Gallagher Design Associates

Chris was very nice, professional and spent an enormous amount of time with me discussing the possible job we wanted done. He came out on a weekend day, which I really appreciated, to look at our walkway area. Chris discussed various options and ideas for me to think about for the walkway, and he gave me a brochure which showed the different pavers and sample design patterns. Later that week Chris emailed me his proposal, and he was very flexible and was willing to work within our budget. I would highly recommend Chris for anyone looking for masonry work to be done.

The work began in June - later than we had hoped, but Chris was in touch with us in the preceding months about the timeline. Once they began, Chris, Pat, and the rest of the crew made rapid progress. The entire crew was very responsive, even working around our childrens' naptimes when it came time for noisy work. Both Chris and Pat had some excellent ideas along the way that vastly improved the finished look. Everyone was very friendly and professional and didn't seem to mind the endless questions and comments from our 3-year-old during the process. We are quite happy with the way everything looks. The landscaping design is fantastic, and makes me so glad we hired a professional - we just don't know the ins and outs of the various plants and how they do in different environments. The lawn is still growing in, but we are confident it will be a big improvement. One last note: Chris has been very responsive in terms of follow-up, checking in frequently to make sure the plants and lawn are continuing to thrive. We appreciate this attention, as this is our first house and we don't want to mess things up.

Our backyard was a 1/4 acre wasteland. After trying to clear it ourselves, we turned to professional help. Unfortunately, we made this decision at the height of landscaping season. After many landscapers saw the yard but never returned our calls, we signed up for Angie's list and called Chris because of his stellar recommendations. Chris was very busy when we contacted him, however, unlike other companies, he kept in touch with us and gave us a realistic timeline of his availability. He developed a plan for a backyard which included all of our requests and a few improvements that we really liked. His crew was very friendly, professional, and diligent. They worked on weekends, in difficult weather, and were always willing to work around our schedule. They saw tasks on the property that needed to be done but they were not contracted to do and did them anyways. They created a fantastic backyard, that we utilize all the time now. During the process, Chris suggested some revisions to the original plan and adjusted the work in order to fit the budget. The final bill was what he quoted and his suggestions made the project 10 times better than we envisioned. Many months after the work was completed, Chris continues to check in on the yard and has replaced dying shrubs free of charge. We are thrilled with the overall work and would highly recommend him to anyone.

We contacted Chris Gallagher in early October 2011 because of all his excellent ratings.. Sorry to say, we are now the ?outliers? from all the other ratings because we did not have a positive experience. In the end, we chose not to go ahead with Chris; we would have if he had followed through with his early promises. Here's what happened. When Chris first came out in early October, he said he could not develop a landscaping plan until a considerable amount of dead trees and overgrown greenery was removed by an arborist. He said that if we could get this done in a timely way, there was still a chance that the design and planting could get done before the winter began. We hustled, hired Barrett Trees, from Angie's list, and had an outstanding experience. They did the work in early November (well over $3000 of tree and debris removal and trimming) and we were in touch with Chris a couple of times to let him know this work was happening and when. Our hope was that he would see it and start the design --- maybe even the work, before winter set in. We especially wanted him to see the property in a clear state before there would be snow cover. Chris did come out and discuss a plan with us in early December when he advised that there was no way the work could be done until the spring. We made it clear that we wanted to have the work done first thing in the spring and he was pretty clear that this would be possible. Meanwhile, he would use the "downtime" to come up with a design plan. We received Chris' plan not until April And when we finally met he had some good reasons for this delay. (There had been a lot of back and forth reminder emails and calls to move things along. We could already see that things were falling behind our original hope of an early April work start). This was a big project and we liked Chris' design. However, it came in at over $18,000 dollars. (The proposal was in the form of an email supported by a drawing). Since this was over the budget we had in mind (but about which we had not been explicit with Chris, mostly waiting to get a ball park idea of what we were dealing with), we asked Chris how we could modify it downwards. Chris gave a bit of specific price changes by eliminating a couple of areas. However, for the bulk of the plan (in the backyard), he mostly just advised us that he'd "work with us to make it happen." We would have liked a dollar figure. We waited a bit for a revised dollar figure to be forthcoming but when it wasn't, we just told him to go ahead, figuring we would indeed "work with him" to make sure the budget stayed below the original. At this point, we just really wanted to get going as were now into early May. In the end, after a few more back and forths, Chris has returned with a start date in August. We got so frustrated, were so annoyed that an early spring job had morphed into an August job, and that we still didn?t even have a firm estimate, we simply decided to look elsewhere for design and implementation help. By now, all the fall work we had done by Barrett, removing all growth, was long since a thing of the past and we knew we had to pay someone to clean out the area --- an expense we had expected to incur only once. We must say that fairly early on we had the impression that Chris just wasn?t ?with us? on this project. Delays and unresponsiveness were too excessive to indicate he was anxious for the work. We?ve now hired an area nursery and its staff landscape designer. We?re excited by their design --- very different from Chris? --- and have confidence that the work will be done to our satisfaction and on the schedule they?ve projected.

