Outdoor Contracting

They were quick to respond which is excellent but seem a bit too busy and expensive for the jobs I need on a smaller scale. Seem like great folks though!

Aaron was excellent-very professional with his presentation and knowledgeable regarding rules and regs for our homeowners.

The crews arrived as planned. Bill took the time to review all plans with me and to make sure we were had the same goals in mind. The crews were very professional and the equipment used for the project was top notch. When planting they tilled the soil, added high quality planting material and then put in the new plant or shrub. Far better that just digging a hole and throwing in a new plant. I would highly recommend Bill and Outdoor life inc.

The work was excellent. I had chosen this company based on excellent reviews on Angie's list and interview with the owner about the job. I had to wait longer than I had hoped for the job to be done--due to weather constraints and the company's long list of customers--but it was definitely worth it. Initially, we paid for a landscape design and the process went well as I wanted some changes from the initial design. They produced a final to-scale drawing which we then submitted to our HOA for approval. The process was a little more difficult than anticipated, but Bill was responsive to the additional questions and materials requested by the management company. Issues also arose during the city permitting process, but he was persistent and those issues were also resolved in a timely fashion. I was impressed with the professionalism in design and install of the irrigation system which was done to North Carolina standards which are more demanding than South Carolina where we live. The entire job took about 2 weeks. His employees are polite, hard workers and were responsive to my concerns. I made a few last minute changes to the job, and Bill was always responsive and clear about any extra costs entailed. In sum, the new landscape is beautiful and I am confident that Bill will respond to whatever problems or concerns may arise in the future. I consider it was worth the wait for his availability to do the job and look forward to many years enjoying our new yard.

Bill stopped by on May 21st to go over what we wanted done now and in the near future. He was very professional. He later emailed a very thorough contract, detailing everything that would be done and information about the company. After installed 40 yards of black mulch in the yard. They power washed the pavers in the front and rear yard. They then sealed all the pavers and the front porch using a roller. The pavers look great and using a roller over a prayer, didn't get on my grass and kill it as has happened in the past. We plan on using Bill and his team for some major dirt install and grading of the backyard in the fall. Bill is good with keeping in communication and letting you know what is being done.

Bill stopped by on May 21st to go over what we wanted done now and in the near future. He was very professional. He later emailed a very thorough contract, detailing everything that would be done and information about the company. Installed 40 yards of black mulch all in one day, had three men doing the work. About 1/2 of the mulch was installed in the front/sides of the house and the rest in our lower backyard and on a hill. Getting to our backyard is a bit of a hassle with wheel barrows but they were able to get it down and spread the mulch evenly and it came out great. The house really pops with the new black mulch. We paln on using Bill and his team for some major dirt install and grading of the backyard in the fall. Bill is good with keeping in communication and letting you know what is being done.

We first met with Bill under sleeting rain on a November 2013 evening. We told him our desire for a new patio and fire pit and to liven up our back wooded area to block the neighbors behind us. We provided a budget to work from, and he sent us a proposal that fit just in what we could spend and accepted the proposed work. The schedule was delayed several months due to the harsh winter, but Bill kept us informed via email when we would expect to be up next. When our work was scheduled to start, Bill gave me a call and came over to do a pre-construction walk through. As time had elapsed since our original meeting back in November, we had some 'add-ons' to our project. We needed 2 more small concrete pads and wanted some flowers/bushes in the front where our sad mailbox was surrounded by old pine straw and weeds. He took those on without issue and the crew began work within a couple of days. They were all very friendly and communicative. They showed respect for our property and kept the work site(s) clean. The overall project took a month to complete, which seemed long, but when we factor in the quality and the pride in work that Bill and his team take in their job, the length of time is a non issue.

Working with Bill and his team has been one of the best experiences we have had with an Angie's list referral. His vision, creativity, and budget-consciousness were only surpassed by his responsiveness. Questions were answered same day and there were times when we would issue a request on the weekend and the matter would be addressed before EOD on Monday. Not only will we continue to work with Outdoor Life, but we will not hesitate to recommend the team.

