This company was hired by my builder. There are so many things that are disappointing about the process that it is hard to know where to start.
First, they are incapable of planning. They insist that it is impossible to provide any advance notice of when they will show up to start and complete the work. Then when they show up and no one is home they are annoyed even though the homeowners had no idea that they were going to show up that day. Somehow, it becomes my problem that they have too much work and therefore it is understandable that they cannot plan and give any advance notice on when the work will be started, completed or when they will show up at my house. I just need to be flexible and understanding. Seriously, who is the customer???? How is it that every other company can manage their time but somehow these guys expect a pass because they lack the ability to plan and manage their time? After months of inquiring when they would start the landscaping project and receiving no response I received a call from the builder, while I was traveling out of state for work, letting me know that the landscapers were upset because they have been waiting at the house for over an hour to start the work and no one was home. Well, sir, this is what happens when you show up unannounced. As unreasonable as it might seem YOUR CUSTOMERS do actually have jobs and other commitments. They are not just sitting at the house waiting for you to finally have time to show up unannounced to begin the work that YOU ARE BEING PAID FOR!!!!
Second, it takes an unbelievably long time to get work completed once they start. For months I asked to meet to discuss the landscaping plans. No one returned my calls. They started the work on my tiny yard over 5 weeks ago and we are not even close to be done. In addition, they designed my backyard without any input from me. This included planting a tree in the middle of my back yard. Picture stepping off your deck and walking straight into a tree. I was actually told that I don't have the right to provide any feedback on the design of MY BACKYARD!!!!! The day they arrived to start the work I was told they would finish the work that day. I arrived home later that week to snow. Once the snow melted I realized they hadn't completed the work. In fact, they were nowhere close to being done. After not hearing anything from the company for over two weeks I followed up to ask for a timeline for completing the work. I was told they cannot provide a timeline because they are so busy. Meanwhile, the tree they planted is dying because the sprinklers were partially installed and therefore couldn't be turned on. I travel for work and therefore can't manually water the tree. It took them three weeks to come back and finish installing the sprinklers. It was not communicated to me that the sprinklers were not ready for use and after several calls no one returned my call to answer this question. Then, one Saturday morning they show up at my house unannounced to finish the installation. I was about to leave for an appointment and ended up being late because they expected to complete the installation that day and needed access to my garage and house.
Third, the work product is extremely poor. They laid a significant amount of rocks in my yard without grading the ground and in some places there is too many rocks, in other places there is to few rocks. Both I and a representative from the builder have almost faller trying to walk around the yard. This is because of the steep gradient and due to how the rocks have been laid. In addition, after only 3 weeks, weeds are already growing in between the rocks. This is because the ground cover that they put down only covers some of the area and is paper thin. In addition, they just laid the rocks down without doing any treatment to remove weeds that were already established. They were going to lay the sod over ungraded, weed infested, untoiled, rock ridden soil. When I inquired about doing these things first, they told me that they don't grade the ground and haven't answered my other questions. Are these guys' amateurs?
Where do we stand today? 5 weeks later no further progress has been made. I am told that I need to understand that they are extremely busy and therefore need to be patient. These guys are unbelievable. If you have a choice, don't hire them. If you don't have a choice (i.e. your builder chooses to you them for some reason unknown to mankind) then make sure you micro manage the process read more