New Life Contracting Services‎

It went great. New Life was available the same day I called and arrived at the appointed time. The price was excellent and the job was completed quickly. They were very easy to work with and I highly recommend them.

He was easy to get in touch with and arrange a day and time. Over the phone he also gave a range of how much the project could cost (sight unseen). When he arrived he gave the price before he began and the price was agreeable so he took half up front and the rest after the job was complete. It took about 1/2 hour to complete the job. Gabriel was also extremely knowledgeable about landscaping and trees. He gave me some great suggestions. Would definitely use him for more projects.

I found "New Live Contracting" on Angies list with excellent reviews and contacted Mr. Bandele to come by my house to take a look at the yard to help me change it from it's current random layout to a more "environmentally friendly/low maintenance" garden with an emphasis on local species. When talking to him we seemed to hit it off and he explained that I should be prepared to take notes and that his fee was $300 that could then be as credit towards the work that he would be performing. Based on the reviews I read on Angies list i had no doubt (blind of me) that I would hire him and I had no objection to his conditions.On March 29th 2011 he showed up at 9:30 am at my house and we started walking around the yard and talking. I was writhing things down as he spoke. He gave me his view of what he'd change around and threw around multiple names of plants and brushes that he'd like to see in different locations of the yard. He spoke of a vegetable garden that would be fun for my now 2 year old twins to watch grow, even sunflowers. It all sounded great. My yard is not big; within one hour we were done. He gave me some tasks and said he'd put together a proposal and send it my way. He also promised to send me some names of nurseries that he loved to shop at in Maryland. I emphasized that I wanted to start quickly since the season was ripe. He agreed. He also told me to leave a good report for him on Angies.I followed up with him per e-mail on April 1st - I have the e-mail, but posting it here would probably make this review a bit too long. He replied to me on April 5th:"Good Afternoon,It has been non-stop for me. I will be working on your proposalsoon. Until then be thinking about what vegetables and plantsyou like.Gabriel"No nursery information, no proposal, and time went by...On May 9th I wrote him another e-mail:"Hi Gabriel, I hope this e-mail finds you well. I'm writing you because it has been over a month and I haven't heard back from you. Considering that nothing came about from our short meeting back in March I feel that the $300 I paid for your services did not go very far at all. I imagine you have been very busy working on other projects and I respect that, however I would kindly request you send me a refund as I think you will agree we never really got started with my project. I am sorry that things didn't work out this time around. I eagerly await your reply. Kind regards,"He called me and I tried to explain to him that all I wanted is to get my money back. He convinced me that he'd contact me in June and have "something" for me, but that I should write a postive review on Angies list... isn't that illegal? Anyways, I belive in second chances. Today is July 14th and I haven't heard back from Gabriel. All I want now is my $300 back. Lessons learned: Don't believe everything you read, and don't pay upfront... never pay upfront!

It went very well. Mr. Bandele and his workers arrived,met with me and went to work promptly. After they finished; he asked me to walk around with him to inspect and approve their work. I was very pleased with the entire results.

Gabriel and his team did an outstanding job, as usual. When we first moved into our house last fall, our front and back yards were overrun with weeds and just generally looking jungle-like. Gabriel and his team spent hours and hours getting the yards under control, including pruning everything by hand, laying down fresh sod in the front yard, doing extensive weeding, planting new trees etc. His work lasted through the fall and winter and into the spring--- our yards looked well under control for a long time without too much maintenance effort on our part. We hired Gabriel and his team again at the end of the spring to help maintain the excellent foundation they laid for us the previous fall. After discussing what we would like to have done and price, Gabriel and his team came to the house to do the job when they said they would and also completed it on time. They did a magnificent job. Our yards look fantastic. Gabriel also provided extensive explanation of the work he and his team completed and also provided many tips for maintenance. We will certainly hire Gabriel and his team again when we need additional follow-up. He is very professional and takes great pride in his work, which is nice to see. I would definitely recommend Gabriel and his company.

The guy who came out was really nice, very professional and knowledgeable. His assistant did a really good job of removing the leaves. They used rakes and not a leaf blower. I don’t remember the price.

We just had the pleasure of meeting Gabrielle from New Life Contracting in person after a few phone conversations. He is currently working on an estimate to regrade our yard and lay some grass (possible clovers), help improve the health of a giant maple tree in our yard, and build a privacy fence. He seemed very willing to work within our budget and set up a modular approach to our yard (we would like to eventually put in some retaining walls an extend our outdoor living space) to be finished over a few years. We ended our visit with a little impromptu pull up competition (we have a pull-up bar mounted the the exterior of our house). Gabrielle did an impressive 18 pull-ups. The consultation he provided was very much worthwhile and we look forward to working with him over the summer.

