Cass Finn Landscaping

Our project was to lay a patio which included the removal and replanting of a Magnolia tree, removal of shrubbery and also to extend an existing patio.This company is very plausible at the quote stage. The minute we paid our deposit, Monday, 26 March, with an agreement the work would be started on Tuesday 27 March - the service immediately went downhill and became unreliable and impossible to contact. By Tuesday, 3 April nothing had happened and zero contact by phone and I had left several messages asking where they were I now had reservations about contracting CFL for the work and sent a text saying I was not confident asked for a meeting to have my deposit returned. I did receive an immediate answer to this text saying they would start on Wednesday 4 April and the delay was due to the bad weather (the weather was fine). We did speak on the phone on the eve of the 3rd and I said I had no confidence due to the lack of communication and wanted to cancel ? we arranged to meet at 2pm on Wednesday 4th to cancel. On Wednesday 4th I arrived home from work at 1.30pm for the arranged meeting and CFL?s workers had started whilst I was at work ? I was furious. There was no meeting because the owner didn?t bother to turn up. I didn?t know what to do, so I agreed they could carry on. On the 5th April all the rubble and stone was piled up in our front yard on my grass for removal to the dump. I made it clear to CFL verbally and in writing (in 2 emails ) that I wanted to keep the stone and had asked CFL to stack the stone at the side of our house. Fortunately, I came home from work early and found them loading the stone on to their truck and when I asked them what they were doing, one of the workers told me my stone was going to another job they were doing - my neighbour also overheard them saying it was good stone and would save them money on another job. I was totally shocked and told them to unload stone and pile the stone at the side of my house (which is right next to the area the stone was cleared from), and to take away the rubble and shrubbery only. They unloaded the stone and left with my front yard a total mess. A week later and many phone calls later, the stone and rubble was still at the front of my front yard ? it was unsightly. Again, I couldn?t get hold of CFL so I had to move the stone myself ? it took me all day (I am 5?6 / 128lb female - the stonewas heavy and i didn't have tools); and I had to dispose of the rubble myself. CFL charged $680 for the removal of the tree and a dump fee. They didn?t dump anything ? I did. On 9th April, I told CFL not to come back to my property - due to lack of communication and now, trust. It was impossible to get hold of CFL by phone and when messages are left they were never returned. We agreed 30% due at the start, 30% due at completion of laying the patio and the balance 4 weeks following. CFL ignored this agreement and after the rubble incidence, said they would do no more work until I paid an additional 30%. I told CFL not to come back. I was left with a complete mess, out of pocket financially having paid 30% and furthermore, CFL had access to my home with the garage opener. It took until the end of April until this was finally left outside my house. Not a good experience

In short, DO NOT HIRE CASS FINN LANDSCAPING! What began as an amicable relationship quickly turned into the most poorly run project we have ever experienced resulting in an equally poor execution of a simple landscape design. Cass Finn Landscaping was contracted to design and execute both a front and rear yard landscape. After he initially misunderstood our priorities he presented a front yard design that was over budget right from the start. We then developed our own design for him to price accordingly. After some negotiation the price was agreed and the contract signed (March 15th). Cass informed us the project would take 1-2 weeks contingent on the weather and working conditions. After the initial deposit was received and we received HOA approval work commenced on March 22nd. It was at this point where the communication broke down with us needing to call and message him frequently to determine where the crew was as no-shows were occurring nearly daily. We found ourselves managing the project and his team to ensure work was being completed. We took additional steps such as sourcing all plants providing him with species names, sizes and images of the specific elements we wanted. As our frustration grew we expressed our concerns and they were met with an arrogance and defiance we had not seen from Cass. This only strained the relationship and our goal now was to complete the installation and cut all ties. It was not until April 12th did we see significant progress. During this time we experienced deliveries of materials with no advance notification, a cut cable line, and the incorrect gravel delivered twice. In addition, since Cass did not procure the plants early in the project specific plants and sizes were no longer available. He purchased much smaller elements although attempting to charge us for the larger pieces originally specified. The project was finally completed on April 17th utilizing only 5 days of labor over a 4 week period. The end result was a front yard littered with weeds resulting from insufficient soil preparation and poor quality sod installed without any attention to detail or care. We ended the relationship after negotiating a final payment and have not spoken since. Although the installed items are under warranty, I would rather pull weeds than have any further experiences with Cass Finn Landscaping!