Lifestyle Landscapes Inc

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From our initial contact with Noelle, they were exceptionally responsive and professional. Having had terrible experiences with contractors in the past, we were delighted with the professionalism in the proposal and SOW process and the availability of Noelle as a project manager. They estimated a 1 week duration for the project (a substantial amount of work) and started and completed early! The crew was punctual, courteous, helpful, and very skilled.

We will likely have our front yard completed next year and will absolutely be working with this firm again. 

Fast, easy simple.

They're good, friendly and quick. They were timely and they did what they had to do.

This project was essentially completed in February 2013. I waited until now to write a review because I wanted to see how responsive they would be to any issues that I would have. And given now I've been waiting months for them to take action on a request, I think I can fairly say that their responsiveness has been disappointing.
The original project went relatively well but its had own problems. The original lights installed in the project were not what I anticipated. I thought I had made it very clear to the designer that I wanted lights that were finished in bronze as part of the plan. Instead, half the lights installed were encased in a hard black plastic. I went back and forth over the designer who eventually agreed to change the lights but charged me more to get the lights I thought I was getting in the first place (he did, in an apparent sop to me, waive the labor on installing the new lights).
Months after they wrapped up the project, I noticed there were some plants in the yard that were starting to bloom in an odd way. I emailed the designer about this with a picture and he told me that the plant that I was referencing was a completely different plant than I thought. I responded by telling the designer that the wrong plants had been installed and they needed to be replaced. His initial reply was that I and quot;must have misunderstoodand quot; the plant list but that he would look into it. After six weeks of multiple calls and emails, the plants were finally replaced.
In early spring of this year, I noticed a maple that had been planted as part of the project last year had died. I emailed the designer and he said he would look into it. After no action, I emailed him again asking if he had a chance to look into it. He said someone would be out that day to take a look. After that, I heard nothing. I'm now in the third month waiting to hear back from someone at Lifestyle. I'm not optimistic I will.
I originally chose this provider because they had good reviews on this site and the positive interactions I had with David, the designer on my project, when coming up with a plan. Now, after being condescended to (i.e., told i and quot;misunderstoodand quot; what was supposed to be in the project plan when I clearly didn't) and ignored, I regret that decision. As things were wrapping up, the designer's main concern seemed to be getting paid (they wouldn't process even a relatively minor change request without getting a check first) and moving on to the next project. It's disappointing since I have other projects I would have been happy to engage Lifestyle with had they treated this project and my concerns with more respect.

Although our yard has ended up looking pretty good, I'm not sure that I can trust that that will last long. Lifestyle Landscapes made some major screw ups along the way.



Summary:

- 7 diseased/damaged trees (as far as we know),

- 6 trees planted in the wrong place,

- broken irrigation pipe,

- expensive

Details:



You wouldn't believe the difficulties we had.



Over the past month, Lifestyle Landscapes planted at least 5 diseased trees and 1 tree with pre-existing damage. Those and several other trees were just ugly-shaped. I didn't pay nearly $15,000 to get ugly, diseased, damaged trees as part of the package. Luckily I had an arborist check the new trees, which is how we found out about the diseases and damage.



The Lifestyle Landscapes crew also planted 7 trees in the wrong places, and I had to get them (twice!) to move them. There was a diagram; the crew insisted that they were following it. I'd been very clear about where things should go, and the landscape designer had demonstrated to me that she understood where they should go. There was some miscommunication on the company's end.



We had 3 of our dogwoods moved to the neighbors' yard. (For $300! Yikes.) The Lifestyle Landscapes crew put one in the wrong place; another they somehow broke off near the base. They replaced it ... with afore-mentioned damaged tree. We asked for another replacement tree, and the neighbor wanted it planted in a different spot, about 10 feet away. They were going to charge $50 for that. I refused to pay that. Ridiculous.



Then a week ago I saw one of the baby fruit trees lying flat on the ground. Sent a photo ... landscape designer forwarded it to arborist ... it had ring rot.



I'd asked for a combo Asian pear at the very beginning of the design process, in March, and Lifestyle Landscapes planted a non-combo Asian pear tree instead. I discovered it after the fact, and the response was that I had signed the contract with a Shinseiki pear tree. Yeah, I should have paid more attention - caveat emptor and all that - but also shouldn't have had to. So they said that I had no recourse, despite my having an email from the earliest planning stage, saying that I did want a combo tree. After that exchange, I got them to plant a combo Asian pear in another place so that I'd actually have one, and we split the bill, but I shouldn't have had to pay for it at all if Lifestyle Landscapes had integrity. In fact, at that point, if it were my business, I'd have been apologizing profusely and trying to do something extra for the client, if only sending flowers. And chocolates.



