Native Design & Hardscape

Came up with a great design; just too expensive for us to implement at this time

We are thrilled with the end result of our patio and water feature. Every person we dealt with at Native Design was extremely professional, friendly and helpful. The workers always answered every question I had and often asked me what I thought of a result and if I wanted anything different. They really wanted to make us happy! The workers were always on time, started by 8:30 am and worked late in the day. We felt the overall time taken was appropriate. We did not have any surprises as to cost, the estimate we were given matched the cost of the patio. The owner, Jacob Dunaway, always responded very quickly to me when I had a question. There were a few items that needed to be worked on after completion and he sent persons back to my home to take care of things promptly - even after he had been paid in full! I felt Jacob was very honest and hard working. This is the first time my husband and I have had any professional landscaping done. If I were to do it again, I would definitely use Native Designs. One thing I would do differently would be to get more details on exactly what product was going to be used for every aspect of the patio.

I was at home while they were working but I wasn't out there with them much so I missed most of their work. I looked out the window a couple of times. I saw them struggling to remove the turf grass on the first bed. I have Bermuda grass which is awful to remove. I went outside a little later as they were working on the second bed. I saw he didn't remove the grass first. He just sprayed weed killer then put the fabric down and just dug a hole in the ground for each plant. He came over to tell me he sprayed weed killer that would take care of removing the grass. The third bed was where they corrected the drainage problem so they added dirt to the ground. They also did not remove the grass from that bed. They didn't spray weed killer either. They also left off the landscape fabric which I realized later. When they were done it looked ok but it was hard to tell because it was late October. The next day I realized they left a cap off a hole as part of the drainage correction. The hole this left in the yard was large enought that someone could have broken a leg if they stepped in it. It took several days for this to be capped off. Jacob emailed my invoice to me after the install. I thought the landscape fabric would have been included in the estimate, but it was extra, and the charge for it was more than two or three sets of 1000 threadcount luxury sheets! I remembered they didn't install the fabric on the last bed and he took some off the bill to adjust for that. I never asked if the landscape fabric was included, I just told him I wanted it when he asked. Lessen learned; verify what is included in the costs. Landscape fabric was not listed on the estimate, so now I know. I do not blame Jacob for this. I should have asked to make sure that was included in the cost. When spring arrived the problems arrived with warmer weather. I had planted some daylilies in the second planting bed they installed. As I was digging I saw a bit of light green bermuda grass under the fabric. I was hoping this was just in that area and wouldn't cause issues. (I was new to bermuda grass at that time). About a month later the bermuda grass started growing in there like crazy. I reached out to Jacob and he sent out one of the guys from the crew who did the work originally to remove the turf grass that was coming up and not only did he not remove the bermuda grass, he actually dug up the daylilies I just planted. I was very angry. I spent a lot of money on special varieties of daylilies, and they were growing in really well. The guy came back and replaced the lilies but didn't even water them in. After I finished watering them and seeing bermuda grass still in the bed, I called Jacob and left him a message that he needed to come out and take a look for himself because the grass was still there. When he came out he gave me a call apologizing for the quality of the work and had another crew redo the work. I wasn't home at the time, but it seems they did remove most of the bermuda grass and replanted the daylilies (since they weren't replanted properly before). They did not replant the maiden grass though, so there is still a bit of bermuda grass around them. Almost a year after the maiden grass was planted and there isn't much bermuda grass in there anymore but the plants look horrible. They look half dead, not completely dead, just half dead. To save money, that bed was only composed of maiden grass, but it has barely done anything this year. Most ornamental grasses grow well, but this still looks terrible. I had told Jacob about the problem with the maiden grass, but he has not responded to that complaint. A short time after the issue with the bermuda grass in the bed with maiden grass, it started coming up in the third bed too, the one where they just dumped dirt on the grass and planted. It took a couple of requests and Jacob finally sent someone out to fix it. Well they sprayed weed killer on everything and it all died. He finally had someone come out to redo that bed replanting the plants. It looks better now but I don't think they selected the correct plants for the location. I think it is too shaded for some of them. Overall I am very disappointed with the work. It seems like he is more concerned with quantity of orders than quality of work. Even from the beginning before the landscaping design was created, when Jacob and I first started emailing, I told him I preferred pinks and purples and didn't really care for the warmer flower colors. Well red roses and yellow-orange coreopsis flowers was what they planted. I like them now that they are in the garden, but they are not what I would have selected. The estimate was supposed to cover preparing the beds for plants and planting the plants, but they didn't do much more than dig holes in my yard and plant the plants. I paid a lot of money for shoddy work. I do not like complaining or confrontations, which is one of the reasons it has taken me so long to write this review, but I was forced to confront Jacob with the problems repeatedly, still not to my satisfaction. I think he should have checked all the beds when he realized the one bed wasn't done properly. One of the beds looks good, but the only thing they did differently was to remove the grass first. I don't think they did any other "preparing." I do not want to call him again, and I won't be using his company ever again. I probably won't reach out to him again, so I will just live with what I have. I am hoping the maiden grass grows better next year. If not, I will either redo the bed myself or end up paying someone else to. Update 11/1/2013 After reading the Provider Response, I feel impelled to respond. I can't believe he has resorted to blaming me for his crew's inferior work. I am sure most of his crew's do excellent work, as the glowing review show, but this particular crew did not. He claims they sprayed herbicide and removed the turf grass prior to planting. That is not true. They removed the grass from the first bed, but not the next two. They only sprayed the herbicide on the ground prior to planting maiden grass. They just dug holes in the ground to plant the maiden grass. Herbicide alone will not kill bermuda grass. In the third bed, they didn't even spray herbicide, they just threw on a couple of inches of topsoil and planted the plants in that. By May I had bermuda grass growing like crazy in both beds. Yes, his crews came out five times to deal with the bermuda grass, BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T REMOVE IT BEFORE THEY PLANTED, NOT BECAUSE I DIDN'T MAINTAIN MY PROPERTY. As far as the dead plants they replaced, they died because one of his employees sprayed herbicide all over that bed trying to kill the bermuda and other grass growing up through the topsoil. That bed is more shaded than the others, so bermuda wasn't growing as much, but the fescue and other grass that wasn't removed before planting was growing up through the topsoil they put on top of it. I didn't think he was responsible for maintaining my yard after installing the beds. I expected him to take responsibility of his crew's inferior work and redo the beds that they didn't prepare correctly in the first place. I am very disappointed that he is dishonestly representing me and the work of this crew. I have lowered the rating to an "F" from a "D" based on this dishonesty. He emailed me after reading my review, and I hoped for a brief moment that he would take it upon himself to come out and redo the maiden grass bed the way it was supposed to have been done in the first place, but that didn't happen. I responded to his email with another email, but I did not ask him to come out again to redo anything, so I don't want to give the impression that I asked for that; I did not. I was hoping he would have realized that I was not happy because I had to repeatedly call/email to try to get satisfactory work, and that still hadn't happened. Instead he chose to respond to my review and make false claims about the quality of the work that was performed in my yard and about me as a customer and person. Shame on him.

