Leyva'S has been doing my routine yard maintence for nearly 4 years now. Marco is prompt,…read moreefficient, reliable and friendly. He has also identified issues and taken care of them that could have led to greater problems down the road. I recently had him remove some old masonry columns. Once again, the service was prompt, efficient, reliable and complete. He took initiative to move other plants from the hedgerow to avoid the need to plan new shrubs in the gap. My only complaint about Leyva'S is that I don't fully understand the extent of their capabilities. I often find out later, that he could have done something else for me more quickly and efficiently than the other people that I hire.

Marco put in a stamped concrete patio for us. We thought we found someone to do what we wanted but…read moreit turned into a stressful nightmare. We were referred to Marco through Paradise Landscaping. He agreed to do our patio in a way that another concrete company had told us was not possible. It has a raised wall around the edge to lower it to ground level at the base of the small. The price was comparable, and he could start soon. We thought it was great. He excavated and put in compacted base rock. That was fine. He then put down a frame for the concrete pour. He was supposed to be doing 5'' of concrete because it would hold a hot tub. I questioned him because he had used 2"x4" lumber. He told me that he would compact the base further to make it 5'' deep. Instead he rebuilt the frame to make the concrete higher. That makes me to believe he was just going to do 4". I can see how a mistake was made since 5" is less common. However, It made the patio an inch higher and not as level to the ground as we wanted. A minor complaint. When he finished, we noticed a light splodge, for lack of a better word, on one edge. It kind of looked like someone spilled bleach on the patio. I assumed it was the powder from patterning that needed to be washed off, but it was permanent. Marco expected us to accept this as-is under the blanket statement in his contract of "CONCRETE ISN'T PERFECT" rather than admitting he made a mistake. We also noticed several issues with the patterning where lines were not well defined. He told us that he could cut in some lines to fix the pattern but he couldn't fix the splodge. He said a wet look sealer would reduce the contrast, which was true, but it was still obvious when he showed us the patio wet. I pressed him on what could be done to fix the splodge. He came back and without really telling me what he was going to do, he applied a layer of red stain to the patio. While this did reduce the splodge, it didn't completely fix it. He also did not apply stain to the wall around the edge. So our patio is mismatched and the surface is a significantly different color than we asked for. He also did not do a very good job of applying the stain, so there were visible brush marks and most of the patterned lines were only partially stained. I pushed him on it and finally directly asked why it wasn't being replaced. This is where it got interesting. He showed up at my house, unannounced, less than 30 minutes after I had sent him the message. He walked into my backyard and basically his only defense was that this was a learning experience for him and his guys to a do a better job. A guy that was with him came walking over with a jackhammer and plopped it down next to my patio. Marco then made me an ultimatum. If we paid him more than $1,000 in addition to the original cost, he would admit that he made a mistake and he would replace it. When I was disagreeable and clear I wasn't ready to pay, he offered to apply the sealer but that was it. And he wasn't leaving without an answer and he was clearly ready to start jackhammering at 7:30 in the evening. So, I gave in to the bullying knowing he wouldn't make us a priority, could do an even worse job if he was unhappy about doing it, and we needed to be done soon, so I accepted the sealer. The sealer made the patio passable, so the splodge is still there but isn't as noticeable. However, the patio is the wrong color and we wanted to put a matte sealer on, so it's the wrong sheen. But it's done and ready. Also, we had to push him to fill the expansion cut in the patio. He told us it was unnecessary. I cannot believe that was even a question in an area where things freeze. My wife also asked for grey filler. He ignored that and used pure white. Also, I noticed that the stamping pattern looked off, so I measured. The patio 1.5'' longer at one end. Probably a measuring error with the standard lumber used for the frame, so believable, but it is just one more mistake permanently memorialized in concrete.

Joe and his team at AG did a fantastic job! What drew me to the company was their local location,…read moretheir mostly positive reviews and the fact that they followed up w/neg reviews. I reached out for a quote - got Joe on the phone - he was at my house the next day. Through the whole process our communication was good - I got other similar quotes - but Joe and I got along great right away so he got the job. AG was ready to work - they showed up and on the first day, my back yard was leveled! They worked hard and quickly. Even came on a Saturday! In 8 days it was done and what a transformation! Our dream back yard in just over a week:) Thanks to Joe, Andrew (site manager/Joe's brother) and to the whole crew. We couldn't be happier. Recommended! What they did: Removal of wire fencing on both sides of property, as well as general debris. Removal of large encroaching bush and clearing of vine covered areas including on utility wires, leveling ground with sand, laying flag stone in over 90% of property, installing 3 sidings of treated wooden fencing including the creation of a seamless gate leading to back alley, staining of all wood fencing, creating small garden nook, minor cement work and new drain was added.

