Joe and his team at AG did a fantastic job! What drew me to the company was their local location, their mostly positive reviews and the fact that they followed up w/neg reviews. I reached out for a quote - got Joe on the phone - he was at my house the next day. Through the whole process our communication was good - I got other similar quotes - but Joe and I got along great right away so he got the job. AG was ready to work - they showed up and on the first day, my back yard was leveled! They worked hard and quickly. Even came on a Saturday! In 8 days it was done and what a transformation! Our dream back yard in just over a week:) Thanks to Joe, Andrew (site manager/Joe's brother) and to the whole crew. We couldn't be happier. Recommended! What they did: Removal of wire fencing on both sides of property, as well as general debris. Removal of large encroaching bush and clearing of vine covered areas including on utility wires, leveling ground with sand, laying flag stone in over 90% of property, installing 3 sidings of treated wooden fencing including the creation of a seamless gate leading to back alley, staining of all wood fencing, creating small garden nook, minor cement work and new drain was added. read more

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We hired Avant Gardens to completely renovate our South Philly row home backyard in December 2022. Now that we've had a summer to enjoy it, we couldn't be happier with the results. They removed our old fence and put in flagstones over our cracked concrete pad. From the beginning, Joe and Andrew were friendly, communicative, and professional. Their crew arrived on time each day and stayed within the timeline and budget we agreed to. I highly recommend them for anyone looking to beautify their backyard. read more

UrbanScape Solutions - After the renovation - Landscaping Near Me

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Estimate way different than actual price. Highly do not recommend. Very very painful. Can't emphasize enough how unpleasant the experience of working with this company was. read more

Joe and the gang helped us completely transform our backyard and we couldn't be happier with it! Can't wait until spring when all of their plants really come to life. No doubt one of the best investments we could've made in this Fishtown townhome - the backyard will likely close the deal for any next buyers. read more

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I received an email were I kept saying 4ft high fencing and this company was saying 8ft high and never came our to see exactly what I wanted. I got annoyed so cancelled appt. read more

We recently hired Avant Gardens to renovate our small city patio, and we love the results. We will get so much more use out of it now -- we should have done this years ago. Joe was easy to work with, and knowledgeable, and I especially appreciated that he was not at all pushy. Our project was mainly hardscaping and fencing, but they also do traditional gardening and landscaping. As a bonus, I'll mention that they did my neighbor's patio a few years ago and it still looks nice. read more

Avant Gardens was a pleasure to work with from beginning to end. Owner and operator team Joe and his brother Andrew provided consistent communication throughout the entire project which I find to be very unusual compared to other contractors I have worked with. Joe met with me multiple times, on my schedule, to discuss the vision for the project and ensured that I was comfortable before taking any next steps. He and his brother, with a combined 50+ years experience, are so knowledgeable and lent their expertise when selecting the perfect plants for my yard conditions and my garden is thriving. The team started on-time and worked throughout the entire day to keep the project on track. Every member of the team is respectful and highly skilled in their craft given me confidence that the job would be done right and it was. I live in a city row home and had my entire front yard removed and new garden beds installed. I had custom stone garden beds installed in my backyard as well. In addition to the 100+ plantings the team brought in they build custom fences and gates to my specifications. Joe said there wasn't a project they couldn't tackle and he proved me right. I am pleased with my new gardens and would highly recommend the Avant Gardens team. read more

A name shouldn't impact my decision to select a service provider, but come on.... Avant Gardens?! You have to give some style points for a cool name. When Joe first came out to our home, I immediately felt like I would be working with someone qualified. I felt even more comfortable when he talked me into keeping some of the existing landscape instead of removing/replacing them with something new (which would've cost more money). We are fortunate to have a pretty big back yard for the city and it needed a lot of love. In a much shorter time than expected, our backyard has been transformed in a green space oasis. New fencing, sod, reshaped mulch beds, and removed some of the existing unpleasantness. And...just in time to enjoy some unseasonably great weather (75 degrees today). Pricing was competitive and we awarded Joe our business because he is a local business, fairly priced, and was able to deliver the work faster than expected. We have some smaller touch-ups that we'll look to have done in the spring and will no doubt go back to AG! read more

We recently hired Joe and Avant Gardents to redo our back patio in Philly. A tree adjacent to our house fell and when it was uprooted it displaced our concrete patio. Joe and his team were extremely prompt in coming over, giving us a quote, and even coming back to discuss it with the insurance adjuster. They did a wonderful job removing the tree, the concrete and installing pavers to completely revamp our patio. They also redid our flower box and fence and did a wonderful job with it. I could not recommend them more! read more