They told me it would cost $150 for them to come out and check the grading around the house and give me an estimate. If I accepted they would apply the $150 to the job. Bill came out and spent a couple of hours and gave me his assessment and an estimate for french drains, and I paid him. I will not be hiring him to do the work.

Bill provided us with excellent landscaping services. He is very knowledgeable and we are very happy with the outcome of his services. He was responsive to any questions we had throughout the process and completed everything to our expectations. Bill will be our go-to for any future landscaping needs and we would highly recommend him to others.

Bill and team conducted the entire project in about nine days. We took plenty of time planning out what we wanted and managed to stick within scope for the most part with just a little bit of scope creep. Bill drafted a design for us and we collaborated on the project but afforded him enough creative freedom to bring it all together for us. The project was initially a drainage remediation project and it morphed into a large scale landscape project (this was our choice). We resolved our drainage issues, we restored grass in our backyard that had previously ceased to grow, we accented our patio with new beds for plants and flowers, mulch was done around the entire property, accent stones/boulders were added and we also included both patio lighting and up lighting for trees. I also appreciate Bill's open and forthright communication including updating us on weather delays where they were ahead or behind schedule and why. I recommend you determine the scope of the project and the cost then allocate an additional 15% towards your funds because something inherently will need to be added (80% of his customers do this). It's also very important to contact the department of works and have all of your underground lines marked if they have to do digging. We did this and therefore avoided any interruption of service. It's also very important to have all approvals from a home owners committee in place to avoid delays. Thank you Bill. I wish Angie's list allowed us to upload photos because I would be happy to share.

Someone answered the phone right away and just said they are too busy for my small job.

First of all, if you are looking for a contractor who is true to his word...then Bill Botkin and Outdoor Life is the company for you. Our main concerns were 3 fold: updating our irrigation and outdoor lighting systems and repairing our water feature which had not been working due to a broken pump. My husband and I were very skeptical because we had hired several contractors who supposedly fixed the irrigation and lighting problems previously. We had another contractor who worked on our backyard and promised a natural waterfall and we did get a water feature but we did not get the level of assistance in both design and delivery that Bill and his team from Outdoor Life provided. Bill was true to his word and then some. He took his time explaining what he would do to upgrade our lighting with LED lights. He also explained what needed to be done to fix the irrigation system to incorporate sprinklers and drip zones. He responded to all of our concerns and questions. When it came to our water feature, Bill was able to suggest many creative ways to improve the design. He provided several options and price points to consider by email. Once we agreed on what was to be done, the work began...we were fortunate that the rainy weather worked for us. Bill's team is hard working, professional and knowledgeable. They are polite and work very carefully on your property. They work long hours in order to have the work completed correctly and in an timely manner. At the end of each work day, the work sites were left as clean and free of debris as possible. Bill who is the owner is on the job daily. He is very meticulous and is hands on in the process to ensure the work is done correctly and to his high standards. We learned so much from Bill about landscaping. He is very careful to choose shrubs and plants that will thrive in your yard. Any question you have, will be answered. Our work was finished in a timely manner (about a week). We did add some additional landscaping work during the process and it was done as well. Our backyard was transformed into a beautiful natural landscape that makes waking up and looking outside a dream come true. Bill made sure that we were happy with the completed project and told us that we can contact him at anytime with questions and concerns. Thank you, Bill and your team. We recommend Bill and Outdoor Life highly and without reservations.

I had an area next to my driveway with an old and improperly designed retaining wall that was falling apart. Bill gave me 2 options of what could be done and I signed the contract in October and then the poor weather started. After months of cold and wet we finally got a break and it was dry enough to get the work done. The whole time in between, Bill was very good at keeping us informed of the status of projects ahead of ours and when we could expect things to be done. A lesser company may have tried to push the timetable just to get the work done and get paid, but Bill would not do the job if the conditions were not appropriate. He refused to do anything to compromise the quality of the job. This unfortunately is a quality hard to come by these days. He told me that the work would take 2 days to complete, but ended up getting all his guys on it and finished it all in 1 day. It turned out better than I had imagined and I will definitely use Outdoor Life in the future for any of wide array of services they provide.

