R & D LAWNCARE & LANDSCAPING

We hired Derrick to do some grading on our new home lot, spray grass seed and landscape around the outside of the house. We saw Derrick the day he wrote up the contract and the day he picked up his check. He ordered and had plants put in before ever reviewing them with us. We sent some back. He was supposed to do a western theme in front ifor house using two old wagon wheels. Never did that. He filled all the flower beds with clay soil then put weed block on top. I went to plant some flowers before the job was done and found the weed block was missing big sections. Half the plants he planted died trying to live in that clay soil. When his worker was putting on a metal barrier around the outside of the garden he would anchor it with metal stakes and when a stake would break he'd just throw pieces in the grass area. We shared all our concerns with him when he finally showed up. He looked concerned, wrote things down, took our check, agreed with us about fixing things and we never saw this guy agsin. $12,000 later after winter the lawn has not returned, half the plants are dead. BEWARE OF THIS GUY!

When the sod arrived, it appeared to be half dead and not all Zoysia by any means. Installation consisted of vertical raking the existing sod and laying the new sod over the top. No soil analysis or other preparatory work was done. Things looked bad from day one... However, we were patient and tried to work with Derrick and do the things he said we should. We applied fertilizer of the type and in the amount he recommended. We watered based on his recommendations. We had him back several times to look at the lack of progress our lawn was making. He always had an excuse and a promise that things would get better if we waited. .A year later, our lawn is a disaster. I wish I could post pictures! Despite careful fertilization, watering, and care - there's almost no live Zoysia grass left. We have huge bare spots and dead patches. I'm ready to have the whole thing scraped up and start over with another company. It looks much worse now than it did before the work was done. Derrick has stopped returning our calls. We'd be satisfied if he'd come do whatever it took to give us the yard we paid for. That's what successful business folks do... they eat the inevitable bad jobs and make the investment to ensure that the customer is happy... or they don't stay in business long.

What we got was meeting with the owner once, the day he wrote up the order and told us how he would use the wagon wheels and suggested design of the landscaping. We never saw him after that initial meeting except he would call to tell us what trucks were coming with dirt and compost. then a young man arrived who put in a metal edging for the flowers/plants area. the edging, when he finished looked like he was drunk when he did it, plus the metal stakes he secured it with would often break and he would just throw the pieces into the yard for our mower to eventually mow over. We never saw the owner again until the next to the last day. the plants arrived and placed in a non design manner. Non of the plants were reviewed with us and I didn't like some of them. We called the owner and said we wanted some flowering ones. So we went to Lowe's and bought about $100 of flowering plants. We then spent 2 hours setting aside the plants we didn't like and re locating and designing the landscaping with the wagon wheels. the young lady who showed up the next day to plant the plants had only worked for this company for 2 weeks and knew nothing about design or landscaping. She just planted the plants and flowers where they were placed. Still no owner showed up. I asked her if she was given a design or plan. She pulled out a wrinkled piece of notebook paper with a very poor pencil design on it showing where to plant the plants. No rhyme or reason or design. I added some flowering plants myself and discovered there were several places where the weed block fabric did not even meet. there were gaps of 4-5 inches. The owner finally arrived on second to last day while they were raking and preparing to Hydroseed. I spoke to him of my concerns and that I expected to discuss the plants and see some type of a plan. He apologized and saw the crooked edging but never offered to fix it. We showed him the gaps in weed block fabric, still no offer to fix it. I was gone when the came and laid the dripper system which consisted of an ugly brown hose, pinned on top of the mulch. It is so ugly, I would think they would at least cover it with mulch. I am very disappointed. This provider was a choice by my husband which I agreed to. I now regret that choice. I wound strongly suggest if you decide to hire this provider you insist on design suggestions, being specific about plants and making sure the owner is out everyday to supervise he new employees and doing quality control.

The provider was contacted, gave us a bid, said he'd get right on the project (spreading dirt and planting grass in our yard), and we never heard from him again.

R&D is one of the best companies I have ever done business with, start to finish. We called for an estimate, received it promptly, and it was accurate. The time estimate on completing the job was spot on and it was all done quickly. He (Derek) was always available if we had a question or needed clarification. The work is perfect, and more than I could have hoped for- they brought a lot of pride and expertise to this project. Derek listened to our needs, provided his expert opinion, and created a beautiful layout. He went over care of the new plants and bushes and did a final walk through to ensure our satisfaction. I wish they did plumbing, electrical work, and every other household, because I would hire them for that as well. I would highly recommend Derek and R&D, and we will use them again.

Built a wall and mulched garden from street to house, started to grade front yard, and lay sod,put in some and it took, but then pulled some out to patch other jobs. They kept getting pulled off my yard to go somewhere else. Never had the same people more than a week or two. Rain did slow them down some, but not as much as other jobs. I got the impression that my yard was second or third on their list of jobs to complete. In the backyard they did bring in a Bobcat to reduce the slope, but didn't do a great job on that. It took more than a month to get the two walls built,and hydro seed the back yard. they didn't grade the slope properly and the seed washed out in the rains in April. Then they were supposed to put in a paver walkway to the shed in the back,this took over a month to complete, due to being called off for a job somewhere else. Meantime the rains came and washed the walkway out. I had to find and purchase some framework to straighten it out and get it halfway level. I okayed the walkway because I was getting tired of the stories. The final straw was when we left for a trip over Memorial day and they had promised to have the backyard repaired and reseeded and the front yard resodded, got back on Tuesday 6/05 and nothing was finished. I called to find out why and got the same answers, rain and other jobs. They came over on 6/06 and picked up some of the sod and did a little work on the back yard, promised to be here to finish today and did not show. I called and told them not to even bother, I had had enough and will find some one else to finish. Right now I don't care if it takes the rest of the summer to get the job done. I could not in good conscience recommend them for any home yardwork.

They are coming over next week to start work. They listened to what I wanted and gave me a reasonable estimate. From what I have seen and what I have talked to with others they gave me a list of their references which was very good. They all seemed to be very happy. I would recommend them.