MJS Landscaping Services

Horrible. We had to wait over a year for them to come and fix guaranteed items (replacement of dead plantings, shifting of outcroppings, cracked hearth, sand between pavers coming out, pavers have a white film on them and are showing signs of age and distress due to extreme chemicals and pressure washing, grass looks horrible in areas of planting, etc). After numerous attempts to get them to come out to fix these things we are still waiting for some of the items listed to get fixed. This company was so unprofessional and very disrespectful to us....especially the owner. They were schedule to come but would never show up and wouldn't have the courtesy to call us. We would never recommend this company because we wouldn't want any other homeowner go thru the stress and frustration that we have with this company. Our landscaping project was in the six figure amount and all we asked was to have them come fix the issues that were guaranteed per our contract with them....

Landscape and hardscape design and install was very good. Total project cost was $39 000. The lawn install (13000 sq fr) was $12000 of the $39k. The lawn install was very poor. Footprints were left in the lawn deep enough to be ankle breakers. Standing water in 3 areas. The final lawn grade was poor. Felt like mowing a washer board. They came out the following spring to correct the problems. Rolled the lawn, regraded the problem areas and filled the foot prints. The regraded area still has standing water, foot prints are still visible 2 months after fill. Regraded area still is a washer board. It's obvious they do not do many lawn installs. Even though the landscape and hardscape were very good, I would not use MJS for any project. I did not like the attitude of management nor their efforts to problem solve. I also had to ask the crew to clean the compacted soil from the street. Took 15 minutes and shouldn't have to ask for this to be done. This is the 3rd house I had built and by far the worst lawn install. Also had 5 trees planted. 4 of the 5 were poor installs. Took me 60 minutes per tree to correct.

We built a new home in 2015 and after going to the Home & Garden show that same year we had a difficult time really getting comfortable with any of the landscapers we spoke to. The last display we stopped at was MJS and finally spoke with someone (Bob) that we gelled with. He promised to have Landscape Designer, Tracy Jenks, get in touch with us to begin talking about landscape and patio design. Tracy was contacted us that next week and we started down the design path. Tracy was a pleasure to work with. She was patient with us and worked through the many modifications we had with the patio, had good design suggestions, was always very responsive and timely and worked through any concerns we had. Tracy met us at Halquist to work through options and was always willing to stop by our house to drop off samples of product. She also put together a 3D rendering of our project that helped us visualize the final product. The patio and landscape install process was painless, timely and without any major surprises. MJS' third party contractors (electric, etc) were also very professional. The final product was not inexpensive, Tracy was always very upfront about cost. What we're finding more and more (especially from our neighbors) is that it truly pays to spend a bit more and go with a pro where satisfaction is a high probability vs. a much less expensive semi-pro option where you may not be as happy with the final result and / or may have issues with follow up and overall responsiveness. I would not hesitate to recommend MJS, and Tracy Jenks, especially for hardscape patio design and finish. Thank you!

I?ve reduced my original review down to this because I was told that no one would read a 4 page review.  I was so disgusted with the service that I received from MJS Landscaping that I decided to join Angie?s List just to write this review.  Here?s the summary: 
 
If you want the job done right, call someone else.  The owner of this company cannot be trusted to perform quality work within an agreed upon budget.  Their idea of customer service is that if you are unhappy about something and want it done right, you can do it yourself.  Let me explain.  After paying approximately $12k for my landscaping, a heavy rain exposed the soil underneath the hydroseed binder.  I've attached a couple of pictures to this review, but even that doesn't do it justice.  The lawn was completely littered with stones but also included debris, chucks of asphalt, and glass.  I then placed a call to the owner and asked him to stop out at my house to review the conditions and discuss how the situation could be rectified.  I offered up multiple dates and times, but he refused to stop over, even though he lives less than 15 minutes away, and he told me that there was nothing that he was going to do about it.  I then proceeded to email him the photos that I attached to this review so that he could see the soil conditions first-hand, and I asked him if there was a compromise that we could come to.  He called me back a few minutes later and told me that he wouldn't be doing anything to address the situation.  The phrase he kept using was that he could grow grass on concrete (I'm still not sure if that's supposed to make me feel good or not).  After I continued to express my displeasure, he angrily agreed to deliver a truck-load of sifted topsoil to my house and a bag of seed and told me if I wanted it done, I would have to do it myself.  He then told me that he was done dealing with me and hung up on me.  I have never been treated so poorly by a contractor in all my life.  In fact, I completed the building process of my new home and didn't have an issue with a single contractor other than MJS, so it's not like I'm an especially picky person, I just ask that the job be done right.