We hired Avant Gardens to completely renovate our South Philly row home backyard in December 2022…read more Now that we've had a summer to enjoy it, we couldn't be happier with the results. They removed our old fence and put in flagstones over our cracked concrete pad. From the beginning, Joe and Andrew were friendly, communicative, and professional. Their crew arrived on time each day and stayed within the timeline and budget we agreed to. I highly recommend them for anyone looking to beautify their backyard.

After moving into our new home, with just a concrete square to step out on, we knew we needed to…read moremake the move to a nice outdoor living space. After considering options, we chose Color Stamp Concrete Inc. Our cobblestone-look 16x12 patio exceeded our expectations from start to finish. Fred returned our initial call promptly, and continued to communicate with us every step of the way. He provided a detailed, professionally done layout for us to present to our homeowners association, advised us on what would look good, and had a top-notch crew of professional workers who gave 110%, down to the tiniest detail (which was a tiny little dragonfly stamp in the concrete, that we chose, and was then hand painted!). Check out the photos I posted for a look at that. Meticulous, prompt, done in two days, and we couldn't be more pleased with our decision.

Review for Fred Fred and his team at Concrete C&S were…read moreawesome! It's worth pointing out that he goes the extra mile to make sure you get what you need. When my carpenter told me that there was a miscommunication about who was doing the footers for the deck and steps I let Fred know and he had an auger the next day to dig holes. They even dug by hand to widen out to the inspectors spec. The price was right where we wanted to be and they were even able to move us up in the schedule a few weeks when a spot opened up which we really appreciated because my wife was 9 mos pregnant. They showed up and knocked the whole 600+ sq ft patio and 7x 3' footers in 3 days. The whole team was friendly and very professional even through working directly in the beating sun all three days! Thanks Fred and company!

My garden beds were recently transformed into a majestic landscape thanks to John's masterful…read moredesign and his exceptional team's execution. I am deeply grateful to this team for the incredible oasis I am enjoying today and will do so year-round. The outcome far exceeded my expectations! I look forward to continuing to work with Naturescapes again in the near future. Mary N.

We recently had the Naturescape team create another beautiful landscape project as you enter the…read moreeastern side of the driveway going up to our deck. As with the prior two projects the job was executed professionally, on time and with the upmost care to the natural wooded surroundings. John Fridy is an artist when it comes to creating a landscape that is in keeping with the natural surroundings. His team was very courteous, professional and hard working. Our property is one that most landscapers would not want to work on but John and his team have always been up to the challenge of creating a beautiful transformation. We receive many compliments from our neighbors and friends. I highly recommend Naturescapes for any landscaping project. Nancy and Doug Wright

Armando did a wonderful job. My front steps and walkway are unbelievable. It totally transformed…read morethe front of my house. I have posted in my review a before and after.

He came out to look at my driveway. Texted me a quote for 18,500 dollars. Which was off the wall…read morejust for a driveway. No emailed quote with scope of work nothing. I am glad I found a great contractor not from here that knows what he is doing. And only 7500.00 for my driveway to be replaced. That does not include removing the current concrete. Still better quote.

Tink and Crew are amazing! We needed a masonry patch job on the side of our 80+ year old house. He…read moreassessed the job, quoted a more than reasonable price, and completed it within a few days! He said he was concerned it was going to leak without repair and wanted to have it patched up before it got to that and caused additional issues. They were efficient, professional, and cleaned everything up so well you wouldn't have been able to tell there was a crew working here. Now THAT is great customer service! While he was here we asked for a quote for a larger project next spring and will definitely be working with Tink and his crew again! Additionally, his stories about his Dad are terrific!

Hired this guy to repoint & paint my brick front steps, remove wrought iron railings & replace with…read morevinyl, and remove & repair cracking concrete sections from the bottom of both sides of my porch.. He subcontracted out all the work, just yelled & supervised. My front steps were repainted before the repointing concrete was dry. My steps look like 'Tetris'. I called and complained and he said he would come back in a few months because he had surgery. Told him to give me the paint info and I would do it myself. Messaged him again about the chunks of concrete falling from the foundation, and he proceeds to tell me he's had surgery and RETIRED TO FLORIDA. He then proceeds to send me photos of his groin & shaved pubes. P.S. Insisted I pay him in cash, my mistake. Don't do business with this creep. I've already notified the IRS of his insistence of cash payment in addition to copies & screenshots of my checking account statements - he's being investigated. Tink really pulled the wool over my eyes right after my son's father had passed away. I don't know how to do this stuff and trusted him to do a good job. I don't want him on my property ever again, but I do deserve a big chunk of money back, as I now have to pay a real professional.

Mike is the best general mason around. Always does great work for a great prices…read more I would hire him again in a heartbeat and I always recommend him to friends and family!