Also, I hadn't actually signed a contract for the new combo Asian pear, so if I'd felt vindictive, I could have chosen not to pay, after Lifestyle Landscapes' earlier reference to my having signed the original contract with the tree that I hadn't requested. It was tempting.



Oh, and about the irrigation system. (Can you can see where this is going? Or flowing?) We wanted to make sure that a particular tree, planted by the arborist, was getting watered. Lifestyle Landscapes apparently found a sprinkler head there but didn't *test* the system. We tested it later; the tree wasn't actually getting water. Turns out that we had a new and quot;water featureand quot; ... there was a rivulet upstream from the tree, because the Lifestyle Landscapes crew had broken an irrigation pipe. We understand that irrigation pipes can get broken when digging is done. However, the crew should have actually tested the irrigation system during and after the planting process, fixed the pipe without having to be asked, and told us that there had been a problem.



I've been so angry. I started this process to be happier about our living environment. It's been a challenge to set that anger aside when I look at the yard, worrying about what else might go wrong with our new trees. I want to love the yard, not feel angry when I look at it.



If anything resulting from this work does go wrong, even something under warranty, I'm not sure I'd trust Lifestyle Landscapes to fix it properly. It's too bad. We hired them after our house remodel in 2007, and they did a good job then. Never again.

We had a couple of companies bid on putting in a new aggregate concrete patio and cover to replace the old 1960's ones that were still in place. We decided to go with Lifestyle Landscapes because they came in with a lower bid. From the start we had some challenges getting a specific date commitment for when the work would start and complete. When the concrete team showed up to do the work (sub-contractor), I was asking them some questions about the pour and discovered that they thought they were pouring a brushed concrete patio and not aggregate. The lead on site, checked and agreed that they were supposed to be doing an aggregate patio. They proceeded to pour the concrete.

What we did not know at the time is that the mix for a brushed patio vs. an aggregate is very different. We could see when they were trying to expose the aggregate they were having troubles, they would blow out a section with water and someone was coming behind to patch. When they were done, the porch looked horrible, it was uneven in appearance, more rocks in places and smoother concrete in others. It was also poured up to the siding, which was a concern for wicking of water. When we called our contact at Lifestyles and had him come out to look, he asked us what we wanted, we said either take it out and do it again or free. After several days and discussions with the sub contractor, they finally tore it up and re-poured.

The second pour turned out much better. The patio cover structure looks good, however, we were not thrilled with the finish work. They used clear lexan sheets (our fault for not asking to see a sample) on the top with a 1 foot seam that runs across the beams. The seam was not represented within the drawings and within two weeks was pulling in moisture and now a few months later has mold growing in it. You can also see where they tried to cut some of the lexan while in place and cut into one of the beams. We chose not to have them replace the lexan, we decided to do this ourselves, as they said this would be at our cost. When it came to some of the landscaping, here we also should have asked for sample product, the rocks and sod were not to a quality that we would have otherwise accepted.

Long story short, we accept some of the blame for the products. However, the concrete should never have been poured without the right mix and Lifestyle Landscapes should never have put us in the middle of negotiations with their sub contractor. The work took much longer that it should have because of the concrete mix up, the quality of finish work was not up to par, and in the end they made us pay full price for the work, stating that they delivered what we agreed to, but with no compensation for the time and inconvenience to us as the customer. Unfortunately, we would not recommend this company.

Initially, Dave was very responsive, and the price was reasonable at $550. He gave us drawings of the way the garden was supposed to look, and we approved.
However, after they left, we realized the garden looked NOTHING like the drawing, and we asked for a Japanese Maple in there, but got some other tree we cannot even recognize. The plants were in the wrong location, and was not on the drawing.
I called several months later to have them come back out, and Dave said he would contact me the next week. Well, three months passed, and I sent several emails, but got NO response from them. So finally I sent an email to their VP, and finally Dave called back. He mentioned that the price above was during off season, and that now since it it 'high season' (It was June) he said the prices were now tripled.
Needless to say, we went to a competitor, and got an even better price with MUCH better service.
I would NOT recommend this company at all.

