Landscape By Design

It came in under budget and was done quicker than he'd originally thought. There was an issue with the track hoe on the second day ( the track came off), but Mark and his crew made up for it by getting the better track hoe the next day and were able to obviously make up the time lost. The above is the original report done by my husband immediately following the completion. Afterward, we had some issues. We realized he and his guys broke two sprinkler pipes underground and caused us to have a very high water bill until we realized and fixed it on our own. He left the track hoe in our front yard for two extra days - an eyesore and then we received a notice telling us that Suncoast Rentals put a lien on our home because he owed them $10! Within a few days, we received another letter telling us the lien had been lifted. He came and picked up the first check on the day we decided the work and same with the completion day. We were doing the work on a house that was vacant in at the time and he drove from South Tampa to Clearwater twice. That should have been the red flag that he might have had money problems at the time but that is just my assumption. Lastly, many of the plants/trees have started growing back. He told us the banana trees would but not the rest. We manage and our yard still looks amazing. I am appreciative to he and his company as they did a great deal of work and sweat equity but I think it should have cost a little less based on the final product. We did call him out to remove some plants that regrew but then decided we'd just work on it. None the less, our yard looks amazing but, in hindsight, we likely should have gone with another company and I should have gotten more involved in the process (my husband worked directly with Mark).

Mark came out and took a look at a section of my current flower bed that contained flowers that were very unattractive that I wished to replace. I also had him to check out a heavily shaded area that did not allow grass to grow; I wanted to replace the dead grass with mulch and plants that could survive in shade. Mark took down the necessary info and emailed his recommendations later the same day. We agreed on the plant selection and an install date. Mark called the day before the install date to confirm the appointment. He and his assistant arrived early on the actual date. They did a great job with the removal of the unwanted flowers and dead grass. The new plants and fresh mulch look lovely in the bed. Mark did a good job with the selection; the plants give the front of my house much better curb appeal.

He was supposed to get back to me with his plan but he never did. Months went by and once in awhile I email him until finally he said that it was a bigger scope for him. He didn't think it was when he was walking around. His company is in St. Petersburg and Green Lando Lake so maybe after driving out here doing the walk around he thought it was too far. He was not very responsive. Even if he agree to come do it at this point I wouldn't hire him. He didn't really follow through with enough information. I don't even know what he can do; it is just a small project. My yard is not that big but he said that it is a too bigger job for him so I assume then that he is only interested in planting a few things. If you have a big or complicated idea then he is probably not the person to implement it.

Work nicely done. Prompt and professional. Yard looks excellent.

It went very well. Mark is an honest, conscientious business man. It's been quite awhile since I've dealt with some one as decent as this guy. Mark and his crew show up when they say they will and work hard at making sure their customer, me, gets what they paid for. The owner, Mark, actually worked right along with his 2 man crew. By the way, the two guys working with Mark were exceptionally polite and worked hard. All in all it was a very nice experience for us. I've never hired anyone to design, then install before so this was a new experience for me. It was nice and I definitely got my monies worth. My wife and I are pretty happy.

Had such a wonderful experience with Landscape by Design. Very easy to work with, not only sits down with you and goes over with what you want, but gives other ideas that would work in staying green, which I really like. Very professional, but personable at the same time. I have been looking for a landscaper for some time and am happy to say that I will continue to do business with Landscape by Design. Everything done within a weeks time, which is really great service.

Mark is fantastic. He came out promptly and gave us a quote. He arrived on the day we discussed and completed the work on time. He is fair and honest and did exactly what was quoted and agreed to. We will definitely use him again in the future and would recommend him to anyone. While he did not install any plants for us, he is also very knowledgeable in Florida flora. Very easy to work with too. Thanks Mark and team!

It went great from start to finish. Mark came out right away to give me an estimate. He is great to work with, and knows a lot about how to care for plants and palm trees. He gave me great advice on what to plant in my yard. Mark is extremely knowledgeable and very professional. He and his team did a fantastic job - my yard looks great! I will be hiring him to come back and help me maintain my yard. I highly recommend him.

Everything went well. I would definitely use them.

Also repaired gate with new lock for owner at no additional charge. Owner contracted for monthly maintenance with Landscape by Design after seeing the results of the initial clean up.. It was a pleasure working with Mark.

They did a very good job. They were able to meet all of my request and completed the job in one day.