We had a pool built in our backyard last year. That project tore up a lot of our existing irrigation and landscape lighting. I had several companies out to quote on getting those systems back up and running. When I first spoke with Bill and he informed me that there would be a $100 charge for him to come out and meet with me, I immediately thought, "NO WAY", I never have to pay to get a quote. Well, Bill spent at least 45 minutes on the phone with me explaining why he charged that fee and so I decided to take a chance and spend the $100 and have him out. Well, let me tell you, after about 10 minutes into our meeting he certainly earned that fee. He came up with an idea to make the space behind our pool usable by taking out the existing overgrown bushes, installing new trees and creating a gravel pathway. This makes access to our pool equipment MUCH easier than it was and also gives us additional storage space for our pool "stuff". In addition to this genius idea of his, he and his crew did an excellent job with the landscape lighting and reestablishing the irrigation. They had to bore under the driveway for the front of the house and run all new drip to the plants in the back. And come to find out, that what we thought a previous contractor had done when we hired him to disconnect an older irrigation pipe running to the backyard, had not been done at all! When Bill manually brought the system up water came pooling up under a corner of our new paver patio. It was very important to us that Bill was able to assure us that there would be no "surprise" water features in our yard and we feel confident that he has taken care of that problem. While he and his crew were working up front, I asked him what he thought about an existing natural area and some drainage issues that we were having in our front lawn area. He proposed a solution that would solve both problems. Although this work wasn't on the original scope of work, we were so very impressed with the job he had done so far, that we had him complete this work too. And, once the weather warms up, he will be back to do a decorative concrete paint on the back wall of our pool that will make that area even more lovely than it is now. We have done a lot of projects at our home in the 15 years that we have been here. Bill Botkin is by far, the best contractor we have ever worked with. My husband and I will NEVER do another project outdoors without contacting Bill at Outdoor Life first!! 3/5/14 This is an update for the punch list items this company completed for us: As I stated in my original review, my husband and I could not have been more pleased with the work performed by Outdoor Life. However, even with the best of companies who do excellent work, there are usually punch list items that need to be addressed. We had two issues that we discovered about a week after the completion of the work. The first one concerned a trench that was dug in the front yard to run the new irrigation pipe. After a lot of rain and week's time, we noticed some settling right along that trench area. The second issue was a landscape light whose cover had come loose. I called Bill and within a few days, he had his crew back out here to take care of both issues. They re-dug the front trench and filled it in. For the puck light, they brought the special little allen wrench (and it is tiny) to tighten the screw. They even left it for me just in case it ever comes loose again. It is one thing to find a company that does great work, that is difficult enough. But what is really important too is how they deal with you when things need fixing. Sometimes it can be a very unpleasant experience to call a contractor back when you've discovered something wrong. That was not at all the case with Bill at Outdoor Life. He was as pleasant during that part of the job as he was throughout the entire process. I've already scheduled some more work for him to do for us this spring and look forward to working with him again! This review also includes some photos that I took of our backyard lighting that Outdoor Life installed for us...these pictures were taken right before the sun came up one morning.

