Great Goats Landscaping and Painting

So happy with the project. Mike and crew did a wonderful job working with me to create a retaining wall to support a driveway as well as designed in ground basketball hoop into the wall. We get a many compliments from the regular walkers in the neighborhood. Mike was responsive and easy to work with. The paving contractor changed the grade of the driveway, and we then had to unexpectedly make changes to the wall. Mike and Great Goats were great in extending the project, continuing to work with me to change and complete the project in a timely and cost effective manner. Would hire again.

Mike and team came out to help with landscaping in our front and back yards. Mike proposed and created a lively backyard retreat that included grading one side of our home & creating a stepping path, a flagstone patio for entertaining and plants & trees to help with privacy. In the front yard they designed a rain garden and beautified the existing retaining wall with more plants. Mike was very communicative and his team worked quickly and professionally.

Mike and the crew did a great job cleaning the beds, mulching and replacing dead shrubs and perennials. Mike always takes the time to walk through the job and even fixed a drainage problem at the last minute. Would definitely recommend him.

Mike & his crew have assisted me in revamping my yard several times over the past four years, working to achieve my ultimate vision. Mike is always very responsive to my requests for whatever new project I have in mind and we collaborate well together. I highly recommend Great Goats Landscaping, how could you not love a company with such a fantastic name!

Great Goats Landscaping, was the company I had called to receive a bid for the tree services I needed-cutting up the fallen tree limbs and hauling away everything...The owner of this company Mike Olson, is who I spoke with and Mike was out to my home in just a few hours to survey the damage and give me his company’s bid for my tree problem...For all of you folks out there requiring this type of service, all I can say is call Great Goats Landscaping-EXCELLENT service, very professional staff to work with, job well done and the best price I received, from a total of five companies I solicited competitive bids from!!! My tree problem was caused from a freak early snowstorm and I was up against more possible bad weather coming in, so this team of experts were out right away to resolve my issue... I highly recommend this company to all, you will not be disappointed and dealing with Mike Olson the owner, could not have been more positive!!! I would not hesitate to use Great Goats Landscaping again-Great company!!! Julie/Edina,MN

Mike and his crew are a treat to work with and our house hasn’t looked better. Mike worked hard to get within our budget and design goals. He makes himself available throughout the process and always followed up. Thanks again Great Goats!

The patio work is spectacular. The work done the second year ties in beautifully with a curving walkway. Great Goats crews are all very professional and respectful of the yard. The retaining wall next to the driveway was a redo from a very bad contractor. They fixed it and it has been perfect ever since. The prices were not cheap but the work was worth every dollar. I would definitely recommend Great Goats Landscaping to anyone looking for beautiful and professional work.

The owner met with us and was on time to talk over the scope of the project. He said he would email a detailed bid to us shortly. After a week I finally called and left a message looking for the bid and did not receive any call back. I then went to go send an email to him and found one of his emails from a prior request 4 years earlier at our other house. Again the email discussed the issue of him not getting back to us. I saw the pattern and was happy that we didn't get further in the process where any money was involved.

Did good work. Would definitely use again.

Great! Looks good and seems to be working well.

Very well. it amazed me how quickly they moved ahead once we finalized and how rapidly and professionally the work was done!

I have used Great Goats Landscaping numerous times over the years. I have found them to be priced fairly, timely in their job completion, providing quality workmanship, professional and respectful of your existing yard. Mike Olson has great design ideas, knowledgeable on various flowers, shrubs and trees and is a wonderful communicator on all levels of the process. He listens to your requests and ideas. His work crew are on time, hard working and dependable. The sign of a quality company is one that you think of immediately when you have a new project in mind. Mike is that kind of go to professional. I recommend his company without hesitation.

Love working with Mike Olson and his wonderful team.

Love it, makes the space so much more useful and Mike was so easy to work with - he had great suggestions and ideas and was very reasonable.

Great! Since it was in the alley, we didn't need anything too visually stunning but we wanted something that would last and look nice enough. Mike came up with a solution that fit our price range and would still age well. We truly appreciated his creativity, problem-solving and quality of work.

Really well - Mike was very prompt and helped me work through options and always reacted to feedback or my suggestions with openness and inclusivity into his plan - he seemed genuine in addressing my concerns with the space

Great Goats did a phenomenal job on my retaining wall! Mike came out and checked out my existing wall and determined what the problem was that caused it to fail. He determined that I did not have the proper drainage and that is why it failed. He and his guys were very professional and completed everything on time and the cleanup was tremendous. While Great Goats is not the cheapest out there when it comes to retaining walls, they definitely are the best choice in the Twin Cities.