Just got a deck replaced and a cedar fence with trellis placed. Plenty of covid precautions, and an overall great job,. I had several specific things I wanted done, they listened and addressed them perfectly. read more

After getting various proposals and quotes, hired Avant Gardens to redo our backyard patio. What a transformation! Joe, the owner, came by first time and sent a really nice sketch. He came again when I was hesitating on whether to do the fence and which fence. He was very helpful in suggesting ways to keep the costs in line. The guys he had doing the work were so conscientious, polite,considerate and professional. It was obvious they took pride in the work. We're very happy with the finished product. I would absolutely use them again and recommend them. read more

UrbanScape Solutions - Landscaping Near Me

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Avant did an amazing job fixing our back terrace. We started with a grimy and claustrophobic fenced in area that we only visited out of desperation. Joe and his team changed it into a true urban oasis. He ripped down the fence, put in beautiful plants, repainted, and built me my own garden gate in under two weeks. The work was beautiful and thorough and the price was very fair. We would definitely recommend them highly. read more

Joe transformed my backyard from a mess of weeds to lovely patio. We were surprised and impressed by how quickly Joe replied to our initial contact. He was out the following weekend to look at the space and discuss what we wanted. We received an estimate less than 24 hours later. Once we agreed to his plan he had his workers in our yard within days. He removed our weeds, installed a beautiful patio, and made a small perimeter garden. Avant Gardens also built and stained a fence, which provides us with privacy. We needed a water spigot added to our yard, and Joe had a plumber he recommended, who did a great job. We had someone come out and do work on the back of our house immediately after Joe's crew was finished. They did not protect our beautiful new flagstone and left stains on it. Joe was able to power wash it, and make it look new again. We were not easy clients. We were very concerned about drainage because we have a living space in our basement, and we let Joe know how important this was to us. His expertise was reassuring to us, and the results were exactly as he promised. We love our new outdoor space and will highly recommend Avant Gardens to all of our friends. read more

Joe, the owner and his team are wonderful. We had some ideas of what we needed in our front and back yard, but the advice they offered was great, ultimately steering us in the best possible direction. Additionally, we needed a secured privacy fence for our dogs, which they installed quickly and professionally. We moved into our home in late fall, and they came and completed work even in the coldest of winter months. We highly recommend them, and will always return to them for any additional work. read more

Joe and his team were able to take our jungle of a back yard and create and clean open space for our kids to play, this involved plant removal, leveling, laying sod and installing a cedar plank fence. We absolutely loved the transformation so much that we added on a bluestone patio and walkway. We now enjoy our outdoor space so much. read more

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great overall experience. had small city back patio space. Joe worked with us as to what we wanted done but also provided some helpful recommendations. very happy with the finished deck and small garden area. quality on the build/workmanship is solid. Joe is responsive by phone or email. estimate was very reasonable. would recommend. read more

Called on a Thursday and left and message about sod for my city yard and some landscaping. Joe came out and looked at the area the following day. He noticed that I had planted seed a few days before and suggested I should wait to see how that does before doing anything. I told him I was impatient and asked for an estimate anyway. Just a day or two later when I got the estimate, the grass was actually starting to come up. I told Joe I thought I would hold off on the sod, and he actually gave me tips and instructions on how to best care for it and have it grow in full, all via email and without my even hiring him for the job. While he was here, he also looked at my small front yard and answered some landscaping questions around why some plants weren't flowering. During this time, I found out he did the flower boxes in the apartment complex next door, which really look great. Joe not only saved me money by suggesting I wait for my grass seed and giving me tips, he also gave a fair estimate of work. I'll definitely be using his services for my front landscaping, and possibly even for a few extra small jobs in the back. read more

We made the mistake of dealing with Avant Gardens for our rain garden for our back yard. Without asking me what kind of plants I was interested in or what design I was interested in, he drew up a plan. He responded to my request to change some of his plant choices by adding a $125 design fee to the bill. He then proceeded to stall the rest of the work on the backyard by neither showing up when asked nor replying to any form of communication. This slowed down the work in the backyard from having everything planted in March to having to wait to the Fall. When he did materialize, it was with a plan to double-charge us for the work already performed by the other contractor on top of the "design fee". If you want the full experience of working with Avant Gardens without the hassle of contacting them, I recommend stabbing yourself in the eye with a fork: you get the same emotional experience, just as much progress in your garden, and save yourself time in the process.. read more

