Simple Elegance

I paid $335.00 for an initial consultation that was part of a deposit towards the total landscape of my back yard. Ben had me sign a contract and we discussed many specifics which included a price range from $5,000-15,000.00. We discussed specifics including hiring a variety of vendors. I have been waiting for several weeks. This is my home and as you would expect I am emotionally tied to the outcome of his work.

Benjamin was wonderful! After meeting with us for the first time and listening to our goals and objectives, he came back with a very original plan that went way beyond our expectations! He then worked closely with us to address minor issues (like new information on our property line!) and came back for the third time with final detailed plans including lighting, irrigation and an incredible plant selection! We can't wait to get started! I highly recommend Simple Elegance!

Services were purchased with an Angies List coupon, therefore were considerably less expensive than usual. We were plea

The service was provided promptly.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. It was different than what I expected because he kinda just came up with this plan which pretty much wiped out every single tree in my backyard which I didn't wanna necessarily do. Also, I have a big oak tree and he was putting a lot of big stepping stones and then I came to find out that it's not good to the tree so I couldn't really use the plans the way he had designed it. The deal was to have plans and have those plans executed with a landscape person. Since I couldn't really do what he planned out, I just kinda left it alone. I told him not to do anything that could hurt the oak tree because it was a huge 200-year old tree. It seemed to be okay but he took away every single tree back there. I thought he would take into consideration what was there and try to work with it and improve it and not just totally start from scratch. After he came out with the plans, there was no really time to revise them of talk about it. The plans were good, he did a good job with them. He was good. I communicated via e-mail and he was fine with that.

He is a little busy, so I had to schedule out quite a bit. Then it took him a while to get back to me, but I wasn't in a hjuge hurry, so it wasn't a problem. And, it wasn't an unreasonable time. He sat with me and we talked quite a bit so he oculd understand what I wanted and how I would use my backyard. It was done in such a way that I could do some now, and some later when services might be a little cheaper. I lov the plan. I may do a few things a little differently, as my needs have changed. But, basically I will go with his plan, and I plan to use his recommendations for vendors to do what I can't do myself.

It went well. He provided a creative design in a timely manner. I have not yet implemented this design for a number of personal reasons.

I purchased an Angie's List Deal for the landscape design service from Simple Elegance. Benjamin was able to work with my very small budget to create a design that will look much more expensive when completed. Benjamin and his assistant Morgan were both great to work with. In addition to the plans he also suggested a landscape contractor that he has worked with before, although I can use anyone to do the work. I'm very happy with the job they did.

Pix are on the Simple Elegance posting. Included in the re-do is a lanai, ramp, pergola, gas fireplace, built-in BBQ, water feature, stone edging and built-up edging/seating. Also included in the project is a large planter for an herb garden; lighting; plants and trees; electrical connections; concrete pad for garbage cans; new gates; fences painted; and drip irrigation system. Next step will be black coloured bark. The project is nearly complete and looks great.

He is from Beverly Hills, which is a bit far from me, but be still came out and made plans for my landscaping. A month after the plans it was hard to contact him. He was away or I was away.. I did contact him and said I just wanted the plans. He eventually said he had sent the plans but it turned out he sent them to the wrong town. He said he would resend them again but it has been two and a half weeks and I have still not received them. Also, he did not specify that any structures above the layout of the basic plan would be an additional cost. UPDATE 8-20-13: I am still waiting for the plans that were promised to me. I also have not received any response from Angies list regarding this situation. so Far I have lost $400 in services purchased through Angies list, which I feel is not living up to the hype. I am pretty disappointed to say the least UPDATE 9/6/13: Just received an email from Angies list giving me a full refund for this service. Confidence restored :0)

Extremely Professional and very experienced. I have followed this landscaper on Facebook and have enjoyed the photos of projects performed. We have actual copies of blue prints and will be eventually incorporating many ideas into our backyard. Would highly recommend this artistic, insightful, professional service.

It was very good. They gave me a lot of great information and came up with a great blue print for us.

Over the course of two meetings in person at my house, Ben the designer thoroughly assessed my needs, desires and the rationale needed behind everything. From assessing the property in person, Ben went ahead and put together an amazing design and ended up supplying me with CAD drawings of both the hardscaping and the landscaping for this project. Ben is a great listener and proposes excellent ideas that meet your needs. I highly recommend Ben to you.

