Jake's Designs

He's the worst landscaper I ever encountered in my life. The original agreement was he was going to sod our back yard. We have a sprinkler system in the front and he was going to run the sprinkler to the newly soded back yard. He was also going to do stonework on a retaining wall. We fired him before he could do the retaining wall. He did the sod and the sprinkler system.

Jake and his team were awesome! They came out, dug down several inches and build a strong and level base for the pool. The work was done on time, on budget and with a great overall experience! Thank you Jake!

Original schedule was to be first week of Nov. 2016, postponed until Nov. 10, and again to Nov. 20 due to additional work of their previous customer. I've waited until now to review allowing for the rain to come to see how the drainage worked. Felt like a rush job as I was given my 5 days while work for previous customer was stopped momentarily prior to Thanksgiving holiday. Any adjustments were hard to come by. First time using a landscaper and probably my last. Learned that being very specific with contract details is required. It was like pulling teeth to get them to take me seriously on issues and not respond to me as if I were an idiot but that could be due to my demeanor. Then again, maybe, changes meant extra time which was not available due to having to return to previous customer. I chose to use email as needed to keep a record of my contacts with them and maybe that was part of the problem. In the end the work looks good and have been given a 3 yr. warranty on the work. As of today, May 19,2016, drains are working which was the main concern as my neighbors below were unhappy with the water coming off our house and running down our 45 degree hill onto their property. This was the main reason for contacting a landscaper. However, I talked with the landscaper several times about the main drain pipe not extending to the curb (about 3-4 feet short) and they kept saying it wasn't necessary and one response was regarding a street grader might hit it. Not an issue as a grader doesn't do but a strip up the middle of the street if at all. There is a city water cap in water's path before the curb. Also voiced concern over water washing soil away over time under pavement. Also did not want to run risk of water again running toward neighbor's property so I built up a little berm to keep water flowing to street. Since they wouldn't extend it I probably will do it myself. I did not like the original fix plan on one of the drain pipes and emailed the contact as well as talked to one of the workers about a different way of going about it. Didn't get a response right away and after some verbal effort they did respond and made the change. It did cost extra but I understood that. Before getting any estimates I researched on connecting drains and burying underground. I thought the underground pipes were to be below freeze line but in some places like along the south slope side the pipe is barely under soil and the wildlife have exposed it. I've covered it up a little more in some places. Not sure if exposure to elements will cause any problems. The wall looks great! They did a good job here. I thought it was to go a little further on the south side and curve up to driveway on north but since I didn't make sure that was more specific in the contract, I'll take it the responsibility for it. I did it myself on the north with a few boulders I requested from them when they were cleaning up . The fill dirt is alkaline clay and like cement when dry. The deer like to lick it though :). New for me since our soil is red sand. Seeding by landscaper was iffy during spreading. Wind came up and tossing up in the air seemed to be the process. I wanted native grass. The grass below the wall will remain long but the grass on the wall level is to be mowed. Landscaper used same seed for both. My failure to be more specific in contract. Between the wind and the birds depleting the seed over the winter I've since (mid April) got out a pick to get through the cement soil and reseeded with a more lawn like native mix and grass is breaking through. I'll wait the 2 yrs. to see how it establishes. French drain also working however the material around the pipe extending along the wall is showing in some areas and water collects more in those areas. Grass won't grow on exposed material either. All in all a passer by will think it looks great and it does. Drainage is working. Can't get over even now that it felt like a rush job. I'm just disappointed that my first experience working with a landscaper was somewhat disappointing but I've learned a lot. It does look nice and the improvement does wonders for my 65 yr. old body in maintaining the yard. Satisfied but not ecstatic.