The owner of the company, Gabriel Bandele, was on site at all times, and kept a tight rein on the three or four employees working with him. They were all polite, quiet, and ready to make a correction if something was incorrect. Gabriel thinks of himself -- and is -- an artist of landscaping. When pruning the trees in front of the house, he kept crossing the street to see how the house was "being framed", and it worked -- it looks great. Several times he asked me to look at views of work he had done, and they were universally attractive. The two weeks between the time he gave us the estimate and went to work was very rainy, and the weeds had multiplied. As a result, he said that he was going to have to spend more time than he had planned, and asked me to sign the contract saying that we would pay him several hundred dollars more than originally stated. I understood the problem, and did so, but told him that this was not a good practice. As an artist, he has the temperament of an artist, but was always aware that it was MY wishes which were to be followed. He made many good suggestions, and had good scientific reasons for his suggestions. He was somewhat expensive, but very nice to work with, and I would recommend him and hire him again. Unfortunately, I was not available for a proper walk-through when he finished, but I am happy with ..the result. He cleaned up thoroughly before finishing

They were very efficient. They removed and we had everything done within an hour. The guys were very good. They came out and did the work. The only thing I had a problem with was in pricing change. They quoted me a price after seeing the work but when they came out here, it was a little higher. I wasn’t too happy about that. Otherwise, they were very good. They showed up on time.

Mr. Bandele has done work here in the past and therefore was well prepared to understand what I wanted done and to offer his own valuable suggestions. He and his crew of three arrived at my home ready to begin immediately at about 10:00am. They put in a long active day and completed their work at about 6:30 pm. Mr. Bandele went over the list of tasks that I had printed out and after a few minutes stated the price of the job if accomplished in one day and the additional cost if it required returning second day. I agreed with his prices in writing. The costs included the mulch and plants he had purchased before arriving at my home. Mr. Bandele works along with his crew and gives them detailed instructions. His team were all serious and careful to comply with his instructions, which is very important because he strives to maintain high standards in everything he does. I have been very pleased with Mr. Bandele's work in the past and his performance on this latest job continued to be excellent. The costs of his work are very reasonable and the results are first rate.

Gabriel responded promptly to my initial call to New Life Contracting Services, and came to our home soon after for a consultation. We spent a good deal of time discussing my desire for a green yet artistic landscape that would require minimum maintenance. This fit right in with Gabriel's philosophy to be, in his words, "stewards of the earth and assisting others in heightening their awareness and appreciation of our plants and natural environment.." We walked together through every corner of our yard, Gabriel asking questions, listening carefully to my answers, and working with me to shape a plan and a timetable that we both felt was fitting. The primary consideration was to create a sustainable landscape that incorporated the existing plants, trees, and architecture. I also wanted to create a free-form vegetable and wildflower garden, and to add native plants and trees. Within a few days Gabriel e-mailed me a plan that brought together our hopes and his considerable talents. Gabriel and his crew arrived and began cleaning the old beds and creating new ones. There were MANY overgrown areas that required hard physical labor which was done efficiently and thoroughly. A great deal of effort also went into the beautiful wildflower and vegetable garden that Gabriel designed. As a certified horticulturist, he has extensive knowledge of plants, trees, urban agriculture, organic ornamental and edible gardens, and helped me clarify my thoughts about what plants I wanted, and which were practical and fit our lifestyle. Working with New Life was not only comfortable and easy, it was truly an enjoyable and enlightening experience. It’s clear that Gabriel loves his work, and takes great joy in working to bring his client’s vision to life. Gabriel brings both an artist's eye and talent as well as spirituality and years of experience, education and skill to his projects. His professionalism and high standards are obvious in all the work he does. I highly recommend him.

Gabriel came out the day I called, assessed the yard and its problems, and quickly offered suggestions to address the problem areas (of which there were many). He did a terrific job. As Gabriel explained he "restored the dignity" of our once beautiful front and side yards. The place looks fantastic (and the grass isn't even in yet). Gabriel is a something of an artist and he clearly loves his work. He is also very personable and very flexible. He even risked life and limb (no pun intended) to trim the tree around the electrical wires. Would definitely highly recommend him.

I called based upon rave reviews here. My first call went unanswered, a bad sign. My second call got a response a few days later, apologizing for being out of town. He promised he would call back in "a few days" when he had his new schedule together to schedule an estimate for some landscaping. I waited, no call. Another bad sign. I called again, and he said "Oh. yes, glad you called." he came by a few days later and we walked the very small city property. He didn't seem to know a lot of the existing plantings, which caused me some concern. We discussed a scope of work, and when we discussed the new lawn (sod) he talked about the less expensive way, or the "better" way. Frankly, there's one correct way to lay sod, and his "less expensive" way was actually just the wrong way to do it, and would result in a mess. The idea that any landscaper would be willing to do such work also bothered me. I told him to quote me the "correct" way. We traded additional phone calls, as he seems only able to deliver estimates by phone, rather than by email. After several attempts to reach him I gave up. He seems like a nice guy, but he also appears to be way over his head doing landscaping projects. His lack of plant knowledge and the "sod incident" left me convinced he isn't up to par. I would not have hired him even if he did manage to get me a quote, but the fact that he could not do that was simply further evidence that this guy was not the right choice. Obviously, ohers have had better experiences, but gabriel was a failure for me.