We were very pleased with the work and with the result. Our backyard is now a lovely living area that we will enjoy for many years to come. Bill and his crew of three men were very professional, very polite and very willing to adjust the plan to address any concerns we had. We were especially grateful of Bill's willingness to work out issues that arose. Before the project even began, as we were going through the HOA approval process, one of our neighbors had a couple of concerns. Bill addressed the concerns by e-mail, but as the neighbor had more questions, Bill offered to meet with the neighbors and personally address any concerns and answer all questions. He did so to the neighbor's satisfaction. We were very pleased with his handling of the situation. During the project, we had one potential sticking point that Bill worked out smoothly through much thought, research and attention to detail. The concrete company sent the mixture for the patio foundation that Bill had ordered, but the driver did not add the additive Bill had ordered. Bill did not know this until the concrete was poured. He informed us of the error and then he proceeded to call on experts he knew to find out the options and arrive at the best solution. He stayed up late into the night researching patios online to figure out what the best course of action would be. He then stood out in the yard with us and discussed all that he had learned and his thoughts on what to do next. He told us point blank that if we wanted it drilled out and re-poured that that's what he would do. He also told us what the experts suggested. We ended up coming to a solution that we were all happy with. The stone patio was a very important part of the project to us and Bill treated it as such. It turned out just as we had imagined and we have no doubt that it will wear very well. And if there are problems, we know that Bill will stand behind his work. Along the way, we also made changes in the plan and Bill made the changes without any complaint. The other thing that impressed up tremendously was Bill's vision. He stood in our yard and imagined it as it could be. He drew up beautiful plans for us, which he followed for the most part, but he adjusted them as he went to make them even better. He asked our opinion on plants and made sure to incorporate our favorites in very prominent places. Then, he filled in the rest of the yard with his personal favorites, with our wholehearted approval. We had many weather delays, which were beyond the control of Outdoor Life. Bill and his crew worked long hours on the days that the weather cooperated to make up for days on which they couldn't do certain parts of the job. They also kept an eye on the weather forecast and worked extra long hours on the days before rain or snow was expected, to keep the project moving along. One other important thing to mention is that Bill is on site for the entire project and Outdoor Life does one project at a time. Bill himself was very involved in not only the design but in the execution of the design. He was also always available to us when we had a question, comment, or concern. The only jobs that he and his crew did not personally do were the gas line and grinding of the stumps from trees that were taken down. After they were done with the project, we asked Bill to come back over to talk through maintenance of the water feature, et al. with us. He very happily did so. He also mentioned that he is always available by e-mail or phone if we have any other questions, concerns, or problems. We truly have no complaints at all about the project or about Outdoor Life. We would very happily recommend them to anyone who is interested in an outdoor living area, landscaping, or the like.

Bill was very willing to work with us even though this was a relatively small job for him. He went to extra effort to find a large Magnolia tree when his regular supplier did not have the size we wanted. The job was delayed because of the weather, but Bill and his crew of one came on a Saturday to get the job done before the next rain.

Bill was a pleasure to work with. We were placed on an "floating" schedule since our project was a shorter duration than his typical projects. (3 days). This meant he would get to our project as a window opened up between his larger projects. This worked fine for us. We had a pool put in our back yard 2 years ago but the initial grading by the pool company did a poor job keeping the natural flow of surface water the same. With the heavy rains we got this summer, it was clear the initial grading redirected all water from our driveway towards our house and eventually leaking under our crawlspace instead of the natural direction out our back yard. Bill and his crew came out for 3 days and regraded the back yard to put the natural flow of water back to its original direction. His workers were very polite and showed good attention to detail. Bill was always available to answer questions and ensured the slope of the grading was correct. They also ran a 4 inch downspout pipe out my backyard to handle additional rain coming from my largest section of roof. Finally, our house had a crawlspace door that was set too low to the ground. We raised the bottom of the door 2 bricks just as a safety measure in case water ever built up in that area (which it should not now) that it was of proper height and slope that water would not enter our crawlspace anymore. Overall, the work Outdoor Life Inc. did for us was excellent. I am a stickler for detail and I had no worries while they did their work. The job just finished and we have yet to have any heavy rains to ensure everything is working. But based on the attention to details and sloping of our new grade in the backyard, I am sure this problem has been resolved. I would highly recommend this company for any outdoor landscaping needs.

