Held off on writing this review for awhile because the owner said they were going to be coming back to drop off additional stones for our retaining wall in case we needed replacements down the line. Of course, we never heard from her again and the stones never came.
To be blunt and provide a tl;dr (too long didn't read): I would not rehire MSN Landscaping for another job as I was left very unsatisfied with their final work, lack of communication and overall professionalism.
The longer story goes as such. Mid-September we asked for a quote on our backyard (leveling, retaining wall, pond and patio). Rachel and her husband came out and took measurements and gave a quote and a start date for the beginning of October. We wanted to get things done asap and with them saying that they could get in there right away and start working on our yard was the main reason that we went with MSN. Their bid was about $4000 more than another competitor, but the timing was really the key factor on our decision. We paid a 50% deposit to secure the start date of October 9th.
The date for starting came and went and I reached out to them to find out when they would be starting as it had already been 4 days after the agreed upon start date. At that time I was informed that her husband had been in a car accident and things had been delayed and that they would be starting the week after. I understood about the delay with the information of a car accident. Another week goes by and I still hadn't heard from Rachel, so I get in touch again and ask when they're going to start...no response. I sent another email and tell Rachel that they haven't communicated with us have missed the second start date which was a week after the original and we'd like to cancel the work. That gets a response immediately (within minutes) and I'm informed that a cancellation fee of 30% would be assessed if we cancelled. I find this ridiculous as we were never informed of a cancellation policy and there's nothing in writing that states so. She assures me that they will be starting right away the following Monday. I decide to wait as we want to get the work started and finished because finding a landscaper / hardscaper isn't always the easiest task. All the good ones are more than likely booked up. They finally showed up to begin work, 3 weeks after the original start date agreed upon.
They come and start the project and it takes them longer than we were quoted that it would take, the company takes a full week off and we don't see them at all...no communication of why they haven't showed up for a week and our backyard is dug up, unfinished. I started to wonder if they were actually going to come back. They return after a week of no communication and going mia. They don't haul away the debris that they were supposed to. The steps for our retaining wall were unfinished and when I point that out, I'm told that they can not put caps on our steps because it's a violation of code. Since that time, other landscapers have come out and told us that you can put caps on the steps and it's not a violation of code. I have seen photos from other landscaping companies with caps on the steps, so overall...they just didn't want to finish the job. They didn't seal the retaining wall or patio and told us that we would need to do so in the spring because it was too wet for them to do it at the time. Bad service in my opinion, this should be something that the company does as it's not a finished job and something that we paid for. They tore up our neighbors backyard with their truck that was needed for the job as it was the only entry point into our backyard and assured me that they would fix our neighbors backyard, but left it half done and still shows tracks which I have to fix this spring myself so that I keep my neighbor happy. I also have to fix the fence that they took apart and didn't put back together properly. They rushed out of our backyard pretty quick and I don't feel that they really finished the job at all. Other landscapers that have come out since to actually grade and level our yard have also said that the job wasn't really done in the manner than it should have been.
I know it's a lot to read, but overall, don't bother with this company. You will get excuse after excuse if you get any at all. They're overpriced and you can more than likely find a better company to work with. A job that they said would take 2 weeks was delayed by 2 1/2 weeks and took 5 weeks to complete (total of 8 weeks from the agreed upon starting date). I wish we would have cancelled the job and just waited to find a true professional company that had more reviews to back up their quality of work, this is our own fault as we just didn't do enough research. We would have saved some money and I believe we would have received a better result for being patient. That's our fault which is why they get 2 stars and not 1. read more
