What has impressed us the most is the fact that they have consistently gone above and beyond what we have asked for. The original work done in our back property exceeded our expectations, transforming it from an ugly dust-bowl into a potential Homes and Garden showcase. As the work progressed there were some changes made that enhanced the final product without any additional up-charges. The crew that actually did the work were also outstanding. The work was done very professionally and to our complete satisfaction. When the tree came down, Russ was very responsive, which was reassuring for my wife as I was out of the country at the time. And once again everything was well done. A few minor issues were taken care of right away. These guys are great!

Our yard was a wreck! Although it was only 3 years ago we had a major overhaul done of the yard, with each of us in our 60's and each with time consumming jobs, it was impossible for us to keep up with the maintenance. The flower beds had become "weed beds", my husband was mowing more clover and dandelions than grass, and the pond was a green, slimmy mess. But Russ and the Dzingle's crew brought our yard back to life! It's wonderful to sit on our back deck and see neat, clean flower beds, and listen to the water cascading down the rocks of the pond. Communication was excellent; my calls were always returned in a timely fashion. The workers were prompt, very efficient, and knowledgeable. And I commend the integrity of this company. The pond pump stopped working during the hard freeze a couple years ago. The initial estimate for the pond clean-up was based on repairing the current pump; if replacement was needed, that would be at an additional cost. Russ took the time to diagnose, and repair the pump. We'll be using Dzingle's Landscaping for all our yard and lawn needs!

We were trying to level off a pool area to put a portable pool up. They had to level the ground. One great thing he did was to give us information on how to treat plants and grass giving a detailed evaluation of the yard.

He was always very prompt in getting back in touch with me. We communicated through email and phone calls. As soon as the contract was signed, they started work the next day. They were professional and SO fast. What I assumed would take a week took them 2 days. I am still thrilled with the results. Anytime I need landscaping service Dzingles is my go-to service company.

I contacted Dzingles along with several other landscaping companies to get bids. The range of bids for this small job was between $1,800 and $9,000. Part of the reason for the variation was that as I got each bid, I got new ideas. My wife and I have learned to pay for value so while other bids were lower than Dzingles, we decided to get second bids from Dzingle and one other company (both at the high end) that seemed to be most qualified and most helpful. The owner, Doug, did both bids himself. The second bid would have been higher because of the changes I requested, but he dropped the price based on the bid I got from the other company. My only face-to-face time with Doug was during the bidding process, though he and his wife did follow-up a few times (the other companies didn't). I did most of the communication via email so we could make sure our discussion and agreements were written down. Responses were generally quick. Doug and his crew showed up when they said they would, did what they promised to, got it done very quickly and cleaned up after themselves. The rockery walls were rebuild and are gorgeous. They not only rebuild the walls, but added design features that really added to their appearance. Doug and I agreed to the basics of the block retaining wall, but he and his crew made it look even better. They adjusted the design slightly to fit the look, shape and flow of the space. When the block wall was partially constructed, I was concerned about some of the ways it was being build. But the final product showed the Dzingles guys not only know how to build these walls, but how to design simple features like this to enhance the look of the space. They guarantee their work and don't request payment until the job is done and the customer is satisfied - which is very unusual, but appreciated! Guess that comes from being a family owned business! We are very satisfied.

Dzingle's was one of three bidders. They were not the lowest, but I don't believe in going with the lowest. I immediatle felt that Russ Dzingle was the right person as soon as we began to go over the project. I had hired a garden consultant to help me conceptionalize the plan, and then walked the property with each bidder. Russ was able to understand the problems, make suggestions, and his bid reflected a comprehensive plan. We worked with my budget to adjust the contract. Some perennials will be planted in the spring, and I will be doing more work with Russ in the future when the back yard is not so much the territory of Jake, my ten-year-old German shepard. Russ and his crew were extremely responsive and helpful and I am thrilled with the result. I have been waiting for years to do this!

VERY EASY TO COMMUNICATE WITH AND HAD GOOD DESIGN OPTIONS TO FIT OUR BUDGET. EXTREMELY QUICK TO SCHEDULE AND COMPLETE WORK. WORKERS WERE GOOD ABOUT KEEPING AREA CLEAN WHILE DOING JOB AND CLEANING UP AFTER. COULD USE A LITTLE MORE FOLLOW-UP AFTER WORK WAS COMPLETED. THE YARD LOOKS GREAT!