Green Vista Landscaping

TJ came to our home several months ago to interview me and develop a landscaping plan for our property in Wolf Run.  The builders provided minimal landscaping, but we intend to live in this home "forever", and needed something nicer.  Also, our home is a walkout, with a steep grade leading down to a wooded area in the rear. 
I was really delighted with the plan TJ delivered.  He had taken care to measure and take pictures of the property, and especially paid attention to the plants and color palette I wanted.  I asked for a few minor changes to be made, which TJ readily accommodated after making some helpful suggestions.   We had to wait a while for installation because of the watering ban due to the drought this summer.
Plans called for new beds in the front of the house, with new trees, evergreens, bushes and perennials.  Beds were edged with limestone, and an unsightly utility box was obscured from view with ornamental grasses.  In the back, several retaining walls were created using boulders, and beautiful limestone steps lead down the grade.  Plantings around the back include hollies and hydrangea, and many perennials. Twelve additional trees were planted in the back, including redbuds, dogwoods, arborvitae, a hawthorne, a sycamore, and a japanese red maple.  I can't wait for the perennial flower beds to come in next year.  In addition, TJ plans called for the original plants to be transplanted and incorporated into the plan so that nothing went to waste.
The crew that came and spent a week doing the work were incredible.  Truly nice guys who did a great job, and were a pleasure to work with.  The lot was muddy when they first arrived, but they got to it - no complaining.  They answered all my questions about how to care for the plants through this winter and on a ongoing basis.  By the time they were done, everything was spotless - and gorgeous!
All this, and I was charged less than the original estimate because the builders landscapers had graded the yard since TJ developed the plans, and they needed fewer boulders and steps than planned.
This is a great company - I highly recommend them.  A great experience start to finish!!

I would hire them again.

They are great! We have used them several times. If you have any problems, they come out right away. The owner is very good at getting back to you if you have any questions about anything.

TJ and Green Vista are wonderful.  The "backyard" of our house had always been unusable.  Two problems: first, lots of trees and, therefore, little light; second, a very sloped yard.  We tried several approaches from various vendors over the years, all unsuccessful.  Then we contacted Green Vista, I believe in 2005.  TJ came out and, in a relatively short time, produced a plan that included a substantial lawn that had never existed before (and I was convinced could never exist) and the complete landscaping of the large mulch bed.  

Although skeptical, I went ahead with the project.  It worked perfectly.  A year later I had a backyard that was the envy of my neighbors.  The lawn took, the mulch bed landscaping looked great, and my family and I couldn't have been happier.  Indeed, from that time on I asked Green Vista to handle all of the landscape maintenance needs in the rear of our house.  I trust TJ and the company so much that I would have no problem simply telling them to do whatever they think ought to be done without even contacting me about the price.

We have had several other projects as well with Green Vista.  For example, five years ago we added a hot tub and deck to the back.  Green Vista came out and did all of the landscaping around the deck.  Looks great.  We also had them do some significant work to help improve the runoff of water on our steeply sloped back yard.  Once again, the results were great.

All of the maintenance of the landscaping is, of course, done by Green Vista.
I really can't say enough about Green Vista.  Just wonderful service.

They did a good job!

They usually come out about four times a year. He has done a good job. He is very prompt, professional, and provides good services. I am also going to hire him for the Fall clean up of the beddings and tree trimming.

