Sod Sales Direct

After owner inspected worksite we developed detailed specs. Crew appeared on appointed date after slight delay caused by sod supplier. Owner periodically checked on crew but lead worker was very capable of supervising the job. Crew was hard-working, thorough and careful of the property. Work was finished on time and to final specs. When subcontractors did not deliver service to contractor as promised, the contractor performed the service himself to assure meeting the service goals. When clearing the ivy took more time and effort than anticipated, the contractor honored the specs with no hesitation or extra charge. Also promptly arranged for stump grinding at our request, allowing the project to keep on schedule. Sod was top quality and has established well. Would call on this company again for similar needs.

The process was amazingly easy. I will tell you from the start that I am a perfectionist. I've lived in my home close to 30 years and always wanted a back yard I could use and enjoy. However, I can't use my phone at work and had to rely frequently on text messages. So once we got underway with the contract, I was always texting Phil and asking about all the details. I checked on the progress every second that I could and every time I had a question it was answered thoroughly and completely. Phil was the only landscaper that took the natural slope of my back yard and worked with it to make the transition seem natural. He worked areas of the yard to leave some very old and established azaleas alone. He didn't try to rework the area by adding retaining wall after retaining wall. He didn't try to get rid of everything back there and build from scratch. He gave me a bigger grassy area than I thought possible. When the sod came and there was too much to cover the area, he removed the cost of the extra sod from my bill. He added an irrigation system and even included the front and side yards so now I can actually grow things in places that were void of all color. I never realized he was going to cover so much area with the system! And its amazing. He also replaced the ugly white plastic lattice from the bottom of the deck and built a beautiful natural wood lattice covering. He even added lattice at the end of the deck and put a great door in so I could access the area for storage. Most importantly, Phil answered every annoying question I had, assured me he would take care of all the details to my satisfaction, and he did! That's why I called him when I had a leak in my basement. Now that is taken care of also through drainage outside and my basement floor did not have to be broken up at a fraction of the cost. I was most concerned about replacing my driveway since it had been a mess since first moving into my home in the mid-80's. His crew got rid of the old driveway and sidewalk and he had a company come and pour the new concrete. It looks amazing! I am thrilled I had an opportunity to meet this man and know when my next outdoor project comes up, I don't have to shop around any longer! Anyone would be more than happy with the end result of the project if Phil is involved! PLEASE CALL HIM! IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME AND YOU WILL BE THRILLED WITH THE OUTCOME. HE STANDS BEHIND EVERYTHING HE DOES!!!

I bought the landscape design for $90. The owner came to my home, on time, spent about 20 minutes walking around my front yard with me, told me he would do a really nice computer generated landscape design for my front yard and he would email it to me. What I got was the handwritten design he had sketched out while standing in my yard talking to me. Nothing more. Didn't return my phone calls. Very disappointed and a complete waste of $90.

We were facing 2 huge problems with our backyard. One of which was massive yard erosion caused by a neighbor who changed the grade of their lot above us. The erosion caused extensive damage that made our backyard virtually unusable - except for the kids who were willing to brave it!. The yard was a mess for about a year when we got news of a horrible diagnosis for our 10 year old son. He had acquired an insect-borne illness that virtually changed who he was. As he was going through treatment, we decided, in desparation, that we needed to prevent something like this from happening again - especially to our other 2 kids. While we had not yet fixed the erosion because of money, we knew we needed to fix the backyard to so that it became less hospitable to insects and animals that carry them. In order to do that, we needed to gut most of the overgrown vegetation and to take down trees to allow sunlight to dry out the area (and prevent an attractive, moist environment for critters). We interviewed several contractors, all of whom we learned about on Angie's List. All were nice, sympathetic, and helpful. However, Phil went above and beyond in his determination to help us. We were admittedly short of money, but were desparate to get things done. Phil made our worry disappear. Not only did he come in significantly below all of the other bids (by far), he was also extremely flexible in working with us to get things done right. During the first week of the project, it rained cats and dogs. Somehow he managed to work through it and to make more progress in a week of pouring rain than previous contractors doing work around our house made in a month! Through all phases of the project, he kept in close contact and was extremely responsive. He also frequently made suggestions that helped us save money at each step, all the while making us aware of the tradeoffs with price - so that we were confident that we weren't being penny-wise and pound foolish. His crew was extremely hard working, considerate, efficient, and friendly - and did a fantastic job. We have had some less than great experiences with contractors in the past, which is why we found it worth signing up for Angie's List to help with our backyard. While I know many of the contractors on Angie's List may be good (or better than most), I am confident that Phil is one of the very best. Our backyard is absolutely gorgeous and is exactly what we wanted. We could not be happier!

