Lary Huls of lhulsdesigns.com replaced the dreary chain link fence and gate behind my house in Alameda. His design was squarely in the Craftsman camp yet custom tailored to my house by its reference to the Palladian window out in front. He incorporated the rectangle-arch-rectangle motif into the gate and its flanking fence, then built it right there in the back yard. Finishing touches included hefty redwood posts, and my favorite detail, quaint cast iron washers right off a ferry dock. Huls can design, create, install, and maintain an entire landscape. His additional skills include traditional dry stonework, pruning, lighting and irrigation, most everything you need to match your garden to the style and character of your building, whether vintage or contemporary. If you would like to see images of his work at my house, email judithal@comcast.net. Judith Lynch read more

I hired Lary on a friend's recommendation to repair a deck built in the 1970s. When he came out to do the estimate, he showed me that all the supports had rotted, so though the decking itself was fine, it really needed to be replaced. Along with the deck replacement, I decided to replace my lawn with more drought tolerant landscaping. After interviewing me on how I use the garden, Lary provided a detailed proposal and requested input from me every step of the way, e.g. the grade of wood and brick to use. He suggested a beautiful ground cover plant that goes in place of some of the lawn. The resulting deck and landscape is beautiful and functional. Lary also is helpful in trying to send any demolished items for reuse rather than just dumping in the landfill. read more

I hired Lary to repair my mother-in-law's ancient non functional sprinkler system. The existing system was a hodge podge of mismatched components and was oddly laid out. My mother-in-law is on a fixed income and could not afford to replace the whole thing so we wanted to work with what we had to make repairs and replace components as necessary to get the system working again. The job was messy and ill defined. The kind of job a lot of contractors will shy away from. But Lary was up for the task, understood what we wanted to achieve, and did a fantastic job at a fair price. He and his crew methodically worked through the system, replacing what was bad and re-using what was still in acceptable shape. We had a quote from him prior to beginning work. However, in a job like this you inevitably come across unexpected problems that are not in the original quote. Naturally these add cost to the job, but Lary did not use this as an opportunity to jack up the price unreasonably. All his charges were very fair. Once he started the job he stayed on it until it was done. Due to the age of the existing system, many of the old joints failed under pressure and had to be re-glued. After the main job was complete he had to come back daily for almost a week to check and replace failed joints. We were happy with Lary's work and would recommend him for any irrigation work. Since we did not use him for landscaping, I can't speak to that side of his business but I feel that he is honest, hard working, and diligent and I would feel comfortable hiring him for any landscaping, fencing, or irrigation. read more

Now, while my first impression is that they were very nice and honest people, the professionalism was below par unfortunately. I had them out to help me create a landscape design for my front and back yard. This was to be a very large project and I needed help designing something that flowed well. After he left I did not hear from him from over a week and that was simply an email asking me to sign something if I "wanted to move forward" AFTER A WEEK!! I actually filled out the paperwork and sent it back. I then didn't hear back for almost another FULL WEEK!! This was yet another email stating that they needed more information and a check before they could start. This is after I had already had two different companies come out and start on designs. Both were willing to work on the design through completion without any up front fees. When I informed him of this he became very defensive and then attempted to insult the other companies as "cutting corners" if they were willing to do that work for free. When I asked if he wanted to come out and bid on the project once the design was completed, he continued with unprofessional comments whining that he "wasn't going to be the lowest bid" so there was no point and its obvious that I "want the cheapest work" He made one last ditch effort to convince me to go with him by stating that doing small jobs instead of one big job would end up costing me WAY MORE then if we just knocked it out all at one time. His work may be of very high quality, I don't know, but based on my interactions I would be very surprised if he does a good job of communicating well with the client during the job and even more surprised if he was able to stay on schedule when working on projects. read more

I contacted Lary Huls based on word-of-mouth reviews from the Unity Church and members of the San Leandro School District community. First of all, Lary is professional in his attitude and timeliness. He also returns phone calls promptly and does his work on-time, as promised. I also rate this business with 5 stars because of his willingness to help me find a balance between what I really wanted done in our backyard and the amount of money I had available for the project. Finally, he offered advice and information about plants, tree health, and maintenance of landscaping that had been installed by other landscape contract crews. Lary's assistant was also a professional who has attended the native plant/landscaping program at Merritt. We were glad to hire a local professional small-business and support an East Bay area operation. read more

