THE BRUCE CO

They do a good job. It's a local company. They're competitive. I would definitely use them in the future. We've had to work with them to tell them what we needed, what we wanted and when. They've been very responsive. They've answered all our requests.

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They did a good job and replaced sod that was removed.  The lawn had only a small scar for a couple of weeks, but came back nicely.  They took great care not to disrupt anything they didn't have to.

Grated front and back yard, planted grass and put in front, back and side plantings. They were very efficient and game back within the time indicated with three backordered plants.

The company representatives were timely, professional, neat and tidy during and after installation. All went according to plan. Follow up contact with the company has been perfect, from annual maintenance on the sprinkler system to questions regarding the maintenance and care of the trees and shrubs. We have found that Bruce provides great value for the money spent with the company. Our interactions at the store on Parmenter habe been the same, helpful and professional. And the ceramic pots on sale at the end of the year can't be beat!

Love the landscape plan and the finished product, but it was an ordeal to get there.  I, perhaps naively,  expected much more from a full service landscape company. 

The project did not start within the time frame promised and took much longer than promised; weather was not an issue.  There is a real communication issue at the Bruce Company.  Things that were agreed upon with the landscape architect were not executed without several follow-up phone calls and site visits by the architect.  The project manager was not helpful and did not add any value.

During the course of the project, nothing was done to protect the mature trees that were being kept.  Soil within their drip-lines was severely compacted by heavy equipment and large roots cut off at the trunk.  There is still a compacted soil problem even after remediation by an outside arborist.  My adjacent deck was damaged while laying the pavers.  No one told the workers that there were different color pavers that needed to be randomly mixed by them.   

That  said, the workers did satisfactory work once they finally received correct instructions.

This project took much more effort on my part to achieve the desired result.

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I bought my house in Dec 2012. The previous homeowner had used The Bruce Company to do all of the landscaping and tree planting. (Incidentally, the previous homeowner used to work for the Bruce Co). One of the trees in the front of the home never survived when it was planted. I contacted The Bruce Co. to use their 2-year tree warranty, and was denied because they said the warranty was not transferable to new homeowners. That makes no sense to me and is not stated in the warranty paperwork I was given by the original homeowner. Regardless, Bruce Co. could have simply resolved this by doing an act of goodwill given that the entire home was landscaped by them.
When I asked for the Bruce Co. to send someone over to investigate the tree and provide estimates for new trees I wanted planted, they did send someone over from their landscaping (Linda). Linda was very informative in giving me various tree options and said she would prepare a written price estimate. However, after she concluded her 30-minute trip giving me price estimates for various trees, she asked that I pay $75.00 for an on-site trip charge. That was never stated to me during my phone call, so I simply refused to pay. Over 2 months later, she never followed up sending me her price estimates in writing. So I decided I would just go to the retail location on Parmenter Street to find my own specialty trees.
The retail store had a 30% discount on ornamental trees, so I bought a pear tree from them last week. The labor charge they quoted for tree delivery was $40 and $240 for installation. They do subcontract out, but that labor and delivery is way too high. I compared that to the tree planter Felly's Flowers on Nesbitt uses, and he quoted me at $100 for delivery and labor total, tax included. So I passed up Bruce Company's insanely high service fees for a local independent instead.
My last biting experience with Bruce Company was finding out that by the time I had picked up my pear tree, their prices had already dropped to 50% off. They failed to mention that to me at the time I picked up the tree four days ago (from today's writing). The tree cost $180, so I was not asking for a significant discount. I stopped by the retail store to ask if they would kindly credit me back the additional 20%, given that their 50% discount had already applied before I picked up my tree, but they refused to offer me the credit. I received a very corporate response of and quot;You purchased a tree that someone else may likely have bought, so a retroactive credit does not apply. To get the credit, you'd have to return the tree and re-buy it.and quot; Goodness, the Bruce Company is comprised of a bunch of penny-pinching scrooges. It's a shame, because the staff that work on the grounds at their retail store are super nice. I can't believe how little effort it would take for the Bruce Company to have changed their impression I had of them, but that's what happens when the people behind the registers and the landscaping divisions are only concerned about the bottom line.
Whether my new pear tree survives or not, the Bruce Company is not one I'd ever deal with again, and I certainly would not recommend them to anyone.

Service above and beyond what would normally be expected. There was no cost for the service -- I just bought the pump. The other staff were also helpful in the checkout process--making sure I got the pump warranty and a cart to take the fountain to my car.