We absolutely love our landscaping! Jacob and his crew were extremely professional and very easy to work with. Jacob took our ideas and created a plan that blew us away! He exceeded our expectations and we are thrilled with the results. Native Design turned a boring patio into an entertainment haven, with flagstone patio, stone fire pit and brick bench. The crew built flagstone steps down to the play set and a walkway to our backyard. They also created the perfect raised garden, which we now use! It has been two and a half years and we still use Native Design for our lawn care maintenance. Jacob is always available to answers questions and is extremely confident which is his best attribute. I strongly recommend his company, they are truly the BEST in KNOXVILLE!

I called the company to see if they would give me an estimate on pouring a concrete deck for me. I called several times and left a couple of messages, but never got a return call from them.

Provider was courteous and knowledgeable. Gave me samples of paving products, answered all of my questions, and left me with a clear idea of what can be done along with an estimate for the work.

We purchased a landscape design from Angies list. It took a month to get an appointment to have them come out. We discussed what we were looking for and then he promised that someone would be out later in the week to take some measurements. It took another month for someone to come out and take measurements and then 2 more weeks to have him come out to show us the design. The only real requirements we gave him during the discussion were to maximize privacy, maximize our lake view and remove the overgrown trees in the front and replace with nice landscaping. When he came out with the design, the trees were still in the design plan and he had removed the front bushes instead. The main points we were looking for in the design were not included. He said he would correct and get us a new design. We asked for a quote and the revised design for what we really wanted. He sent the quote, which was very high and never sent the revised plan. He never contacted us again and we got quotes from someone else who removed the trees in the front. As we never got the design plan that we paid for we are back to square one with redesigning the front yard. I've hired landscapers in the past. A reputable landscaper will ask you your budget (something he never did), give you a detailed plan of there ideas (no charge, but with the condition that it cannot be used by anyone else), give you a quote within your budget, schedule the work. It should not take 2 months to get a plan, even in a busy season. It may take several months to get the work done as landscapers have their busy season. I assumed since we were paying for a landscape design, that is would be a really nice design. This design was missing the main points and was in my opinion below average.

