Larkin Landscaping

Half the neighborhood is using them now.

It was all part of the same job. I help him captive for two weeks. He's honest. He worked very well with us. He doesn't overcharge either. I had no idea what to plant. On the side of us, there's a hill. When we had our back yard extended and everything, they took a big chunk of the hill to extend the backyard. So, I had this big dirt pile back there. I knew it was going to wash away. It was a 4 foot drop where the front loader came in and cut out the dirt. So, I knew we had to put up a retaining wall of some type in. So, I bought all the stone and it sat there for a year. My husband didn't do it. He kept saying, "I'll get around to it, I'll get around to it". So, anyway, he was across the street working and I wondered over and I asked him he built retaining walls. He said, "yeah," and he walked back here and said, "yeah, I can do that. It'll take me a couple days. I'm busy, but I'll be back", and I said, "what would you charge me to do that and then put some plants and stuff up there. I don't know what I want to do. I want something that grows fast and for privacy so the neighbors aren't looking down on our patio all the time". He made all these suggestions and everything. Then the day that he was going to get the plants, I asked him about adding extra bushes on both sides of the house and clean up and everything. He's a real small operation, he says, "well, I don't have my check book with me or anything to pick up the plants or anything", he was going over to pick up the stone. I said, "well, I'll give you a charge card". He charged me wholesale for all of the plants. He brought them back in his truck and he put them all in the drive way. He said, "just keep them watered until I can put him in". I'm talking seven 5' bushes, 6 cypresses, which is what he recommended, a big flowering cherry thing that went in there, a bunch of hosta, a bunch of boxwood, there was a bunch of stuff. He was willing to pass the savings on. When he was here all the time, him and his little guy that helped him build the wall, I fed them and ordered them pizza. It was hot and I took out water and everything all the time. He was so appreciative that I worked with him and I was extra appreciative that he worked with me. I kept bringing all the neighbors over to show them everything he was doing. I think he got three sprinkler systems on the block. We had a bid years ago to do it and it was $7000 so when he said "I can do it for maybe $20-something", I said, "G*d, please do it" and it kept spiraling from there.

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Very nice to deal with, not moving ahead with the project until the Spring 2014.

It was a pleasure doing business with Larkin. They arrived the same day I called to give me an estimate and started the job the following business day after I agreed to do the work. I was pleasantly surprised because they were the third company I talked to about the job and the only one willing to do the work. The other two companies didn't even provide a quote. They said the job was to small to make it worth their while. The work was done in 3 days, 8 days total time due to several days of rain but every day that they could work on the job they did until it was completed.