He did such a great job. He was very honest,attentive, caring, prompt, and timely.

The crew exceed my expectations from start to finish. An adjustment was made to how high wall was to be built to meet budget restraints and looks perfect. It is even staggered and tied into hill so there is no chance it will ever fail. My wife decided to add two sprinkler heads in the back and front and the crew jumped right on it. Overall my experience was an A+

Overall, Phil did the work we agreed upon. I have a great back yard, nice new driveway, it looks great and I love it. Phil started the job on time and it moved very quickly to completion. There were extra costs and frustrations. Phil underestimated the job by 3 (out of 13) pallets of grass and came back to me for more money half way through the job for that. Some plants I paid to relocate got moved to the wrong locations, a drain pipe under the new driveway was forgotten, sprinkler system had a few issues, and a downspout drain pipe he placed had a backwards slope towards my house and had to be dug up and reinstalled. Some of these issues I chose to simply fix myself after Phil finished the job because I grew tired of reminding him of what we talked about and Phil pushed back quite a bit when I requested things be fixed (plants moved, drain pipe sloped correctly, etc) Overall, my experience is a passing grade of C. Phil certainly got the big work done I wanted and the grass and driveway are spectacular. I was a bit disappointed in the details. Phil called me to discuss this review and I've reworded it a bit to try to as fair as possible. I appreciate that he did offer to come out and fix things I was not satisfied with, but I declined his offer.

From beginning to end - this was an excellent experience. I dealt directly with the owner (Phil Polka) for both the estimate and the completion of work.Installation and clean up was done in just 2 days . Would definitely use this company again.

The first appointment was scheduled for 2:30 over 5 days in advance and confirmed via email and phone. At 4:15, I had to call and get an update. We rescheduled for the next day because he was running late because of "Friday Atlanta traffic". He never showed up the next day for our rescheduled appointment. I had to initiate all communication as far as confirming appointments, checking on why he was late, and rescheduling. I cannot imagine how he is so highly rated....