This was a huge project for us and one that we had been waiting years to do. If you are not inclined to read the rest of this review, it can be summarized this way: You cannot choose anyone better than Bill and the team at Outdoor Life, we had a great experience and the results exceeded our expectations. He isn't going to be your lowest bidder - but he'll be the best. Now for the details... I interviewed multiple Angie's List top rated companies for about 1.5 years before finally choosing Bill. Given this was going to be a very large, time-consuming project I wanted to make sure I chose someone that I felt had the experience, interest and creativity needed to make our backyard special. Having worked with Bill over 2 months of this project, he and his team met all the qualities I was looking for. Bill and his team can basically do everything and they have the certifications/licenses to back that up. What differentiated Bill from most landscape professionals I interviewed was that he was working with his crew, onsite everyday. He isn't going to show up to your house in a pristine embroidered polo shirt - he is a professional that has his hands on everything. Bill is an engineer that also has an artistic side. We needed that for our project as we aren't the most creative/imaginative people, and trusted Bill to help us transform the backyard. Bill's personality synced well with our family - the family enjoyed he and his crew being around. On to the project... This was a big job as I mentioned earlier. Bill and team had to excavate out an old, very large brick patio, remove old timber retaining walls and grade everything to provide appropriate drainage around the back of our house. He installed a massive, concrete patio that has river stone embedded and sanded down flat. That is topped off with a slate border. It looks amazing and I haven't seen anyone else do this in town. Bill installed a pond with a small stream and waterfall. Admittedly I think this is one of the smallest ponds Bill has ever installed, but it looks amazing in our backyard. The water feature was something we were unsure of initially - but now that we have it and have lived with it, I wouldn't change a thing. Bill added (5) fairly large Koi as well, and we can change the flow rate of the waterfall with a wireless remote. If you have the room in your backyard, you really should consider doing this. With 4 younger children at home, we also wanted to do something for them. Bill and team installed a ~30x30' basketball pad and stained it a light brownish color. I love the look because it doesn't have that bright new concrete harshness and fits into the backyard. Bill had this great idea to install a water spray ground into the basketball pad as well. Another great idea - we can simply flip a switch now and jets of water shoot up out of the pad. The kids loved this in the late summer - and I don't have to worry about any pooling of water as we installed a french drain to collect the run-off. My only regret was that we used a separate installer for the basketball goal (a ProDunks goal we ordered online). In the end, Bill and team could have handled this. Bill also added an outdoor electrical plug near the pad so that we can plug in lights, radios, cell phone chargers, etc. And finally, Bill helped construct an outdoor drinking fountain so that kids don't have to keep running into the house to get a drink. His solution was surprisingly cheap and works great. Our 3/4 acre backyard also received full irrigation. Bill educated us on choosing a Smart controller that intelligently controls the amount of watering (and timing) needed for your yard. The goal being that you reduce water consumption but ensure your plants/lawn are irrigated optimally. We also had the City of Charlotte install a separate irrigation meter (this took 4 months so plan early) that we are now hooked up to. The good news is that with the Smart Controller and the irrigation meter, the City of Charlotte will cap your water rates at a Tier 3. I believe this will pay off after 1 year of use. We also had the backyard landscaped with probably 100 or so plantings. Multiple beds created with mulch (I am not a fan of pine straw). Trees, bushes, perennials - many of which were used to provide near instantaneous privacy from our neighbors. Everything looks great and Bill has been back many times to make sure things are growing well. I also like the look of large boulders - so Bill installed 4-5 massive boulders around the patio that are nice to lean against, jump off of, etc. We had some funds remaining to add some landscape lighting to the backyard. We chose to use advanced LED lighting that should last us 10-30 years. The trees in the backyard look amazing as night - as well as the pond that is lit up. We plan to do more lighting once we have more funds to spend. The lighting really makes things look nice in the evening. We made a last minute decision to add a fire pit (in ground) with loose river rock around it. It looks great and fits in nicely to our new backyard. In summary, this entire experience exceeded our expectations. It was a ton of money for us, but has been well worth it. I will continue to use Bill / Outdoor Life for future projects in the front yard. If you are looking at a smaller project... or even bigger project, you need to interview Bill and let him show you some of his projects. One last piece of advice, Bill is busy (which is a good thing) - we did have to wait a couple months to start our project, so start planning early!

