Custom Nature

Based on the reviews on angies list , I went ahead and bought the $65 coupon for evaluation and tuning. The guy couldnt do anything in the 15 minutes he was on my lawn on Oct1st and Oct 2nd but then did send me a 3000 dollars quote for repairs which arent needed. In 3000 , I could have gotten my whole lawn irrigation system installed twice.

The work was performed on-time and on-budget with good quality. We liked very much that Leland Maker, the owner, was very hands on with the work. We met with Leland nearly every morning to go over work done, discuss any questions or changes, and make decisions. Leland brings a good eye for design and we liked that he worked with us to understand our vision as well. The resulting work we are very happy with! The project involved tearing out the prior patio and walkways completely, redesigning the front yard walkways (to street and driveway), expanding the patio area and installing pavers, reconfiguring the sprinkler system, installing a drain to bring rain water to the street, reconfiguring the front porch, and covering the porch with natural slate. We also installed drip irrigation for the entire front area and set up electrical wiring for lighting to be done after the planting is complete One of our important items was to work around a beautiful tree in the center of our patio. Leland worked with us on a design that minimized root cutting on the tree and should allow the tree to continue to do well. Another area that required some creativity was an awkward passage area and steps from the front door to a side door into our garage. When discussing the bid with Leland, we liked that he had a few creative ideas on how to deal with that space. Again, we are very happy with the result. Custom Nature's pricing was competitive in the bidding process - neither the lowest or highest bid we received. And once work started, there were no issues with change requests, etc. I would happily hire Leland again for future projects. I'll post a few pictures...

Emailed provider through Angie's List and Called and left 2 messages with no response. I guess he doesn't need business.

Inspection of sprinkler and controls; Installation of valve and water line were completed in a timely manner. Owner was easy to talk with and explained jobs. Later that fall noticed the backyard sprinkler heads had water around numerous sprinkler heads. That spring water was continuously around the sprinkler heads. Notice my water bill was higher then normal. I came to the conclusion that the valve installed to open & close water off from back yard was not working correctly. The valve has been in the off position since last fall but water continued to come out of the back yard sprinklers.

The provider called to inform me they did not cover Newark, Ca.

Nice guy. Very professional, but way too busy. We had to wait three weeks for him to come out for an estimate when our sprinklers were already broken and the lawn was brown. When he gave the estimate, he didn't provide availability to do the work. Finally, he responded to my email and gave a proposed start date in October. We originally contacted him in early July. We got the work done by another firm who did a great job. We think Custom Nature is probably a good company, but they need to hire more employees so they can be more responsive to new business.

It went very well. I honestly don't understand some of the complaints other uses have had about price, because I found Leland's bid to be very competitive compared to other contractors. Other than his lovingly maintained VW microbus (ask him to give you a tour, but only if you have a few minutes to spare), he has pretty limited fixed overhead. The bid process moved quickly. We started consultation with Leland in June but the work didn't start until July because my wife and I were sifting through different paver and shrubbery options (who knew there were so many types of Pittosporum). Once started, I think the work took about two weeks. The patio still looks great after two years as does the fence. The latter turned out really well, as Leland bolted the posts to steel anchors in cement rather than merely embedding the posts in cement. So if 10-20 years from now, one of the posts starts to rot (unlikely, since it is now clearly above the soil), it will be easier to swap it out. Leland also recycled the wood from the old fence, which both saves money and creates a really neat effect with the new redwood framing. The small lawn held up pretty well until we got two dogs last Christmas. Dog urine apparently has a toxic effect on grass...:-) With one exception, the shrubbery has grown in well. The one that died is behind my gas grill, so I don't know if that was a factor. All in all, we were very pleased with the work. I'm still a little behind with my landscape plan for the rest of the backyard.

Everything went well, we are just having some problems with the grout coming up on the pavers.

They came out and did it and were done that day. The quality of the work was okay. They were responsive.

He said he could not get to me until September. He seems like a very qualified guy, but my lawn is going to be gone by then. I wish he could come sooner.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. I was happy with them. I felt that the guy who came to my house was a true expert in his field, actually more so than any other deal that I have gotten. The guy was really passionate about lawns, not in a weird way, but in a good way. It was more money than I was willing to spend with something I never cared much about that at that time. I'm sad I didn't really have extra cash at that time to pay that kind of price but I felt it was a fair price. I do keep his card nearby in case I decide to actually go with the plan.