This company is truly amazing. They came out and talked to me about what I wanted to have done. What truly impressed me is that they actually listened to my concerns and what I would like. They took my feelings into account for all of their suggestions. Mark really knows his plants; Jesse is awesome with the details on landscape issues. I initially was only going to do the back yar d (because they were new to me), but I was so impressed with this team that I went ahead and had the front and side yard done by them as well. Awesome crew; knowledgeable, professional, gave great suggestions and I would recommend them to everyone. I absolutely love my yard, and I have never been able to say that. It was a great pleasure to work with Mark, Jesse, and Nate.

We wanted to remove most of the plants in the front yard and put in new palm trees and shrubbery. Mark arrived at our house on time and was very professional. He gave us some suggestions on the type of plants and placement and sent us the quote in an email a few days later. Unfortunately I caught pneumonia soon after and was MIA for a few weeks. When I recovered and called Mark back and told him I wanted to change some of the plants I chose before, he came out the next day and gave us an updated quote right away. They were supposed to come out the following week to do the work but ended up coming in a few days early. We had to juggle our schedules a little so someone would be home but Mark was flexible and it all ended up working out at the end. Overall, I think Mark and his team were very professional and did a good job on our landscaping. We would recommend them to others.

This is the second time we have used Mark Higgins and Landscape By Design to help with landscaping around our condominium building. First of all, he is very knowledgeable and refers to all of the plants by their genus and species names. He has wonderful and unusual ideas for plants and always gives a fair estimate. He and his team are always on time, are willing to go the extra mile for you if you have a plant or yard you want them to look at. They arrive at the worksite when promised, work efficiently and neatly and clean up after themselves beautifully. I would highly recommend them to anyone, commercial job or private residence, if you want reliable service, a great price, dependability and a beautiful and clean outcome on time!

Landscape by design did an excellent job. They were very flexible with changes and worked on the job until complete giving great customer satisfaction. I have hired them to continue to do lawn/ yard work for my rental property. They were a great company to hire. One side note, must be flexible with schedule, due to weather changes, the schedule may push you back a couple of day, but Landscape by design is worth the wait.

Four day job took six due to rain (not their fault). Work was completed as agreed with less than 2% cost overrun. The overrun was optional...soaker hose, extra fill dirt. They were going to eat the cost of a miss calculation in the amount of fill needed; I agreed to pay for half of the error. They went beyond the original scope of work with no extra charge...map out of sprinkler system, four extra plants planted, three extra trees trimmed, and they coordinated with the water district to allow for extra watering of new sod and plants on my behalf. I was kept informed of progress and when a problem arose they had a solution that didn't always involve more money. Mark, Jessie, and Nate did a fantastic job. I have plans for another phase of work and would not hesitate to use them again.

I contacted Landscape by Design on April 23 to discuss the possiblity of doing a landscape project. I was contacted by email on April 24 and asked for a phone number because I had not provided a number. We talked on April 24 at which time it was explained to me that the company was very busy and could not meet with me at the current time. No problem - I asked that someone get back to me with a date to simply come out and talk about my project and possibly give me a quote. I suggested we meet on May 5 and was told that was "probably" OK, but I would get a return call on April 25 with a definite date and timeframe. When I didn't get a call back by April 28 I sent an email and called again asking what was the situation. No return message of any kind. Guess this company has so much business they don't need another job. I'm moving on..........

I'm really disappointed that this even happened. I called this provider because my husband and I are the opposite of green-thumbs, but we wanted to have a hedge-row planted in our backyard (most likely viburnums, but this was up for discussion). Not only are we the opposite of green-thumbs, but there's also the lack of time on our part. We called this company because it is highly rated on Angie's List, and because Angie's List indicated that this company had done business close by us. I called Mark around April 9, give or take a few days, and explained our needs. I also specifically mentioned that I found his company through Angie's List. What I did not mention is that not only are we looking to have hedges planted, but down the line we are looking to enhance our landscaping and change a lot of it out... so we would be repeat customers. He seemed knowledgeable on the phone - we talked for a few minutes about what we were looking to have done. He then said he could come out April 19th. More than a week out. That seemed pretty far out to me, but I agreed to it, figuring that this is a busy time of year, and if he's that good, then maybe it's worth the wait. On April 18th he calls to say he couldn't come out for whatever reason on April 19th. That really put me off. You make me wait over a week, then you call me the day before to say "woops sorry nevermind we need to reschedule" (??) But OK, fine, I get it, things come up so I was very accomodating over the phone and when he said he could come out April 24th, I agreed. I marked it in my planner. When I didn't hear from him the day before to confirm or anything, I was tempted to call but then figured NO. I am not going to chase this person around to pay them money. If he wanted our business, he would come on the 24th at 10am as he said he would and had us scheduled for. I was at home until 1pm on Thursday and he never showed. Never called. And here it is April 27th and I still haven't heard a single word from him. I guess business is going so fantastic that he completely forgot about us and had no problem blowing us off for over 2 weeks. I really don't appreciate my time being wasted. And I'll be sure to let other people know. I thought it was a little much to have to wait almost 2 weeks for a quote to begin with. But then to have to wait well over 2 weeks, have this guy never call and never show, and to this point still hasn't called..... well, it's just plain RUDE!

