Kirkwood Landscaping

The plan created by Jim at Kirkwood Landscaping was significantly more appropriate to meet our needs than the other proposals we received. Having to wait months until the 100 degree temperatures cooled down was at bit frustrating but not much any of us could do. Jim was finally able to get his crew going in September and completed the work in about a week. Soil testing was completed several months earlier so Jim knew exactly what nutrients were needed along with compost and topsoil. Several drains needed to be rerouted to conform to the new grade. All work was done within the time frame we expected; and there were no surprises. The new lawn completely transformed the curb appeal of this 60 year old ranch.

Jim and his guys did a great job clearing up the gardens for us- trimming work was done very well, and I'm amazed how much they got done in a day. Jim is an all around nice, honest guy to work with, and I will use him going forward without a doubt!

Jim and his wife Patty were great to work with in terms of both design and execution on the landscaping work. We were on a tight budget, which they were mindful of. Great overall experience. We have received numerous compliments from neighbors and friends on the quality of the work.

I called Kirkwood Landscaping for a bid on aeration and seeding for my yard. The bid came back to me via email after he visited my house and said we needed extensive work that totaled $2800. While the work may have been needed, my request was specifically for aeration and seeding (roughly a $500 job). I emailed back and told him I would review the bid and get back to him. 2 days later I got a follow up email stating he performed a soil analysis (which he did provide to me the results over email) and asked for me to mail him $30 for it even if we decide to go with another landscaper. The soil analysis was included in the bid he sent, but I never authorized ANY work to be done, and had no idea he was doing this. While he seemed to know his business, I am always skeptical of businesses that "force" the work on you by hitting you with charges and services that were not announced up front. It was basically like he proceeded with the work on the bid he gave me without my official ok. I am going to pay him his 30 bucks to avoid any issues, but he lost my business before I even had a chance to speak with him.

I had called him and he said he was going to be out of town for a couple of days and would call when he got back. Weeks had gone by and he never did so I called several times, no response. He finally called me back and he mentioned he was going to be out of town again and would call when he got back. I decided not to go with him, as he did not seem very responsive and too busy for any work.

Multiple phone calls and appointments that yielded no results. They never kept the appointments which caused a 6 week delay of my project, and now I have to start all over.

I cannot say enough good things about this company. Jim and his crew were prompt and efficient. They completed our large project in one day. Patty(Jim's wife) and I went to a local nursery where she helped me pick out the types of bushes and trees we should put in our yard. Patty even came over to our house and watered twice while we were away on vacation for a week. Can you believe it? Well, it's true! They are WONDERFUL!!!

Jim and two men arrived earlier than they had told me, and they worked for about 7 hours, trimming all the overgrowth in my back yard terraces, and also on the terrace next to and in front of my house. They trimmed the trees, bushes and the euonymous (like ivy) that was so overgrown that some of it looked like bushes, and got rid of all the weeds and vines that had grown up. Then they wheelbarrowed from my driveway to the back about 6 cubic yards of mulch. That was very difficult work, since they had go about 25 feet alongside my garage and then had to lift the wheelbarrow full of mulch up to the top level multiple times, and also wheel it to the lower level, and then spread it all out. They also dug up alongside of the tie wall in front so I could do some planting there, and put the 2 more cubic feet of mulch on the landscaping across the front of the house. In addition, Jim put down a pre-emergent weed control so that perhaps I won't get the weed problem at least for the rest of this year. They really cleaned everything up well and took all the debris away with them. It all looks great- better than it has looked in a long time.

We called Kirkwood to get an estimate for our back yard. Jim responded promptly and came out to get an idea of what was needed. We had a retaining wall built the previous fall along our back fence line and we wanted it planted with some ornamental grasses to provide privacy. Jim listened to what we had to say and came up with some great suggestions-Viburnum bushes with Moning Light grasses for the retaining wall and Eonymous for the back of our sun room. We had some grasses along the fence which had not done well and were removed when the retaining wall was built. Since these were not disposed of, Jim suggested moving them to a different area of the yard. We received a very favorable bid within the week. Jim and Santos came out a week or so later and in one afternoon did the most amazing job. They added more soil to the wall area, did a wonderful job with the plantings, spacing them perfectly, and mulched it all in. The sunroom area looks fantastic and the relocated grasses make a drab privacy fence look special. We are so pleased with the results! We added a few plants and lights and it looks spectacular. It's been a couple weeks and everything is growing just fine. Just what we wanted!! We will definitely be using Jim's services again!

Patti came up with a terrific design for three different places in our yard and came up with exactly what we wanted. Jim and his crew did a fantastic job and worked very hard getting everything done in one day. I was impressed with the quality of the work, including the preparation of the soil before planting. Everything looks great.

They responded quickly to our initial inquiry and suggested soil testing as a first step to see how our yard conditions were. They arrived early morning as scheduled a couple days later and did soil testing while discussing the yard conditons with us. Gave a very good overview of their recommendations and answered all our questions. We were happy they were not simply recommending a chemical spray or weedkiller application but talked instead of the needed minerals to achive a good soil for the grass to grow.They promptly provided a quote for the recommended work. After we accepted the work we did not hear from them for several days and wondering why we called them to find out they had lost our contact information. However they agreed to perform the work the next day. They showed up the next day as scheduled and worked extra hours to complete the project that day. Everything looked well done and they left the property in good condition hauling away all waste and left over materials as expected. In discussions before they left we inquired about follow up work we should perform such as watering and future furtilizations to maintain the growth of the grass. We were given some verbal instructions and told we would recieve a follow-up e-mail from them with additional information. This follow-up e-mail has still not come. We have had a follow up phone conversation on this issue with them and more recommendations were provided for our future mainenance of the grounds. Best news is the ground are looking much better than before with the new grass growing well and a lush green tint. Overall we are happy with the results and would say it was all excellent if it wasn't for the various communication mishaps such as the lost contact information and lack of follow up e-mail as promised.