We were really impressed with Jake when he came to give a bid. The price seemed a bit high but we are fairly new to the area and he was rated well so we went with it. We discussed, in detail, what needed to be done to address water coming into the basement from the window well. The grading was poor. When he suggested removing the trees to get to the ground, we asked about leaving the stumps in. Jake advised against that, as they would eventually decompose and leave holes where the ground would sink in and we'd be in the same position we were in at that time. We agreed the stumps had to go. He could not get to the job for 6-8 weeks, which was disappointing as we had rain continue to come into the house several times during the interm. When he did come out, his crew did the job and we paid him. A couple of weeks later I was in that area when I noticed the stumps. They had not been removed. I thought it was an oversight. I sent an email to Jake through Angie's List several weeks ago. We have not had a response. This is concerning because we paid a lot of money to address the water leaking into the house and now, it appears we will have to address this same issue again in a year or two.

Phase 2 Project (Phase 1 was landscaping the front yard approximately 4 years earlier) This landscape project consisted of designing, excavating and planting shrubs on a terrace approximately 100' in length in the backyard of our home. The project was particularly difficult due to the very limited accessibility to mechanized equipment. Most of the excavation work was necessarily done by hand. Additionally, a rock wall about 40' in length was constructed to lessen the slope in order to permit the use of crushed granite over the entire area. It was also necessary to revamp the existing drip system and to plug and abandon an existing sprinkler system. The initial work was hand excavation, followed by building the rock wall and planting 40 or so shrubs in the excavated area. Next, a weed barrier was installed over the entire area. Crushed granite was then placed over the weed barrier. Some problems were encountered in installing the drip sprinkler system, but these were satisfactorily overcome. Finally, a small flower garden area was excavated and the old dirt replacd with new soil. Existing plants and shrubs were salvaged wherever practical. Jake's supervisors and employees were very cooperative throughout the project.

It went very well and Jake's were excellent in many ways. Dani made an excellent design for the wall and the landscaping. Nate and his crew were very professional and worked with some difficult winter conditions - snow, ice, and mud. Staging of material was done on the street which was always kept tidy and thoroughly cleaned off at the end of each day (including our steep drive). Mathew came up with a good plan for some extra steps that were needed and no extra charge was made for that. I would definitely recommend them for any landscaping or wall work you may have.

We had some minor flooding in our basement and spoke to several companies regarding how to best remediate this problem. Jake promptly came to our house to discuss the project, quickly identified the problem, and proposed a simple but effective solution. Jake demonstrated knowledge and professionalism in all communications by phone, e-mail, texting, and in person. Consideration for choosing Jake included a reasonable price for the proposed work and his professional demeanor. Jake's crews were booked for several weeks and we chose to wait for his company to complete the work. We definitely think it was the right decision and highly recommend Jake. We plan to use his services again in the very near future. Thanks Jake :)

Jake, very personable, came by for an initial assessment. Very prompt and commutative through Angies List Message service. After being patient with me though design changes and budget constraints, the contract was signed. On the day the job started, Jake came by to introduce his crew and they started working. They even worked through a couple of days of snow storm and sudden wintery weather! Now the job is done and they are going to check back in the Spring to make sure the plants are still alive.

Dani at Jake's design was very responsive. Installers worked hard to implement design. I was most impressed with Dani's follow up. When there were aspects of the plan that were not draining properly, they followed through the fix the design and remained responsive and checked in multiple times to make sure we were happy.

We contacted numerous companies who are on Angie's List. None but Jake's Designs followed up and developed a plan for us. I talked with Jake and he sent out Dani Ewan. She was nothing but professional and knowledgable in her field. We were at a loss of the specifics but knew we needed retaining walls that would enable our children to play and an area to entertain friends/family. She conducted a walk thru with myself and had a plan with an itemized pricing developed within the week. At that time we were unable to go thru with the project so I contacted her letting her know that I got a second job to save up for the project. She understood and told me to let her know when it would be good to follow thru with the plan. A few months later I called her to notify Dani that we were ready and we got together again to get the project started in August. She had numerous examples of materials, ideas, and helped us finalize the plan to narrow down the budget to where it would be managable for us, we were treated as if we lived in the Broadmoor area. We were excited and could not wait! I gave her my word that this project was going to happen. Because of that she did not have me sign anything right away and was going to wait for the walk thru with the building manager. Two weeks before the project I had to cancel all together because my marriage is going south and unable to maintain the payments I need to finance the project. Dani was understanding and sympathetic to our situation. I wish I could have seen this project go thru just because of all the focus we had from them. This company and designer are worth getting ahold of !!!

