Foothills View Landscaping LLC

My wife and I purchased a lovely home in the foothills of the Catalina Mountains just outside of Tucson in the spring of 2015. While the house and the property were exceptional, the landscaping was not. Last year we decided to do a complete makeover of the landscaping. We're natives of Virginia where I have been a multi-family housing developer for the past 35 years. I have extensive experience working with landscape architects and landscapers for large communities. However, at the time of the purchase of our new home I had little knowledge of and no experience with desert plant materials. To remake the landscaping of our new home, we needed both a designer and landscaper who knew plants of the Sonoran desert and xeriscaping. Also, we wanted to see a proven track record. After thoroughly researching both landscape designers and landscapers, we selected Shelley Abbott of Landscape Design West to prepare a landscape plan. We have previously reviewed her firm---highly recommended! Upon completion of the landscape plan, we interviewed and looked at the work of several landscaping firms. We decided that Foothills View Landscaping was best qualified to execute our plan. We could not have been more pleased with our selection. Gustavo Ibarra, owner of Foothills View Landscaping, was a real pleasure to work with. Gustavo is far more than a landscaper---he’s truly an artist. He embraced the design for our property and complemented our designer in every respect. Gustavo has a large crew and is capable of doing large or small jobs. He and his crew worked at our property for a month and were totally professional in every respect. Gustavo and his crew leader did more than we ever expected to make sure we were 100% satisfied with the final product. We were ecstatic with the final product. Foothills View continues to maintain the property. Gustavo is an absolute gentleman and a man of his word. We're only in Tucson for five winter months but we can't wait to see how the landscape has matured. We're especially excited about the wildflower meadow that Shelly and Gustavo meticulously sowed by hand themselves. We strongly recommend Gustavo Ibarra and his company, Foothills View Landscaping, for any landscape work you may be considering. You can’t do any better!

Very good work, on time and at a fair price. A couple of weeks ago a bad storm hit my area and dumped 3.5” of rain in just three hours. The flowing washes (I have 3) did a LOT of damage to the driveway and erosion control. I called Gustavo at Foothills View Landscaping Services and we met a couple of hours later. We discussed the scope of the work and he had several good ideas for fixing the problems. He gave me an estimate on the spot. I agreed and his crew showed up two days later at the agreed upon time. Gustavo was there to brief the crew on the work to be accomplished. The work included removing several sand bars from across the driveway, resetting about a dozen very large boulders back into place (they had been washed about 100' downstream). A few hours later the crew was finished and I was more than happy with the quality of work they did. ALL the problems had been resolved and it actually looked better than before the storm. I look forward to working with them again.

The work started mid November. Initially (maybe the first month) the work went smoothly. The homeowner had very explicit and extensive landscape drawings. It became clear in rather short order however that Mr. Ibarra and his workers were unable to read or follow the drawings. When problems were pointed out to Mr. Ibarra, they were generally ignored. Several plantings died within 2 months of installation (or less) and were not replaced. The plan for the routing of low voltage lines and irrigation lines was not delivered - thus it is not possible for the homeowner to know where these lines are. For the remaining 3 months of the contact, there was only sporadic response to homeowners request for project completion. In MAY the homeowner sent a list of items to be completed or corrected. Mr. Ibarra sent an email indicating he would come to review them - he never appeared. The homeower emailed him several times and he did not respond. We paid Mr. Iberra $33,000. The contract was for $44,380. Basically, he completed approximately 3/4 of the job and then walked away. Now we are faced with a landscape only 3/4 completed requiring us to hire another landscaper to complete the job plus replace plantings that have died, correct mistakes made by this company and to try to determine where irrigation lines were placed.

I cannot recommend this company. FVL owner told me the 3 day project would take 2 weeks to complete. Because of Angie'sList great reviews I decided the 2 weeks would be OK if the job was done right. It wasn't. Pavers at edges were not cemented in causing sand packing underneath to loosen pavers and sand underneath to wash out, clogging drainage holes in wall. All this would be a water hazard for flooding. Terrible workmanship, no supervision to men on the job or of competed job. Had to have another company redo and repair their errors. FVL was given a written list of plants and 3 verbal meetings to make sure he bought dwarf plants for planters and got all the colors correct. 7 plants planted are opposite the written and verbal agreements. 4 plants will grow 13 ft high when there's only room for the dwarf which would be 2 ft high. 3 plants were to be the lightest pink oleanders but he picked out brightest pink I warned him not to. Again he went to the nursery and got these all wrong in color against written and verbal agreements. The owner & crew would not show up when he designated the day and he'd just skip the job, no calls, never an apology. I had to chase this guy down numerous times, calling, leaving messages, rarely a callback. He'd make and break his own appt dates and time day after day. No call to resched. Just disappeared. This went on for 6 weeks! This job should have been finished in 3 days but took him 6 weeks. He did show me pics of another job at a very expensive house he was working on for a higher price tag. Is that why my job kept getting forgotten, broken promises and neglected? Mine was a small job but still thousands of dollars. FVL Owner was to purchase planter trollies for large ceramic pots but would not find and buy them. Had to research and buy these myself. I'm having to spend hundreds more to get a responsible landscape company to fix these botched, paid for errors of Foothills View Landscape. I couldn't tell the plants were wrong when small plants were delivered. It took weeks for them to bud, flower, and grow to show they were wrong. No attention to detail has cost me twice for the same job. I had another section I was considering to landscape and asked if I did that section how long would it take for them to start? Two days was the answer. However by this time I already knew it would take many months for this guy to actually get the job done and it would be wrong in the end. Be warned: this appears to be a pattern to start the job immediately and leave the customer hanging so you won't go elsewhere. I do not recommend this company. The price seemed fair until all the redo's of their mistakes cost double charges to fix, and upending your life in a mess while they go to a more expensive job to satisfy that customer.

