Tulsa Tree and Landscape

I believe this company is no longer in business as of spring of 2013.

We signed a contract in January of 2012. They were supposed to start in March of 2012. Because of the rain at the time, we had a verbal agreement to postpone the project for a couple weeks. They delivered rocks on 4/9/2012. On 5/14/2012, we were still waiting for them to show up to start the project. Finally on 5/31/2012, they came and did some work. The work they did wasn't what we had agreed upon so we asked the project manager to come out and look at it. They worked parts of two other days. They haven't been back since June 2012.

We paid for almost all of the total cost of the project and haven't received any of the work. We are now in litigation.

The owner, Jamin, came out to our property on May 15th, 2012. He said the job we are wanting done is pretty simple and he was very casual. Great. Jamon made a sketch for us (although he was very late to our appt) and it was lovely. The price, we thought, was very fair at $2000 total, so we signed the contract and made a deal. We really liked Jamon.
The contract stated that they would be working on the beds by May 25. By the end of the month of May, they had neither showed nor called, and I'd left two messages about the work. Finally, on June 3rd someone showed up and build the beds. They didn't do the whole job, though. They were supposed to build them, and then lay weed fabric and fill them with soil. They just built them and left. After another message left for the company and a week passing by, I finally gave up and filled them myself. I was NOT happy.
The rest of the work (the real landscaping) was supposed to start by June 18th. By July 4th, we'd called and left 3 more messages, and heard nothing at all. We left one more message, and then my husband decided to drive to their physical location (45 minutes from our house) before we considered legal action. (We had paid them $1500 up front and literally heard not a word since then. We were concerned that they were going to skip town with our money.) We finally reached them. Jamin acted like it was odd that we were upset, and claimed he left a message for us the week before. We checked our records, and that is patently not true. He promised to be at our property the next week.
When they finally showed up, they did a pretty good job. Not perfect, and the first day of the work they showed up with no sketches, so we had to give them ours in order for them to get anything done. For all of this, I asked that we not have to pay the additional $500 in the contract. They were only willing to knock of $25 for the work I did myself. Overall, the final product is decent, but I wouldn't recommend the company to anyone. The lack of professionalism, responsiveness, and punctuality is simply unacceptable.

The overall experience was excellent. The price and quality were excellent. I would use them again in the future.

They're nice people, but a poorly run shop.  I had only two people assigned to my job and it took all summer.  Frequently, they would disappear, or work would stop while they waited for material.  I was asked several times for advances to get material so work could continue.  Each time, Jamin (owner) would offer profuse apologies and promises to get moving.

The work that was done was done correctly, it just wasn't timely.  Maybe you could give them small jobs, but my trust in this company is destroyed.  I won't use them again.

See Updates below.     We met Jamin Johnson (Owner) and Ryan Cole (Operations Manager) at a small home show.   They were offering a special where we prepaid for a project based on some preliminary drawings that Jamin and I came up with at the show.  The home show "special" price was 50% off the regular price with any future modifications also being 50% off.    Obviously, I have no way of knowing what the regular prices are so it's hard to tell if we truly got a deal, but having just had another company install a smaller front flower garden with significantly less shrubs and boulders (for about the same price), I'm inclined to think we got a good deal.

The week following the show, Jamin came out and surveyed the site.  At that time, we added a few things, took out a few things and basically came to an agreement of what was going to be done and agreed to the additional cost for the changes.  We scheduled the work to be completed in three weeks.  Jamin called during the week it was scheduled and said they were running behind some due to the large show response, so we rescheduled for the end of the following week.   There were several days of bad weather, so I knew that the resheduled date would also be pushed back.   So, about three weeks after the original schedule we got the landscaping complete.  I wasn't overly disappointed in the delays - although it is always nice when a contractor can meet a schedule.

The landscaping took a day and went well.  Ryan and his crew did a good job arranging the plants and boulders and the end result looks great.   I guess now we'll wait and see how the plants do this Summer.   I will write up a follow-up review if any issues come up in the future.   

