Surroundings By Natureworks+

Was only contacted on Angie's list in deal response section. Not via email or phone. I don't check my Angie's List account daily. That isn't fault of the provider, but led me to believe they hadn't contacted me, when they had.

Eric showed up exactly when he said he would. Looked over the scope of the project I wanted done. Drew sketch of project and provided estimate and cost details so I could make a decision from there.

They were fine. There was a little bit of a delay in coming out but we got that settled and they gave me a wonderful plan and that's as far as we've gone.

Was not able to finalize a date/time for the SP to perform the consultant services. The SP stopped replying to email communication.

It did not work out at all. I did not wind up using them. He went out in his truck and he came back with this little rough sketch for me. That was his presentation. I tried a different service and that man went away and he came back with a drawing. He did some research into the kind of plants I wanted and looked them all up. It was like night and day. He gave me a rough sketch that he sat in his pick up truck and did. In comparison to what the other company came up with, it was a joke. I did not get my monies worth.

Randy is always polite; we had used the firm 9 years prior to build a paver patio over an existing concrete slab patio and extend the pavers out beyond the original. That area had sunk down over the years to a dangerous level. Also, 9 years prior, they used pavers for the walkways to the front door and to the patio, and they landscaped around the house. They also built on a sun room, which is still our favorite room. We decided to hire them to repair the now-damaged patio (and the fountain that no longer worked), and to remove deck boards and replace them and some warped spindles (that they had installed 9 years prior), assuming they would do the same quality work and that they would know what needed to be done on the patio, as they had constructed it. The fountain repair worked, and the new pump still works. Good! The patio repair was somewhat difficult, as the young man who did the work left gaps - and one cornerstone undone totally. He did not reattach the bottom of the downspout that he had removed. At our request, he came back to fix those problems but left without letting us know he had been here. The downspout remained off. Some gaps still existed. I went to the store and bought some filler and put it in myself. Now the patio is sinking again. Photos attached. Then, for the deck, they hired Engledow (?) which was a surprise. The deck boards are good, we hope, but quite close together. The spindles they replaced on the railing don't fit well and in at least one case is shoddily done, held up with a broken shim. Then, when I began to work in the garden just off the deck, I discovered they had tossed debris under the walkway. I was (negatively) surprised. I am sorry to be so disappointed with Surroundings by Natureworks, especially after our good experience in 2004.

It was fine. They have design knowledge and horticultural expertise. The price was reasonable. I didn’t do comparison shopping personally but I was told that they were probably cheaper than some other contractors on the same area but I cannot verify that. The quality of the work was very good.

Two technicians came out for the service. One of the guys was very good at what he was doing. There was an additional fee for their service. They had done repairs here and there throughout the home. Scheduling was fairly easy.

We've used them a couple of times. It was satisfactory and fine.

Well, first off, Randy is extremely knowledgeable. He knows his craft as one who calls himself a professional should. Upon contacting him he was very open to our ideas and together we created a landscape project which fit our budget and met our vision. Unfortunately Randy doesn't actually do the work, he is more of an overseer. The individuals who came out and performed the work were far from the caliber we had expected Randy to utilize. To improve our drainage, they decided to go with pop-up drains, which let the water out into the beds further away from out house, while burying the plastic tiles. This wasn't what we had planned for, but I trusted Randy's judgment. In case you are unsure what a pop-up drain does, it lies flush with the ground and "pop's up" when it rains due to the pressure of the water coming through the pipes to let out the rain. The workers who installed them apparently were clueless to this "little" necessity, and covered the pop-ups with dirt and mulch--utterly inhibiting their ability to function. Sure, a simple fix remedied the situation, but this should have been done correctly the first time. Secondly with the drains, they failed to place pebble stone around the pop-ups, so now whenever it rains the water completely erodes the surface. This will be a project I'm now forced to fix myself, which once again, should have been done correctly to begin with. Randy chose the plants, and, as of now, they all seem to be thriving. They come with a one-year warranty, but it seems they will do just fine. Randy gives you a complete guide on how to care for them and was very thorough in answering our questions about them. For the stone border Randy chose a large block, as I was vehement about not wanting my border to fall out of alignment. To match the undulations of my property, he recommended we terrace the border, so that certain areas are higher than others. This looks nice, and I think it was a good idea, however they failed to take into account the pop-ups, so the rainwater was pushing dirt and mulch out of the beds and into the yard. Which is beyond annoying, as this was the pragmatic reason for installing the stone border. After repeated conversations with Randy and his assurances they would fix it, in the end I had to fix the issue myself the next spring. Further the stone border is "bowing" in a few areas, as the yard has pushed them out of alignment. Once again, this is something I can fix, but shouldn't this also have been planned for when they designed and laid the stone? All and all, its tough to judge someone on just one story, but from my experience, if you need advice on outdoor landscaping, Randy is a great resource, assuming he is merely consulting.

Randy Sorrell and his co-worker designer were here exactly on time and spent at least an hour with me asking questions and doing a wonderful layout of ideas for our back yard. We will be using them in stages as our budget allows. Randy did break it down price wise, which was very much appreciated. The high rating is for the Deal, the future charges for all the work is expensive, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Looking forward to going forward with the Design Surroundings By Natureworks Company!

They listened to what I wanted and delivered a wonderful option. I do not have the experience or creativity to have come up with such a great plan.

very professional and thorough, great ideas.