Chris and his team are a great group. They are very nice, friendly, and professional. Chris came up with a plan and we worked together on the different plants and locations. He was very flexible with our schedules and even talked with us in the evenings and weekends. During the job, some plants were planted that were not quite the right proportion and Chris and his team were very willing to replant and make changes. His team even took care of some drooping branches and trees on our property, above and beyond what we contracted. Chris offered suggestions on plant care and deer repellants that were very helpful. Months after the original work was done and without any prompting from me, Chris came by to see how the plants were doing and saw that a few of them didn't make it through the Winter and Spring. He called me up, let me know he stopped by, and said that he'll have his team come by to replace the plants that didn't make it; very good service and really conscientious. We have received many compliments from the neighbors on how nice our landscaping looks.

In 2010 the leaves got the better of me and I finally called to get help. Selected Gallagher because pricing was competitve and the degree in landscaping fit with my goal of creating a plan for the property. Excellent thorough job on the fall clean up. Landscping plan which took quite a while to receive the next spring did not reflect the desires I had for the property and changes requested were not part of the traditional approach of Mr. Gallagher's to residential landscaping, so no further services were utilized.

It went very well. Chris ended up being pulled between a couple jobs which did make our job take a bit longer than we hoped initially, (as winter was fast approaching) but in the end he did a great job for us and we were very pleased. One issue to note, as We llive on a pond and had to manage with conservation committe and complicated design and approval issues, Chris was incrediably flexible, and he drew up detailed designed freehand with a couple revisions for us, to help us understand what he proposed. We used this to help explain our project to the conservation committee. With our detailed written summary in addition to the designs, the town was easy to work with (other than not allowing us to put in the new lawn which was dissapointing). The front walkway looked fantastic, and all the shrubs and beds looked great. Chris made a ton of changes along the way and ended up adding a back yard walkway to the project, and by reusing old pavers and a couple shrubs from other areas , and he did it reasonably. Although no one ends up ever thinking they didn't spend a lot of money when doing home improvements, it was a good value and in the end he did right by us. I will also add that Chris has to be one of the nicest guys I have had to work with and interface with, and he was great. It was challenging at times understanding the changes mid-process at times, but he had our best intentions in mind and did a great job in the end. VIP - we lost a couple shrubs due to a tough winter, and he replaced them without question, and even exptended his one year warranty and said he would replace one more shrub in the spring 2012 over a year later. A great guy - and Pat and the other guy in his small crew was very nice to work with also.

Chris Gallegher responded immediately to my request for service but was realistic about how long it would take to get to our job as we called late in the spring and he was booked through most of the summer. We were not in a rush, so this was fine. He came to our home to measure and listen to our wants and needs. We have a small plot and were concerned that most landscapers would not want to do it or overcharge because it was a smaller job. However, Chris was very pleasant and professional and stated that he liked smaller jobs. Chris drew up a design which we liked and gave us an estimate for the work which was reasonable. We really wanted a tree and had been told by several people that we couldn't have one due to the positioning of plumbing pipes in the yard, but Chris managed to squeeze one in somewhere else and we were very pleased with that. He listened to my change of flowers and incorporated my favorite flowers and colors into the design. Once that was settled it was a question of when he could install. The weather this summer was really crazy and he ended up being behind, but he would call and let us know that the timetable was being pushed back and we felt comfortable with that. Chris and his team eventually were able to install in October. His employee was pleasant and polite, they left their equipment in neat piles and cleaned up everyday. Chris rigged up a watering system for the sod as we were out of town and also work full time and it worked out well. Chris came by and checked on the lawn occasionally without us asking. Overall, I felt like I was working with a neighbor who cared about the final project. Our cost went slightly over estimate because he asked if he could take care of an ugly strip next to our driveway and clean it up and mulch it and we were fine with that. We also added the temporary watering system (not a huge expense). All in all, I felt we got a good value for the money and we felt treated well. The best part? We went from "those neighbors with the trashed front yard, to Oh WOW!" We have an awesome front yard!