They're highly recommended, very professional and the price their charge was pretty average. They pretty much did the design aspect of it. They put different designs and different pictures of plants and things like that. I worked with David and he was great, he's a great stylist. They stayed on my budget and they're very couscous and they don't make any changes so much as you'er okay with it. They're still doing the work but so far it worked well. It's a pretty big project so it took time to execute each one. They don't left a mess after their work.

That was fine! Their price was reasonable for what they did, and their service was all fine. They came when they said they would, and they did their job. There was no hassle. They did a very nice job!

Responded quickly and professionally, finished work as expected or better, followed guidance but also provided excellent advice of their own, highly recommended.

A designer, David Baxter, met with us to discuss the existing problem (no handrail and steps that were too deep; we have problems navigating steps and the depth was causing us pain and instability). We came to an agreement on the design and then went to several stone yards and a tile company to select the stone. We bought a box of 10 slate tiles from Tile For Less to spread out on the porch to see how it looked. This was the tile we selected.
Mr. Baxter then called in Rob Bendixen of Urban Steelworks to design a handrail. The handrail was made and delivered. Mr. Bendixen set the handrail in place and cemented it in. It is a beautiful piece of metalwork, and we are very pleased. Mr. Bendixen is a pleasure to work with, and we'd definitely use him again.
The tiles were set in place by experienced stone workers who chose the best placement for the various tiles. The grout was put in and looked perfect. However, when it dried, we were appalled to see that the gray grout, a perfect color for the tiles, had dried to a stark white, which we felt looked very bad. We called the company to discuss possible fixes for the problem.
The company was very cooperative in finding a solution to the problem, even though the main problem was that the subject of grout color never arose during our planning sessions. Had we picked out a color that would have dried out gray, the problem could have been averted. In the absence of that earlier step, the company sent out the tile setters to scrape a small amount of the grout out and applied a grout that dried to gray. We are very pleased with the solution to the problem. The tile setters are very experienced and a pleasure to work with. They worked very cleanly, as far as possible with an inherently messy job, and left things in good condition when they left for the day.
Overall we are very happy with the work done and enjoyed all of the people who worked on site as well as working well with Arlene in the office. Our new entry is beautiful and safe now.

Lifestyle Landscapes lived up to all the A reviews on Angie's List. They were professional,knowledgable, punctual, solid from start to finish.. The best thing is that they were willing to work from MY landscape design, drawn in colored pencil on taped together notebook paper and make it REAL. They didn't argue or try and up sell me...they only pointed out two thing that needed some tweaks on my design and they were right! It is a treasure to find a company that respects your creative flow as much as you do theirs. They also did this massive job in less than two weeks...and our garden is now a place where we hang out all the time!

We are extremely pleased. The quality of the work is very high. Crew was very professional and worked with tree placement. They went above the call of duty. They restacked two wood piles, made a dry river bed by recycling rocks, and made two platforms for water barrels. There was some damage to our patio with the Bob Cat tractor and they worked with us to get a discount on a water feature and came up with a workaround for the damaged patio, that looks better that the original! The price was a bit more than expected, but money well spent.
We will use again for phase two and will recommend to friends.

Lifestyle Landscaping did a great job. From start to finish they were a very professional company. Baxter, the design consultant for my project, was outstanding!

They did do a beautiful job. They were pricier than the others we looked at, but I liked Baxter's great ideas. They did the whole thing in about 5 hours, a week ahead of schedule. They did removal of extra dirt and some old stumps. They then put everything in. We had them put in a wire to do our own lighting. He had told us the location of the wire. Turns out they didn't leave the wire out for us to do the lighting ourselves. When we went for dint it, we had to call them back. It is buried 2 feet under the ground in order to get the lighting in. I wish they would have left a lead out for us to put the lighting in easier.

We started working with Lifestyle Landscaping in mid-July 2011. Our original goal was to extend our existing patio, remove the root remains of a tree we had removed, add a stone path from the front to the back, and have a few easy to maintain plantings. They were one of three different landscaping companies we interviewed for our backyard project and they were, by far, the team with the most interesting ideas and reasonable cost.

We meet with David Baxter several times to go over the design. He and his team were very open to our feedback on the appearance and budget constraints. They did a through evalutation of what we currently had on the property and incorporated many of the existing elements into their final design. Their presentation was very professional and they provided us with pictures and samples of the materials they planned to use so that we could better explain the final design to our HOA. We were so impressed by their work that we decided to also use them for the construction portion of the project.

