Bertin Pulido Garden And Tree Service

Bertin would listen to what you want without writing any notes. He provided estimates that were a single amount without detail. The first job was to remove all the grass by removing the top 3" to 4" of soil. All of the existing sprinklers had been capped below the ground and marked. The markers were to remain for identification but that did not happen in all cases and a drain clean-out was damaged (inexpensive plastic part but there was no attempt on his part to replace it). Then we had a path of concrete pavers put in with patterning on the top to look like stone. This was done fairly well. There were extensive forms used and rebar installed. There was one area where the paver was too high and they fixed it. The biggest issue we had with this was the lack of cleanup. After complaining it was mostly corrected. Finally we had the capped off sprinklers replaced with low flow rotators (better than drip for native plants). I gave Bertin the part numbers and he said he would take care of it. When he showed up that Tuesday morning with a crew to do the work, he said that the parts were discontinued and he would take $100 off the bill if I bought the parts. I immediately went to a local landscape supply and found the parts on the shelf (they were not discontinued). When I returned his crew was gone. They returned the next day at 4pm. They came off and on until the job was completed on Saturday evening. His crew had no regard for the existing plants as there digging resulted in dirt on existing garden plants. They also failed to cleanup the up the yard when the job was complete. I even had to tell them to fill in the dirt around one of the sprinklers. Then he said it was only $50 off the bill, as that should cover the gas I spent. Finally he had offered to mulch my entire yard 3" deep for a fixed sum of $300. That is a great price for approximately 24 cubic yards of mulch . He brought samples of the mulch and it was acceptable. Then when I asked to schedule the mulch, Bertin said it was $400. Although that was still a very good price, I would rather pay 3 times the cost to someone else. I refuse to deal with Bertin Pulido ever again.

Bertin Pulido showed up on time to see what our needs were (mainly demo and prep for the landscaping we would do later on our own). We explained what we wanted along with a diagram of our backyard (we live on ½ and acre) which included adding cement to an existing shed pad, moving 20’x20’ area of large river rock to another location, scraping out smaller river rock/gravel, removing a cactus, removing all weeds, and grading the whole area of soil material remaining. He offered some suggestions regarding the cement work needed to put a replacement shed and after considering it, decided to go with his recommendation. He sat by himself for half an hour considering the work we were requesting a bid for, making some phone calls, writing his own notes, and came up with a bid for us that day. Of all the six landscapers that came to give bids, he was soft spoken, took the time to carefully think out what he would do for us, was not 'pushy' but relaxed and informative, explained how the process would go, and the time/date we could begin if we chose to go with him. He happened to be the last of the landscapers we contacted for bids so we had a feel for what was out there. His price was little higher than most of the bids, lower than a couple, but he had his own equipment (our job really did require a skip loader and larger trucks to haul loads to the dump), he was insured and licensed, and had a number of employees to do the different jobs for our renovation needs. We considered his bid fair and even negotiated with him a little which he was receptive to. We were completely satisfied with his ultimate bid. Bertin had a crew that could start the next day with the clean-up and hauling. As the day went on and into the next day, several different workers showed up and took over with their area of expertise. They were all friendly and diligent workers. Not really an inconvenience for us necessarily, but the first two days (three and half days total), the workers showed up 30 minutes to an hour late, but they got right to work and completed the goals for the day by 5pm. We were extremely pleased with all of the workers employed by Bertin. As the first day went on, I pulled up some walkway pavers that really didn't work well connecting an rv pad to the large cement patio that we have. We asked Bertin how much he would charge to add a 4'x4' walkway. He told us the cost of both the materials and labor and we gave the go-ahead. Later, we removed a 27 year old wooden walkway to the old shed. We considered using wood once again, but asked Bertin what he thought. He shared his opinion (use cement), once again gave us a price, and then added this to the job also. A third change to the plan was also welcomed and fairly priced by Bertin when we asked for him to scrape out another smaller area on the other side of the shed area. Although he already had us as a client, our added changes to the contract were still fairly priced and even though adding a day and half to the job, he was happy to re-arrange employee’s schedule to get the complete job completed without having to return later. He also did little extra’s like let us add some “junk” to the truck on each dump run. The workers always left the end of the day only after putting tools away, cleaning or sweeping up, and verifying with us where it was ok to park the truck and skip loader for the night. Our payment’s included 1/3 the first day, another 1/3 the next day after we added the additional work to the contract, then the final 1/3 at the completion of the project (we did a final walk-through and once we were satisfied he took the final payment). We absolutely loved working with Bertin and his employees. Our experience with him was positive and we are very satisfied with the results! I would recommend his company 100%! (Bertin lives between Lompoc and Buelton, but supplies his services throughout the North County)