It was an Angie's List Big Deal that I purchased. There were no extra charges. It was fine. He got all his tools that he needed, did the job, and then he was on his way.

The work was done over a period of five days. No complaints at all about the workmanship and the time it took to get it done..

It was all positive. I had a good experience. We played phone peg a little bit but once I had time for them to come out they were very prompt and ended up doing a landscaping job for us. They gave the estimates in steps like we didn't have to do it at once; we could choose what we could afford at that time.

Installed an outdoor light fixtures and fixed a leaking toilet.

Surroundings by NatureWorks tore off my old deck and installed a new one . In addition, they put on a screened porch and added a fire pit to the patio. Randy is super busy so his responses were occasionally slower than I wanted and the cost was pretty high but they did a fantastic job. They used very high quality materials and highly skilled workers. They added little touches that made the project look very high end and ensured that it fit in with the house. The crew was always professional, prompt and courteous. Overall, they were great and the resulting deck, porch and firepit look awesome. I plan on using them for a couple of more projects in the very near future.

They built it but failed to install any drainage. As a result water pooled behind the wall and it blew out after only one winter. Insurance failed to pay for the repairs saying the wall had been built improperly. We contacted the company and they eventually took ownership of the problem. They rebuilt the wall but asked us to pay the cost of materials. The repaired wall did not look as nice, and they left large mounds of earth and stone to block our walkway, but we were assured they had reinforced the repairs with steel and concrete. The repair looked unfinished, but we were more concerned with function over looks. A few weeks after the repairs were made we were contacted by the owner. He said he had just been told by the company that makes the interlocking brick system they used to build the wall that the bricks may not be rated for walls over three feet high. He said he was going to do some more research and get back with us. It has been several months and we have yet to hear back despite trying to contact him several times. It is this lack of communication and uncertainty over if the wall they build will remain safely standing for a meaningful period that compelled this poor review.

We had purchased a big deal for the service, and it turned out good. This was the first time that I used them. They were very professional, they listened and delivered a quality product. I called them out more for ideas. I would use them again in the future.

The work was performed over a three day period. Because of limited access to the back garden no mechanical equipment could be used to transport the pebbles, boulders, etc. from the truck to the back garden. It was a labor intensive project with only the help of wheelbarrows. Prior to starting the team constructed a small ramp to improve wheelbarrow access. The crew performed diligently and carefully without interferying with the irrigation system or other existing plants. I was impressed with the crew's workmanship and positive attitude given the back breaking nature of the work unloading, moving and placing large boulders and pebbles in the back garden. At the completion of the project I was provided with fact sheets for each of the new plants added to the landscape. This was very much appreciated. I would highly recommend this company to others.

I was greeted by Randy who came complete with a very extensive portfolio of work that he had already done for other clients. We chatted about what I had thought about doing and we worked together on some ideas that I had as well as ideas he had. Randy gave me a beautiful sketch which was exactly what I had pictures the back yard would look like. Very professional.

The electrical outlet was completed with no problems. The ceiling repair proved to be a problem Even after spending a lot more time than he had allocated, it still was uneven and quite visible. He was not happy with the repair and tried hard to get it to look right. I think it just proved tougher than he thought it would be.

We had Randy Sorrell do some outdoor work for us in the past and called him again to help us create a new patio outside our kitchen. Randy came to our home, and after discussing with us our vision and desires, walked the area, and then quickly drew up some sketches as possible ideas. After taking some measurements, we also discussed a couple of other issues associated with the proposed patio area, namely a low spot in the back yard and a remedy for a leaking basement window well (Randy proposed digging a trench and installing a French Drain system for the window well). After Randy made detailed drawings with prices, we chose the sections we wanted to do at this time and made a modest down payment. Randy had the utility surveyor come out and check for underground utilities in the immediate area and mark them with landscape /highway paints. A day later, Randy's supervisor Eric came out and marked the area to be excavated and then came out the next day with the crew (primarily Mark, but at different times other fellows would join him) who would be removing the sod, digging the trench for the drain and filling in a low spot in a nearby area. After verifying with the crew and us as to what was needed, Eric left to visit other projects and the crew began their work. They removed the sod, carefully dealt with underground wires, removed the thick concrete step outside our back door, dug the French drain trench, installed the drain plumbing, and filled in a low spot on the lawn. The next day they brought the crushed stone for the patio and the large natural slab of limestone to replace the concrete slab that was removed (Mark picked out the specific slab of stone specifically for the step outside our back door). The slab was installed, the crushed stone was laid and compacted, a metal barrier was placed around the patio, and additional topsoil and grass seed was put down to finish the project. A few days later, we experienced some settling where the French drain was. Randy sent Eric and Mark out to look at the issue and made plans to come out to rectify the problem. They came out a couple of days later with additional coarse crushed stone, dug up the collapsed area, filled in with the crushed stone, compacted it and replaced the fine crushed stone as the finished layer. We have not seen any further sinking in the area and we've had two successful gatherings on the patio since the repair work was completed. Randy came out to inspect the final job. We were quite pleased, not only with the initial design with Randy, but the affable nature of Eric, the skill, know-how and artistic eye of the crew, particularly Mark, and the vigorous nature in which they pursued their tasks. Their prompt follow-up on the collapsing area was also greatly appreciated since we had made plans to use the patio the following weekend.

I gifted this Deal to my next door neighbor. Great listener. Great ideas. Pulled it all together right on the spot.