We hired Lary to do some wood deck and gate repairs, build a moss rock wall, repair sprinklers, and prune trees and bushes. With L Huls Designs we can get it all from outdoor carpentry work to sprinklers repair and installation. We have found Lary very professional and easy to work with. He came to finish up a project that another landscaper started. We like that this is a small company and that he is not the kind of person who just buys materials for his crew and leaves them finishing the work while he is at another job. We love that Lary is present on the job all the time unless he is away getting materials and he will start and end the day with his crew. Although his company is in Alameda, he makes the time to come to Lafayette. We have a lot of projects to get done in our backyard and he has been very patient at taking the projects as we have been breaking them down in parts. He is great at communication as he would respond to phone calls or emails. We have found Lary very knowledgeable in his field and he is always open to offer his advice with any question regarding landscaping. We would highly recommend his business, read more

Lary is super knowledgable and he has a great hard working crew. I had a backyard that had been neglected for a long time by the previous owners -- the centerpiece was a giant 2-story tall rose bush, but there was so much more. It had broken other crews with the work required and Lary and gang knocked the demolition out of the park. They are a bit pricey, but you definitely get what you pay for. They are super professional and do everything they need to get the job done and more. Definitely will continue working with them in the future. read more

I hired L. Huls to build a large arbor in our back yard in Castro Valley. Lary created plans and diagrams that my wife and I agreed to. As the arbor began to take shape after several days of construction, I felt the arbor was not going to provide enough shade. After sharing my thoughts with Lary, he was very understanding and was able to alter the design slightly to my liking. The finished arbor is amazing. His attention to detail and finising work is spectacular. He even had the post brackets powder coated so they did not have the galvanized finish. I highly recommend L. Huls Designs. read more

Lary came out right away in between his jobs to assess the situation. We had a bad leak from one of the sprinkler control units. He & his associate came back and replaced the parts by the end of the day. I am very impressed and plan to use other services. Thank you Lary! read more

I bought a home recently and the yard was in terrible condition. It needed new sod, irrigation system, patio, plants, gates etc. I got 4-5 quotes for the work and Lary's quote was one of the most competitive. The work completed was as follows: * old sod removed * new irrigation system * yard design (layout, patio, sod and plant design) * new sod * old patio removed (tile) * new patio (tile) * 2 x fences, hand carved and painted. * New Plants and trees installed Lary and his team did an excellent job. He was very easy to work with and flexible. He was very responsive with emails and calls. Later on, we also had some issues with the sod and plants, he also fixed this at no extra cost. Glen read more

My wife and I wanted a stone fountain and free standing stones in a newly designed Japanese garden. Lary came to our house and met with the designer and gardeners and helped with the design. He came with us to the rock store and spent several hours looking at stones and guiding our choices. He suggested three obelisk type stones for another part of the garden. Last, we wanted the fountain to be loud, so we could hear the sound of water from the house. In all things, Lary was helpful, insightful, generous, responsive, and most importantly creative and professional. It was a pleasure to work with him--and we love the fountain, stones, and garden. Any more of this kind of work for us, and we're coming back to Lary. read more

We called Lary again and he saved the day. He and his professional crew cleared out a sad tree to replace with new one, spruced up the front yard, and he fixed a water pump (for excess rain during storms) at side of house (he had already done watering system in front that we can adjust for dryer periods), and made it look much prettier. Truly amazing. We are now prepared for rainy periods and dryer seasons. read more

After setting up an appointment, having the appointment time pass, calling back and still no return call, one hopes actual work is better. What is it with businesses that can't keep appointments or even call to say they can't make it? read more

Larry was fantastic! arrived exactly on time, and completed all of the evaluation and repair work within a hours. Very professional and seems to know his stuff I have a half acre with an extensive sprinkler and drip system, and he was very helpful in both repairing the leaks and recommending future modifications for drought relief. read more

I was given Lary's name by a neighbor when I was looking for someone to do some patio work for us. Lary showed up with his two workers, assessed the job, gave us his estimate, sent me pictures of the materials he proposed to use, and was back to start work 2 days after I gave him the "Ok". He and his small crew know their stuff inside and out, worked at our convenience, did a great job, cleaned up assiduously, and I couldn't be happier. This is the guy we're going back to for any kind of patio/landscaping work in the future, without any hesitation. read more

We hired Lary and his team to design and install a custom gate for our front walkway. It was designed, built, and installed in a timely manner, and we are very pleased with the finished product! read more

I hired Larry Huls to repair an old brick patio and extend the patio to another portion of the yard. Mr. Huls was timely and professional, he and his team did an outstanding job and the patio is lovely. We are planning a family bar-b-que and cannot wait to show of the yard to family and friends. Thank you Larry, we are planning to have you back to work on the front yard. I would recommend Larry to everyone that requires brick or patio work. Thank you so much for your work. Mary Elaine Davis read more