Cleator Landscape Design

My experience with Cleator Landscape Design, Jeff Cleator in particular, was a complete & unprofessional joke. I highly recommend looking elsewhere for needs related to your project. My wife and I contacted Jeff Cleator to create a detailed plan & bill of materials for a small (500 sq. foot) section of our yard. I had already done a drawing, and we asked him to add dimensions as well as provide specific quantities for flagstone, decomposed granite, bricks for our planters and to add an irrigation plan. He agreed to all this and assured us that we would be able to hand his plans to a contractor to do the work with no questions asked. Oddly, he did not want to sign anything re: the agreement. Despite agreeing to take half of our money up front and half upon delivery, when I hung up the phone he told my wife (who he was meeting with at our house) that he was not able to meet any afternoon and convinced her to pay the full amount up front. Odd. Only 3 hours later he emailed our "plans", which cost several hundred dollars. They lacked dimensions of any kind, any attempt at a bill of materials, and were really just a watercoloring of my drawing. Obviously they were useless to us. When we contacted Jeff he told us that we were confused (like many of his first time customers) and that we should have looked at his website, which he certainly never referred us to. He sent us a couple quantities, for only some of the things we agreed on, which turned out to be way off when I did the work myself. Unfortunately, Jeff's only position was the the "misunderstanding" was on the homeowner, which he seems to deal with regularly, and he has no sense of ownership over his poor business practices or working to please a customer. Bottom line: I had to pay for his worthless work, and even worse, he was completely unwilling to compromise or try to fix the situation. Look elsewhere, as Jeff Cleator's approach to his relationships with his customers is a joke.

Jeff Cleator is very talented and professional. He told us up front exactly what services he would and would not provide. We liked the approach of paying Cleator Design a fee for the design and hiring another firm for the installation. This is similar to hiring an architect before building a house Jeff brought fresh ideas to us using Pacific plants for some unique solutions. We enjoyed the design process. We were very impressed that he checked back with us to make sure that the bid process for installation went well and later checked in on the installation. He also suggested an alternative plant when one area proved to be too sunny. Jeff listens extremely well and delivers an overall design that meets the clients needs and incorporates fresh thinking. Like an architect, Jeff is sometimes disappointed when the client does not agree with one or two points of the design. However any differences of opinion were small and quickly resolved. The overall result was outstanding. We were very happy with our choice of Cleator Design and would recommend this company to others.

We could not move forward for reasons out of my and his control, but I will definitely use him when I can.

We were very pleased with Cleator! Jeff met all of his scheduled deadlines, and I think he reacted to our needs well. His work is beautiful, and I feel that we got a great value for our money.

The design was wonderful. Jeff spent a lot of time on developing the design and giving me information on different flowers and plants to put into the new garden area. Unfortunately the bids from recommended developers were way to expensive. We are having to modify the design and utilize a local handyman. Having Jeff's ideas however, give us direction. Jeff has kept in contact with us and has offered assistance.

Great service! Jeff took charge of all the details on design and buildout. He arranged all the necessary subcontractors. He made most of the plant selections, which have worked out very well since the original installation. Do go with his recommendations, since I deviated a bit and those plants have not worked out well for reasons Jeff gave me at the outset. He was very responsive when issues arose and solved the problems, always conscious of the cost/benefit. He is not dogmatic like so many contractors and seems sensitive to the client's wishes. Since then, he has consulted on several other smaller projects with my homes in San Diego and Hawaii, as well as some referrals I have provided to him.

Jeff dropped by for our appointment, gave me his card, and asked what we had in mind for our design. He asked a few questions here and there as I led him from one area of the front yard to the other. After about 15 minutes, he supplied me a stock estimate sheet that was very detailed and comprehensive as far as what he would provide should we select him for the job. Unfortunately, to account for our estimate, he crossed off the previous value and then handwrote in his estimate. He did not tailor the estimate ahead of time according to our discussion on the phone. I told him that we would get back to him with a final decision. He said that's fine and asked for his $50 design estimate charge. We decided not to use Cleator Landscape because of his approach, his lack of preparation, and $50 charge. Other people might have a different view, but for his 15 minutes there, that equates to $200/hour for mere estimation of a job that he could have potentially earned. UPDATE: Jeff Cleator and I discussed our July 24th meeting, his approach, and what he could do to make things right. The initiative alone deserves praise as many other companies and/or contractors would not even bother. A large basis of his $50 estimate was, unfortunately, protection from previous people who had picked his brain for ideas, then would never call again. He, like any other homeowner looking for contractors, has to protect himself and his business from unsavory folk who merely want to take advantage of a free estimate. Given my situation, where I just wanted a quick estimate, he felt the $50 should be refunded, and duly cared about simply doing the right thing as a professional landscape architect. Despite these weighty topics, we both ended the conversation on a good note. He stated that he does all landscaping design jobs, big and small. That is believable given his excellent portfolio and qualifications. But, only when a contractor practices consummate professionalism can a homeowner be assured that such talent be applied properly and in a trustworthy manner. Jeff Cleator, in our follow up conversation, demonstrated that professionalism. As such, he duly deserves a revision to the Angie's List review here.