We hired Randy Rogahn, Star Landscaping (license #0086897) to do a water smart conversion of our backyard. We found him on the Southern Nevada Water Authority's website from a list of contractors who've had advanced training on water smart landscape. When I first contacted I stated that I was looking for a contractor for a backyard design and installation. Randy responded quickly, seemed personable, professional, and passionate about landscape design. We spent a bit of time on the initial visit talking about my "vision" and looking at inspiration pictures. He seemed confident that he could help us achieve what we were looking for. He "sketched" a quick design on a piece of paper. I assumed it was just preliminary and that we'd go over it in more detail before he started the job a month later.
Communication was excellent when we had questions about our contract, and the process with the water authority. I even appreciated that he allowed us to pay 25% down instead of the usual 50% as we were awaiting the stimulus check.
Things went downhill when the job started. He didn't give us an actual start date but texted us at 6:30am on the day they were coming to ask if our gate was open. A couple hours later, he texted "what color pavers did you decide on?" He'd never shown us any options or sent me anything to look at, and we didn't even review the design. I was surprised by this as his website touts 3D design and all we got was a sloppily sketched "concept" after 15 minutes of chatting.
Once the job started, communication was spotty at best. Randy asking what we wanted (plants, rock color, basically EVERY element of design) via text on very short notice continued throughout. I felt rushed to make decisions regarding things I knew very little about.
On the day they started installing pavers we had a whole section completed by the afternoon. When we came home that night, all the pavers in that section were removed. Apparently his guys spent a fair amount of time that day laying pavers based on the wrong design, and had to pull them up and start over.
Things got worse when it came time to choose rock. Over the phone Randy told me he forgot to include rock on to my contract. He alluded to the fact that we would help him pay for the rock but that he "...wasn't worried about profit". I wound up researching rock and opted for river rock that I saw was at Star Nursery 75 dollars a ton. When they installed the rock, I noticed a few areas seemed to be missing the weed screen. I also noticed they piled new rock on top of old rock without cleaning out the area. The old weeds were poking through the new rock. When I brought this up, Randy didn't seem concerned or apologetic for the lazy workmanship. He simply said "they will remove the old rock and put the weed screen under the window area".
He texted me on rock installation day that they'd originally picked up 5 tons but fell short and were getting another 4. At the end of the day, they got another 2 tons. Randy mentioned a few times in passing that he's been doing this for 14 years so it was hard to believe that someone so experienced would be so "off" on rock measurements. When we got the final invoice, we were charged for 11 tons at $125 a ton. I questioned why I was charged $50 more per ton than what the rock cost - he replied "Well it cost me $600 to install it with three guys labor for one and ahalf days. The weed screen alone was $150 to purchase." When I signed the contract, I was confident that I was dealing with a professional who was presenting me with a comprehensive plan for the project.
I mentioned before the job was over that certain areas didn't seem to have adequate weed screen. When he came to walk through with us, he assured us that weed screen was there and he didn't know what else we wanted him to do. I also brought up the concerns I had throughout the project, mainly about lack of communication and poor workmanship at points. He apologized but said he didn't want to argue, and he didn't know what else we wanted from him.
Sure enough, a week after the job was complete we were already noticing grass growing through many areas of the rocks. I texted him and he said only that they'd remove the grass and place weed screen where it was missing. They removed the grass but our camera showed they were there a few minutes and there still seemed to be no new weed barrier.
The moral of this very long story is that, while the overall design turned out pretty nice, we feel like we were not given the professionalism, communication, and attention to detail we expected. I don't recommend this contractor, and wish I'd done more research before hiring. I hope I can help others from making the same mistake... read more