Save yourself a lot of trouble and look elsewhere for your landscaping needs.
My neighbor and myself hired Doug to design and complete our landscaping work in 2014. We are still trying to get Doug to fix the defective work he did. Read on for the full Saga.
We gave Doug our landscaping budget, and paid him to do a complete design for our landscape. Doug came back with a design priced at 3 times our original budget (in case you think our original budget was unfeasible for the size of our lot, our neighbors budget was triple our original budget, and his design for theirs also came in 3 times their budget). After paying for design work completely out of line with our budget, Doug convinced us he could still work within our budget. He wouldn't be able to do the design he first presented, and wouldn't provide a new design, we would just have to trust him that he knew what he was doing (Doug would frequently respond with "trust me" when we would ask questions about the work, I've since learned that "trust me" means "I have no idea what I'm doing so I'm just going to wing it and hope it works").
For some reason we still hired Doug for the work. After waiting months past when he had initially committed to start the work, he finally showed up with his crew, too late in the year to complete the work, so our schedule ended up drawing out an additional year.
The work itself was shoddy. The cedar fence he installed blew over in the wind multiple times, the steps he installed were uneven, and one was even broken, the slopes he retained had large gaps where soil continues to spill out and looks ready to collapse at any time, and areas of sod are still missing.
We have learned to live with most of these defects, as the alternative of further dealings with Doug would be even more unpleasant. For some of the more major issues we have requested remediation, for the last year he has promised he will come by "next week" to take a look, but continues to make excuses for not showing up. When questioned about his promise to stand behind his work, he claims he does stand behind it, but apparently only as far as the 1 year warranty extends, and once he has put it off past that deadline, he's free and clear.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $30,000.00
- Company Response
Thank you for your feedback. We pride ourselves on doing a excellent job and I know that the quality of our work can substantiate that. Unfortunately I do not recall getting any requests regarding deficiencies for work completed until after the warranty period. Please note that there is a 1 year warranty on all work completed. It is surprising to hear about something like this years after work has been completed. We did a design for the whole project including all the problem areas, so you would know what the total price would be to solve all the problems. We then decided on what work was most important and could be completed within your budget. We originally were hired by your neighbor and you realized that if you were to get your yard fixed it would need to done first or you would lose access to your yard. It was an extreme project with an extreme slope which definitely could have used a larger budget. We discussed what was important to you and what your budget was. We completed what you wanted within your budget and the remainder you were to complete on your own. We put your neighbors project on hold until we completed the work requested by you. We feel we went above and beyond to solve your immediate needs. We like to make sure all our customers are happy. If there is anything we can do to help you please contact us at 403-236-4636 or email at info@naturallandscapes.ca.