The work began in late September and was completed a week later. We were blown away by the speed at which their crews worked. The first day was spent digging up our backyard in an attempt to remove the sprawling root system of an old tree. They were able to pull out enough of the roots to fill an entire truck bed. Within two days, our old concrete patio was taken out and replaced with a beautiful paver patio. It was exciting to come home everyday and see the emmence progress they had made! Baxter would solicit us for feedback in case there was anything we wanted to change along the way. He was always up front about any changes in price for any additional requests prior to starting the work.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend Lifestyle Landscaping for any projects.

I will use them again in the future.

They have done a lot of work for us. We like them a lot. They do good work and they are great people. They gave us an estimate the last time and they did more stuff than what they had on their estimate. They did a great job. I don't remember the price charged for the last service, but I thought it was reasonable.

A wonderful experience. We felt that the designer understood our vision and came back with a design that was exactly what we wanted. Very collaborative. The project manager kept us up to date on progress of landscaping project, they cleaned up the area and driveway at the end of each workday, our neighbors didn't even notice that the work was being done. The quality of the finished patio and walkway is superior, as well as the use of healthy, vigorous plants in the surrounding landscaping. The company also installed uplights and a couple of smaller lights. Everything looks good, very pleased. Definitely worth the price for the quality of workmanship and professionalism of the staff.

Their experience, professionalism, and attention to detail were evident throughout the project. They were prompt and personable - always very receptive to our ideas, yet very willing and very capable of providing their own. Communication was never a problem - we met with the manager of the project frequently and stayed in touch by both phone and e-mail. Prior to the start, we were provided a very reasonable estimate and detailed drawings, complete with pictures of the materials and plants to be used. We knew exactly what to expect. Weather was no obstacle – the project was finished on time and on budget. We wholeheartedly recommend their services to others.

The office scheduled me and told me how much it would cost. The technician arrived on time, knew what he was doing, and was pleasant to deal with. The bill turned out to be exactly as estimated.

The team was friendly, and easy to work with. I'm happy with the final product for the most part, and while the cost was higher that some competing quotes, it was still within reason. One complaint is that there wasn't much communication as to the specifics of what they were going to do. For example, I had wrongly assumed they would level out the ground before installing the new lawn. I also thought they'd use sod. I should have asked, but they also should have provided more detail. My only other complaint is that their plant warranty says that it requires an approved watering/irrigation system in order to be valid, but the designer/team never once brought that up during the project. I would have been happy to have them install something while the yard was torn up, had they mentioned it.

They were great, and I would hire them again in a flash. I really like the front man, and even though it was a trivial job they did not treat it that way. They guy who I was in contact with told me he knew a way to make the job easier and cheaper. All of their guys were very professional, neat, and tidy. The day that they came out to do the work it was pouring rain, but they still came out to get the job done. They also cleaned up so well, it was almost like they were never even there.

The team at Lifestyle Landscapes is fantastic! We had several other firms come and bid our project but after meeting with Brian the decision was easy. He carefully listened as we explained our goals and it was clear that he had a lot of knowledge and experience designing landscapes. A few weeks after our initial meeting, we met to review the landscape design. My wife and I were blown away with the quality of their work! They came prepared with huge print-out plans of the entire landscape and carefully walked us through each of the changes. In addition to the CAD prints, they gave us color photos of all the proposed plants and trees. The bid folder itemized and explained each part of the job and I loved their approach – they gave us the flexibility to prioritize pieces of the project to stay on budget. Our backyard was particularly challenging because of a steep slope and very uneven ground. They excavated a large amount of soil to level the yard and created some elevated beds to offset the drop. The new planting beds are edged with a rock retaining wall that is both functional and attractive. Another challenge was the front entry which had a number of cracks in the concrete steps. Brian referred us to a concrete specialist who advised that while the cracks were unsightly they were not a structural problem and that we could cover them. Brian chose a very nice slate and his crew did a fantastic job of turning an eyesore into a beautiful entryway. The communication throughout the process was excellent. We replaced the back deck and fencing at the same time using another contractor. Brian helped coordinate the various stages of the project and even came up with an innovative solution for the deck design to maximize our usable space. They also helped by providing the property drawings necessary to obtain a permit for the deck. The work on the final landscaping phase went surprisingly fast. Within a week our entire yard was completely transformed and we are very satisfied with the final results. The landscape looks beautiful and with the arrival of summer we’ve been enjoying our new backyard. We highly recommend Brian and his team at Lifestyle Landscapes.