It was a pleasure to work with this company. Gustavo Ibarra is responsive to emails, phone calls, and saw to it that our project was done to our complete satisfaction. We wanted our small, ho-hum "contractor's" yard changed to a landscape filled with Sonoran Desert plants that would attract birds and butterflies, and asked a landscape designer to draw up some plans. Gustavo and his team aced the execution, including a few changes we wanted to make to the original plans. Everyone we met was pleasant and easy to work with. The work was performed quickly, and with the highest degree of professionalism. Gustavo took a personal interest in the rock work we'd asked for, and the man is an artist! He provided and installed most of the rocks and gravel, and all the plants, irrigation system and the yard lighting. Javalina ate some of the prickly pears in the front yard the first night they were planted, as well as a few cacti in pots on the front porch - and he quickly moved the remaining pears to the fenced back yard, brought someone in to design and install a gate for the front patio - and provided some temporary fencing until the gate was ready, at no cost. He was very fast to respond when we had some minor problems with the irrigation system. We are so pleased with the work that this company did for us, that we have arranged for them to provide ongoing maintenance.

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Excellent communication team was polite on time intuitive for each task Gustavo has built a team focused in quality at a vet affordable price the clean up was flawless

Foothills View is excellent to work with, very responsive and accommodating. We were extremely happy with them both times.

Was punctual, honest, detailed and had a great crew that worked very hard. All work was completed on time and the yards were completely transformed. Would highly recommend Gustavo Ibarra and Foothills View Landscaping.

They were very pleasant but they ripped me off horribly. They charged me almost five times the going rate. They charged me $5000 to clear my property, when I was told by many other landscapers that $1000 would have been generous. It was extra for me to have five trees trimmed. $5000 meant everything to me and to know that money was taken for somebody just to have a good time, when I know that the prices for other people were far less, hurts. He acted like he was giving me a great deal on everything but reality was that it was inflated five times because I didn't know any better and I was trusting Angie's List that I would be getting somebody that would be giving me a fair shake. It was shocking to me later on to hear from people saying that this was going to cost this much. I almost let them do some irrigation system which I found would have only cost $500 and they were quoting another $5000 for that. They were very nice, very kind, very helpful, they did exactly what we wanted to have done but they inflated the price. If you have the money and you want to throw it away, if it doesn't matter to you, then you could go with them but if every penny matters, there are other landscaping companies out there that have just as nice people. They did a good thorough job. The other thing that they did was they broke our hoses which made us even more dependent on the fact that we would have needed irrigation because my parents were almost eighty years old, they could hardly walk around. I don't know if they were ensuring to come back with that or if I should have had all my hoses wound up before they started. I don't think there is maliciousness that is involved there but what I would say to other people is that they are nice and they are good but you really need to make sure, you can afford them. I think they took advantage of me. It was just way too expensive and I would honestly scare everybody away from them.

Work went well from end of July to middle of August - when it is very hot in Tucson. After materials delivered, workers showed up early AM and worked full days for three (3) weeks with no delays except for weather (1 day only). Mostly with a three (3) man crew, all requests were completed, and any changes needed were made with no problems or complaints. One (1) adjustment was major: pavers already laid had to come back up and then re-laid after terrace wall and floor needed further elevation -- again, no problems. A couple smaller jobs added on at end were managed quickly. Prep was correct. Clean-up was thorough. All workers competent, knowledgeable and worked hard every day. When new angles or curves emerged, the crew always asked for input before proceeding. Supervisor/owner was at another site working, but stopped by whenever an issue requiring more info arose.

It went very smoothly. This company gave us the best price for our remodeling project. The owner, Gustavo, worked in coordination with the landscaping architect that we chose and followed her plans and all her recommendations. Whenever there was an issue Gustavo responded promptly and made all the changes or adjustments that we or the architect requested. Gustavo is very professional and responsive. There were some delays in the work but he communicated constantly to let us know the reasons and solutions. The final work is fantastic!

Very reliable. Very good work. Would use them for major landscaping if needed.

Exceptional attention to detail and cost. Highest marks overall.

great

I had two companies working on this project to totally redo the patio and front yard. Gustavo Ibarra worked well with the other company in scheduling and other coordinating. When I had questions about equipment he changed out the parts if appropriate. Gustavo worked well with me, too.! The crew was very professional, consulted with Gustavo when problems came up, and asked me about things I could answer.. They arrived on time, worked hard with or without direct supervision, and cleaned up each day. When the project was finished, Gustavo stopped by to go over the irrigation and lighting controls and to explain how to flush the irrigation system. He reminded me about the guarantee and that I should call him if there were any problems. Two days later, javalina ate part of the front landscaping. Gustavo was there the next day putting fences around the remaining red yucca and repairing the irrigation tubing the animals dug up and severed. The follow up has been excellent.

Price, quality, responsiveness, punctuality, professionalism all A+. Would use Foothills View Landscaping again.