R & R Landscape Services Inc

"I remember this project we finished it last year in the summer we did a very extensive succulent frontyard . We worked together with a designer that the member hired . I thought it was going to be difficult because some designers are pretty whacky with their ideas but it turned to be a good experience. As a matter of fact we created a good working relationship and continue to work on projects together , we trade ideas she picks my brain and I pick hers. The only thing that went wrong with this project is that after all was planted and the underground drip irrigation was installed , my guys punctured the tubing while installing the weed block. This was discovered by the homeowner and a few plants died , we agreed to replace the plants and repair the damage and all is working well now . It was a good learning experience as this was the first time i it's hapened to us."

"This was an unusual project , we don't normally do buildings but we aren't one to shy away if the price is right. We were first called to the property by the member in the middle of last year and gave an estimate to replace a tile that was not in good condition and was draining towards the building. After a few changes to the plan the member decided we should minimize water to the under ground garage by planting succulents in the bedding area with gravel in the adjacent bedding area to the deck to avoid any further water in the under ground garage as we suggested as opposed to concreting and tiling the entire area because it was cost prohibitive. Once we removed the tile and adhesive on the deck we realized that concrete on which the tile was set on was poured incorrectly because it pitched towards the building. The original concrete was poured wrong and the contractor who laid the tile tried to correct this by raising the level of the tile along the building to drain away from the building but it was raised too high over the metal flashing that divides the concrete from the stucco and it corroded the metal. On the bedding area someone had plugged the atrium drains and when it was watered or it rained the water would drain into the garage. Realizing the gravity of the problem I called in my tech from NPT , they area the best in the business for water proofing , he explained to me what materials I should use and how to proceed , he even suggested that because of the gravity of the problem I should walk away from this liability. I've never walked away from a job and I didn't think this was fair to the member , I explained it and we agreed on how best to proceed. In the end we shaved down the concrete to correct the grade, installed new flashing , repaired stucco, used a masonry leveler material, applied water sealers suggested and installed the tile along with correcting all the drainage. I was relievd to say the least but the job got done and it got done right. I'm confident that we solved the problem. The member confided to me that during the bid process all other contractors stopped communication my guess is probably because they new it was not going to be easy. I figured this myself and had my doubts but I thought. If we don't take it how are we ever going to learn how to fix a problem like this in the future. It's easy to take the easy jobs but when the shit hits the fan you have to know how to fix it and follow through."

"This was a unique project. We were contacted by the president of the HOA for a condo complex. After agreeing for a start date I believe the project went pretty smooth, unfortunately halfway through the project the president person I was dealing with moved and I was left to deal with the treasurer whom I believe was not very responsive either. I think she traveled some during this time and would not get back to me that much. My e mails were cc over to her with the person that hired me and I believe it was a rough transition over all. On top of that payments were very slow to get to me. I was not aware that there was this problem with the noise from the plumbing until I pressed the person that hired us for final payment this was relayed to me. The noise was caused because someone decided that the sprinklers were over spraying and cranked down the pressure by closing the valves down till that were almost shut entirely, this causes additional pressure on the main feed line which ran under the building making a horrible vibration through the building. This was corrected by opening the valves and regulating the sprinkler nozzles. But anyway I believe that the transition of dealing with the person that hired us and the person that we were left with did not go as smooth. I did try calling, texting and e mailing but I got no response until I contacted the person that hired me. Personally I think the treasurer might of gotten a bit upset because she wanted to change the planting plan by adding more large trees by her unit which was not in the original agreement. Everyone in the complex was notified when the plants were going to be selected at the nursery and nobody wanted anything to do with it. I believe that if the person that hired would of written this review the results would of been more favorable. I accept and admit whenever I'm at a fault , however there always two sides to the coin and it is our Angie's list members to decide which one is more accurate. Till next time Ray"

"I was called out to this property for a drought tolerant landscape, usually I do the design but in this situation the member already had a very clear idea of what he wanted and although I made some suggestions to altering it to make it a bit more interesting he seemed pretty firm to stick with the plant which involved about 90% gravel and decomposed granite in the front yard. I understand his reasoning towards this design, we have a drought heading in our direction and a lot of homeowners are faced with either we violate the restrictions while cheating on irrigating our landscaping that requires high volumes of water that cost us an arm and a leg to install or do we rip everything out and make it look like Phoenix Arizona. I'll tell you what I've done, I for one am a California native and although I've visited many beautiful parts of the country I prefer to live here obviously because of the weather and I prefer Bamboos, King palms and a wide variety of other plants that require moderate to high water needs. I am a firm believer that if you manage your water you CAN still have this landscape as long as you know what you are doing. First thing to consider is to come with a well balanced hard scape plan that can include permanent solid surfaces such as concrete, pavers or other materials that will reduce the amount of watering along with softer surfaces that you can include some plants to soften the area such as decomposed granite or gravel. For the areas that will be landscaped you can select lush plants to fill in and irrigate if possible with drip irrigation or underground drip. I suggest underground drip only if you will not constantly garden the areas otherwise you will damage it. Add mulch or gravel to further conserve moisture. For the lawn areas and if the budget permits it underground drip, if not drop your lawn grade level and bedding areas below your hard scape so that any water run off will drain into the soft scape. Eliminate drains from your lawn and bedding areas unless these are up against your house and run a risk of damaging your house if flooded. Smart controllers are the future, there are basically two options those that are connected to the internet and sync with the weather channel to adjust the watering according to weather predictions and those that have wireless sensors in the ground telling the controller exactly how much water is needed for that zone. The latter is always more accurate and more expensive. When you have taken all the necessary steps you can still have a beautiful lush landscape while still saving the environment. For this member I don't think that he wanted to sway away from the plan which is fine. I don't think that he really needed a company like ours to just install gravel, a few drips and a few plants. I did try to give him some pointers as to watering the two trees that he had planted and for killing the weeds that still remained and I'm sure the job got done, I am grateful that he took the time to put in this review and I think it's only fair that we post a response for other members that are facing the same situation. Hope this was helpful. Ray"

