AWFUL experience working with Amy Anderson. We hired Anderson Landscapes in October 2021, Amy came…read moreto our house, we discussed our ideas and wants and we got our 3D design a month and a half later.
Folks, that design was so BAD that I struggle to find the right words to describe it without being offensive. My fiancé was so put off by Amy's design that he just wanted to take the $850 loss and walk away; he didn't even want to work with her to try to fix it, it was so bad that he didn't think it'd be salvageable. Most of the things that we told her we wanted were not included and those that were included were done poorly and carelessly. Not only did she ignore or forgot most of what we had asked her for, but what she did design was messy, barely functional and not aesthetically pleasing.
Some examples of Amy's design:
- Plants with huge thorns ALL around the walkways and existing pool
- Stairs off our deck that dead-end into an existing privacy wall and trees (so you can't actually get anywhere).
- Our only outdoor faucet completely blocked off.
- We told her we were thinking about changing our back door for French doors - so in her design she changed our existing windows for French doors and left the regular door right next to it.
- We told her we'd like to extend our deck, so she extended it and added two sets of stairs: the aforementioned set of stairs to nowhere and another set that ends about 6 inches from an existing concrete planter.
- We told her we wanted to replace the palm trees we lost in the freeze, she ignored us.
- We told her we didn't want Cypress trees, she covered our backyard in them.
- We told her we wanted shade all over the exiting patio, she designed a pergola that covers only half the patio and with one of the support beams smack in front of an existing smoker. I understand that maybe she couldn't design the pergola we wanted if there were structural or permit constraints, but she didn't explain any of it to us and, to this day, I have no idea why she designed only a half-pergola.
- We told her we wanted to xeriscape the side yard, she ignored us and didn't even include the side yard in the design.
- We told her we wanted storage under the existing deck, she ignored us.
- We told her we wanted an outdoor kitchen (with a sink, a Green Egg and storage) - she added a grill.
I, not wanting to just take the $850 loss, emailed Amy with a long list of everything she missed or did carelessly. She was sort of apologetic and said she would re-do it and get back to us "soon".
A month later I had to email her asking what was going on as I hadn't heard from her. She made up some excuse about the holidays and said she would have our design in two days. Four days later she did send the new 3D design and, while it wasn't exactly what you would expect from a professional designer, it was much better than the first. She said she would have the 2D design the next day - it's been 50 days.
Three weeks after, I emailed her asking for an update. Then again the week after. And again. And again. You get the drift. She didn't answer a single email. I eventually called. And called. And called. You get the drift again. She blocked my number. It took about 50 (ignored) phone calls to two different phone numbers, texts and a couple angry voicemails to get Amy to finally reply. All she said was that they weren't going to bid on our project (as if I would work with them ever again), that she had explained that in her email from 50 days ago (she hadn't) and that if I had a construction company, then she would send THEM the 2D design. So here we are, 5 months after hiring Anderson Landscapes - our backyard is still a mess - but we now have a barely ok 3D design, a 2D design being held hostage and a shady company ignoring our requests for a follow-up. Oh, and we got to pay $850 for this hassle.
If that's the experience you want when re-doing your backyard, then by all means, hire Anderson Landscapes. But if six months from now you'd rather be enjoying your backyard oasis instead of dealing with a mediocre, rude, shady company and googling "how to open a BBB complaint", then I'd recommend you stay away from Anderson. They do have some good reviews from years ago but I'd suggest you pay attention to the newer ones as something has definitely changed. There are so many landscaping/hardscaping companies out there, trust me when I tell you, it's not worth your time or money to take a chance on this one (and I wish I'd known that 5 months ago).
