Scapes Professional Landscaping

This is the third year I am using them. They talk to me and return all my calls. He tells me whether or not he can provide it while other companies don't. He will also do other things. He has a separate fee for pruning the leaves. I pay $35 per hour.

I've used them for four years. The first three went fine but this last year the quality and punctuality really went down. They used to have the snow cleared early in the morning. This past year we were lucky if they came around by noon to clear the snow which defeated the whole point. They would show up in the early afternoon after I already dug myself out and most of the snow had melted. They also failed to clear the snow between the vehicles in the driveway as they had done in the past. Their lawn care was also lacking this past year. We were lucky if they came by once a week even though we requested more frequent service. They would typically come very early in the week even after we had discussed wanting them to come later so the lawn would be short for the weekend. And they did not take care of a particular area of the lawn that the owner and I specifically discussed early in the season. Time to find another provider.

The deal was made for several jobs to be done and Dan said they would be able to start in one week. I made a hefty down payment at that time. As time passed, I was beginning to feel like I had been ripped off. Three weeks later I called Dan to see what the hold up was. At that point I told him I needed a particular job done first. He agreed. That job was done last. Dan and I had discussed how I wanted the landscaping job to be done and he agreed with what I wanted. I was not available when they were doing the job and they did it an easier way. It was not what we agreed on, it does not look right, it is not correct. I had to call Dan several times during the weeks of these jobs and I felt like I had to be pushing them all the way to get the work done. Also, after every mow, I would be finding cigarette butts in the yard and driveway. At last I had to let them go. My computer was down for some time, BUT...if I had had Angie's list last June, I am sure I would not have hired Scapes.

It was kind of hard to stay in touch; he wasn't the best at returning our calls. He didn't start exactly when he said he was going to. He did finish the job in a very timely fashion, his follow-up was non-existent. Also, he didn't have any warranty to cover the plants or flowers if they died soon after planting them, which I would have appreciated because some didn't make it.

Miserably

Everything went well with the services. The team of landscapers arrived on time and the work took a total of four days. They did a few extras not in the estimate in order to make the area look better. They cleaned up everything, as they said they would.

The work was slipshod. I had asked for a particular size of stone for one section of the job, they came with much larger stone, and had it half installed before I noticed it was the wrong size. Then told me, the right size stone available was too dirty...odd, but I let it go and figured I could live with it. But then, they left another section more or less undone, and no one said anything maybe hoping I wouldn't notice. Most of all the attitude had nothing to so with how well it was done, how good it looked. The boss (owner?) came to collect a day later, after I'd told him it wasn't a good time, and asked him to wait a day. For my convenience, and also to give me a chance to look the work over. At no time did he show any interest in our satisfaction, or how the job looked. It was not high on his list of priorities; that was all taken up by getting his check. The work was rushed, sloppy and expensive. I'd have given them straight F's, but my husband lost his temper with the boss (can't blame him, since the boss was interested in making excuses, or arguments, not in what could be done to improve the work's appearance), so there's no way of knowing what, if any, remediation they'd have done.

Scapes Professional Landscaping was one of three landscaping firms I requested to provide me with an estimate for land/hardscaping services around my home. The owner and designer, Dan, was friendly and showed up at my home to speak with me in person and get a better idea of our needs so he could provide an estimate. As with the other two landscaping companies, Dan walked around my property and asked what I had in mind. I gave him a general idea, but what I found a bit odd was that he asked for specifics "how much dirt did the other landcaping firms estimate you would need?" or "how do you want this wall to look? What type of material were you thinking?" And when he failed to mention using Round Up in an area that the other landcape firms suggested it was needed, I told him there were many invasive weeds and perennials (which were quite evident) and he said "Oh, really? Well, maybe we would need to use Round Up then." That said, my initial impression of Scapes was they they could not provide the professional advice, vision and design that I wanted for our property. But, Dan took some additional pictures of our property before he left, and said he would contact me with the estimate in about a week. This was a negative as well, because the other landscaping firms both e-mailed detailed estimates to me within a couple days time, but Dan said he avoided e-mail as much as possible and would either mail or call me with the estimate (I can't recall which). Well, I never received the estimate. It's been more than a month since their visit, and Scapes never called or mailed an estimate to me. No follow up whatsoever. Based on a couple of other favorable reviews of this company, I suspect they might be OK for basic landcape jobs like freshening mulch, weeding, trimming shrubs, etc. Needless to say, I have hired a different landscaping company for our home project - one that actually responded to me.

Dan was very helpful, and provided a good description of work and estimate. I ended up doing the job myself, with a little help from nurseries where I bought some of the larger plants (trees, shrubs). Also used Scapes this winter for some snow plowing and he was very prompt, helpful and prices were reasonable. I especially liked the attention to site preparation that he provided, compared to other landscapers who seem to just want to dig a hole and stick the plant in. Although my job was small enough that I could handle it, I did have a good experience with Scapes and would definitely used them in the future. The owner strikes me as a hard working, straightforward, honest guy.

Dan, comes out personally, walks the job, calls that day with an estimate, comes with the crew, comes back at the end of each day as they have several jobs going at once and at the end of the project he comes and walks through what they did and our level of happiness with the job done. Very friendly and easy to talk to. Since he began doing work for us he and his family have been to our famous New Year's Eve party. He is a great part of the Lansing community with a great product and a nice delivery.

I called him for a estimate and he was on time and professional. I received the estimate when promised and quickly. The work was completed basically on schedule although he did have to work around some early snow falls (which happens in Michigan). Some additional work was added to the original bid which was done quickly and at a fair price.