Bill and his team did a very nice job with our front yard renovation - we had 60 year old shrubs what were not maintained over the years, and had to be removed with huge roots everywhere. These guys were able to come in and overhaul our yard in just a few days. It was an incredible transformation and we are very pleased. Bill told us in the beginning that our project was a bit out of his comfort zone because we have a mid century modern home and were looking for a minimalist, clean landscape. This initially concerned us. That said, my husband and I think he nailed it - took exactly what we showed him we liked from photos and research and made it a reality. He taught us which plants thrive in which locations and selected an artful, elegant landscape for us. The stamped concrete is absolutely perfect. I could not have asked for a more beautiful finish to our front walk. Bill has an excellent team - all those guys, especially Enrique, are true professionals - they know what they're doing and take great pride in what they do. They work My only irritation was the protracted process to get started on our project. We initially contacted Bill in the summer and just now have been able to complete the work becuase of his schedule. Of course, my husband says that people who are really good at what they do are in high demand. That is truly the case with Outdoor Life. If you have the time to wait, I'd highly recommend them.

Service was great. Bill is one of the few "contractors" I have worked with that actually calls you back and shows up when he says he is going to. He came out beginning of summer to look at the project and provided me a scope of work and and estimate for $100.00. I was not ready to do anything until after the summer season and after I had finished building a fence around my property. Once the season was over and the fence was complete, I emailed Bill and told him I was ready to proceed but wanted him to see the project one more time with the new fence to be sure it could still be done. (I was a little disappointed that I forgot to leave enough room for his Bobcat between fence post but his guys were able to pull it up quite easily with the Bobcat and a chain which I later put back with a new post and concrete.) After I emailed him, I sent him a deposit and he put me on the schedule for end of year or early 2014 for his floater projects. I was quite surprised when I got an email a few days later that said he had had a cancelation and that he could do the project the upcoming Friday and Saturday. I said yes and he met me on site to stake my yard and give it a final survey. It was determined that he needed to crown my yard about 13inches higher than it currently was. A couple days later he and his crew arrived to unload the Bobcat followed a short time later by a dump truck with the first load of dirt. Several hours and trucks later they were leveling out the yard and sloping it with the machinery until the day came to a close Friday night. Saturday morning his crew was here first thing in the morning and they had finished grading, raking, and seeding the yard by 1pm. They repaired all the yard tracks and Bill came back to pick up his equipment later that night. For the size of the job it was a great experience and I appreciated Bill for sharing his landscape knowledge with me during the process so I knew exactly why he was suggesting what he was suggesting. A lot of "experts" just want to get the job and do it without telling you why they are doing what they are planning, but Bill was very helpful and eager to share his knowledge with me just in case I wanted to tackle the job myself...which I thankfully didn't. Bill applied my initial $100 estimate fee to my balance and I paid him for the remainder of the job once he talked to me and knew I was satisfied.

Since purchasing our home six years ago, we've experienced ongoing issues with the yard being wet and not draining well. We've spent several thousand dollars trying to correct the problem with very limited results. A co-worker of mine gave us Bill's name to contact for assistance. Somewhat skeptical about yet one more person who could fix the problem, I called him and he came out almost immediately to take a look. He explained his credentials and said it was a relatively simple problem to fix. Being the skeptic I am, I had my doubts because if it was so easy, why had no one else fixed it? My husband and I decided to give it one more try. Bill called us a couple of days before he was ready to begin the work. He and his crew arrived on time (unlike some contractors we've used.) The workers were so polite and hard working. They hand dug the trench in the front to avoid cutting the utilities. When I arrived home the first day the workers told me they had cut the phone cable and the water line. Both weren't marked accurately - so it wasn't their fault. One worker was already on his way out to get the material to fix the water line so we would have water that night. The others worked on the job until almost dark. The next day they came back early and worked a full day. They repaired issues with our irrigation lines and made us aware of a problem with one section of the system. (The problem wasn't related to their work - and they didn't have to tell us about it at all.) Given the large area in the front yard where the lines were put in, I ask Bill if he could put up some fencing to keep our 3 big dogs from using the newly excavated area as a mud track. This was outside the scope of the work be he graciously obliged. Bill is a no nonsense individual who can tell you the right way to get the work done. We appreciate his directness because we don't have the time to spend researching and micromanaging the work. With the rain we had last week, I'm happy to report our yard in drier than it has been since we've lived there. We will be using Outdoor Life again to create a landscape plan and to help us design an outdoor living space that will meet our needs. Yes, there is a waiting list to have Bill and his crew do the work but in our opinion, it's worth the wait.