Estimate only. See comments in "What did the provider do?" portion of this review.

Mark and his crew did an excellent job. I would highly recommend them. They showed up when they said they were going to show up and did what they said they would do; for the cost Mark gave me. His prices are very competitive and he is very friendly and easy to work with. I will use him again and would recommend him to anyone. The only negative is that I felt I had to ride his crew to keep them to the time table I wanted. In other words, if I want the job done in a week, if I didn't ride them, I don't think it would have gotten done in a week. However, every other area is superb! Mark is on time, he is fairly priced, he does great work. You might want to get a time deadline from him and that is all I can say about that.

We wanted to update an old property that has no professional design. Location Clearwater on Dunedin line. Our goal was/is to develop a semi-tropical, cozy feel for the property. The work involved selecting large plant specimens and locating them in a general overall design as well as a variety of other smaller, border plants that complement and fill out the design. Appropriate siting and ground preparation was ensured. We are well on our way to achieving a successful ambience. We are very satisfied with the results thus far. We are approaching this project in phases both to manage the cost and to review and revise along the way. All work thus far has been done as proposed with every opportunity to check in and talk about best practices. Mark Higgins, the manager, has been completely willing to explain plant types and pros and cons of particular plant choices. He is highly trained and knowledgeable, listens to our suggestions, accommodates our preferences if they make sense and takes time to explain why certain ideas of ours may be problematic. With his crew, the work is done quickly with willingness to fine-tune, if necessary. We are very satisfied and would recommend this service highly. Jim Ford and Barbara Butler

The job was done in a matter of a few days just like I was told. The first few days were rained out so crew came out on the weekend and worked through Sunday which was very much appreciated. Mark, Jesse and his crew were very professional, respectful, and knowledgeable of everything to do with landscaping which is exactly what I needed. I was very satisfied when they drove to Spring Hill from Pinellas to recheck everything and touch up on a couple of areas. I definitely have the best looking house on the block and it will only look better and better for years to come. The only advice I would give for a person that receives services from this company is to make sure that you know the estimate for landscape and irrigation is separate. I was surprised when I had to pay an extra $400 at the end for the irrigation which was probably just a mis-communication between the two of us; with that being said, Jesse, the irrigation expert, goes above and beyond to make sure the sprinklers are running perfectly as well as adding additional irrigation for the new trees and plants. He went out of his way to come back and check to make sure everything was working properly and set up on the correct schedule so it was well worth the money in the end. Overall very happy with my services. Having a beautiful yard to enjoy is priceless. Glad I chose this company and I would recommend to a friend.

It went great. These guys rocked. they skimped on nothing, did exactly what they said they'd do and didn't do any of it half assed. they worked like they were working on their own yard. I have these massive birds of paradise higher than my house and all these weird palm trees that have never been trimmed that required hours of meticulous cutting and cleaning. My house was previously owned by a landscaper so the foliage is prolific to say the least. I can't comment on the cost because i got one estimate from Mark and liked what he had to say and didn't bid it out further. He did work with me on the pricing too since it was a very costly, big job. I've hired them to do ongoing maintenance. I'm not an easy going person but when i find quality i like to keep it.

Not good. Will never consider this company for future work.

Mowing & edging. Nothing fancy. They always do a little something extra like pull some weeds or trim some bushes or palms. Mark's very knowledgable and gives me good tips on the care and feeding of my various plants. They aren't the cheapest, but they do a good job, they're reliable, and I like them. One of his guys even fixed a sprinkler head for me one day. Little things like that go a long way toward making and keeping a satisfied customer.