This job was so unsuccessful that I cannot believe the rave reviews that predominate on Angie?s list are about this same man and his work!! I am incredulous to see how differently this contractor must apply himself with different customers. On my job, as my worries mounted, he would not stop, listen, or he had an answer for my every objection along the way. My fears have proven well founded. He does not show any sign of living up to his guarantee. The defects are established and undeniable. The planning, the work itself, and the ending reveal, in my opinion, not only heedless rush but lack of a quality work ethic. The consultations I have solicited so far, in addition to questioning the authenticity of the ?Jamur? have all indicated that the only real remedy at this point is to take the entire lawn out, re-grade, and re-sod. This has been the opinion of three other turf specialist/contractors. When most professionals would have sat out the week of daily very heavy rain we had had during my project (rain apparently makes it impossible to create an even grade in clay), he proceeded with the job nevertheless. I have since learned that was the first and most fundamental problem. Then there was no prior soil preparation once the existing lawn was scraped away. The new sod went right down onto the bulldozed clay with some additional red clay top dressing (no loam and certainly not the recommended 4-6 inches depth). The result of his approach seems to have created a compacted hard pan of clay once it dried and the sun's heat penetrated. Grass roots do not penetrate easily into this substrate. He came up short of sod when he laid it. The 2 extra pallets that arrived the next day were of such a different quality from the first batch, that it must have come from a different place altogether (the next client?s job?) and that small section, which was indeed underlaid with proper topsoil, has continued to perform very differently ? lush, green, and weed free ? in comparison to the majority of the sod which is sparse, stunted, and filled with weeds. The latter area is still alive but is not uniformly thriving. See pictures below. He dug out a sink hole but, over my objections, refilled it with old turf scraped up from the old lawn bed, despite the amount of grass attached to it that would only decompose as all organic matter does. It has done so already; and now we have a new depression area in the lawn that will become profoundly sunken within the year. With one exception, my attempts to contact him after he was paid have yielded no response. He did supply a diagram of the irrigation system when I emailed that request, but he has not responded to my other emails about the uneven grading and drainage problems that he CREATED (not solved) and that have contributed to the failure of the Zoysia. He has failed to respond to my request for the supplier of that first batch of ?Jamur? (covering about 6000 sqft of the yard) or it?s certificate so that we can determine if it is the proprietary cultivar we ordered. It doesn?t look like a pure cultivar and it even arrived in poor condition. He left fences unmended, although fence repair was in the contract, because he said he could not source the 3-hole posts and the contract only said, ?repair? anyway, not ?replace?. In fact, the 3-hole posts were already gone when the contract was made and they are easily obtained by special order. He shoved a truckload of excess dirt from his grading efforts into a place just beyond the back fence and left it there as an ugly mound. He claimed to have cut a simple drainage ditch from the lawn to the creek but the grade dips upward, there is no tubing, and so the area does not ever completely drain, leaving the grass in standing water quite often ? an ugly breeding ground for mosquitoes. See pictures below. All contractors who have had a look at this have asked if Phil rolled the sod. Yes, he did; and he rolled it with a heavy machine as well as the water drum, but it was so poorly laid in the first place without a topsoil substrate, that the squares separated and there is no soil to fill in between the edges, so to this very day, one can discern the pattern of the original sod squares see pictures). Update 8/23/12: After this project was pushed through in ?de-grading? downpours (literally), the completed project would not drain properly, excess mud-soil was simply piled up in an unsightly mess just beyond my fence, the sod turned out not to be the Jamur (cultivar) that I paid for and was also full of weeds, the fence was left unrepaired, the slight ditch that was created to drain the water at one end of the area did not maintain a downward grade and was silted up within weeks, and grass at one end finally drowned in standing water. In digging in the garden area later I discovered the sprinkler pipes were only 6 inches below the surface, at least at that point, making planting larger plants next to impossible. In addition, the working relationship during the project was increasingly tense and unpleasant as I voiced my concerns, now proven to be legitimate; and more importantly, when I tried to contact Phil to inform him of the drainage problems (3/3/12 while project was still in progress, and 3/16/12 when drainage problems were becoming acute ), the shallow pipe bed (4/16) and the problems with the sod (6/1/12), Phil was virtually unresponsive until Angie?s List began their mediation process. This does not speak well for the ?guarantee?. Phil then offered a plan for resolution of the problems. I responded that for reasons both technical and personal, I would prefer to have the rework done by another party at his expense. Phil countered with a lesser offer because I had ?refused? his. To label a set of reasoned objections as a ?refusal? is misleading, implying obstinacy, and, as he states, that I am impossible to please. This ?blaming the victim? is consistent with my interactions with Phil. I have been pleased many times by careful and high quality work by others, and no one ? not even Phil ? can argue that this project met a reasonable standard for satisfaction, especially given the money involved. My particular objections to his first offer were and remain: A. Phil?s plan to spread the excess ?mound of dirt? outside the fence? over the existing sod to form a re-grade is unworkable right from the start because there is not enough soil to spread over 6000 sqft even thinly, let alone deeply enough to form an adequate substrate for regrade. Moreover his opinion that this would be preferable to scraping off and regrading is simply disputed by other sod consultants. There are several more technical reasons given for this. B. In the matter of a professional disagreement over the best solution, especially given what has transpired so far, I must take the opinion of uninvolved third parties. C. Phil?s initial offer to ?install new drainage pipe..to the river? did not acknowledge the need to retrench and properly grade the ditch in which the pipe would lay or to provide a catch basin, although he claims to have offered a ?drain basin? in his counter-counter (the latter is not in the scan forwarded to me). Again, the opinion of a specific drainage contractor is that more than one drain culvert and more than one catch basis would be needed IF the area were NOT to be simply scraped off and re-graded from the clay bed. D. Phil seems to feel that asking him to pay for any solution other than his own efforts is somehow a disreputable or extortionistic request; it is not. I have suggested an escrow account to be used only for repairing this area and Phil could have offered to have his own consultants estimate the cost, or indeed the problems themselves ? like in a car wreck. It is Phil who has outright refused this neutral solution. His final counter offer to simply to leave a pile of ?top quality? sod at my front door (so to speak) is cynical at best, and disrespectful of the mediation process. The bottom line is: A bad job is a bad job ? no matter how many good jobs one can claim credit for

