Choice Lawn & Landscaping

Jeff was a very nice guy, but I had quite a few problems with his services. First of all when we were to begin the irrigation and retaining wall he had a lot reasons why the job wasn't getting done. It was started almost 3 weeks late. It was raining some during this time (which was one of the reasons he gave me why he was unable to start), but there was plenty of days before he actually got started when he could have pieced the project together. I paid with a Credit Card, as was my plan all along because they advertise it on their website. However, he gave me a bit of a hard time and wanted to charge me an extra percentage on top of the $5500 that I was paying for the irrigation and retaining wall (which was not advertised on their website). To his credit, he didn't end up charging me the extra percentage after I explained these things and the projects turned out well so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and continued using him for my lawn care. I even had him quote me on another project. The only real issue I had with the retaining wall was that one of the stones that was cut on the end of the wall (in a very visible spot) was chipped and they used anyway. The cut lines were also very noticeable. He didn't agree to fix the chipped stone even though I complained. Of course, I had already paid him for the job. The straw that broke the camels back was the lawn maintenance. Not that his crew did a bad job, but that his pricing was outrageous and that he wasn't upfront about his costs. I haggled with Jeff a bit about the contract price because his was the highest one that I received and he did come down a little. We agreed on a contract price of $215 a month which covered pretty much everything from mowing to leaf removal to fertilization to maintaining the irrigation that he installed. However, I did not want to sign a contract right away because I wanted to actually witness how his crew cared for my lawn before I agreed to use them for an entire year. I've had trouble with lawn guys before. Well, Jeff charged me the full $215 plus a $65 charge to spay off some broad leaf weeds for one month. 280 bucks just to mow my quarter of an acre for one month! I guess it was my fault that I didn't ask him his per cut rate, but it would have been better business for him to let me know ahead of time that he was going to charge me the same price just to mow my yard as he was originally going to charge for everything (the contract price included sprays, leaf removal in the fall, and even aeration and overseeding). It ended up costing me almost $54 per cut plus the extra $65 dollars to spray for broad leaf weeds. Every other per cut estimate I had previously received for my yard was around $30-$35. I guess I shouldn't have assumed that Choice Landscaping would have been in that ball park. My mistake. After all these issues I decided not to continue my relationship with Choice Landscaping. I also will not be hiring them for the other projects that I them quote (driveway pavers). As an update (8-23-13)on this Review, I did contact Jeff Smith again about the Wall and he has agreed to come out and take care of the chipped block on the endcap. For that reason I have upped my original review for professionalism from a C to a B.