Very pleased with the project; at my request, the goal of the design was to improve esthetics but keep my maintenance to a minimum, Jacob's design did just that: the project looks great, the fellows doing the job worked very hard, all the rain made their job more difficult; was surprised, but very impressed that the driveway and sidewalk were power washed to keep the areas looking clean and neat; excellent work ethic shown by the workers; I highly recommend this company

The original information for the deal indicated they own the rights to the design and do not release it for other companies to bid out. Understandable considering the very affordable price. In talking with Jacob at our initial consultation, we indicated to him that we would be interested in paying an additional fee if we could get a printed master landscape plan for our yard. While we would definitely hire his company to do some of the work, we also like to do some of the planting ourselves as we can afford to do so. We like having a master plan that we can work on a little at a time. Anyway, at that consultation, Jacob indicated it would be several weeks before he could even start working on our design plan. We were fine with that because we knew it was busy season for landscapers and we were in no real hurry. In late May, Jacob contacted us to let us know he was about to do our plan and would be able to meet with us within the week. We love the master plan and can't wait to get started on our yard. His selection of plants and trees is spot on with what we wanted for our yard. Jacob even left us with several copies of the plan at no additional cost. Although it took a couple of months to get the plan, it was worth it and Jacob was great about staying in touch with us throughout the process. We will hopefully be contacting him soon to get on his schedule to do some of the work. We just need to figure out what we can afford to do right now. An additional note about Jacob's integrity. We have a difficult yard with a steep sloping front yard, a backyard that slopes up, and a side yard with a steep slope that goes up to a flat area we use for our kids' playground. We had assumed we would need to do expensive retaining walls to create terraces to make the slopes more usable. But Jacob didn't think we needed to incur that additional expense. We can landscape the slopes and put in stone steps in a couple of places for easier access, thus making it easier to maintain the yard by not having to cut grass on the slopes. Thank you, Jacob! We look forward to working with you soon.

The whole job took several months due to all of the rain that kept progress from happening. The end result was great and the delay was not the company's- it was just the weather.

Native Design is one company I can count on to do what they promise. Our remodel interfered with Jacob's schedule some, but he would reschedule and wait until the contractors were out of his way. If Native Design was due out on a Tuesday, they were there on a Tuesday, and sometimes they had to come back or do some other type of work around the yard until contractors were gone. If there was something in Jacob's plan that I didn't particularly like, he would go back and come up with another solution. He works well with his customers and always does what he says he will do.

My experience with Native Design & Restoration Landscapes did not go very well. There wasn't much to the job they did. Their final presentation to me was a sheet of paper that said what they were doing. He talked to me for about a half an hour. He then went and made some measurements and made this two line statement about what they would do and what equipment they were going to be using. I had been given the impression there would be diagrams and description documents and a little presentation in which they would talk about what they would do. I'm glad I didn't pay the full price of that service. But you get what you pay for. He didn't really give me any information that I didn't know already. He pretty much reiterated the stuff that I had already thought of. He was fine and polite. They just didn't do much for me.

I liked the ideas that were mentioned...the next step was for a landscape plan for my yard.....I have not heard anything back from the company

I got the landscape design through a "Big Deal." They came out to our home, talked with me about our landscaping (or lack thereof!) and provided us with a detailed drawing for the yard. All of this was as expected and as promised and we were very satisfied with the design. They also provided a detailed estimate to do the actual landscaping. It seemed quite steep but, in fairness, I hadn't gotten any other estimates so I'm not sure if it was high or not. We could not move on with the project because our air conditioner died just after they gave us the design and our money had to be spent on replacing the AC.

I used an Angie's List Big Deal coupon for this project. They came out and looked at the house before they submitted a design. I did not enjoy the experience. We live on a farm and have lots of big rocks we wanted to use in the design. The guy who came out was very dismissive and said they did not use that kind of rock in the design. I told him I liked evergreens and he never asked about what kind of plants I liked or if there was anything in particular I wanted. He just came, looked and came back later with a design. I was not real happy with this. Some of the plants that he recommended were not something that I wanted so he let us know that they were making suggestions for plants only; and that's about all we would get for the $129; you don't get any other recommendations for anything else. I did not use this company for any landscape work. It took a long time for them to get back to us after they came out. I also wanted them to quote on a paver driveway but I knew it was not going to be within our budget. He showed up the first time when he said he would.

The process was slow, but again it was not entirely his fault.

We contacted Native Designs through their Angiles list $200 "big deal" promotion. Our main focus was on some patio work in back and a small retaining wall on the side of our house. We met with a designer and he came up with a plan that accomodated some of what we discussed, but on the top of that proposed a massive amount of landscape work in our front. Based on all of the porposed work, the cost was about 2x our budget. We were able to work with him to trim back work in front, but the cost was still over our expectations. When we got competitive bids, they were significantly cheaper than that given by Native Designs -- seems Native Designs thought we were "captive" customers based on the "Big Deal" purchase. At this point they came up with a reasonable bid. At the end of the day we went with another firm and we didn't even get any of the designs from Native Designs that we paid the $200 for. We had to start from scratch. All in all, I'm not happy with Native Designs or the Angie's List "Big Deal" promotion.