Hired someone else - not from Angie's List

The provider scheduled the work promptly, started work when promised, and completed all work on time. The crew was very professional and the quality of the work was excellent. In the end, they did even more work than originally bid to make the system work as needed to properly irrigate our front, side, and back yards. I was only charged for one change order which I requested to make an additional improvement (to change path of drip system to go under a retaining wall vs over it which previous homeowner had done). The service owner carefully walked me through all work performed and verified everything was as promised and stayed with me until I was fully briefed on the changes made and answered all questions I had regarding how to maintain the system and watering schedule. I would definitely use this service provider again for landscaping changes and improvements.

The personnel was very friendly and knowledgeable but the price he quoted for something was high.

Leland was very responsive and did an excellent job with the repairs. He was always prompt and took the time to explain what he was doing so I could pass on what he did to my husband intelligently. We were pleased with the results and we would use him to do additional work he suggested.

He was very nice and I would have used him, but all he did was give me an estimate. The Big Deal was for adjusting my sprinkler heads which he never did. He did not do what he was supposed to do for the $50 I paid. He was able to explain what needed to be done in detail, so it's too bad he didn't actually do the work

Estimate and evaluation went great. He is quite busy and cannot schedule work until early June.

He arrived promptly at the time promised, did a very thorough inspection explaining things all along the way. He made adjustments during his visit that clearly improved the performance of the system. And he showed me where there were worn and damaged parts of the system that I will need to replace and why. I was very pleased with his service, and would recommend him to anyone that needs a similar evaluation, report, and tune-up.

I bought a deal coupon good for a basic sprinkler system evaluation. Since my system was a bit larger than what the coupon covered, I paid a bit extra for the guy who came out to look at the system. I think the coupon caught him a bit off guard, as it was a while before he could come out to look at my system (a few weekends). When he came out, he did a good test of everything (I have two systems - front yard and back yard), and noted some issues with broken pipes. Weird thing - I asked him how much it would take to get it in good order - and I assume he was joking, but his response was: "that depends on how much I can get out of you." hmmmm. if that was a joke, it didn't go over well. he then suggested that i replace my sprinkler heads and sprinkler valves - even though he admitted they were functioning fine at the moment - because the ones i had purchased from OSH were junk. ok. personal opinions of quality aside, why replace a perfectly good valve? I wound up taking his write up of the problems in the system and doing the work myself. probably saved $2,500 this way (vs. having him do it.)

The estimate was accepted in mid October and I was given a start date of December 21, 2012. Work was begun on 12/22/2012, and was completed just after the 1st of the year, I believe. Weather interfered with continual work days, but on every dry day, the work continued. The result is quite pleasing and a spectacular improvement on the previous (redwood decking) walkway. There was never a mess left after each day's work, and the final result was also completely without any debris. Leland is an artistic talent and his crew delivers faithfully on his plans. I will use this service again.

Leland was very responsive to my irrigation problems. I did not know where or how to turn off the main valve to the sprinkler system. (Everything was buried for 30 years so when a valve broke ti took much digging in mud.) At my request, he put in new sprinkler valves, raised them above ground and relocated them to better sites. He built a redwood valve cover for three valves near the front door. He installed a new shut-off valve which is easy for me to turn off. Next we double checked each valve wire to the automatic timer and set up a new watering schedule with a chart so that I could regulate the sprinkler system by myself. He was very patient as a teacher and double checked his work so I wouldn't have future problems. He explained any unusual discovering and how I can handle things if I want to expand the irrigation system in the future.

The work went very well. They showed up when promised, explained what they were doing, findings, and reviewed work when completed. They also fully cleaned up the area when finished. Leland went through each new watering zone and demonstrated the changes as well as giving advice on proper watering times.

Custom Nature helped me to repair 2 sprinkler heads and inspected system. He also gave me a proposal on changing some of my lawn irrigation system. He is very detail and organized.

They came over, took a look at the house and gave us two estimates. The first one is for the initial "deep clean" and the other was for the maintenance. They don't try to screw with you... the wife wanted them to come on a weekly basis, which they said they would do, but they were honest and said, really, you only need to have us every three weeks. We considered their advice and took it.

I did pay to have him come to my house for an inspection but that's all, can't properly review the company but would call him again if I needed work to be performed.