The owner, Chris, was highly professional and responsive (sometimes overly so) but came on time and got the job done at a fair price. We were very happy overall and plan to ask him to do more work in the yard this fall.

Chris designed and planted new landscaping for us. Although we had used "big" landscape companies in the past, Chris actually came up with designs that were better looking, more practical and probably less expensive. He was responsive and made sure to keep in touch with us, even when the start of his work was delayed due to weather and other clients. His staff was very competent and friendly.

He was a nice guy. He was late in getting us an estimate because he was so busy. We followed up with him and he asked if our other quotes were less than a certain amount. When I said yes he basically said he couldn't compete with it. He was honest and straight forward about where his numbers were coming from and where he couldn't compete. He came out, look around and took notes to put together an estimate. There as a delay on getting the hard estimate, so we followed up and he apologized and then explained that if the other estimates were less than $10,000 then he couldn't compete. He was thorough in how he was looking at things. We probably won't use him in the future jut because we lined up someone else we really like and we don't need 2 landscapers.

Chris Gallagher of Gallagher Design Associates initially provided a detailed plan for the complete renovation of our front yard including creation of raised beds for foundation plantings and landscape plantings along the entire frontage as well as around two large maple trees. Cobblestones were used to edge the driveway in a attempt to stem the flow of runoff rain water, much topsoil was added to repair the lawn and create the raised planting beds. Roughly 60 plants were placed and the raised beds covered with mulch. The transition was truly amazing. From start to finish, Chris worked with us on design changes and as well as multiple changes related to specific plants and their placement. Chris replaced a large tree (after it was planted!) that did not meet our standards. He even called us from the nursery and described the replacement to us prior to loading it on the truck. (We actually drove to the nursery and met Chris and picked out the replacement tree ourselves!). Each member of Chris' crew is personable, knowledgable, polite, and performed well. They were a pleasure to work with. Througout the job, Chris exhibed a sincere concern for the quality of the work and our happiness with the final project. He consulted with us on a daily basis regarding the progress and next steps. Two to 3 weeks after completion of the job, Chris called to follow up on how we liked our new yard, if we had encountered any problems, etc. We would certainly consider Gallagher Design Associates for any future landscaping work.

I contacted Gallagher Design regarding the installation of a new lawn and some minimal excavation. Chris had some issues getting out to meet with me and when he did arrive it became clear that this wasn't the kind of work they were seeking. From his comments it seemed clear they preferred to do hardscaping and a lawn installation/rennovation wasn't work they were interested in. Overall a friendly guy, had some advice and general recommendations that were helpful. If I needed hardscaping I would give him a shot.

I contacted Chris in late February about the job. We met and discussed the work, and Chris followed-up two weeks later with a detailed design and estimate. He was very open to suggestions and willing to answer questions. When I decided to go ahead with the project, Chris told me that I was scheduled as the second large job of the season and he anticipated doing the work in late May to early June. Unfortunately, the weather in May was less than optimal for outdoor work, and the job before mine took much longer than expected. However, Chris kept me posted as that job progressed so that I had an idea about his scheduling. Chris and his crew, Patrick and Russel, began working at my home the third week of June and completed on July 3. The work went very smoothly and according to plan. The men were very polite, hard working, and left the work site clean and organized at the end of each day. While work was underway, Chris would call at least one a day to update me on their progress, and more often if he had any questions or issues. His communication was excellent. When the large bushes in front of the house were removed, it was evident that the stone steps behind them needed repair. I contacted a mason, who ended up scheduling his one-day job at the same time the Chris and his crew were planting. I was concerned that the two sets of workers would get in each others way, but Chris felt there would be no problem and the two crews got along fine. I am delighted with the final result. The plants that Chris chose are healthy and growing well, and the landscape design really compliments my home. After everything was in, he spent time with me discussing care and maintenance of each plant. A final word about Chris' excellent service. I had to leave town for the July 4th weekend and was concerned about providing water for the new plants. Chris said he would take care of it...indeed he did! I arrived home on July 4th to find Chris watering the plants in my yard.