They did a great job.  After an initial consultation and estimate, they came back out with the pond specialist before they started work.  It only took them one day to rip out our existing falls and build a new one, as well as re-stack rocks in our pond.  The new fall is bigger, nicer, lower maintenance, and gives us better sound.
Initially, we still had a leak in the waterfall after they rebuilt it.   It took a couple of weeks of visits from them, problem shooting, and patching attempts to fix the problem.  Finally on a recent trip they found the source of the problem, a liner attachment problem that the pond specialist had only seen a couple of times in the past decade.  It's easy to have a good experience when things go well, but I think you get a better idea of a company's service when there is a problem.  TJ at GreenVista was very responsive to our problems after the waterfall was rebuilt.  They sent people to our house several times to try to find the source of the problem, and TJ was always responsive to my emails.  They were about to rebuild the waterfall from scratch when they finally located and fixed the leak.  Since we had a leak both before and after the waterfall was rebuilt, I was really worried that they would rebuild the falls and we would still have a problem, although after the trouble shooting, no one knew where else the leak could be coming from.  I was very glad that they were willing to rebuild if necessary though, so that we didn't have to live with a pond that had to be filled daily.
We would be happy to use them again in the future.

They did an excellent job.  The crew was very professional and hardworking.

Just did

The first job was to prune back my shrubs and trees and lay down three cubic yards of mulch.  That job was initially quoted at $900 but we negotiated it to $800.  Then I brought him back last year to do that again; he gave me the same price.  This year he did the weeds in the front yard.  He wiped those suckers out.  I’ve been trying to get them killed for ten years.  The herbicide he could use was more industrial grade than the stuff I could buy.  That will run me $125.  He is going to cut back my trees and shrubs when he has a slow time; that has been quoted at $400.  Any time I have worked with him, he’s been just a super person.  He’s been easy to work with and his quotes have been very thorough.  If you don’t understand them, he will explain them.  He gives you details so if there are several segments you can see that if you knock off certain parts, you know how much you’ll save.  Other people that have done work for me have given me a bottom line and if I don’t want to do the whole thing, I can’t figure out what I can do.  He makes it easy to make budget-friendly decisions.  If you can’t get along with him, you can’t get along with anyone.  I know that he also does snow removal and some design work.

.The work went very well.  They started on time and fished the project in four days.  The crew - Craig Staggs and Mike Pearce - worked very hard, kept us informed throughout and were very considerate, taking special care to avoid damage to our grass and driveway.  They were very professional and did several additional things that were not part of the contract.  After completion, T. J. came out and spent some time with us to explain how to maintain the new plants and trees.

We are still using him. The price was fair.

A terrible experience.

in response to contractors comments---

when I hired this company, I expected them to act with honesty. they definitely do not have it. on last visit, when he came to our house, he him self accepted that he decreased the size of patio on first and second times. that is the reason he agreed to increase it third time. ok, third time. who wants to deal with a company who cant even put a patio that is level, cant create a patio where water does not pool on the patio even after three times.

and the brick he showed to me is totally different from what he brought both times. as I am new to this home repairs, he took advantage of my trust and lack of experience. which is very painful. every time I look out of my window, it is a reminder how bad a decision I made.

and to use different paver, I paid his $ 700 restocking fee. my mistake is not canceling the project at that time. but as I mentioned it is a learning experience for me. but second paver quality is equally poor. right now what I have is a very dirty, cheap looking patio which cant be improved as it is so low that surrounding ground is higher than the patio. as I mentioned, only reason I am placing this review is I do not want others to suffer same fate as mine. and as I said, pictures are worth thousand words.  all the pictures labeled final result are taken only two days back. so please use your caution before hiring any contractor. just do not hire because some one talks professional and has good reviews on angies list.

and just check my other reviews. only once before I gave a bad review as that company like this company did a terrible job. I waited two years before writing this review because I do not like to write negative reviews. but my wife kept on telling me that unless we write our experience other people will face similar plight. so again, use your caution. hope this review helps other members avoid my experience.

just to confirm that I am not placing old pictures, please take a look at the images with label final result. they will clearly show you what quality of finish they gave me. I never approved any of this companies work. I was unhappy from day one. But I honored my contract as I agreed to pay for what they did. and I paid even when they did a terrible job. I am not writing expecting any thing personally. main reason is to protect other potential constomers from this kind of experience.

