The Narrow Lane Landscape Company

Description of Work: They have been doing my snow plowing.

Description of Work: install path lgihting and some shrub lighting--the quote that was given did not adequately reflect the angies coupon cost--

Description of Work: I gave them my address to come see the house but no one emailed me a budget for how much landscaping and snow removal would cost.

Description of Work: Ron Lane and crew form The Narrow Lane Company did a great job for me with an odd little garden patio in the heart of Back Bay. The process was laboriuos in terms of planning and execution (condo board approval, initial plans, edited plans, description of services, buidling liability, parking, etc...) and Ron stayed with it every step of the way. He was flexible and easy to work with from the up front, administrative portion all the way through the finished product (of phase I, he is slotted to begin Phase II in the Spring of 2013.) My patio is quite old, as it is attached to a bulding that was erected in the early 1800's. There are two beautiful trees growing up out of the original brick which are beautiful, but whose roots have knocked the entire brick surface out of kilter creating a non-level and even dangerous space to work with. His team pulled up all my bricks, backfilled the soil to cover the height of the giant tree roots and re-layed the brick, elevating it, making it level and pitching it appropriately for drainage. In addition, The Narrow Lane built a beautiful seating wall with limesotne cap and a matching "built-in" Barbeque. Ron walked me through the entire process of selecting the approprite grill type and accessories for a built-in (not typical in a city setting) and the end result is gorgeous and in keeping with the historic charm of the space. I can't wait for him to begin Phase II, which will involve landscaping and lighting and maybe a small waterfall! Ron and his team were timely, clean and professional and trustworthy and I would highly recommend Ron and team for any job, hardscaping or soft, big or small.

Description of Work: It's our pleasure to write an A+ review for The Narrow Lane Company. First impressions really do make that lasting impression and what had struck me the most are Ron's punctuality and responsiveness from the get-go. When I first made the query for a landscaping project estimate, which I initially found through Better Homes & Gardens, he was the first to respond, first to follow-through, and first to follow-up. Having met and discussed with him what my husband and I wished for, we were able to quickly move through the steps to the point where we eagerly awaited his team's arrival to begin work. Since we've gone through renovations before, it's very understandable that problems happen, misunderstandings happen, some things get overlooked so perfection is not what we were looking for. For us, the more important aspects of hiring a crew to do home improvements, is whether they respond to us when we ask, that they communicate with us if and when things might go wrong, and honesty, because all other things can be worked out and resolved if these things are in place. We are happy that we had chosen Ron and his crew to do our landscaping project because they fulfilled these important things, and as a result, we feel comfortable communicating with them if things still need to be tweaked (such as the timing on our sprinkler system) and other small things that might arise after a project has been newly completed. Ron really listens and this is so important. He responds. And he fixes the problem when he can - or he tells you he can't (which I haven't heard yet). His crew worked very hard to complete our desired wishlist, especially in the extraordinary heat and humidity we happened to have as they were nearing completion. Everyone worked full days when they were here on site; they were careful with our property; they were friendly and courteous; and they worked well together. We wanted, overall, an informal, cottage-style landscape. Although I love gardening and began my perennial front gardens before they started work, after seeing what they did, I kinda regretted it since I feel such an amateur against their work! Nerry, Roberto, German, Martin and Jose did a fantastic job, which included: creating a beautiful 3 foot high fieldstone retaining wall extending halfway down our driveway; laying the gorgeous cobbled paver skirt and edged the driveway with same; we are so happy we listened to Ron's advice to use mega bergerac paver instead of cobblestone (which would have made it difficult to shovel snow and likely damaged those kinds of pavers); installed a drywell with channel drain in front of the driveway doors; and we had a new asphalt driveway put in; created a Y-shaped front walkway, the forks which starts at the front of the property and the driveway side, meeting at the front stoop, which was also replaced, using the same bergerac paver (gray color); prepared and installed a back patio using irregular bluestone (which is now changing from gray to beautiful colors of sand, blue, gray, and brown); and installed fieldstone steps leading from around the side of the garage to the back area. After the retaining wall was done with the dogwood tree planted on the slope as planned, Ron suggested that we do some additional plantings. At first, I was merely going to plant another small tree but I am so glad I listened to his suggestion. After putting in two hydrangeas in contrasting colors, five inkberry bushes, a tree hydrangea, a mini-Colorado spruce to anchor the end of the stone wall and a few peonies, we all agreed it was just gorgeous - the area definitely needed more than a couple of trees. In addition, Ron designed a simple, elegant and understated 5-light system strategically placed along the walkways and it is so discreet and yet provides enough lighting for us in the dark. I should also mention that we had a misunderstanding about the color of the top hats for those lights. Ron, without protest, replaced it with the color I'd originally wanted, which was black. Although I could have lived with the copper, the gesture he made was deeply appreciated and not forgotten. A sprinkler system was also put in. We had a fence installed along with an arbor with the intention to use this enclosed area for our dogs, and another dogwood planted (no pun intended!). We left Ron to choose the type of fencing and arbor and he did not disappoint. We are so happy with it! It is so beautiful, along with the wisteria being trained to climb the arbor. Moving to the back area, we also had 4 giant evergreens put in for the wildlife, which was not easy to do since our back is on a slope and is tiered. These were the main projects and also included hydroseeding the lawn areas, clearing and mulching planting beds, and transplanting alot of pachysandra which I wished to keep to edge the public walkway. I hope I didn't forget anything else, since we added on a few min-projects to our initial one. After the back beds were prepared and mulched, Ron suggested a cobblestone edging to help keep the mulch in place. It would have been ok without but a cobblestone edging would be that extra touch that gave it that finished look. He used the rough cobblestone edging that gave it that informal, cottage look and we just love it. Ron also joined his crew from time to time, driving that BobCat to help them with excavating, so he works with his team and is not above jumping in. I had told Ron that I wanted him to work with my ideas, but use his vision, as well as challenge me and give me ideas I hadn't thought of. He did not disappoint. Our expectations are high - and by his fulfilling those expectations, he raises the bar for himself as well as other landscaping companies. Why settle for less if you can find someone like Ron? We are so happy with their work and look forward to having them do our major maintenance, as well as future projects. Honestly, we don't know which are our favorite parts of the project - we love it all.

Description of Work: They were very responsive and professional, but the overall job was average.