City Beautiful Landscaping

UPDATE: Rusty contacted me, and his team replaced all the sod in my yard. The new sod looks beautiful.

I was initially excited to have City Beautiful involved in the bidding process based on prior reviews and their website. When I called, I was told based on my verbal description of the project, the receptionist/call screener would prefer the owner bid my project. Unfortunately he was going on vacation. I did not mind the week to 10 day wait since I was getting multiple estimates. Rusty did communicate with me later that day via text and we confirmed a date upon his return. He arrived as scheduled on July 21, and gathered the information. After about two weeks, I had not heard anything, and called the office sometime in early August. The receptionist/call screener again answered and stated she would have to get back with me since she did not know where Rusty was in the bidding process. She called back later the same day and told me they would be unable to complete my project. This sure would have been nice information to have had the day Rusty was on my property and visually inspecting the project. I find it incredibly unprofessional to not even call for two weeks, and apparently had no intention of following up with a prospective client. For the record, this was a significant backyard landscaping/hardscaping project, to include a 6 stack retaining wall, a long 2 stack planter wall, numerous plant beds, and lots of rock. I was prepared for $20,000+ estimates, possibly more. I don't know if this company can't handle bigger projects, or if they are so big they will not give residential cuctomers adequate service. Either way, I was very disappointed.

The project went very well. They are very busy but gave me an accurate schedule for when they could do the work and how long it would take. The project was done on time and within the original budget. The workers were very professional and easy to work with.

We are extremely happy with the outcome,and would recommend Rusty Woodall & City Beautiful Landscaping to anyone. We had a couple of rough patches involving some of his workers in the process, but it was all resolved to our satisfaction in the end. The problems occurred because the on-site supervisor became ill in the beginning of our project, and so there was a lot of unsupervised activity going on. He has now filled the supervisory position, so it should not be an issue in the future. Rusty is 'old school', and while many businesses claim to put the client first, he did. An example-- the crew that removed the old concrete out of our back yard inadvertently took more out than we had agreed to. Rusty apologized, but than offered to replace that large concrete area with the pavers we were using for the rest of the project, and didn't charge us extra for it. And by the way-- we wish we had gone that way from the beginning-- it looks so much better than the concrete would have. Before we signed a contract, Rusty brought over Joe Brooks, a landscape architect, who sat down with me for about 3 hours, designing a plan that was just perfect for us and our yard- I was amazed that he could turn our hideous back yard into the oasis that it is now. He charged us independently, by the hour, and at the end of it, we had a sketch that Rusty's crews could use to implement the design. Joe is truly gifted. He was was very good at drawing out the client's own ideas and preferences. Another thought: it may seem as if the quotes for the trees & plants are a bit high, but Rusty sources really great specimens, the quality of which you will not find in local nurseries. (We looked!)

From the start, Jeff (the salesman and designer) was prompt, courteous, and understanding. After listening to our concerns of having 2 children and 2 large dogs, along with our wish list, Jeff worked up a design that was almost perfect for our needs. With a few tweaks, that didn't even require a face to face meeting due to Jeff's knowledge, we ironed out the final design and cost within a day of our initial meeting. When work started, Jeff was there to oversee the start of the work and make sure all laborers had no questions and were aware of the expectations. They too were nothing but professional. As construction continued, Jeff and the crew were excellent about dealing with our requested changes and correcting any minor details. Before the team left, they even took time to clean up the front planters and plant a few plants where needed in the front yard, which wasn't even part of the scope of work. We couldn't be happier with our new sanctuary and look forward to years of enjoyment. In fact, due to the wonderful job they did on the installation of the new sod and plants, I've requested that City Beautiful provide monthly services for weed and pest control to keep everything looking beautiful.

He came and looked around and had some pretty good ideas. Was told he would email us a quote and never heard back.

City Beautiful Landscaping did a first class job in every stage of the project. After deciding our landscape design, we obtain quotes from a number of contractors. City Beautiful Landscaping was selected because of their competitive bid and also because we decided they could manage the diversity of work that was needed for our project. They did not disappoint. Once the job began, they brought a crew out to do the initial landscape clearing. Since all the existing plants were going to be reused, they neatly wrapped each plant in a protective container and stored neatly out of the way. The job site was so well cleaned, you hardly imagined anyone had worked there that day. City Beautiful next scheduled the paver contractor, and had one of their representative meet with them to insure every detail was covered before starting the work. The paver subcontractor was very professional and completed the job to perfection, making sure the lay-out of the new pavers exactly matched the lay-out of the existing pavers. This was especially significant due to the curved shapes that were required. Again, the job site was left very clean. The next stage of the project was installing the new landscaping. City Beautiful dispatched a crew to begin this work. Each day, they arrived at our site well prepared and equipped with professionally maintained equipment. At the end of each day, we were impressed by how much work was done. And again the job site was left in excellent condition. This was especially important since we did not want to disturb the neighbors. All of the new plants and trees that were planted were in excellent condition as if the best of the best plants were selected for our job. A few of the existing plants that were expected to be transplanted, did not meet the quality of the new plants, and so were discarded and replaced with new plants. At the same time new irrigation piping was installed and at no time did any of the City Beautiful workers damage existing underground utilities. The existing and new sprinklers were all adjusted to insure complete coverage. Finally, the new lighting was installed and each fixture was selected and placed to accent the new landscaping. The lighting controls were installed in a stainless box. The newest style electronic time was installed. One more important thing to say about City Beautiful was the professional way they approached changes to the job. As with any job, changes and adjustments need to be made to insure the best outcome. As changes were made, City Beautiful either did not ask for additional money or only asked for a modest change. This was very much unexpected and appreciated.

This company was recommended to us by our builder and we were very pleased with the professionalism and final product. They did a full design of our front yard, including our circle driveway. All irrigation was mapped, deer -resistant plants provided and some nice custom features such as large pots embedded into the landscaping. We were very pleased and still are with the final result.

They do a good job! Sometimes I have to ask them to do certain things, but then they do it. We have used them for 3 or 4 years. The above cost is per month.

IT IS DIFFICULT TO HAVE A COMPANY AND SEND WORKERS OUT WHEN THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE HOMEOWNER AND THE WORKERS. I FELT IT WAS TOO HIGH A PRICE.

THERE WAS A LOT OF PROBLEMS THAT WOULD SHOW UP, BUT WHEN THEY WOULD COME TO TALK ABOUT IT THEY DIDN'T SPEAK ENGLISH. I ALWAYS HAD TO CALL A MANAGER AND TELL THEM WHAT THE PROBLEM WAS. I DOUBT THEY ACTUALLY TOLD THE WORKERS. THEY NEVER KEPT THE BLADES SHARP FOR MOWING THE LAWN. THEY ACTUALLY KILLED THE GRASS. IT WAS ALWAYS JUST A MATTER OF BIG CHUNKS OF OUR PALM TREES THAT WOULD BE HANGING DOWN.