We found this company through a family connection and boy do we wish we used HomeStars to find someone to do our landscaping work. Never in our lives have we found someone working on our home to be so inconsiderate, unprofessional, rude, arrogant and belligerent as George. While he did a fine job of luring us into doing the work with him promising us completion dates and making sure we "understand" the quote fully, this changed dramatically as soon as the work begun. The work started 2 weeks later than promised without much communication. When confronted, they said it was due to the rain and not being able to use power tools. Meanwhile, when they started it rained and they used their power tools!
When we received the quote for $30,000 in March, it did not include many of the things he had checked off on his initial visits. The prices of each item on the first quote was quite high. For a 84 foot wooden fence, pressure treated brown wood with 6 by 6 posts, he quoted us at $7,900. After reviewing the quote, I asked him if some of the little things were covered here such as removing a rotted garden border and he said yes. He will always "take care of things" whatever that means. If you probe him on prices he always makes it seem like it's "next to nothing", "will be taken care of later" or "trust me".
About 3 weeks ago, we sent him an e-mail to address the issues we had, including about 15 photos to support the unfinished/messy work. He responded saying that he was "disturbed" that we are not happy via e-mail. The tone of the e-mail was not pleasant. Neither was he on his visit to our property. He came with his carpenter and groundsman today and was quick to tell us that we are wrong about having an issue with the extra charges and even the issues we had, using profanities, insults and inappropriate names. A fence panel was loose, interlock was not put back after construction of the fence, cedars were put back with clumpy rocks and debris, flimsy gate was installed. His carpenter and groundsman spent the entire day fixing up the incomplete/poorly constructed work. Clearly there were a lot of issues if the entire day was spent working on fixing them!
In the end, we paid about an extra $3,000 for work he said he would "take care of" when speaking on the phone after receiving the initial quote. Supplying labour and equipment to remove cedar hedging and reinstall after fence construction cost $1,735. The re-installation was really messy, with soil clumps left all over. We spent 2 days cleaning it up ourselves.
George provided us with a cheque that refunded flowers that he told us were "next to nothing" but then charged us $385 for. Before he left today, he ensured those flowers were ripped out of our pots! Can you believe it? We would never recommend this type of individual to our worst enemy! While his crew fixed most, but not all of the issues we had, the point is that he did not get the work done right, did not meet deadlines, did not like to be told he is wrong, called us names, is expensive and did not communicate with us effectively at all. Avoid this company at all costs and don't be fooled by his gentle demeanor at first. I really hope no one else gets stuck using this company to find out later that charges may appear. Lesson learned here for us is that a company without HomeStars reviews is probably just as good as a company with a negative rating.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $24,000.00