ENVIROSCAPES DESIGN

Don't count on them to return inquiries

We were having issues with some of the trees that she planted but she came out to help us solve the problem. Her main thing is that she works with native plants because they grow the best, they survive the most, and they need the least amount of work to keep looking nice. We had virtually no landscaping because it was a new house, so she put a huge bed in the front for privacy. She did a number of smaller areas around the house and driveway. We contracted with her to do the plans first and she did most of it last year but she has done a bit more this year. She also planted trees for us and she came out yesterday to give me tips on some of the plants. The only issue I have is that I have to hunt her down at times. I had to find her and ask her to come take a look at the plants this year; she didn’t do a lot of follow-up. I don’t think she is unresponsive, I think she is very busy.

It was exactly what I asked for low maintenance, deer resistant, hardy, with a mix of pink bloomers. Kathy is very easy to work with. She listens and asks questions to really understand what you expect. This was a highly personal project durning a difficult time. She was professional and compassionate. One year later and everythiing from both projects came through beautifully. I selected Enviroscapes initially because I wanted a natural not commercial look. That's what I like. The plant material is placed in a neat but natural way. Shrubs were trimmed by hand with small clippers from the inside to encourage growth becoming full NOT trimmed with a powered equipment to shape it like a box or lollipop.

Kathy was going to do about $900 landscape plan for me. We first met in November. There was a $75 consultation fee and that was non refundable. Then I told her that I wanted to wait and think about it. We decided to wait until March because I was not clear myself as to what I wanted done. In March I contacted her and I had the original contract. I told her that I was prepared to go forward and have her do everything that she wanted. She then said that she wanted to come out another time and go over the property with me again. She had a bunch of information. Then she came out and we toured the property again. We made more notes and I gave her $412, which was half of the project. We agreed on a one month deadline for the project. A month went by and I didn’t hear from her on that date. I e-mailed her informing her about the day the plan being ready. I told her that I understood having rain in the area and maybe she was probably behind on things. I told her that I did need a definite completion date on the plan. One of the issues was putting in a garden and that needed to be in by the second week of June. So, I sent that off to her. Then three days later, I get an e-mail back from her saying that she is sorry because she is over committed. She put my check back in the mail and she said that she can’t do the project. I was disappointed with her because I was counting on her. I sent e-mails, but she didn’t respond back. She broke the contract and she owes me $75 in addition to the deposit. So, I e-mailed her back and she said that she would be putting back my check in the mail. She also said that she wouldn’t reimburse me back $75 because it is non refundable. She didn’t even call me back even though I called her a number of times and left messages. It was really unprofessional. I wish she was more forthcoming. I know she lost her father weeks before, but she didn’t explain any of it to me at the end. I couldn’t get to her at times and she wasn’t responding to phone calls some times. The e-mails would come back, but they weren’t immediate. Both the times she came out to meet, she was late. There were no apologies as well. She didn’t do anything right. The least she could have done was to pick up her phone so that I could ask questions. It was just a cold e-mail. She did take responsibility, but there was no clear explanation except for the weather. All I asked her was for another date in my e-mail. There were 12 projects and I was going to use whoever I was going to hire for probably over 5 years because the property is large. There are 5 buildings that need landscaping. We were going to do 3 this year. She gave me no options and that completely baffled me. She left me standing with nothing. I wouldn’t use her again in the future.

My husband & I met with Kathy and we walked the entirety of our yard. We talked about the kinds of plants we wanted, the ease in which it would be to care for the yard, and the possibility to do the work in stages. She listened and took notes and she had wonderful suggestions. Several weeks later she came back with a preliminary drawing. With a few MINOR changes, it was exactly what we wanted. Kathy is very easy to talk with and when she left, we felt we had made the right decision in choosing her. She is now working on a detailed plan. After we meet with her and approve it, we'll schedule a start date. We look forward to working with her!

We consulted with them in September and decided to go with them. We are paying their winter rate and are getting a discount. Our experience has been excellent. Kathy Handready is the principal person we have worked with. She is very responsive. We are appreciative of her knowledge and skill, specifically using plans that will be friendly to our environment and wildlife in our area. Additionally, she listens very well. Kathy is a very pleasant person to work with. I would highly recommend Enviroscapes and Kathy if you are interested in an environmentally friendly landscape or home environment.

I spoke to her on the phone and told her what I wanted. She felt that what I asked was in line with what she consults on. That was a match. I had found information on the net that she is a dedicated environmental advocate specifically for sustainable landscaping with native plants. She had also done a lot of additional work in the lakes. I found that her manner on the phone was top class. Talking to her and matching to what she does was also good. I know from what information I found about her is that she is a person who is dedicated to habitat preservation, and she has actually worked in this area. She knows a lot of all of this. All this made a good impression on me. She was very responsive and professional. One thing she can also do is she will provide a quote for the full design. We talked about that too. Depending on the consults I will probably ask her to give me a quote.

She was here for three full days. Worked with barely any breaks in the scorching sun with one assistant. The final price was as quoted and the work was done as planned. Kathy is clearly an expert. The part I appreciated the most was that she LISTENED to my request and followed through. So many contractors listen with half their attention because they are the expert and know what's best... truly the experts should know how to listen FIRST, ask questions and keep the line of communications open. That's the service we received from Enviroscapes. I have already made contact about another project and will continue to.

Kathy was on time, and performed meticulous work. She and her crew planted the flowers and cleaned up. The beds look terrific. We already have several native insects - particularly butterflies - we haven't seen before, and nasties like japanese beetles are disappearing rapidly.

She came on time, walked the area we were interested in landscaping. Reviewed my design and offered suggestions. Gave us a folder with extra information and booklets on native plants. She was there about 1-1/2 hrs. Said if we had any other questions or at a nursery with questions, we could call her and she'd help us out over the phone the best she could.

She has emailed me several questions and she spends a lot of time on detail. She said she would have them to me in a week or so. She spent well over on hour with me. She took lots of pictures. She came up with a proposal.

A-1 perfect. No hitches, better than we imagined. And to top it off, she keeps checking in with us to make sure the plants are OK, and to give us advice about them. Who ever heard of such service? She was very patient; we took over a year to say "go ahead." The people she had working with her were great as well.

Kathy was extraordinarily good. We have met with several, and she is hands down the best. Specifically: excellent knowledge of what was growing in our yard already, this is this, that is that, this is invasive and will take over and should be eradicated, that is non-native but won't take over, you can do as you like with it. She was able to very, very specific about what she would provide at her first and subsequent visits. She articulated excellent questions about our priorities and our time frame and our budget. We will contract with her for site planning and supervision of the installation. Stay tuned for more updates.

I APPRECIATE THE NATIVE PLANTS FOCUS, SHE GIVES THE PLANT LIST, THE REASON WHY SHE USED THOSE PLANTS, SO MANY IMPORTANT DETAILS, DRAWINGS OF THE LANDSCAPE DESIGN & MY HOME & DIGITAL PHOTOS OF THE HOME AS WELL, PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS & CARE INFORMATION. WORKED WITHIN MY BUDGET. LISTENED TO MY PRIORITIES. THIS EXPERIENCE FOLLOWED SOME PROBLEMS WITH OTHER CONTRACTORS. I REALLY APPRECIATE THE DIFFERENCE IN THE QUALITY OF THE EXPERIENCE. THE DEPTH OF HER KNOWLEDGE, CAPABILITIES, DESIGN ABILITIES COULD NOT BE MORE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY ME.