Update 7/12/2012:  About 5 or 6 Azalas, a few other plants and a Dogwood tree have died and I have contacted Tulsa Tree and Landscape about replacing them per their warranty.  Jamin responded to my email and said he would replace them when the weather cools off in September.   I asked if we could set up a meeting to look at the plants and come up with a game plan on whether or not these same type of plants should be replaced.   He replied that he is too busy over the next few weeks to meet with me and might drop by and take a look (without meeting with me) if he can find some extra time.   Subsequent emails have not been answered, but at least one didn't get through because his email box is full.  Never a good sign.   Hopefully, Tulsa Tree and Landscape will come through on their warranty and I won't have the problems another reviewer went through.  At this time, I'm lowering my initial review slightly from an A to a B to reflect a decrease in quality.   If they replace the plants per their warranty with healthy plants in a timely manner I will raise the grade back to where it was before.

Update 8/6/12:   A few more plants/shrubs have died (probably due to the extreme heat).   I'm having another company redo quite a bit of the flower bed that Tulsa Tree and Landscape put in.   As far as I know, Jamin never "dropped by" to look at my plants like he promised earlier as I haven't heard from him since about a month ago.   I guess I'll wait and see if he wants to come out in September like he said he would.

Update 9/25/2012:   About 50% of the plants/shrubs died.   The rest I had replanted by another company as a part of a complete backyard makeover.   I never heard another word from Jamin after the July email asking about replacing the original dead plants.  I've lowered my overall grade from a B to a D to reflect the fact that I had to replace the plants that died and Tulsa Tree and Landscape didn't live up to their part of the warranty agreement and due to an overall lack of responsiveness and professionalism.

Final Update 8/3/2013   Never heard back from Jamin.   Anybody interested in Tulsa Tree and Landscape should review the BBB file first.  Many complaints of paying for projects and not being completed (or started in some instances).

Good: Initial installation was fine.  We liked the design and plants used. 

Bad: Several barberry (8) and one evergreen did not survive the winter (scattered throughout landscape).  Contacted Tulsa Tree & Landscape (TTL) in April and they agreed to replace under warranty.  They repeatedly promised to come to replace the plants, but did not.  Not sure if it was a poor scheduling/business management issue on their part or if they were trying to avoid doing the replacements.  It took more than 4 months to get the plants replaced.  Only after many calls and excuses as to why no one showed up when promised and calling me the "squeaky wheel" did they finally find time to do job. 

Two more plants (leatherleaf viburnum) and 12' tree did not survive the summer drought.  I don't really see this as a warranty issue due to the severe weather, but I certainly wouldn't call TTL to do the replacement work. 

Bottom line: You cannot rely on TTL to do what they say.  May be okay for a new installation, but don't expect timely follow-up on any issues.  I would say discount the value of the warranty—it is not worth the trouble to get the work done.  I would not use them again.

The experience was mostly negative.  We told them what we wanted, they came in and did their thing when we were out of town.  When we came back most of it was not done correctly so my husband had to take pictures and send an email to show everything that was wrong and what needed to be done.  The guy did come out and attempt to correct it, but we still aren't happy with it.  Some of the drainage things aren't buried, they are at the surface at the ground and not covered.  The sod was laid wrong on the hill, it was laid with the direction of the hill so when the water washes it washes with it.  We would have laid it diagonally so the water would have caught on the sod.  It was a lot of things that someone like that should have known to do.  Once we said yes to the guy who gave us the estimate and we talked with - once we said yes he disappeared.  He sent his crew in, most of them didn't speak English and he never was around.  I didn't like that.  I wouldn't recommend them ever.  It was definitely over priced for what they did.

I feel like I really got my money's worth. The area was very large and needed a total makeover. The project went well from planning to completion. Very professional staff and really hard workers. Responsive to my input and questions, and paid attention to detail. I love the results, and have to walk outside several times a day to look at my beautiful front yard. It looks like a magazine cover.