Called to ask for basic advice and information about laing Sod in the fall. They hung up on me

We used Avant Gardens to upgrade our city patio in 2013 and were initially ok with the results. Not as promised (we were told that the contractor they used on our job was new and claimed he was experienced, but actually turned out not to be) but good enough. In 2015 one wall of the structure began to lean in and the company was nice enough to come out and fix it. In 2018 (only 5 years after sinking $10000 into this small project), the wall began to lean in quite significantly once again and the company would take no responsibility for it. Beyond that, the owner was unimaginably rude in his email exchange with me. We ended up having to hire an outside company to come in and reinforce the beams. The bottom line is that the owner claims (see below) they are responsible for the quality of their work for only one year, so I would recommend that anyone looking to spend such a large amount of money think twice before using this company. We have also asked them to stop using the pictures of our patio on their website, but they have not complied as they said they would. Here are some quotes from the owner to me in his emails to me in 2018: "work is guaranteed for one year... & we went back As you know, made changes and fixed it...Which we were not paid for and I think there's more issues going on with the neighbors walls & properties. At this point with your nasty attitude I think after 5 years were off the hook." "Good luck with that threts will get you no where in life... and we repaired it last time free... because the fence was moving inward and again it's the neighbors fence that is the problem again... it's not I work...as you can see from your own pictures... so take that" "I am not in the office working like I explained only are you dope" read more

You most certainly did not cancel. I emailed the next morning and was told: "Sorry I did not have your phone number to call you but I wanted to get out there...so is tonight possible or tomorrow?" I responded "Tonight works." And I provided my cell just to make sure you had it. Again, no call no show. At no time did we speak on the phone. Everything was done via email. Which I have saved. There was nothing "Nasty" about my review. The only nasty thing is the attitude I'm being given by someone who refuses to take responsibility for their actions. read more

I had my inner-city backyard redone by Joe and his team. They came out to my place - which is a short walk to his office - they removed a tree that would eventually cause problems, ugly misplaced flower beds that never got light and were there when I moved in, replaced fencing, added a new downspout and laid brick pavers over the whole field. There was little to no actual "green-scaping" - this is what I would consider "hard-scaping" so I can't speak to anyone looking for more garden-friendly help. The majority of the work was done pretty quickly (because of our weird-weather winter, we started late but eventually the snow came and had to finish weeks later - this was mutually agreed upon). Reading other reviews leaves me with two final comments: Communication was always pretty good, although there were occasions when we were scheduled to meet and he forgot - yes, that's frustrating when you've got money and kids in the mix, but shit happens, and Joe was honest and apologetic. My advice here - confirm, confirm and confirm again. (I'm busy too, so I didn't always do that.) Second - this isn't the first renovation I've done, my house looked like "Fight Club" when I bought it, thus I've been hiring a lot of help for the last 8 years or so...Contracting work sucks, and it's a business for the people who do it. Maybe I'm just jaded, but perhaps for good measure - my expectations are reasonable. There were issues and disagreements along the way, things I had to call them back over to discuss and details that sometimes took as long as the bulk of the work - but that has been true with almost every job and Joe always made every effort to make sure I was happy with the results. Just stay fully engaged with the people doing any work, discuss everything up front and have a clear vision of the end result -- otherwise do it yourself. The end result isn't exceeding any of my expectations, but it absolutely did meet them - it looks damn good and now I have a outdoor space in the city I'm proud to entertain in and my daughter has an space clean and open enough to enjoy as well. read more

Our city yard is really small, and I didn't think Avant Gardens would be able to do much for us. But Joe and his guys built a bunch of containers and retaining walls so that we can have greenery but still have some patio space and room for the grill. They took a pretty depressing space and livened it up with the planters and the light fixtures. We don't get much sun back here, but the plants they recommended seem to be doing well in these conditions. read more

Avant Gardens landscaped our backyard, they were professional, pleasant to deal with and created lovely sketches for me to work with. When they finished, it was magnificent. I asked them for very specific directions on how to maintain the garden and was given some guidelines. Unfortunately, the garden very quickly died. The sod didn't take and 70% of it is non-existent anymore, and 60% of the shrubs and plants have all died. When one of their people came by a month or so later and saw things dying, he said "don't worry, it'll grow back", which it didn't, despite our following directions on maintenance very closely. This was exceptionally disappointing, a large investment for us was thrown out the window. I would not recommend working with these people. read more