Unfortunately, our second experience with the Bruce Company went quite badly. We had put in about $2400 in landscaping earlier in the year, been very pleased, and hired the Bruce company to install twenty arborvitae around the borders of our yard.
The crew was great, professional and helpful and I was quite pleased. A number of the trees died, and I was assured there was a guarantee and they'd be replaced. It took almost six phone calls to get things sorted out. Four messages I left went unanswered. Finally, I got a call back and learned it was not a replacement, but a credit and since the trees had been on sale, it would not cover the replacements. As I didn't want more arborvitae in that area, that was okay and the person I dealt with suggested I go with cheaper viburnum and a few more expensive pines, which I was happy with.
Then getting that arranged to have installed is where my whole experience went so badly. The person with whom I dealt was simply unfriendly and discourteous. To be fair, this must be a very busy time of the year for her and she did finally get the replacements arranged and a date scheduled for their planting, so she got the job done. She insisted I come in to do the paperwork, so I rearranged my schedule to meet with her. Walking in, despite my concerns that she hadn't been very friendly, I had planned to purchase four or five more large shade trees and have them delivered the same time the replacements came, but two minutes into our conversation I thought I simply would not be willing to deal with this woman again.
And while I won't use the company again, they have done some good things. They did the original landscaping to our house that is now over a decade old and is still quite lovely. The other landscaping they did for us last year similarly looks beautiful and the trees and shrubs are all healthy. And as I mentioned before, I felt the install crew was simply terrific. So if you're a bit more thick skinned, I wouldn't discourage you from using them;-)

They did very good work, very quickly and very professionally.
The weakest component was the irrigation system. The head of that program was very nice, however, he didn't explain the permit process and the meter needs for our community. While they push that off on the plumber, it's nice to have checks and balances because we did have a problem and it could have been avoided if The Bruce Company was more full service oriented. I also felt that the irrigation project manager was not fully engaged in what would really solve the problems. Now we have a whole bed that seems to lack the water it needs. Therefore things don't seem to survive. They say that you can use hoses to support that area, but isn't that why I spent nearly $6000 on an irrigation system? He now works at a major competitor.
Since then, they have let go our landscape architect (down sizing) and the new one is less responsive. The good news is that even last summer (2 years later) they were standing behind their work. The bad news is that they brought us replacements that were not always healthy themselves nor the same size as the original. AND they were going to plant them until I asked them to return with better specimens. The guy doesn't return my emails. If I call, he'll call back with vague confirmation that I'll be taken care of. Seeing the previous replacements, and having nothing in writing concerns me. I've had to nearly beg him to put it in writing. Wil he work there next week? I don't know. And that's why I want paperwork that shows evidence of our conversations.
So, would I hire them again? Maybe. I need a few more plantings but I'm not interested in working with the new guy. Too bad all these companies have allowed their weaker representatives to hide behind voice mail and emails.

The Bruce Co was on the higher end in pricing, but they were pretty much the only company that had the quality, selection, and availability of couple of the bushes that we wanted.

My and quot;account managerand quot; (sales guy) met with me at our home and we walked through the yard discussing in detail all the work that I wanted. (I even made passing references to future landscaping projects the company would get if I liked their work.) He made some notes and came up with a quote, which I accepted, so we drew up a contract. He figured it would take his crew two days, and we scheduled the first day.
The crew arrived a bit late the first day but also worked late, and got through quite a bit of the project. However, they pruned two lilac bushes down to the ground, even though I had discussed these two in particular with the account manager and we had agreed to only prune them 1/3 back on each of three successive years. I called him out to my home to show him and discuss. He apologized for the misunderstanding and suggested that we could and quot;work something outand quot; to replace them.
After some phone tag, we managed to schedule the second work day to finish the project. I had already left for the day by the time the crew arrived, and returned home after they had gone. More progress had been made, but it was by no means complete. I called the account manager again and he said that since it had been a Friday, the crew had hit their 40-hour limit lart way through the day and had quit early; we would have to schedule another time. And since by then it was December, all their crews were booked solid for the winter clearing snow and would not be able to resume my project until spring.
Shortly thereafter, I received a bill for the full amount, and foolishly I paid it. Needless to say, they never did complete the work as contracted. The remainder of the project, and all future work that I had discussed with them, will go to their competitors.

They were very professional and very punctual. They did what they said they were going to do and provided a plan. Unfortunately I wasn't very astute in evaluating the plan. Probably 60 to 70 percent of what they planted five years ago has died. I was really looking for a smooth symmetrical look and most of the plantings were more rough. I don't like it and probably would only use them again if I had a different designer. I think I got tied up with a young and inexperienced designer. The placement of the plants looked really good on the design, but as the plants grew some were very inappropriate and there was very little color. I have a circular driveway and most of those plants survived. There was a crabapple tree in the center that died. Everything is green and there is hardly any color. I should have realized that at the time I had it done. They were very competent people and they had access to arborists and engineers.

Becky does a great job representing the company. I contacted them asking for an estimate. She arrived on time. We discussed our various needs and she agreed to write an estimate that broke the work down into several stages. After comparing the estimate to two more companies, I contacted her to do the work we can afford this year. She soon contacted me with the day and time the work would be done. She arrived on time with the staff to give clear instructions. The work proceeded for the next several hours. They were even courteous enough to not use any power tools until after 9:00 am. Clean up was spotless.

Very pleased with the service, very beautiful and we have had several compliments. I think they are worth the amount of money.

Very slow getting going because of the quality of materials I chose and I had a smaller job than they usually take. Got to the point where I was ready to fire them because it was taking so long and they didn't keep in touch well. Once everything was lined up, the job itself was very smooth. The guys were in, out and done quickly. Very friendly team. Excellent job. I'm very satisfied with the work and would use them again if I needed a high quality job.