I emailed Native Design after finding them online and seeing their office locally. Jacob responded via email and we set up an initial appointment. Jacob was punctual for appointments for estimates and redesigns (I got estimates and plans drawn from three companies including Native Design). Once we agreed on the project and the price, he gave me a start date about a month away. His crew showed up that morning and got the entire job completed in two weeks, including a holiday and a weather delay. They cleaned up daily, were very professional and trustworthy, and of course I changed my mind and added to the project several times :-). They were flexible and made fantastic decisions (several times he offered changes and I trusted his expertise). I was skeptical about finding a landscape company I could trust because I am not educated in this area. I'm thrilled to find one that I can continue to use in the future for biannual work around the house, additional projects and professional advice. With our busy schedule, it was great to communicate via email and not have to be available every day- I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the project went. I'd like to give some constructive criticism- but I can't think of a thing to complain about! They upgraded my concrete driveway to pavers at no charge- and upgraded the size of the trees for the privacy fence at no charge, and finished ahead of schedule. I was pleased with the experience and would recommend them easily.

Our experience overall was good. They contacted us not long after I purchased the deal on Angie's list and scheduled a date & time to come meet us and see what we were hoping to do. They came back in a few weeks with a proposed layout along with some estimated costs to do the job.

The experience went well.Will look at giving them a call in early spring.

They didn’t do any installation of plants, but they did the design on paper. I thought they took a little more time than I expected to get the results but other than that, they did a very good job. I would recommend the guy I dealt with. He was very professional, very courteous and showed up when he said he would.

I contacted Native Design for a quote on landscape installation in the early Summer and got a call back from the owner within a day of leaving a message. After letting them know what i wanted, they scheduled their Landscape Architect Patrick Beasley to meet me at my convenience. He arrived at the appointed time and was professional in both appearance and demeanor. He listened attentively to the scope of work I had in mind, reviewed existing plans (prepared by others) and took extensive notes. He offered to provide a quote based on the plan I provided and in addition to make some alternate suggestions and plans based upon what he had heard from me and all at no cost or obligation. A few days latter Patrick arranged to meet with my wife and I to review the plans and the quote. As promised, we had a quote for the original scope of work as specified, and in addition two alternatives based upon his recommended modifications to our plan. We liked his designs and mods, but wanted him to rethink the plants utilized to go smaller and require less maintenance. After a few days we had the new plans and reached agreement on the plans, the price, and the time frame for installation. I made a down payment of 20% and scheduled the installation for October 22, 2012. A couple of days before the work was scheduled to begin, I received a call from Patrick letting me know that they were running a couple of days behind schedule with an existing job, and would get here as soon as possible, but no latter than two days late, and that they would start staging in plants and landscape materials immediately. They arrived on the new schedule with a crew of six installers, and materials and machines to get the job done. The job required 5 work days spread out over nine calendar days because of weather. Patrick was on site to supervise and do the plantings layout and soil modification for most of the days worked. The remaining crew were professional and efficient. They did daily cleanup, and a great final cleanup when they were finished. We were very pleased with the quality of the work performed and believe the price to be fair. Patrick was a pleasure to work with and communicated well.

First, I had 4 contractors come out to bid and 3 of the four did just that. One said the job was to big, which I was okay with him being honest. Native Design's bid came in the middle so I went with them. Plus they had great reviews on Angie's List. Each day workers showed up and kept busy trying to complete the job in a timely manner. They had to remove the hill and level the yard first and that was more of a job than they thought. Had to go get the big Bobcat to do the job. No problem took about 5 days and lots of work on the Bobcat to remove the hill. Had one setback with they notice that I had topsoil about 5 feet down thanks to shady grading by homebuilders. Had to go deeper than expected but called and let me know the dollar amount ahead of time. Once done the stone wall went up pretty smooth with no problems. Took about two weeks before all was done with the walls and leveling. Sod was delivered and then the record heat came. High water bills and bad spots in the yard. Not the companies fault, mother natures. However, the sod did come back and by September I had a beautiful back yard and all was great. Even hired them to do the lawn care since my college kid graduated and stop doing the yard. Everything has been great and could not have asked for better customer support. Please at least have him come out and most of all remember your not their only client.

The job was done beautifully and the crew was warm and friendly. It took less than 2 weeks to get everything done. They were concerned about how well I liked their work. I couldn't have been happier with their professionalism in the East TN way. I look forward to working with them again. I cannot think of any don'ts at all. Great group of people who care about your vision of the project and how to provide the dream. Thanks so much!

Jacob Dunaway said he would come to my house, look at the pavers that needed to be repaired, and give me a call. He didn't come. I called again. He didn't show up and didn't call me back (I left two numbers). Fail.