Knoll Landscape Design

Mr Brent Knoll, he was not punctual at all, at any point. He charged $250.00 just to make an onsite view of my property, at that point he didn't keep in touch until 2 weeks from that point. He then proeeded to ask for 750.00 to make a design. The design was a not a nice a computer design instead it was a handwritten design with some drawings, he used the property survey as a guide. after that he sent a list of all the plants and cost to do everything, the cost was 14500.00 for the front of my house. he asked for a $9000.00 down payment in order to get started. at that point we gave him the check. He called saying he forgot to add some items to the list. and said it would be more money. Those items were part of the design. after that he said he would come on a thursday to drop off some items. he came but never said at what time. instead of calling he just decided to leave. The next day it was raining the work was postponed. he didn't even call or email to let us know. Next day was a Saturday . nice sunny day to start the project, no call from him. Monday he came and dropped off plants and began the project. after almost 2 weeks he finished the project. It was not as expected for a 14'500.00 we spent. One of the biggest things was a simple sod charge we asked for, he gave us a brown sod not even halfway green, when we asked for him to please remove he did not want to. He said there was nothing wrong with it and if in 2 weeks it didn't turn green he would come an replace. Two weeks later he came back and still refused to remove it. It looks awful DEAD. But he couldn't please us with that small request. I have a huge backyard I was supposed to give to him to do as well but after this experience I will NOT be contacting him.

My friend Matthew has really enjoyed gardening since moving from being just down the street from me in Doral to a bigger house in Kendall. I've watched his facebook posts and seen his photos and also seen what he accomplished when I've visited him and his family. I've been thinking about redoing some of my 17 year old builder installed landscaping and when I met Brent at a get-together at Matt's place, well, it made sense to stop thinking and get him over to help me make a plan. Brent has been very professional all the way through and helped me not only to select something to plant in a shady spot that needed something, but really made a difference in my yard. We collaborated mostly in emails and texts with photos to decide on specific plants, and I beleive we made a nice selection of native plants that will do well in the difficult soil of Doral. His organic "super soil" should help too. He had the hard work of removing a tree and a stump, bushes that were in the ground for 17 years, along with palm roots in the same area. He did the work quickly, came when he said he would, came over to inspect afterward, and is sending care instructions so that I have success in the future. I now have plumbago bushes with small blue flowers all of the time, and a small blue butterfly that likes to flit around them often visible. I have two new trees in front where I had a dead one and a stump from days gone by. I have small jasmine plants that someday will become a fragrant bush (they already are, but after only three weeks, they are small and not as impactful as they will be). I have a banana tree in the back to go along with my 4-5 year old mango. I have more jasmine, and several plants that will attract butterflies and hummingbirds. I've already started to see them in the yard. I also now have a raised bed herb and veggie garden planted with seasonal vegetables. The eggplant is already getting a small fruit forming. My basil is taking off and I think I may need to make some pesto. I'm hoping to plant lettuce and tomatoes when the season is right. I'm having Brent come back to add raspberries on a trellis, grape vines on the same one, and a lemon tree. My yard is not large, but now it is much more than fenced grass with Bougainvilla bushes along the fence, which are nice. It's good to have more, especially with it being an edible garden too. I look forard to working with Brent more, not just because of the intiial install work, but because I know from the way he has worked with Matt, and the discussions we've had, that I'll have his help if I have gardening questions in the future.