The crew was always early by 20 to 30 min, always called me sir, worked very hard while taking care to protect my already existing landscaping, and custom masonry. Lee was on site 90 percent of the time. I asked for a railroad tye driveway, supplied my own materials, and had a vision. Lee and team made that vision a reality all while teaching me how to keep that design safe and sturdy, and last a long time. The budget was spot on. The quality is perfect. I have a one of a kind driveway, it is the coolest, most awesome driveway, stylized to match my existing home. Just 3 days of backbreaking cumbersome work and the original job was complete, and so beautiful I added a wall. I will follow up with pictures when the wall is in. read more

person put ad yardwork on my door, called the number arranged for back yard work. Man not honest, get it in writing, get support, dont deal with him alone. After much back and forth. He completed job satisfactorily. Wont be giving any more work to them. read more

He's at it again! Lee Fairbanks (formerly Barrio Design) is our very own modern-day John Dillinger. Lee Fairbanks who was given another lease on life (had emergency heart surgery) decides to keep scamming people out of money. I honestly don't think he has a heart...I wrote the elderly man a $900 check on 5/20/24 for a 20-ton decomposed granite job (half of what he was charging for the job). After several calls/texts back and forth, he never started the job, let alone finished it. He was all too happy to cash the check on 5/21/24 and although he agreed to a full refund, he has not return my money. He is also working without a license (his business license ROC 177697 was revoked). Someone nab this robber before he keeps scamming Tucsonans! read more

Barrio Design - Landscape Architects or Designers Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

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UPDATE 2024: HE IS OPERATING WITHOUT A LICENSE. LICENSE WAS REVOKED FOR SCAMMING PEOPLE. DO NOT USE HIM. ALSO I TOOK HIM TO COURT AND GOT A DEFAULT JUDGEMENT BECAUSE HE WAS TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO SHOW UP TO COURT. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY THE OWNER IS A THIEF. We entered contract December 7, 2022. It was understood that work would be completed midway through January. Midway through January he asked for an extension, work was not really started in earnest until February 14. Not only this, but was the work halfway done and he is a thief. I asked for a specific kind of gravel to be placed in the backyard, he placed gravel in the backyard, and when I asked for him to show proof of purchase of the specific gravel I had selected for my backyard, and he refused. It has been 75 days since we entered the contract, and no meaningful work has been done. His employees leave a mess everywhere, work is halfway done and often times he charges you for premium items, and then he uses cheap items in its place hoping you would not notice. I've asked him for a refund, and for him to cease and desist working on my property as a two week project has now taken 75 days and he has been using products that I did not agree to purchase. This man apparently has a history of taking jobs that he cannot complete, and he is more than happy to take your deposit and spend it on other jobs instead of completing your job. I strongly suggest you do not use this company as your work will never get done or he will charge you for premium items and place really cheap stuff in order to increase profit margins and I hope you do not realize it. Overall, shady work, I really suggest you look elsewhere. I have attached a photo for everyone to see of the work that he has completed so far and 75 days. I asked for him to put gravel in my backyard, construct a concrete pad and concrete walkway, and place pavers as well as plant two trees. All in all, the job should take about two weeks. 75 days into the contract and he has barely done any meaninful work. The concrete pad was halfway done, the gravel that he placed was a cheap alternative to the one I agreed to pay for. He is not forthcoming on timelines, and cannot even keep timelines that he himself has placed forward. He always seems to have an excuse as to why he cannot keep his timelines or complete work on time as promised. More alarmingly, it is very apparent to me that he does not have money to complete the job that he takes. My deposit which should have gone to buy materials and supplies and paint for labor for my backyard did not apparently go towards that as he currently does not have in his posession the necessary items to complete my job. read more

I would have given a 0 star review if I could. This is unfortunate, because we had used Lee Fairbanks many years ago when he was still Barrio Design and had wonderful service, both landscaping and masonry jobs. In April of 2021, however, we signed a new contract for an extensive masonry and concrete job, along with landscaping of an entire yard, and some basic maintenance. He took a third of the bid amount as a down payment and said he was overwhelmed with work so couldn't start for 5 weeks. Over the next TWO YEARS (yes, that is correct, years...) it was one excuse after another and no work happening until I threatened to cancel the job. Then a few days of work would occur before the crickets would start chirping again. Through it all, he consistently blamed the issues on his workmen being unreliable and "disappearing" and that's why nothing was happening, yet I worked and spoke regularly with his crew and they tried to be professional in what they said, but the gist was that they weren't getting paid, so they had to take other jobs to take care of their families. During this time, he continued to request additional draws to purchase materials, pay his guys, get work done, etc. By this point, our front yard was dug up for a new wall, with some concrete poured and rebar sticking up, so we were desperate to get things moving for aesthetics and safety, so we paid him. When we finally had enough and pulled the plug, he got very angry and defensive and could not seem to understand why we were done with him. I spent several months trying to get him to reimburse us for the work he took money for but never completed. We went over his original job order item by item, agreed IN WRITING to what he owed us, and a payment schedule. That was back on April 15, 2024 and now I have not heard anything from him (no, I am not surprised, just very angry). So please, please, avoid business dealings with this individual. Once upon a time, he ran an honest, good landscaping business, but something happened and he is not even remotely the person he used to be. There is absolutely no honor or integrity remaining. read more