Chris met with me and provided initial consultation on a possible design for my backyard area which required the removal of a fence, movement of existing shrubs, old patio stones and the building of a new patio area and landscaping (pavers and stone walls). Chris was prompt, friendly and very professional. Unfortunately, our particular needs were not able to be fulfilled by him for the stated reason that he would not be able to do our job within any certain time-frame due to a "big job and continuation work from the previous season". He subsequently put us in touch with a colleague of his who owns his own landscape design and construction company who would be able to more readily address our needs. At all times Chris was friendly and professional, he returned phone calls and was genuinely concerned with our needs. The only issue we had was that it felt very abrupt that he would not be able to handle our job...Chris called to state that he would be providing us with a design that week and in the same conversation stated that he would not be able to design the job and that his friend would be better suited to handle the work (including the design). However, Chris was accommodating and did genuinely seem to have our customer interests in mind. We would probably not call again for services, but would not discourage anyone else from utilizing GALLAGHER DESIGN ASSOCIATES based on professionalism and (from the catalog of past jobs) the potential ability to deliver.

They are a company that stays in contact with you and let's you know their schedule if there are any changes. It's a small company (Pat Kinary did most of the work on our front yard this year). Pat did a beautiful job. The owner came up during the end of the day, helped Pat finish and inspected the work, asking if I was satisfied before they packed up to leave.

Gallagher Design Associates did great work and were very good. The employees were very efficient and did the job right.

One of our trees did not make it through last Winter. Chris came and replaced the tree (free of charge), fertilized all plants, installed numerous plants. This is the second time we've used Chris' services and will continue to do so. He is an excellent landscaper and is a pleasure to work with.

This is the second time we've worked with Gallagher and Assoc and we were very pleased. They were very timely and professional. They completed the work on time as planned and within the proposed budget. They have a high focus on the quality of their work, doing the right thing and maintaining a relationship with their customers.

Working with Chris and his team was a wonderful experience. Chris was the only one of the companies we got estimates from who presented us with a drawn plan. His design was beautiful, and his estimate was also the most reasonable. Chris asked for our feedback on the design and was able to incorporate our specific wishes as to design and plants. He was very hands-on for the work and came every day to oversee, to place plants, and to help with the work. He checked in by phone during the day, also. As the bed layout and planting progressed, he always consulted us at each stage to make sure we were happy with bed and plant layouts. He changed anything we were not happy with. All the plants he bought for us were healthy and beautiful. Pat and Mike, who worked with him, were professional, friendly, and considerate. Figuring out something that would work on the south-facing slope seemed like a big challenge, but Chris came up with a wonderful design. He also continued his slope design up into the woods to make a beautiful, continuous design. Now the woods have structure and give a lush look to the yard. Before the job was even finished, people walking by were commenting and saying how nice it looked. Thank you, Chris, for giving us an inviting, beautiful front yard.

Met with Chris back in the end of May/beginning of June, I believe. It took a few weeks to get an estimate from him, however when he did bring his design plan/estimate, we were extremely impressed by the amount of time/effort he put into planning our landscape. Other landscapers we had met either totally left out any ideas regarding types of plants that they would suggest or others suggested the most basic boring options. On top of that, I also found other landscapers would upcharge the cost of plants, which I was turned off by, but Chris was very competitive with his pricing and itemized everything he planted so we could see. Despite the fact that the start date was pushed back several times, Chris was extremely responsive and would call often on his own to keep in touch and let me know what was going on. Once he was here to do the work he stayed until it was finished, Pat and Mike who work with him were also very nice. The plants he picked looked wonderful and we were extremely pleased with the end result.