They stuck to their schedule and were quite quick once our project was next in line. No mistakes, no re-dos. Great communication.

They were excellent with their customer service. They were very detailed oriented. If an issue arose they were right on top of it fixing it in no time.

Jake showed up on time. He was very professional and knowledgeable and had offered advise about my project to help educate me. This advise has proven extremely valuable in determining and ensuring that I receive the highest level of quality for the work that I want done. In the end, Jake's quote price was very competitive and I was very impressed by his expertise and professionalism, however I decided to go with another company mainly because of many friend referrals for the other company. Time will tell if I have made the right choice.

It went very well! Jake kept us informed of the date he could start our yard and how long it would take. He was very congenial and easy to work with. We had changed a couple of the plants after the initial plan and before the work started. Jake had agreed to the change. However, after all the plants were in, we realized that they had planted the original plants. We pointed that out to Jake and he quickly replaced the plants. We also had a sprinkler issue that was repaired immediately.

I was visited once and told I would have an estimate within a week. After 3 weeks I called and left a message. He never called back and I received no estimate.

We called Jake and he arrived as soon as he could. He and his crew, dropped everything and focused on our house. They extended the drain, and cleaned out the basement. When we got home that night we were amazed at the great shape our basement was in. Once the rains stopped they focused on cleaning up the damage the flooding had done to our newly landscaped yard even enhancing some things at no charge. Obviously the flooding wasn't their fault, but his response to our situation exemplified customer service. During our project one of our neighbors got upset with how the tons of rock were dropped on our street. Jake worked with our neighbors to address their concerns and do what he could to make things right. This is the type of response and service I want from a contractor. Thank you Jake.

We bought our house that was built in 1986 with 5 acres. The house had many flower beds and 2 water features that had not been maintained for a few years and needed to be completely redone. I interviewed quite a few landscapers and chose to go with Jakes Designs. Dani and Jake spent half of a day measuring and drawing up ideas for us. The project was too big for us to do all at once, so Jake suggested that we divide it up into phases. Our first phase was to rebuild/redesign the two water features and redesign the flower beds (the drip system in the flower beds had to be completely redone by Matt) and walk ways closest to the house. We have many deer in our area so they decided to use perennials that deer usually do not like. The plants that we agreed on made it through the first summer without damage from the deer. The crew that they used were extremely professional and cleaned up after themselves daily. Dani and Matt were always available to answer any questions we had. Months after the project was done; both Dani and Matt on different occasions came to our house to answer questions and show us how to shut down the water features for winter and other questions we had. This is impressive considering I live in Parker and they are in Colorado Springs. We are planning on using Jakes Designs again this spring to start phase two of our landscaping. I cannot say enough about this group of people. They are a pleasure to work with.

We did not choose Jake's Design for our landscape project but they were our second choice and we would use them for a future project.

We used Jake's Designs 3 different times, one on one house and twice on a different house. We were very please with the hardscape design and plant/tree selections for the first house. Everything was done professionally, on time, and at a reasonable price. Once we moved, the business grew. Responsiveness was off and on. We have replaced a lot of the plants in the front yard as it really didn't look like what we wanted. My husband discussed sizes and optimal height and several plants were not what we wanted. We discovered when shopping for replacement plants that there were different species and sizes and we did not get what we had described or wanted. Several of the plants died and Jake agreed to replace them. They were not necessarily what we lost, and several of the plants that we asked about were supposed to be deer and rabbit safe were not and we lost several of those. The company had grown and they had employee problems, so a lot of our requests were not followed up in a timely manner. Several plants were not planted correctly, and mulch was simply raked over new baby plants which didn't make it. Some of the plants recommended for the front should hat have been planted on the N side of the house. We lost two of those from north wind. I guess because we paid thousands of dollars for expertise and quality work, that I was very disappointed. This year I asked for an Aspen tree, which they were get to me as soon as they were caught up. I never heard back or got the tree. I really liked the crew leads - they were hard working and knowledgeable, but they could not keep up with the turnover and necessary training and oversight. All in all - just taking on too much and not providing high quality customer service to repeat customers.