So, after spending $12k on my new landscaping, I ended up spreading about 15 yards of sifted topsoil myself (2 twelve hour days) and re-did my entire front yard and about 1/3 of my back/side yard.  In hind-sight I should have re-done the entire back yard, but I didn't have the energy.  I then spread the seed, plus purchased additional seed and straw ($200+ worth).  I think what irritates me most about going through this is that it really isn't that hard to do it right (if you have the manpower and the right equipment) but these guys were in such a hurry to finish the project that they cut all kinds of corners.  Instead of waiting a couple of days until decent sifted topsoil was available from their soil supplier, they just went ahead and quickly covered up their garbage field run soil with hydroseed and collected their payment.


It's now a couple of months later and the area that was re-done looks fantastic while the backyard is less than ideal.  I have since picked countless buckets of stones, rocks & debris out of my back yard (even bribing my nieces and nephews to help with the removal).  I ended up putting down more topsoil in the back yard to cover the areas that had none, and I re-seeded just about the entire backyard to fill in the bald spots.  I haven't even covered the other areas that we were unhappy with, but it?s too long to fit into this review.
 
To be fair, I will say that the planting of the trees and bushes worked out well, with no issues.  Likewise, the planting beds were as requested, and the rough grading has kept water away from the house.  I also found the guys who actually did the work to be decent and hardworking guys.  
 
I would highly recommend going in another direction for your landscaping needs.  If you decide to use MJS Landscaping please make sure to get detailed cost breakdowns for all work that is being done and ask that everything be put on paper prior to giving a down-payment.  Also, make sure to be available while the work is being performed and ask that you approve each step of the process before proceeding.

I bought a new house in Aug 2011; the landscaping was part of it.  We did not have any control over any of it.  We moved into the house in Dec 2011.  In the spring, I had 3 other lawn companies provide estimates on continuing lawn care.  Each of the companies remarked how poorly the sodded lawn looked: large seams, shifted rows of sod, multiple weeds.  I asked for the original company to come out and look over the yard.  The owner came out and basically said that the lawn was fine and he would not do anything to improve/change/modify it.  He also told me that an audit would be conducted on the number of dead plants in a few weeks (email May 14 2012).  The owner came to do an audit to count the dead bushes and make arrangements to remove the dead ones and plant new ones as provided in the agreement. This was approximately 14 weeks after May 14.  It has now been an additional 3 weeks and the dead plants are still here.  Overall, this has been a most unpleasant and unfulling experience.  I would never use this company nor recommend them to anyone.

We got their name from the Home Improvement Show. They came and gave us an estimate. We asked if we could make a few changes. They were very pleasant about it and came back with another estimate. The designer checked on the work as it started and the expeditor checked on the progress each day. The guys doing the work were very friendly and thoughtful of keeping all equipment out of the way so our daily lives were never interrupted. I can't say enough how professional the team was.

The company rep was insistent that a licensed arborist would be doing or at least overseeing the work. I designated the apple, cherry, pear, and nut trees to be pruned. I specifically pointed out the crabapple that was NOT to be touched. They came, they attacked the crabapple first, then most of the trees I wanted pruned. Later that growing season, every tree they pruned developed fire blight and I have lost several as a result. Trained arborists know to clean their tools between jobs and trees; I even discussed this with the rep prior to signing the paperwork.

They are very friendly and they seemed confident. The follow through on the project was horrible, and they were easy to work with in the beginning. We are trying to get them to come back for the project they said they were going to do.

They just plain do bad work...

Lynn was very energetic, creative. She had great ideas. We never even thought about a seating wall and it is a super addition. The landscapers did a great job and we were very happy with their work. Their price was mid range compared to other companies and the design was far better. Lynn always calls back within less than a day to answer questions and follows up yearly to see how everything fared over the winter. It all has survived!

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