Benjamin and Co were patient waiting for me to get past a surgery so it was months after I bought that I was actually able to meet with him. He made the appointments to my convenience and they were handled with great professionalism, courtesy, and attention to our wishes and requirements. He has a good sense of humor which we appreciated. His explanations of the plants, overall design, water requirements ( or lack thereof), use and purpose of rocks, projected growth patterns, and much more, were detailed and very much appreciated. We have yet to execute the design, but we are assured that he will be available if we have further need. Will write a followup after plan executed. Thanks Ben!

Ben is the ultimate professional. He listen, provided great suggestions, was patient and delivered an excellent design. We would use him again anytime.

Went okay. It is still a work in progress. Benjamin is working with me to contact expert contractors to complete my front landscaping in a professional, economical manner. He will assist me in buying yard lights etc. at a reduced price.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. He was very nice. I think I got what I expected. It was what I expected for the price. There were some minor changes that I am still waiting on them to fix so I don't think they have completed it yet.

It turned out ok. I would recommend them to others.

We are extremely pleased with our dealings with Ben and Simple Elegance. He came to our home 3 times and was punctual, courteous, and professional. The first visit he spent a lot of time with us to understand our functional needs, design aesthetic, and budget On the second visit, he presented a preliminary landscape/hardscape design to ensure he was going in the right direction. I really appreciate how much time he spent going over each recommended plant with us and how open he was to suggesting alternatives if we were not particularly thrilled with a selection. The third visit he presented us with the modified plans that were exactly what we asked for. In addition, he presented us with full plans for lighting, irrigation, and drainage. He also brought along brochures with pictures of the kinds of lights and other finishes he was recommending. Overall, excellent value received for the money!

We had three meetings over the course of several months. The first was to walk through the yards and to talk about what we were interested in having. Ben had photos of landscapes that he has designed which were helpful to picture what he was describing. In the second meeting, he brought a possible design; we went through it and made some changes. The third time, he had a more complete design complete with three aspects of the landscaping; hardscape, plants and lighting. We discussed specific plants that I did or did not like, some changes in hardscape, etc. When we finished that meeting, my understanding was that I would get photos in a dropbox and be contacted by a landscaper whom Ben often works with. After weeks of no contact, I called Ben and explained that I had gotten neither. He remedied that right away. I'm unclear what the problem was with the dropbox, but I realized then that I had never gotten anything in a dropbox. Again, I'm unclear as to what the problem was. Overall, I would say that Ben is easy to work with and has some very attractive design ideas. His photos show lovely gardens and hardscapes. We have not yet contracted with anyone to do the work, so I can't speak to the end product of his design for our yards, though I believe that it will look great.

Everything went perfectly. Ben was right on time. He listened to all of our requirements and made some great suggestions. The plans were very professional and we will definitely use Simple Elegance in the final design of the water feature and in selecting some of the vendors.

Great job. We purchased through Living Social and checked around to compare pricing. To say the least, the quality of the plan was exceptional and the price was very competitive. We had one challenge with the designer's punctuality in that he was late for all four of our appointments (even when he called to tell us he would be late, he still showed up later than his revised time on at least two occasions). His lack of punctuality was impacted by an unexpected additional workload from his living social campaign (which he explained was the result of overselling his services which also made him sick in the process). All things considered, we were very happy with the end result and believe that Ben's skills, professionalism, and kind demeanor more than made up for the concerns on his schedule. he also referred us to at least one landscaper to help us get our plans going. I hope to provide reviews of the landscapers we will use sometime in the near future (we are using angie's list to help us identify some landscaping and concrete work candidates). We would recommend Ben even considering aforementioned snags in his schedule.

So far, my interactions with Ben, the owner of Simple Elegance, have been very positive. They are very helpful and accomodating. He provided a lot of information and pictures. He was very effective in discussing my preferences. He put me in touch with a good landscaper to put the plans into fruition. After the landscaper came out, Ben was willing to come back out to meet with both the landscaper any myself present to adjust and clarify details.

Ben (the owner of Simple Elegance) met with me, at my house, three times. 1. First, to gather information regarding the existing conditions and my ideas. 2. Second, to present his view of the situation and the possibilities for change. 3. Third, to present a final presentation of the hard-scape plan and a plan for the planting selections. Each meeting was handled in a very professional manner including changes. The plans are related to the Simple Elegance web site in a very thorough and easy manner. I was impressed with the ability to see each of the proposed twelve plantings with detailed descriptions on the web site. Each planting has a unique symbol on the plan linking it to the pdf file name on the web site.

He was very punctual, asked lots of questions, took photos. He drew up a beautiful plan for the front and side yards using a multitude of different plants that will do well in our area. We want to eliminate much of the lawn and have more drought resistant varieties of plants brought in. We have not started the project yet but we certainly will in the near future.