Jeff responded to my telephone inquiry within 24 hours and was on-time for our walk of the property. He has a lot of great ideas and takes all the time necessary to answer questions. Work was done over two days and it looks great! The mulch is high quality. I really appreciate the final invoice listing exactly the name and quantity of materials used, which generally was less than estimated. This is my second time doing business with Green Vista and I will use them again!

They showed up on time. They did the work they said they were going to do. They were very friendly and helpful. They were very competitive in price.

After our initial meeting, TJ called within three days with drawings and a first estimate, we met and finalized everything, and they began work within a week. They were here on time, and finished when they said they would and cleaned up everything very nicely.
I would recommend them highly to anyone needing landscape design and installation.
Their work and product is guaranteed for 15 months and I fully expect that they will honor that guarantee.

I emailed 3 providers on Angies List.  Only one responded at it was TJ from GreenVista.  He came out an looked at it within a couple days, got me an estimate a day or so later, and then did the work within a couple more days.  Very puctual, very communicative, always returned calls.  Overall great experience.

Green Vista understood what I wanted and gave me an estimate detailing the work.  They did the work when the said they would and returned to finish the job as planned.

I was very satisfied with the work.

We enjoyed working with this company. They did an excellent job listening to what we wanted and incorporating it into the design for our landscaping.  They also took into account the time frame that this project needed to be completed in and spread the install out into 2 phases spreading out the cost for us as well.  The owner was very hands on through out the entire process showing up to our job site regularly to make sure the crew was staying on task and to address any concerns we may have had.  The result was so much better than we expected!

Jeff listened to what I wanted done and made suggestions on what was needed to produce the desired results.  They came to apply the weed killer then came back later to remove the weeds and poison ivy.  'They also applied Preen.  They did a good job and we are pleased.

The technician was well qualified and very polite, worked from 9AM to 4PM. He did an excellent job and left the area neat after the work.

THIS IS A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS!!!!  All in all his crew was on time and did more than what we even expected.  They trimmed everything cleaned up thoroughly and didn't ask me for a thing.  As you know we had a major heat wave and I was impressed that Jeff was concerned about his workers to not have them work past certain hours.  We had a major weed problem before they started in July so Jeff had sent in his crew to spray round up on 3 different occasions to get the weeds under control in the meantime.  This helped make the wait for the July start date much easier to bare.  He was swamped and still fit us in and honestly we couldn't be happier with the results.  at one point the crew started laying the rock and I kind of panicked when I saw the color....it was not what I was expecting.  I checked in with his crew and they explained to me it was a little dusty....they sprayed the dusty rocks down with water for me so I could see their true color and low and behold it was exactly what I wanted just needed a little dusting.  I know there were things his crew did for our job because "it just didn't look right." and Jeff did not charge me a dime more. We were extremely strict to our budget and he hit it spot on not a penny more.  I will definitely be back for more services from this company.  Oh another thing is when I called him to make payment he mentioned he'd be back out in a couple months to spray again to make sure we were looking good through the remainder of the season at no charge.  We are so very pleased with his work, work ethic, and his communication through the entire process.  His wife Sandy helps out as well as his son so it really is a family owned business and Jeff truly wants to make sure you are happy and satisfied in the end.  Just the kind of people we were looking for and super happy we joined Angie's list too!  

Wonderful!  TJ came out and met with us.  He listened well and provided us with an appropriate estimate that included exactly what we wanted.  We are very pleased.  We will definitely use them in the future.

They started late, and had to come back several times to fix things I was not pleased with.  For the money that was spent, I just expected better detail.

The owner met with me to see what I wanted done, take measurements. I asked him provide me with an estimate broken down by type of work to be done (i.e weeding & mulching; lighting, Plant removal, and replacemnt.)  His estimate was detailed, clear and broken down as requested.  After, some adjustments, I signed off on the contract.  We agreed that the work would start asap.  The owner and his crew came out and we went over the plan and in four days the work was completed to my satisfaction and within the original estimate.