I was convinced that I'd hired a conscientious, hard-working and reliable landscaper when I signed on the dotted line with Green Hill Landscaping. I could not have been more disappointed.
Mike Doan, the owner, was the one who first met with me to provide an estimate. He seemed rather impatient and rushed, but I just assumed it was an irregularity. He also appearevery competent and confident. Mike very clearly was one of the guys working "in the trenches" from the way he was dressed and the soiled condition of his clothes. I liked that. I told him I was looking for an owner who actually worked on the job sites with his crew, not someone in the office. Well, Mike never did work on my job. He sent young and inexperienced men to do the work, and they were always understaffed. They rarely finished what they were working on before they left without explanation. The wouldn't come back for days on end, with no communication from Mike or his company.
I could not communicate with the laborers because neither of the two spoke intelligible English, and Mike didn't bother to answer my emails or text messages or even phone calls with any kind of reasonable timeliness. In fact, the vast majority never were answered by Mike. Therefore, my question went unanswered, and my concerns unaddressed.
Mike's communication with me was nothing short of horrific. Mike was and is the most frustrating individual I've ever contracted with, and yet he mocked me for trying to communicate with him when he finally came to my house after I reached the end of my rope with him. Even after I wrote very explanatory messages with my concerns, and my frustration with his lack of communication throughout the entire process (3 months for a very small, simple job), his response on his final visit (to pick up his final check), was once again to just mock me for emailing, texting and calling him!
Then, when I asked him to look at my sprinkler settings, he spent all of 10 seconds and then told me he needed to go. This is what happened each of the three times he was at my house based upon my concerns - he was always rushed, never had time for my concerns, and didn't give a rip about my satisfaction.
Mike's crew constantly ran over the sprinkler lines with wheelbarrow's full of rocks without protecting the lines. When I expressed concern, Mike once again dismissed me as if I was a bothersome bug.
Mike and his crew never once tested the drip lines I paid them to install, and never turned on the system to check for leaks, despite my asking them to do so.
During the bid process and several times after I told Mike I didn't want any seams in my artificial turf he was to install. He assured me there would be no seams, and said the the turf comes in 15' wide rolls, and as long as my yard requires. In my case I have a very tiny back yard that's only about 8 feet wide by 28 feet long. Mike several times assured me there would be no seam, and I'd have leftover turf about seven feet wide by the length.
I came home earlier this week to find the turf installed, no leftover turf anywhere in sight, and an unsightly seam right down the middle of my back yard! This is not at all what he had told me on multiple occasions, and he never communicated with me to tell me his plan had changed.
So, I wrote this to him: "Hi Mike. Glad to see grass installed when I got home from work. I was disappointed to see the seam in the grass. You told me there would be no seam, and that I would have a lot of left over grass. You said it would be 15' wide and the length of our yard, which would mean I'd have about 7' x 25' of turf that was left. It wasn't. And, the seam is ugly. There is no residual turf that was left at all!!
What happened, and why didn't' you discuss this with me before this very conspicuous change was made to my backyard turf? I have to live with this, not you, and you didn't get my approval. As you can tell, I'm not happy. Your communication with me has been horrible during this entire process.
We need to talk , in person. And, the fact that your crew, not you, installed this while my wife was home and didn't even give her the courtesy of knocking on the door and talking to her is inexcusable.
This is a big issue."
And this is what I got back from him:
"Yes, When"
Are you kidding? That's his response to a client that is incredibly unhappy, who has been deceived by him and whose installation was not at all what was promised? Unbelievable.
When he finally met with me (he once again showed up without an appointment and without any response to my email listing two potential times to meet), all he did was mock me for my multiple attempts to communicate. He showed no remorse, didn't apologize, told me he was in a hurry, and just collected his final check, walked to his truck and drove away without any recognition at all of his incredibly poor business practices.
No, I cannot recommend Green Hill Landscape in Lafayette CO read more