It took us a long time to get a date set up to start but once they arrived they stayed until they finished. Chris is very good about getting back to you on the phone and by email. He is also very nice. The problem was getting a time for him to do the work. The fact that the initial work was scheduled during all of the heavy rains did make it more difficult to set up. Still, we delayed over two weeks. There was one job that we just did ourselves because he delayed his start for over a week. For the large job we had to negotiate costs to keep it within my budget, so some plants were removed from the original plan. Chris was flexible with the moving of plants to different locations from originally planned and the mulching and edging looked good, although there was little weeding done below the mulch. Unfortunately, now that the summer has begun, the area with the mulch is chalk full of weeds, so the mulch did little to repel them from starting. Some of the hostas will need to be moved around next spring because they are growing a bit oddly due to different lights. Unfortunately, soon after the landscaping was completed, two older (10+ years) rhododendrons were damaged, one was completely dead and the other was covered in scale, so it had to be removed. I would assume that if the damage to the plants was done before they came to landscape that the landscapers would have noticed and suggested removal. Unfortunately, they must have just mulched around them without looking at plants. One rhododendron, about six feet wide and four feet high, was completely covered with white on its branches. I fear that it is now spreading to the nearest rhododendron and the holly near it is getting it all over its leaves as well. We now have to hire an arborist to take care of those plants so that we don't have to remove them as well.

I have used Chris Gallagher's services twice, once in Fall 2009 and again in Spring 2010. I was very pleased with both experiences. In the fall, we had Chris create a mulched bed with spruce trees in order to screen off our side and backyard views from the street. After interviewing several contractors from Angieslist, we selected Chris because he was both a designer (some landscapers offered no help or ideas, just said they would plant whatever we wanted) and a landscaper (Chris and his crew do the work, whereas other designers just sell you a design and then subcontract out the work). Chris worked closely with us to select plants and made sure to do the work when I would be home so I could help place the trees in the best way to block out the street views. We were very happy with the results and have had many compliments from neighbors. I then had Chris out again this spring to clean up all existing beds, mulch them, rework one bed in the front with new plantings, create a new bed in the back, and repair some damaged spots in the lawn. Again, Chris worked to accommodate my schedule so I could be there to oversee the plantings. Unfortunately this time, there was one day where I was not there and I arrived home not 100% happy with how some of the plants were placed (I hadn't specified placement in the design, so my fault). I called Chris and no questions asked, he sent one of his crew out the next time I was home to replant the hostas exactly where I wanted them. Additionally, this spring Chris had noticed that one of my spruce trees from last fall didn't look too good, so he replaced it at no cost to me. Chris's crew is professional and pleasant to work with, and I have noticed both times that they've done a bit of extra work (extra weeding, pruning) at no cost just to make the place look nice. I highly recommend them as a good combination of price, professionalism, and high quality work.

Everything went very well. The guys that did the work were very nice and professional. Chris G. was very flexible and nice. Good communication.

Gallagher Design is an Angie's list A rated vendors. So we included them to be one of 3 vendors we had quote out building patios, landscaping certain areas including mailbox area. Chris Gallagher is very knowledgeable and very friendly, easy to talk to. Provided very helpful insight. Had a great book of photos to show examples of patio work and rock wall work. Helpfully setup a meeting with a water/drainage contractor who provided add'l technical info and ideas for solving some of the water run off issues on the property. Discovered Gallagher Design had done some work down the street that turned out beautiful. Felt confident that as a tag team, they could handle absolutely everything we would ever want done. New to our property, and new to having this type of work done, we asked for the various projects to be quoted out separately. Gallagher sent an email in a reasonable time frame and referenced unofficial approximate cost for drainage guys work. Quote did not include all items discussed, but did include the major items we originally thought we'd want to do first. Ultimately we did not select to go with Gallagher. Mostly because we decided to defer the major water drainage project and landscaping associated with that for down the road and do minor projects this year. Sort of combination of cost and complexity kind of thing. Felt the work for this year was a better match to a smaller outfit, though with less expertise in the area of water drainage. Would definitely recommend Gallagher for consideration on projects.