ELITE DESIGNER LANDSCAPING INC

I haven’t left a review until now, because, in many ways, I am still upset. Upset that we paid a lot of money, that we were lied to, that 4 months later, it looks just as bad as it did before we began the work and upset that we have to pay more money to fix it. We called Eddie for an estimate on Feb. 3rd. We had some big plans for our front and back yards that would end up costing over $10,000. Our bank would only approve $3,000, so we called Eddie back out for a revised estimate on Feb. 27th, leaving out big ticket items like pavers and a new driveway. Eddie said the price is a flat rate, based solely on square footage with no hidden charges. The job consisted of removing the old grass, leveling the ground, laying down new sod (Bahia) in the front and left side. There would be a small area in front of the porch with brick edging and red lava rocks. The right side would be a limestone pathway. The backyard would get red lava rock between the deck and fence on 2 sides. Work would begin on Thursday, March 12th to allow time for us to finish painting the exterior of our house. Eddie & his crew showed up on Wed. March 11th and could not start work since the painters were still working. He said they couldn’t start work until the following Monday, the 16th and would have to reschedule the sod order (which hadn’t been delivered yet). After working all day, they came back the following morning to “finish” the job… well, “finish” everything except the red lava rock in the backyard. Eddie showed up around 3:30 on Tuesday, March 17th to tell me they had to stop working because of CV-19. My father and I walked around the perimeter of the house with Eddie and we were relatively satisfied at the time. However, I pointed out the ground still wasn’t level, even after I had approached one of the workers about it the day before. Eddie told us it would resolve itself after a few times over with the lawn mower. I had then asked Eddie about weed care with the rock area out front and the limestone pathway on the right side. He told us we shouldn’t have to worry about it for at least a year or so because “nothing’s getting through.” In regards to the red lava rock in the backyard, I had some leftover from another project we had done a few years before, which I told him would help a little bit, but it was only enough for the front yard. There was still 150 sq. ft. in the backyard that we were charged for, but the job wasn’t completed - Eddie told me that we would have to order more ourselves. His workers had “prepped” the area with the leftover weed fabric but nothing else had been done and we never ordered the additional lava rock. However, about a week after they left, we noticed a lot of the weed fabric had nearly disintegrated and blew into our pool (despite them using lawn staples to secure it). This would explain why, by April 13th, weeds and grass had already started coming through in the front yard rock area. It took a little longer for the weeds in the limestone bed to start coming through, but sure enough they did. Now, in the middle of our summer rainstorms, these areas look considerably worse. We can’t use Spectracide because we need a good day or 2 without any rain for it to work properly. And to use such fragile weed fabric in Florida shows a lack of professionalism (and/or funding) – for a rock bed of any kind you basically need canvas or a tarp underneath to help prevent weeds from coming through. The grass (Bahia) was half dead when it was installed, but we were prepared for that due to such a dry season. We hand-watered it every evening after 6pm for the first 2 months (Pasco Co. water restrictions for new sod) and after that we used fertilizer in the dead spots and continued to water it as well as we could. Now, in July, there are still a ton of dead spots, and combined with the fact that the ground still isn’t level, it seems we’ll probably have to re-do the entire job. The aspect of misinformation that still rubs me the wrong way (not sure if I would categorize this as an outright lie) was about the virus. We believed, at that time, that Eddie wanted to protect his employees during a time of uncertainty, but now we feel that it was just an excuse, especially since Gov. DeSantis issued an update on March 17th stating that the only businesses that would be affected were bars, restaurants, nightclubs and public parks and beaches. ([*** Link removed ***] and CISA issued a list of essential workers on March 19th ([*** Link removed ***] After a few weeks, we decided to check his Facebook page, only to discover a comment from a client on March 27th asking when they’ll be out to complete her job as she already gave him a $5,000 down payment. This does show he might have been working, but since no other information was given in the client’s post, it’s probably best not to assume too much, but it’s a little too coincidental for us to ignore. I would be fine if Eddie accepts responsibility, comes back out to do the quality work he promised and that other reviews have raved about, and doesn’t charge us a single penny more than we’ve already paid. I would be willing to change my review to 5 stars and recommend him to my friends, neighbors and other family members in the Tampa Bay area… but I won’t hold my breath.

NOT WELL...FOLLOWING LISTING OF WORK NOT DONE CORRECTLY PER FOLLOW-UP CONSULTATIONS: - NO SOCK ON 4" DRAIN, SOIL WILL SEEP IN AND EVENTUALLY CLOG DRAIN - 4" DRAIN NOT ADEQUATE FOR ROOF SLOOP, AMT OF WATER; ROCKY HAD ADV'D LARGEST AVAILABLE, ACTUAL 6" OR 8" AVAILABLE, NOT AT SUPPLIER PER ROCKY - DRAIN USED UNDER SIDEWALK WILL RESULT IN SIDEWALK COLLAPSE AS SOIL WASHES AWAY - NO SAND USED - DRAIN TOO DEEP, SHOULD RESIDE ON SURFACE - CONNECTION W/CAGE DOWNSPOUT RESTS ON OTHER PIPING, SHOULD BE SHAPED FOR AREA VS. SAME PIPE USED THROUGH YARD - END OF DRAIN (NAME?) TOP OFF DUE TO PRESSURE, INADEQUATE FOR DRAIN, AMT OF WATER - NO TOPSOIL SHOULD BE ON TOP OF DRAIN DUE TO SOIL SEEPING IN HOLES OF DRAIN, SHOULD BE STONE/SAND, ALLOW GRASS TO COVER IN TIME - ONE OF CONNECTORS (NAME?) IN HIGH VS. LOW SPOT ON SIDE OF HOUSE.