Corey and his team were wonderful from start to finish.
My family recently moved into a new construction home, and had a completely unfinished, untouched, pile-of-dirt backyard that we really had no idea how to even get started on.
After several months of staring at the dirt (and also, in our defense, focusing on other issues involved with moving into a new house) we finally decided to get it landscaped. I called 11 different businesses (after reading countless reviews on yelp and also posting and asking for suggestions on facebook, google+ etc). Of the 11 businesses I called, I liked four enough to ask them to come and actually give me an estimate. Of the four, one just flat-out never gave me an estimate, even after I left a voicemail message, one estimate came in a little lower than Corey's, and one came in a little higher.
The reason we went with Corey though was his professional and knowledgeable attitude and expertise, which was readily apparent throughout the process.
Pre-Contract:
1. Corey actually came out twice, once to meet with me (I work from home) and then again, because I liked him but wanted my husband to meet him, to meet with my husband and me and talk over the design.
2. Now, my husband and I are not really gardening people, and so we really had very little idea in terms of what we wanted (beyond general: some patio, some grass, some trees?) or even what kind of a budget we should have been thinking about. Corey was great in terms of saying you could do x, y, z, I would lean x because of blah, y would be okay, but z is a bad idea, honestly, because of blah and blah. We needed someone to say these things to us because we really didn't know... You might think you want this tree, but it's fairly prone to disease, and unless you're telling me you're gardening pros (we're not), then it's just not going to be a good idea for your family.
3. He was conscientious of our budgetary concerns (all three estimates came in a little higher than I was hoping, though again, I didn't have a good sense initially) and wonderful about saying: look, here's where we might trim the budget a little and you'd still be happy, etc
4. He gave us a line-itemized estimate that was detailed and thus very possible to then say, we don't want this, we want more of this, less of that, etc...
During the Work:
1. Corey was VERY understanding when I had second thoughts about the size of my patio. Even though we had signed and agreed, when the concrete people came, I realized I wanted a slightly bigger patio (and I changed the shape of it as well) and he was wonderful about fitting in those concerns and adapting to our changing needs.
2. Abel was probably the point man in terms of being the single guy who was there every single day, but he was excellent, and beyond that Corey was there... almost all the time. If he wasn't there, he called and checked in to make sure things were going well. All of the people who worked on our yard were professional, knowledgeable and just all-around great. They checked in, checked with my opinions at key stages so that I felt intricately involved with the entire process and were also good about times when I said: I don't know, just tell me what might be best here and I'll trust your judgement.
After the Work:
1. Right after everything was done, Corey took me around the yard and walked me through plant by plant (because I had been very honest about my limitations in terms of gardening) what and how to take care of my garden. I took notes, and was so pleased that he had taken the time to do that.
2. Corey's been great about checking in with us afterwards, even though the yard's pretty much done (the patio still has to be sealed, but everything else is completely finished, and looks great).
Basically, we were extraordinarily pleased with Corey and his team. there was a moment, early on, when we were almost swayed be one of the other bids (they had a really, really pretty picture/design concept drawn out for our yard, whereas Corey's one weakness, I would say, is that he's not so much a drawer, as a spray-painter in terms of he'll spray out what the design looks like and talk it over with you).
Ultimately, we went with Corey because we realized that the pretty picture the other company had drawn? It wasn't really as functional for our family (couple small kids, etc), whereas Corey had really thought through... here's where you might want some shade, here's where these trees should go because of blah and blah, here's how these plants will grow to cover that AC unit from your line of sight, etc I think he's someone who really cares about the final product being something that you and your family will really enjoy and appreciate, and recommend him enthusiastically! read more