Jim arrived on schedule and did a site analysis and then provided a detailed list of suggested procedures to renovate my lawn. He arrived on the date and time scheduled and performed all the activities except spreading compost in one afternoon. The compost was delivered and spread a few days later. There was some concern about overseeding at the late date but it all came up and thrived. Jim is very conscientious about doing a quality job and customer satisfaction. He stopped by a month later to see how everything was doing. I was very pleased about every aspect of the project and would definitely use him again.

Called them to get a bid on some extensive landscaping we had planned for the front yard. About a week after leaving a phone message I got a call back from them, apologizing for the delay. They asked if I was still interested in receiving a bid from them, which I was. They said they'd like to stop by so we could tell and show them the work we wanted done. Because they were working on putting together their schedule, they asked if they could call back a couple of days later to figure out a date for them to stop by, which I agreed to. When they called two days later, they said they were still working on their schedule and asked if they could call the next day again. They never called back. They're probably still working on their schedule...

He returned my call in a timely manner, came out to look everything over when we were both available. He sent me an estimate by email. I was the one who did not necessarily respond to the his email in a timely manner. When it was accepted, he set up a date that worked for both of us. Showed up when he said he would. When there was a minor problem with selecting matching stones to match the other stones in retaining walls around my home, he called ahead to let me know what was going on. He was courteous and his work was good. I will definitely use his services again.

They were too high. They quoted about $800. They seemed competent and nothing stood out. They seemed acceptable except for their price. They were fine and they were responsive.

Did not use them, as I likded another design better from another company.

The man in charge was very responsive to my phone call. He cleared his scheulde in order to get the job done, as our daughter's wedding reception was going to be held at our home and we need it done for that. He came out when he said he would - did a great, neat job and we are very pleased with the work.

We're a month or so into the process, and the lawn is just coming up. It looks great, and I'm looking forward to having turf I can be proud of. Jim was great to work with and cares about lawns more than any normal person should. We still have a couple rounds of fertillizer & soil nutrients to be applied before the new year, and the price includes all of that. The price was competitive, and there was a lot of back-breaking labor involved in clearing the ~3000 sq ft backyard. We moved from Oregon, and are used to having a pristine lawn. It's quite a bit harder in STL, especially since the fill dirt used at our house was well out of acceptable ranges on a number of minerals, pH, etc. Very pleased and highly recommend Jim for other work, and will continue to use him on mine.

The price was higher than I expected, but they worked really hard and did a fantastic job. Better than I had expected. Highly recommended!

I could not have been happier with their work. An estimate was provided promptly. It was very reasonable. The work was done in a professional manner. The workers were pleasant and got the work done quickly. The area was completely cleaned up and the waste removed. I have since had this company back to do other work and I will employ them again.

I called Jim and left a message for him on April 15. He did not return my phone call until May 21. When doing so, he apologized and stated he had been "busy" and "would not be able to provide a quote". I was surprised by this lack of customer service in responding, as I had sought Jim and his business out via Angie's List two years ago for a different bid, at a different property. At that time, he had called back the same day, and was very timely and in earnest of assisting me with my inquiries. After over a month's time had lapsed, I'm not sure what the perceived value was in returning a customer's phone call. Chances are that by that time, the prospective customer would have found someone more responsive, which I did. For this most recent experience, I found this lack of customer service in the phone call return, frustrating. I can understand, certainly, if some emergency or situation came up. But the response that was given was that he was "busy". Everyone's "busy", but that's a casualty of owning a business, and a successful one at that. Phone calls should still be returned to prospective clients.

From the first call to Kirkwood Landscaping, Jim was very easy to deal with and tried to work around my schedule. Seemed to take a while to get the initial bid, but that's to be expected sometimes when dealing with a busy contractor. I got 1 other bid and his was so much more reasonable. I was worried about the timing of the job being in December with the cold weather coming on, but he assured me it was ok. It was a cold winter, but all the moisture really made for a really green, lush lawn (so far). Its only the first week in April and i've had to mow twice already! His guys seem to do good work, but my only issue would be with their punctuality. The sod was delivered early (7:30am) on the first day of the job. But, they didn't arrive until around noon on both days of the job. Seemed like it turned a one day job into a two day job. Either way, it worked out in the end. Jim was also very responsive and available for questions after the fact. I've even called him in the spring to ask about the do's and don'ts of maintaining the sod and he's gotten right back to me each time. I'd definitely recommend him and his company for this type of job.

I called Jim and we talked about what I wanted done and the problems that I had with the people who did the job last year. He said he would come by the house the next day and call me with a quote. He was good to his word. We agreed on a schedule for the next week. He was unable to come because of the weather but he called and rescheduled. It took the team about two hours. They removed all the debris. I'm very pleased with the work and will use this company again.

I had a great experience with Kirkwood Landscaping. They came out within a couple days of contacting them to give me a very competitive estimate on leaf removal. The job was completed a couple days later and they did a fantastic job. I have A LOT of leaves - especially in the large bushes that surround our property. Not an easy task, but Jim and his crew got it done!

They were helpful in answering some questions about the difference in gravel types. Other than that it was pretty standard service.