Backyard Design Companies in Ashburn

Went well, but realized the drawing I received was much like the draft I had done myself - just in more detail. Very expensive project that I cannot afford to do.

Xtra Care Landscaping helped us landscape our front and back yards, which included addressing a longstanding drainage issue in the backyard. The work included front and backyard design, landscaping, and hardscaping. The hardscaping included installing a new front brick walkway and a new back patio, as well as a backyard drainage system. The landscaping included planting of trees and bushes throughout the property. We worked with several people at Xtra Care all of whom provided responsive and helpful service. The large size of the project required some design adjustments, and the Xtra Care representatives were extremely responsive and helpful. The results were excellent.

We searched for a landscaping firm at the Dulles Expo Center in March of 2010 not knowing if we would find a firm we liked. We really liked the display and the people staffing the booth for Professional Grounds. At least one Expert Gardener was staffing the booth and they knew the kind of plants we wanted. After the expo an appointment was made and Jeff Finley, a project manager with Pro Grounds came to our home. Jeff listened to what we wanted and created a professional design based upon what we said and his professional expertise. The design drawing was drawn by Jeff and specified the plants, walls, and paving area. It took my wife and I from March until September to figure out exactly what we wanted from Jeff's design. We were slow and specific and went back and forth with ideas until we were happy. Jeff did a great job and we were adding this and removing that. He was very patient with us. At the end of September / beginning of October we decided to pull the trigger and the work was scheduled for November. Amazingly, it was quite cold in November and despite this, Jeff, his team lead, and team still came and did the work. I would not have wanted to work outside when it was just above freezing outside, but they were good and fast. It took a week for the work to be completed (and they worked a full day each day), but when completed the backyard looked amazing. It's now April the following year and a few plants did not survive the winter but per the contract Pro Grounds covers these losses and Jeff is coming out shortly to examine and replace those dead plants. It was a great experience, much better than I expected, and my wife now has her outdoor sanctuary that she wanted from our backyard. It now looks a little bit Italianate, not tacky, and exactly the style we wanted. She can relax in our backyard with our new baby daughter and enjoy. I was really worried and thought it was probably not possible to find a landscaper that could take our ideas and translate it into reality. Instead, I feel like we got as close to having a white-glove experience in the landscaping business as I suspect is possible. Jeff Finley, his team lead, and team, were respectful, paid attention to detail, and put together something that we are really proud and glad we did for ourselves. I would hire this team again in a heartbeat.

Janet was very hands on. She arranged to meet me at the nursery to pick out the plants. We ended up making some changes on the fly, based on what we saw in the nursery. After some weather delays, her crew arrived for about a week of work. A couple of days to rip out the ivy and prep the yard. Also a lot of work in removing this monster tree/bush in one corner of our yard. The retaining wall looks great and has subtle drainage holes to help preserve a longer life for the wall. Everything is starting to come into bloom for the Spring. It looks wonderful. Janet Gaskins does first class work. She has my highest recommendation.

I don't think we have ever been so disappointed by a service provider. Wholly unprofessional; I do not recommend them. During our first consultation, their pitch was impressive. While the price for design services was $500 more than another provider we spoke with, their ability to complete the overall project was presented best and the design fee would be credited to the overall project cost if we chose to work with them for the full project. They understood our budget, and never indicated that it would be a problem. We contracted to complete a backyard design, which was satisfactory. It took more than a month to complete due to scheduling issues, which put us well behind schedule. This was not a deal breaker, but we were eager to begin the project. We were told they could not provide a detailed estimate for the project until the plans were drawn up, which is when the real problems began. 1) We coordinated a time during the middle of the workday (so I took half a day off work) for all subcontractors to come by, assess the work, and provide individual assessments and estimates. Fewer than half of the scheduled contractors actually showed up. The project manager was 30 mins late and had no way to communicate with the subcontractors because her cell phone battery had died (and she had no way to charge it, at least until we gave her a charger and an outlet at our house). 2) It took another four weeks to complete the estimate. Turns out, I didn't really need to take that time off work because the remaining subcontractors provided estimates without visiting our property. The project manager remained unresponsive and flaky (we had a very difficult time reaching her via phone, and she never responded to emails) as we pushed to get an estimate so we could finalize contracts and begin work. 3) The estimate came in at two times our budget. We had been very clear about our budget, and the fact that we had little flexibility. When we asked what was flexible in the budget and what we might be able to be cut, she identified few ways to reduce the cost, and never apologized for or explained the disconnect between our budget and the final estimate. 4) It was approximately four months from first contact to receiving the estimate. While some of the delay was due to difficulty in lining up our schedules, most was due to delays on the company's side (or periods of time when we could not reach them). Again, there was never an apology for the delay or the difficulty we had in reaching the company to complete the estimate. So, after taking a high design fee and promising great service, we were left four months later with a project we could not afford (and since it was nearing winter, it was too late to start over with new contractors that year). Very disappointed.