The owner of Barrio is a dishonest business person! I had him out to quote a job. He gave me a price. We agreed on a start date, which came and went. When they did show up, they worked about 3.5 hrs per day and left. No supervision from owner. After many days, I was done with their shoddy work. Owner Lee said he needed to collect $2500 over previously agreed price as it took longer than expected. No way I was giving it to him. Do not use this company people. They do crappy work, and are not honest business people! If you have used them, file a complaint with Contractors Licensing Division! read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY THE OWNER IS A THIEF. We entered contract December 7, 2022. It was understood that work would be completed midway through January. Midway through January he asked for an extension, work was not really started in earnest until February 14. Not only this, but was the work halfway done and he is a thief. I asked for a specific kind of gravel to be placed in the backyard, he placed gravel in the backyard, and when I asked for him to show proof of purchase of the specific gravel I had selected for my backyard, and he refused. It has been 75 days since we entered the contract, and no meaningful work has been done. His employees leave a mess everywhere, work is halfway done and often times he charges you for premium items, and then he uses cheap items in its place hoping you would not notice. I've asked him for a refund, and for him to cease and desist working on my property as a two week project has now taken 75 days and he has been using products that I did not agree to purchase. This man apparently has a history of taking jobs that he cannot complete, and he is more than happy to take your deposit and spend it on other jobs instead of completing your job. I strongly suggest you do not use this company as your work will never get done or he will charge you for premium items and place really cheap stuff in order to increase profit margins and I hope you do not realize it. Overall, shady work, I really suggest you look elsewhere. I have attached a photo for everyone to see of the work that he has completed so far and 75 days. I asked for him to put gravel in my backyard, construct a concrete pad and concrete walkway, and place pavers as well as plant two trees. All in all, the job should take about two weeks. 75 days into the contract you can see below the amount of progress he has made. The concrete pad was halfway done, the gravel that he placed was a cheap alternative to the one I agreed to pay for. He is not forthcoming on timelines, and cannot even keep timelines that he himself has placed forward. He always seems to have an excuse as to why he cannot keep his timelines or complete work on time as promised. More alarmingly, it is very apparent to me that he does not have money to complete the job that he takes. My deposit which should have gone to buy materials and supplies and paint for labor for my backyard did not apparently go towards that as he currently does not have in his posession the necessary items to complete my job. read more

Barrio Design - Work completed after 75 days. Half of concrete pad done. Will not provide proof of gravel placed being the type i ordered. - Landscape Architects or Designers Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

Sadly, they have gone way downhill since I started working with the owner nearly 20 years ago. My question about missed deadlines when he knew I was on a schedule that he had promised to work with only led to the answer "I lied" and "your stress is not my stress." Before the job was completed he told me he didn't have time to finish, which left me totally in the lurch to find another contractor. Then to make things worse, the owner asked if we were still friends and had the unmitigatated temerity (read that as cajones) about how over-booked he was and did I have any suggestions for his business! So if you want someone who will take a check from you and then put you off, then maybe you can work with him. They do good work, though, I have to give them that. Just don't plan on getting the job done in even a reasonable time frame. read more

Unfortunately, my experience with Barrio Design this Spring is similar to what Lauren recounted here last week. I give Lee zero stars, one for each promise he has kept. If you want more frustration in your life, and have money sitting around that you don't need, give Lee a call. Otherwise, please, keep away! read more

I've left one star mostly due to the quality of the owner's crew which is 4-5 stars...MINUS owner's lack of integrity and failure to fulfill promises and basically string you along about getting his crew back out which should have equaled zero stars. He seems to have the philosophy that if you didn't agree to pay him an exorbitant amount to do a job or if he just simply didn't feel like having his guys come out to finish a job because they were on to some other job then you're basically out of luck and he'll move on and not even return your calls. And here's some advice: don't ever, EVER pay him for the second half of a job until he completes that job. I have to confess I got taken by him once before where we were left holding the bag on an unfinished job that he got over his head on with and that was shame on him. Then to my regret I gave him another chance to do some recent jobs and he took advantage of me again after his core crew did some nice concrete work and other work but then he brought in an amateur who did a cut-rate paint job on half our wood fence, so I guess shame on me for that. It's too bad he doesn't have the level of integrity and work ethic his crew does. They seem to be doing all the hard work while he makes his money off their backs for doing very little. Here's my advice to anyone doing business with Barrio Design, get a proposal IN WRITING, ITEMIZED, EVERY PENNY ACCOUNTED FOR...and don't ever agree to having him change his crew to some rookie/rookies in mid-stream and don't ever pay him anywhere close to more than 50% before the job is DONE to your satisfaction. I know that goes without saying but I had to leave town and had the misplaced faith that he wouldn't just take the money from my check and would keep his word that he would get the other side of the fence painted, wrong. Shame on me, I guess valuable lesson learned. read more

This is a difficult review to write because the quality of the work is superb. I am very pleased with how my yard turned out. However, getting the work done was next to impossible. The very first day they were supposed to work, they were a no-call, no-show. That should have tipped us off how the rest of the time was going to go, but we had already made a payment of half down, so we were stuck. This was a big job, a complete overhaul of our back yard. Removing rocks & trees, adding pavers, new trees, grass, shrubs/plants, and irrigation, plus removing our wood fence and adding a block wall. Lee said it would take 3 1/2 to 4 weeks to complete. It took 9 weeks and a lot of yelling on my part to get it done. It could have easily been done in the time quoted. However, half of the time, the guys are standing around waiting for materials because Lee doesn't make sure they're there for them. Then, they get the materials only to be pulled off to go to another job 2 hours after they've arrived at your house. And nothing has gotten done. Add in a few more no-call, no-shows, and so-called rain days, when it's not raining at your house. So, if you're not in any kind of hurry, definitely give him a call. However, if you have a timeline at all of when you want your job done, go somewhere else. read more