The yard was a complete mess when he completed the work. It needed repair from damage, sloppy and incomplete workmanship. Mike and I did a walk around after work was supoosidly finished. I told him it was unacceptable, and I would not pay him the last installment. I Sent him the following: 1. Clean up. I had pointed out the lawn damage from your crew and the considerable debris of dried mud (clay) and stones on the grass before I left town on Oct. 21. You said it would be cleaned up. You informed me the job was completed on October 28th. Yesterday’s inspection revealed the clean-up of stones and mud was not done. The debris is considerable and scattered in many places. (And there are ruts in the grass from your Bobcat tractor.) There is no way the lawn will come back under this debris damage unless it is properly cleaned up with a rake, shoveled into a wheel barrel and hauled away. 2. Sod. The new sod that was laid next to the driveway is uneven and a mounded. It needs to be flat with the lawn next to the driveway, and nicely tied in with the existing lawn. New sod edges should not be showing on top of existing lawn. The same issue for the front porch on the east side of the sidewalk. Plus, you had missed sodding the spots in the backyard where bushes where removed. The backyard patching needs to be done properly and flat to the lawn. Haul away unneeded soil from these areas. A couple of those other patches look terrible, and should be re-done with new sod. 3. Edging. You put black dirt along the edging. It is visually unkempt, and I doubt there will be grass growing there next spring. You claim seeding it is going to help. I don’t think that is going to help, but you can try. It needs new sod strips in my opinion. Why is there sand along the edging by the boulder wall? You said you didn’t know. It needs to be removed and hauled away. 4. Mulch. There are new stones scattered in the new mulch. You had told me you were putting fabric under the mulch, but fabric is missing in a large area by the Crab tree. 5. Plant removal. There are still old plants protruding in the front rock bed. They were not entirely removed as was required in the work order. They need to be removed without making a new dirt mess in the rock bed. All the above we discussed and you said you would fix it. I had mentioned my displeasure with the plantings on Monday. The more I looked at the finished planting, I realized it was not acceptable. 6. The arborvitaes are planted way too high on both sides of the driveway. The mound of stones will easily be scattered on the lawn and driveway as a result. They should be planted so that the rock beds are level to the ground. (It was level before you planted.) That means replanting and hauling away the excess soil. 7. The Red Barron Crab is planted way too high. It looks like it was set on the bed and then dirt was simply piled up around it. It looks terrible. It needs to be nearly level to the ground. That means replanting: removing excess soil, digging a hole and neatly hauling away the excess soil. ************************** BE WARNED! His contract states he is not responsible for any damage caused in the course of his work. He put a mechanics lien on the property. However, he eventually cam back and fixed most items but refused #6 and #7 unless he got paid more. It's almost unbeliveable I had to supervise his repair. Even so, the quality was very poor. It seems this company has no clue about aestetics... which is what is requiered in a good landscaper. I am not sure how this guy has stayed in business. Finally, after paying him the full amount two months ago , he has still not removed the mechanic's lien on the house after requests two different times. The good news, if we have to go to court, the judge will not be pleased.

He was very responsive. He drew up the plans and discussed how he styles and each plant and how they can add color and interest. It is obvious that he is both very passionate and very knowledgeable. We were very happy with the end result. And I can't wait to see everything get green and flower this spring.

Mike made a commitment to visit our home for a landscaping consultation. Five minutes after the appointed hour, he called to say he had gotten behind on a project and needed to postpone. We agreed to a different time that he felt would be a better day for him. Thirty minutes after the second scheduled meeting, he had yet to show up so I finally called him. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I was hoping you'd call 'cause I didn't have your phone number." (Did he lose it from the previous week?) "I got busy and couldn't make the time. But I could probably come out a little later this afternoon if you want." His tone exuded carelessness. He made no apologies and expressed no concern for the fact that he'd kept me and my husband waiting. Fuming, as I had scheduled my work day to be home for the meeting, I suggested that perhaps he had too many commitments to be able to support one more client and said we'd pass. He made no arguments, seemed happy with that resolution. The silver lining for us is that we learned early on that Great Goats service can't be counted on. We'll take our landscaping dollars elsewhere before we waste more time and before we've risked any money! And I'm guessing that if Mike treats all of his customers so carelessly, pretty soon he will have all kinds of time to show up for consultations.

I didn't because we did not hear back.

I took the above behavior as a red flag and decided to go with another landscaper.

Outstanding. I highly recommend Mike. He works very hard to make sure your job is done right. They were behind on schedule, but always informed me of that. I was ok with that, so I just had them do the work when they had it fit in with his schedule.

I contacted them on Thursday, and discovered that they had a hole in their schedule and could actually come out the next day! I had contacted a few other landscape companies, and not realizing that it is a very busy time of year, and was told that it would be between 3-7 days before they'd be able to show up, which would knock a hole in my construction plans/timings. I felt fortunate to have them fit me into their schedule. The crew of 5 arrived on time, and were willing to do everything that I needed help with that I couldn't do on my own in any reasonable time period. They worked hard, and helped me do a few extra things which really allowed me to start my construction project on time. I understood the price before I had them come, and it wasn't inexpensive, but it was reasonable, and they did a very good job. I'd use them again if the need arose.

I wouldn't give them an 'A'. I would rather a 'B'. He wasn't punctual and he held up the work for a week. He was a very nice person and I suppose he did a good job but wherever he got his shrubbery and tree, we weren't happy with how they turned out.