Pretty bad. After contacting this highly rated company I spoke with the highly rated Gabriel who seemed to understand exactly what I wanted done and said he would come out and look at the job. He never did come to look, never called back. I knew that he would be unable to assess the job in the week following our phone conversation because he told me so. There I waited a few weeks but was never contacted about it.

We were overall very pleased with the work--they did a good job in removing the bushes with their root system which is what we wanted so that we could plant other things. We took care of the disposal ourselves to save a bit of money, as it would've cost extra. A few of the pieces they left for us to dispose of were a bit larger than the 3-4 ft limit for the trash pick-up, but we were able to deal with them ok. We would work with Mr. Bandele again.

Gabriel spent a lot of time on the phone prior to the work going over the job with me, and making suggestions on other parts of our overall yard project. He provided an estimate that turned out to be right on target and quite reasonable. Despite some setbacks (like getting a late start on the first day, being under-manned, and having a jackhammer burn out), he and his crew worked hard and got things done in a timely manner.

Mr. Bandele is very capable and professional with wide experience that permits a flexible working arrangement with him so that a job can be expanded or contracted as the work proceeds.

Gabriel is very thorough and professional. We had several conversations before he began work on our property. While a lot of rainfall slowed the process down, once we had several days of sunshine, Gabriel and his team got to work and were able to complete the entire job in a weekend. My husband and I were very impressed by Gabriel and his team's professionalism and attention to detail. Their services were pricier than we anticipated but in the end quite worth it. We now have a tranquil garden rather an a unwieldy jungle!

Everything was great. He seemed really nice and knowledgeable; he knew a lot about plants and trees. He was very contentious and friendly.

Overall; The process went extremely well.. The service representative on the telephone was very professional and polite

All work was performed very professionally. The plants that were planted are all doing very well. I found working with Mr. Bandele to be very comfortable. Note: This company is also operating under the name Bandele Group.

Overall I think this job went very well. He did set an approximate time that he would be at my house. He was late but called to apologize and to let us know that he had been delayed. When he and his helper arrived they quickly surveyed the situation and got our help to move the car out of the way to optimize the garbage route to the dumpster. He organized how the job would go and then completed it in a little over an hour. A job that really would have taken us the whole day, plus he brought all his equipment wheel barrels, a truck and dumpster, etc. He also offered some great advice about some of our trees which we recently planted and are not doing so well. I think the job went very well and I enjoyed working with Gabriel, I think he is very reasonable, responsible, and very thorough.

Very good. Our old shed collapsed due to the heavy snows this year. Once we got an insurance payment, I looked to Angie's List for a contractor to take down the shed and possibly do a few other things. Having used a big-name hauling service once in the past and not been that impressed with their price, I looked on Angie's List for an independent contractor, and New Life jumped out at me with all their good reviews. Based on a description of the shed on the phone, Gabriel gave me an estimated range for teardown and hauling off, and the final charge was midway in that range. We scheduled them to come on a Monday, but had to reschedule to a Tuesday afternoon due to heavy rain. Because Gabriel is a carpenter, he was able to teardown the shed safely and without damaging our neighbor's fence running close behind the shed. Because of the great job done on the shed, I had him tackle the demolition in the basement, despite the fact that it was late in the day. While there, Gabriel also gave me estimates for tree trimming and hauling the old bricks behind the shed, and came out a week later to perform those tasks. In both cases, the work was performed by Gabriel and a single crew member; they worked hard and completed the work quickly, a total of about 6 hours at our house. Gabriel is detail-oriented, runs a tight ship, and had his crew do a great job cleaning up all the worksites, as well as protecting our lawn while hauling off the materials (which they did by foot). As an arborist and landscaper, Gabriel also gave us some free advice on tree and lawn issues. Overall, it was a pleasure to work with Gabriel and we'll definitely be using New Life again the future.

I needed both a hauling and plumbing service. Gabriel informed me that he could not do the plumbing. hence we were unable to do business. He was, however, polite and prompt in his response.

The contractor and his crew of two were competent, thorough, and professional. Toward the end of the project, he asked for feedback to ensure our satisfaction with the work and followed through on concerns. He offered helpful advice about future planting.