Outdoor Life, Inc. was recommended to us by the contractor who built a screened porch for us this summer. We have never regretted our decision to hire Bill Botkin for our project. He offers wonderful advice which we needed for our patio, grilling station, and landscaping. Bill has an amazing eye for detail and made sure each step of the project was done properly. He and his crew demolished an existing sidewalk and built a beautiful stamped concrete patio. They laid conduits for the gas and electrical lines. To accomplish all this, they had to level a large area in our sloping backyard. He stained and sealed the patio before building an 'L' shaped grilling station. The grilling station is sided in faux stone which Bill helped choose for us. He tried to match the colors to go well with the bricking on the house. His crew did a fantastic job putting the stone siding on to achieve the best color and shape combinations. Bill checked this work carefully and if he saw an area he thought would look better with a different piece of stone, his crew changed it out. The grilling station has a stone backsplash and a stone coping covering it. Bill put lighting under the coping as well as under the granite countertop. After completing the patio and grilling station, they moved some irrigation lines to accommodate the area around the porch, as well as, the patio. He planted all the way around the patio, choosing a beautiful accent tree to go behind the grill. He put and up-light at the base of the tree and it shows beautifully at night. They put in some hedges,and trees for privacy between our property and the neighbor's home and planted beautiful bushes around the porch and house. As the original project was on-going, we asked Bill to do a few odd jobs with other landscaping problems. He did them all as we asked. We are so please with the finished product. Bill's crew are talented, hard working, respectful of your property and are very pleasant to work with. We HIGHLY recommend Bill Botkin and his Outdoor Life, Inc. crew.

I called for an estimate for landscaping my backyard. He called back right away and we got something set up very quickly for June 20th. He told me prior to the appointment that he charges 100.00 for the visit. I agreed to pay the fee. He came out on time and was very professional. He had a lot of knowledge and a lot of ideas. I paid the 100.00 and he left. I did tell him the timeframe was for next spring. I also had 2 other companies come out for estimates and plans too and neither one of those companies charged any fee. I received plans from the other 2 companies about 1 month later. I call Outdoor Life around the beginning of August and asked when the plans would be completed and was told there were no plans coming. I asked about the 100.00 I paid and was told that was for his knowledge. I said I must have misunderstood what the 100.00 was for. He went on to offer that he would do up a sketch and have it to me by next week. I never received one. I'm sure Outdoor Life would have done a great job and would be very professional, however, I wish the fee was explained better up front. I feel like I paid 100.00 for nothing. I don't know about most people, but I can't remember what people tell me or prices stated verbally. There was no way for me to decide to use Outdoor Life as I had no idea what I was working with in the way of plans and estimate. I did not know what it would possibly look like when completed. I know estimates are just that, estimates, and they will most likely change. I would never hold anyone to the exact estimate as unexpected costs and changes come up. Again, Outdoor Life is a good company and does good work from their website and other reviews on this site. I was just disappointed about not completely understanding what the fee was for. I guess the ultimate responsibility is on me as I just assumed and didn't ask what the fee was for. I have learned and just want people to make sure they ask about the fees they pay. The work is being done in my backyard and is actually being done this year and not next so everything worked out good.

Outdoor Life was professional and responsive; they were thorough in their suggestions and estimates. Bill definitely knows what he is doing! We are already thinking about future projects to use Outdoor Life for additional exterior needs for our house. We originally solicited other estimates and Outdoor Life, in terms of professionalism, experience and value, could not be beat. The time to complete the work was actually less than estimated. The technique used to stain the mantle was innovative.