I was very impressed with how Joe and his team transformed my small, muddy, messy, weed-filled front yard area into a really beautiful, sophisticated space. Simple but really pretty. I know nothing about plants or bushes or flowers. Joe sat down with me, drew out a plan and described exactly what he was going to do. He took extra time to explain each shrub and bush that he was going to plant. I let him know that i did not have a green thumb and that everything would need to very low maintenance. He took care of it! And they also added a fence and stones to my larger backyard area. It all looks great! I highly recommend Avant Gardens! read more

Joe and his team had a big task ahead of them with landscaping my yard. I have a black thumb, so a lot of patience was needed. They did an amazing job, and all I get are compliments on the finished product. read more

Joe is incredibly unprofessional. Price changed constantly over the course of the project. Some of that is to be expected, it's an "estimate" after all. The final bill he provided was an order of magnitude over the estimate. One of the most painful (re)negotiating experiences. Like FreethePenguins review said... stay away. read more

I don't generally write reviews on Yelp, but was so disappointed I couldn't not write one here. The gentleman from Avant came out, surveyed our space, and told me he would get back to me with an estimate and a plan. I never heard back, despite a few emails and voicemails! Not worth the hassle of dealing with a business that doesn't want your business! read more

Here's the headline; 9 of 12 bushes dead after one week and no return call after 4 attempts in 7 days. I had a similar experience to "Free The Penguins K" and will strongly recommend you don't use Avant Gardens. Dan, the project manager, seemed reasonable early on and then issues arose. First he was late with the design plans. Then, he wouldn't return our calls, opting to communicate through email in a less-than-timely fashion. We requested shrubs for the side of our house that were low maintenance and resilient; we aren't gardeners and simply wanted some green that wouldn't require much care. He installed twelve bushes along with a fence and an irrigation system (how resilient are bushes that need an irrigation system?). Our spigot leaked so it needed to be repaired before the irrigation system could be installed. Dan told us to get it done as the bushes needed water. We soaked them, then left for a 5 day vacation, planning to get it fixed when we returned. During those five days away, it rained twice. We returned home to 9 of the 12 bushes dead. In 5 days!!! Two posts from the fence were gone as well (after I explicitly asked for the fence to be anchored in concrete because I worried about it being stolen). I called Dan four times in the next week to learn more about the dead plants and have the final installation of the irrigation system compelted. After three calls, he chose to email my wife rather than call me back. I have still not heard form him and spent my Sunday afternoon pulling out and throwing away the dead bushes. Stay far, far away from this company. Even if they believe the dead bushes were my fault, I deserve a call back and a completed project. read more

Joe and his team have provided us with wonderful and thoughtful service, creating and maintaining a rooftop oasis for out city townhome for more than 7 years. The Avant folks are responsive, polite, creative and their pricing never offends. When we moved to a condominium, we very much wanted Joe to do a "greenroof" for us in our outdoor space. Joe reviewed the situation, gave me some wonderful insight and then urged me to go with another company that does only greenroofs (as opposed to Avant, which is a full service landscaper) -- because he believed their focus on just a single product gave them a bit of an edge. That kind of honesty and character is practically nonexistent in today's economy. I will follow Joe's advice, but will be back to him whenever the opportunity presents. In addition, Avant has done and continues to do our snow removal, and as with all they do, it never disappoints. read more

Joe and his team just finished installing a flagstone patio in my backyard. My wife and I are extremely happy with the result. The workmanship is superb. Joe and his team were very professional and a pleasure to deal with. We plan to use Avante Gardens for other projects in the future. read more

Avant Gardens relandscaped the courtyard to my row home it really came out nice. They did a really nice landscape plan that we adjusted so everything worked out like I wanted. The installations was very quick and the crew was polite and real hard workers! Thanks Joe. read more

We had a great experience w/Avant Gardens. The consultation was with the owner, Joe, he provided several design options for our space. The proposal arrived quickly. His crew arrived as scheduled completed the work in the allotted time & cleaned up before leaving. The results exceeded our expectations & was within our budget. It has been a few months since the installation & everything is thriving. Joe told us how to care for the plantings . I had a questions mid-summer & he was a great resource. Highly recommend Avant Gardens read more

Joe led the team at Avant Garden - from the design work to the implementation. We purchased an old colonial house where the garden required a complete overhaul - including cleaning moss and dirt off of brick walls, removing and hauling away a wood shed, gravel, old and broken benches, etc. There was an incredible amount of cleaning before the planting could start. The work was done in professional and timely manner - including collaborating with other contractors. The transformation is remarkable. We decided to replace a few of the trees that were selected by the design team, and Joe has been very accommodating. read more