We couldn't be more pleased with the end result of our backyard renovation. Phil and his crew were great throughout the process. The project began with Phil coming out on a Saturday afternoon to take a look at our property. He came up with many great ideas that we would have never thought of( like turning part of the existing water feature into a pondless system). We had an estimate in hand by the by the next evening and after much tweaking we signed a contract within the next week or so. The demolition started a few weeks later and to say that Phil and his crew worked hard would be an understatement. The backyard was unrecognizable after day 1. The pavers arrived at our house a few days later and after inspecting them my wife and I weren't happy with the color. Phil was very understanding and instructed me to go out to his paver vendor and his guy would be waiting on me. Once I saw the pavers in person, we ended up sticking with what we had, but added another color into the mix. So glad we did this because we couldn't be happier with the color combo. I would HIGHLY suggest anyone putting in pavers to go to the vendor and see things first hand. The products look much different in person than in the pictures or on a pallet in your driveway. The entire project took only a shade over a week from start to finish. As with any large project there were a few bumps in the road. The gentleman that Phil had paint the house was not careful and as a result 4 of the windows were painted shut. Phil corrected the issue with the first floor windows after a few weeks of delay. The upstairs windows remain stuck. In Phil's defense I didn't mention the upstairs windows were also stuck when i Initially brought the issue to his attention, but the fact remains they are still stuck. The great thing about Phil's company is that they only work on one project at a time and they are able to knock projects out quickly because of this. The bad thing about is once they leave your property it is tough to get them back if anything comes up thats needs to be addressed. The last thing i will add is it would have been nice to receive something in writing at the end project that details the watering schedule for the sod and any maintenance items to keep in mind for the patio & water feature. This would eliminate a lot of the questions i had for Phil after the project. As you can see these are minor issues that at the time annoyed me, but in the grand scheme of things they were not a big deal. We had such a good experience with Sod Sales Direct that we have already had them out to do Phase 2 of our renovation (review to follow).

When the owner, Phil, came to provide an estimate, he offered great suggestions, but also respected my own ideas. He was also was able to help me identify those things that were needed most immediately and those that could be done over time. He even took the time to get to know Foxxie, the dog whom I had just rescued from the shelter. Great work, reliable. I would definitely use them again and recommend them to others.

Job went well from start to finish. Phil Polak, the owner, showed up as promised and provided quote the same day. Sod Sales Direct has but a single crew, working each job from start to finish. Phil gave me an estimated start date and kept me up to date on meeting that datre as it drew near. Work actually started one day after his original estimate due to a couple days of rain that slowed the completion of their previous job. The men were courteous and hard working. My yard was a disaster. Had several pine trees removed over the years so yard was pitted in places, drained poorly and had remnant stumps. They removed stumps, graded to a smooth surface with good drainage, installed a sprinkler system, laid sod (12msf) and finished up with a professional installation of stone work. Sod Sales Direct underpromised and over delivered. Recommend them for anyone looking for great outcome at a reasonable price.