"We were contacted by the member late last year and scheduled him after a visit and some questions he had about the possibly of saving some money by leaving the existing irrigation or just seeding the lawn. I explained the following: Whenever there is a complete relandscape it's important to take advantage and upgrade your irrigation system, first of all your bedding areas and lawn areas should be on different zones. Than your zones will be divided further based on sun exposure and wether it's on a higher or lower elevation where water may not drain adequately. You will manage your water more efficiently this way, you can go more into details with micro emitters and underground drip irrigation but the basics are that. Second of all when you are removing and or replacing a lawn first you should make sure the lawn is NOT dormant. How can you tell? If your lawn is a Bermuda mix, kikuyu, and anything that looks brown in cool months of the year which is from November- April you can not spray it and kill it even if it looks brown. There is a common misconception that you can stop watering the turf thinking that it's brown and is dead, it's not the roots are still very much alive but the leaves are brown, it's gone into self preservation by looking like its dead, the greener the turf,weeds foliage the best results to kill it . When the turf is sprayed it injests the chemicals through the leaf and in to the roots. Another misconception is that if you remove the turf with weeds without killing it you've taken care of any chance of it coming back. Wrong again the roots for the Bermuda grass also called Devil grass go 6' deep so if you remove 6" of it I guarantee it will grow back under a year. It baffles me when I see some landscapers just take roto tillers to a lawn of weeds and just raking it up and laying sod over it. It looks good for the first couple of months and than the weeds take over. The correct way of replacing or installing new sod is you kill the existing turf first with the proper weed killers when the turf is healthiest. Wait a week if there still some spots you missed spray again, remove the turf after a week because that is when all the toxins in the weed killers have dissipated . Remove the turf manually with a pic ax with roots. Rake any left over roots bring in soil amendments roto till into soil. Install your irrigation at correct spacing , use a water roller to level the soil correctly rake again to fill holes and lay your sod! I hope this has been helpful to any of the members looking to install a new irrigation and lawn on their home. If this process is followed you will have a healthy lawn for many years. There will be maintenance involved such as using selective herbicides once a year to keep your lawn free of wandering weeds infesting your lawn believe it or not by your gardeners lawnmower! In the end after I answered a few questions by the member in regards to the process of the renovation we went forward, the job was finished with no problems and I believe we have another satisfied customer. Sometimes potential clients bring up that our rates are a little higher than the other quotes and my answer has always been, you get you pay for. If I were a member looking for a contractor I would do exactly what this member did. Ask and ask again for the process and ask again if any doubts. That way you can compare apples to apples. Another great experience! Ray"

"We were contacted by the member to remand scape both the Front-yard and back yard, there were a number of challenges on this one as we did have a lot of space in the back yard and what we did have was very narrow, however we managed to come up with a design that was within budget. We installed a gas line for BBQ and fire pit, a hot tub with electrical, all new irrigation and finally landscaping with lighting. We enjoyed this one because the clients were very flexible and we had more freedom to use our creativity. We had field trip to the nursery to pick plants and were able to narrow down the plant list to a few that fit the budget and made everything look beautiful. The outcome is a nice clean look that fit all the requirements of the client."

"This was a fun project the member was a blast to deal with, we were contacted last October and in July again, after making some adjustments on the estimate we signed. I normally don't honor estimates for a period longer than 60 days but I felt like I should since we she was very excited to go forward. The homeowner and the person paying for the project is a developer I discovered as he had his attorney that specializes in contracts revise my contract before we even put together the the final numbers. After everything was approved we went forward, there some interest by the homeowner to replace a rotted out redwood deck but in smaller version . I advised that for less money we would be able to extend the deck behind the pool with a retaking wall and maintain it at one level. It was agreed and it turned out to be a good move, everyone wins they gain their objective within the budget and and we have additional work added to the project. As a contractor and real estate investor I treat every job as if it were my own home and my own money. Where would my money be better invested and have the best return if I sold the property. I gave them 2 options for pavers they chose the cheaper product but when I was asked which one I would use I looked at the architecture of the house and told them I would use the option # 2 , once again not advantageous to my profit but a way better finished product. And you know what's best I sleep well at night knowing we gave the best product for the reasonable price, the member confessed to me that the other quote was 30k higher. Wow! Some of these guys think it's still 2007"

"This was a straight forward project. Install a concrete path. Sometimes we all slip up, question is will you correct it and not a profit or do you lie your way out of it and offer your customer a product that is less than acceptable. For a three foot wide path there should not be puddling in the middle of it as there plenty of directions to pitch your path for water run off. If it were a large driveway or patio it's a different story you will get very small areas of water puddling. My masons did not pour correctly and the product was not acceptable for me, it was demolished and redone. I had a serious conversation with my guys about what went wrong to avoid this in the future. We've made the adjustments and have done more concrete projects since without a problem."

"We repaired a wall that was cracked by the trees. We removed part of the tree roots and tree trunks and replaced a section of the masonry wall along with new sprinklers and lawn. Many of our customers have different situations to address, masonry, pool, lawn and irrigation problems. We at R&R try to offer a different approach. Instead of the homeowner searching for different contractors to address all these issues. We take care of it at a reasonable price. Only one contractor to deal with for all your needs, sounds like it can't be true? Try us you won't regret it. We have experience in all fields of landscaping and have experienced personnel to take care of it."