I'm going to start this off with positive vibes. Mike Gallagher was very nice and prompt with…read morereturning calls. He came right out to give us a quote, which was a very reasonable quote. But the whole process which has been going on for over a month now has been terrible. Our wall was falling and the steps were separating from the wall. So we decided to finally get them redone. We had steps and a stone wall. We met with Mike and he gave us options of material for the wall. We picked bricks and of course they weren't in stock so we asked to wait for them to be in stock rather than picking new ones. Mike was fine with that. Him and his crew started with the demo. They learned that our original wall didn't have a footer so he had to add a footer to the price. Okay. Not a problem. Paid a deposit via his website which was easy. He started to do the steps. Looking at them they were uneven and crooked. Mike claimed they weren't done and then decided he wanted to bull nose the steps. Instead of demoing the steps completely, he chipped up the first layer and added new concrete to add the bull nose and level them out. They look absolutely horrible. They are two different colors. Not smooth and still uneven. Might i also add that they claimed steps are their specialty. The wall looked nice when they were done with it. But the more you look at it you began to notice small things that made you say, hmmm... The new wall was smaller than our original wall. And one side was shorter than our original wall. Okay. Whatever. There also was only one or two mesh areas for water to drain. Paid him in full PLUS a nice tip. Thought, okay. Whatever. We'll fix the steps next yr. But after our first rain storm issues began to arrise. We noticed that one of the caps on the wall was cracked. Which then soon broke. We also noticed that the caps are NOT secured. We could lift just about every one. Now we're very annoyed. Mike comes back to fix everything. But he managed to make it look worse. The cracked one was never fixed (as of 10/4.) The mortar that he used was just plopped ontop of the bricks and not cleaned up or smoothed out. There are holes between my caps and bricks. We legit can see through it. They are lifted and just look terrible! There is mortar pouring over the sides. The caps aren't straight anymore either. They are shifted when they used to be at least pretty straight. Not to mention the mess they left. Dirt everywhere. Cement all over my driveway that we are now having to chip up and power wash everything. I was so excited to improve the outside of my house and now it looks worse than before. I do not recommend Gallagher Masonry unless you don't care about things being straight, done well and cleaned up.

We hired Mr. Contractor to completely renovate the kitchen and primary bathroom in our 130-year-old…read morePhiladelphia home, and we're thrilled with how everything turned out. When we were choosing a contractor, Mr. Contractor's Yelp rating gave me some hesitation - especially given the high ratings elsewhere. But when I read the reviews themselves rather than just looking at the overall rating, many of the complaints seemed to involve relatively small jobs. We needed someone for a large, complicated renovation of a very old house, and the experience and capabilities Ken demonstrated seemed much better suited to that kind of project. Having now completed the job, I'm very glad we made that distinction. This was a big project, and our old house threw plenty of surprises at us. Once the demo began, our engineer found that part of the kitchen needed to be structurally rebuilt from the foundation up. That meant coordinating with our architect and structural engineer and substantially expanded the work. Despite that and the many twists and turns that followed, Ken and his crew kept things moving and completed an extraordinary amount of work in just 10 weeks. What really stood out was the crew. These guys were craftsmen who took genuine pride in what they were building. More than once, they spent extra time on something simply to get the finished result just right or recommended enhancements that were not charged. A friend who is a high-end interior designer saw the kitchen afterward and was impressed by the quality of the construction and attention to detail. We also lived in the house throughout the renovation. The crew was friendly and respectful, and they cleaned up the work areas at the end of every day -- something we came to appreciate enormously during 10 weeks of construction. Was every little detail perfect the first time? No. But that's actually part of why I'm comfortable giving Ken five stars. When something wasn't right, he worked to make it right. He and his team stayed engaged through the end of the project, addressed our punch-list items, and have continued to stand behind their work afterward. And we LOVE the result. The kitchen has completely changed the way we live in the house. It has become the place where our family naturally gathers, and it's as comfortable and functional to cook in as it is beautiful. The new bathroom has been equally transformative. At the beginning, I worried that we might be spending too much on the project - and it was significant. But by the end, having seen the amount of work involved and the quality and care that went into it, I felt exactly the opposite: we received very good value for our money. My takeaway is that Ken's particular strength is a substantial, complex project where you need an experienced GC who can keep multiple trades moving, deal with unexpected conditions, solve problems as they arise, and see the whole thing through. Renovating a 130-year-old house isn't easy, and I'd much rather have a contractor who knows how to deal with the inevitable problems and stands behind the finished product. We'd happily hire Ken and Mr. Contractor again.

Flooring in a old house. Job was done on time. Flooring was leveled really well. Would definitely…read morerecommend him. 100% satisfied.