He was extremely personable and professional from the start. From the beginning, he described the process and how long it would take and stuck to his word. The project was extremely big but they knocked it over the course of a couple of weeks. I'm extremely pleased with the final outcome. I get compliments all the time on my backyard. I just I wish I had before and after pictures so everyone can see the transformations. He greatly exceeded my expectations and I would definitely recommend him to friends and family.

The phone # went to voicemail. The voicemail message didn't even mention the company. It just said something like "this is phil, leave a message". I did and never got a return call.

He was alright. I wouldn't give him top notch ratings.

Phil and team did a wonderful job. From start to finish they were true pros. Phil came out twice during the estimate period to make sure we fully understand what he recommended. We didn't think it possible, but they extracted out a truck load full of roots that had crept up in the yard and prevented grass from growing. Half way through the retaining wall construction, we determined it was installed about a foot from where we wanted. This could have easily been a miscommunication on our part. Expecting a problem when we informed Phil of the discrepancy, he immediately took ownership of the situation. He had his crew spend 1/2 a day undoing the work they had already done to install it where we wanted, at no additional cost to us. During the job we were so impressed with their work, we had them bid on and we added a beautiful patio. As you can tell by the pictures, the results speak for themselves. Not only do they do great work, but Phil and team are honest and their prices are very reasonable. I highly recommend them.

Did not receive any information/call.

I am extremely satisfied with his work and no one can compare with him. He has correct the sod that someone else has done in the past incorrectly. He has done fencing for me. The fence that he did is absolutely beautiful. He researched and found a black wire mesh to put up with the fence so my dog could not get out. He has also done landscaping, taking down a tree, trimmed bushes, redone gardens to prepare for planting, repaired diseased trees and anything you can think of. He has even done research for me as well. I would use him over and over again.

Their service was fine. I thought the owner was very personal and knowledgeable. He was very quick in his turn around times. The whole experience was pretty good. His prices were very reasonable.

Pls see the above comment. They did a great job.

Great work done. Phil's company is a small private company and I enjoyed being able to speak to boss and get the results and service that puts the customer first. Phil was very professional and was able to work with my timeframe and budget. Afterwards, he called me the following week to follow-up. I will definitely call him for future work and recommend his company for anyone with landscaping projects.

I initially asked Phil to give me an estimate on a number of things, including retaining walls and a fountain. When I decided I wanted to do a little less because of my budget, Phil adjusted his proposal and still gave me what I felt like were reasonable prices. I had one comparative estimate. Basically, I just asked Phil to cut a couple of trees and install sod in my large front yard. He had started the work when I thought about it some more and asked him to get 2 more trees near my garage cut down. That was a difficult task, as those 2 trees were very tall. He used climbers, and the trees were cut down with no damage to my garage. Phil's crew did a beautiful job laying the sod. Phil suggested I allow him to bring in some mulch for the borders and some other accent areas. He gave me a reasonable price. Phil's crew leveled my front yard and used the fertilizer combinations I asked them to use, as recommended by the County Extension Office from soil samples I had submitted. The sod was laid with very nice borders, and in harmony with the shape of my yard. The crew even moved and adjusted some of the sprinklers (the irrigation system was already in existence), so that we would have maximum coverage and less wasted water. The result was that my front yard has gone from mediocre to looking like a showplace! Phil was accessible by phone when I had questions, and he was visible frequently at the work site. I highly recommend his company. I plan to use him again in the future.

It was an average to good experience, but not excellent. The people who did the stone wall did an outstanding job, and even the sidewalk; there were not issues at all. There were issues with the sod because it died a month later and they didn’t do anything about it. It is kind of a dead spot in the backyard; about 25 to 30 percent of it is dead.

Nice man, prompt and courteous. Worked with us on a deadline that we needed to meet for a home tour and our inspector's permits. Began work almost immediately after he provided us with a quote. Reasonably priced. Currently helping us to replace one tree that didn't make it at no cost. Overall a good experience and will use the company again.