Jake's Design re landscaped a neighbors yard and am sooo glad that I never hired them to do work for me. They dumped major piles of rock/ materials for this job ON my sidewalk and street area, cracked and messed up a new street pave job, and took chunks out of my sidewalk/gutter in dumping this rock onto my property . The rock even hit my fence. They said they would move the rock and it sat there for 2 days. Later they umped more rock onto my property area instead of in front of the house they were landscaping. This was unnecessary since there were small existing piles of the same rock in front of the clients house where it should have been dumped. Chunks of pavement were cracked and taken out at the base of another neighbors driveway. A large storage trailer sat in front of a 3rd neighbors house for over 2 weeks. They also had materials sitting in front of a 4th neighbors house. In trying to get some response and answers (yes... I was very angry due to lack of any communication) I was told they commonly infringe on other neighbors areas during their landscape process. They never cleaned up their mess at the end of the day...or week. Our area of the neighborhood was a TOTAL mess on both sides of the street for close to 3 weeks and they never communicated with me further regarding the damage to my concrete as they said they would. They used some type of Quickcrete to fill the asphalt holes and packed it in by stomping on it and the back of a shovel. I know that landscaping is a noisy and messy process however the mess should have been kept in front of the clients home where there was plenty of room. Response to his comment: There was no hand written apology. He was not very understanding about dumping rock on my property. I was not cursing at them. I was very upset about how this company was treating me with no response. This man is lying about so many aspects of this response. He not only affected my yard, he damaged the base of my neighbor?s driveway. There are no neighbors moving because of me and I am offended that he put that in the response. They did not move the rock the first time I asked. Their reply was they could dump rock where ever they wanted, it?s a public street. Their are many other complaints on this company already and I did not threaten him saying I would post things "all over the internet.. His responses to other complaints were handled in the same way as mine. Because of this response I have changed it from a D to an F. The following is a photo of "a small amount of pea sized gravel on that side of the street " and the damage to the sidewalk.

Everything turned out wonderful. I worked closely with Dana. They were pleasant, responsive, and on time. I would hire them again.

Jake and his team landscaped our small front yard last year (2012) and we were very happy with his work. They completely ripped out all of the old landscaping, replaced some of the sod, and filled in the rest with mulch and plants. His design included re-using some of our large river rock creatively, tying it into our backyard while also saving materials and cost. During the process, we didn't like one of the large boulders in front, expressed our concern, and it was quickly removed and replaced with a better one. When we had an issue with the sprinklers, one of his employees came out on Saturday. We got several compliments on our yard from our neighbors and friends. It has done well this year, but some of the plants did not recover from the heat of last summer. The plants included a one-year warranty and when I made a call to Jake, he had an employee out to replace them within a week.

Landscape designer, Dani was very helpful.She listened to what I wanted,& gave suggestions. She drew up plans THREE times, tweeking them each time to meet my needs. The crew that showed up to actually do the manual labor was very prompt, polite and hard working. A couple of minor "blips" in the completion of the project were promptly addressed and fixed to my satisfaction.

We've used Jake's Designs in the past and have always been impressed with their professionalism, promptness, and friendliness. Jake and his staff are very easy to work with. This project, like all of the others, went very well. Their work is also under warranty so they'll replace any plants that die within the next 12 months and fix anything that needs to be fixed. This project wasn't cheap but the work is always top-notch.

Poor experience. I can understand if a job doesn't match what you want your company to engage in, but cannot understand why that could not be communicated in a adult, timely manner