Been using Orange landscaping on and off for 3 years. The company has been used for mowing, spring…read morecleanup and other projects. The quality was average to poor. Later we found out they overcharge for all their work.
Mowing ($144.00 weekly for 2 acres: with numerous planting beds and pool. So not a full 2 acres to mow): We have noticed a pattern every season with this company. Delio starts the mowing season with up to a three-man crew. Delio and another person on the mowers and someone else on a line trimmer/blower. First couple of jobs, okay, especially at the front of the property, while The backyard always seems to be average to poor. As the season progresses the crew gets cut back to two. Then no one but Delio shows up. At two men, the weed wacking starts to suffer and they barely clean hard areas off with the blower. When it gets towards the end of the summer it's only Delio working. At this point the job really takes a nosedive. Delio does an okay job mowing, but uses the line trimmer very sparingly. Lots of areas with missed spots or not hit at all. Especially places he thinks you will not check.
Spring Cleanup ($3790): First issue, the price. after receiving this service from Orange for two springs and not being completely thrilled with the work, we contacted other companies to compare prices. Apparently, Orange was charging us nearly a thousand dollars more than most companies we reached out to (We have written estimates and e-mails to back this up). We presented a estimate provided by Patriot landscaping for $2800 for spring cleanup to Delio last season and asked if he could reduce his rate. He only agreed to deduct approximately $400. What we received for that reduction was decent pruning but skimping on mulch, terrible weed cleanup and poor overall planting bed cleaning. Since I thought he was a decent person and we worked with him a few times I decided to give this company one last try, it was a mistake. I contacted Orange this spring for the spring cleanup. It is supposed to include bed cleaning, de-weeding, pruning, edging, mulch and pre-emergent. We paid full price. What we got was: sloppy pruning. Terrible weed removal. What they call weed removal is to weed whack what they think you will see,(not pull the weeds) and cover it with mulch. The result of this sloppy and lazy practice, combined with the fact that they did not even put down the pre-emergent we paid for is weeds popping up all over. Now we will have to do the work Orange was paid for but did not do. Also, because I was sick for a week and needed to finish some yard work before Orange was scheduled to arrive. I called and asked if he could come by the following week. The owner only agreed to give me 3 days past the original scheduled day. Delio, not I scheduled the work for 5/12 & 5/13. On the second day, 5/13, Delio shows up, and Delio not I decided to reschedule and not have his crew work because it rained a bit overnight and the ground was damp. It did not rain at all during that day on 5/13 until late that evening. When I called about not showing up. He said it was too wet. I looked at the next day forecast (5/14) and there was a good to very good chance of rain throughout the day. During the phone call I expressed my concern to Delio about installing black dyed mulch in the rain and the damage it can do to surfaces (walkway, siding, white PVC railing). His reply was not to worry his guys will be careful and it will be fine. Sure enough, it was NOT FINE! His crew stained our walkway. Our hardi-plank painted light yellow siding. Our white pvc railing and our new white chaise lounge chairs. My wife and I, 3 weeks later, are still trying to remove stains. Moving on. That morning when his crew arrived and immediately began mulching in the rain. I took a walk around the back of the property. What I found was piles of debris they left and they did not clean up. There was also twigs leaves and all kinds of messes all around the rear of the house. I called and I asked Delio if his guys were done cleaning and he said YES. I told him, then we have an issue. He showed up to the site and saw the mess and talked to one of his crew. They had to stop mulching and clean the mess. I think they would have been okay trying to hide it if I didn't notice. At the end of the current job Delio blamed his crews' shortcomings on me. Said my complaining made them nervous and my rescheduling caused them to work in the rain. Even though it was Delio not me that decided to NOT WORK on 5/13 (no rain) and reschedule to 5/14 (rain all day). I shared my displeasure with Delio about the whole job and his solution when you are not happy is to tell you the issues are your fault and to quit. He left us with 2 to 2 1/2-foot-high grass that I had to push mow for over 7 hours. Because most mowing companies are at capacity, we had to hustle to find another company last minute. DO NOT USE ORANGE!!
