Cottonwood Landscapes LLC

Cottonwood Landscapes re-landscaped about half of my backyard and built an outdoor kitchen and fire pit. The first thing you should know is that the Owner, Dan and his brother, Nate, are very good at selling you a bill of goods. They are very personable and very smooth talkers. The problem comes later in the delivery of service and product. Their line is that Cottonwood isn't the cheapest company, but they are by far the highest quality. Since I was looking for quality and Dan was very convincing, I went ahead with them, even though their bid was the highest. In my experience, they are both very expensive and very poor value, for what you ultimately get. 1) Their contract was very heavily weighted toward advance payment with a large majority of the payment being due before completion. I negotiated something more reasonable. And the contract did not specify the size of the plants they would be using. It didn't occur to me that I'd be ripped off with sparsely placed, very small plants, so I didn't ask that the contract specify their their size - my bad! 2.) The quality was poor. ALL of the plants were all incredibly small. And because I hadn't thought to get that in the contract, I had no recourse. I was told by Nate that everything they planted was designed to grow and fill in fast. This is the third year and no reasonable person would look and what's been planted and say that it looks full. We were definitely overcharged on plant size and quality. And parts of the install were not only sparsely planted, but with absolutely no rhyme, reason, symmetry or pattern. Basically the plants were just randomly stuck in the ground. When I asked Dan about it later, he told me I hadn't asked for a "formal" style of landscape design. Wow! 3.) Throughout the projects there were repeated attempts to get me to accept product that was damaged (fire pit ring, fridge door, grill cover, granite), and work that was unfinished (grill cabinet, landscaping). When I insisted that the items be addressed, almost every issue required multiple calls to Cottonwood, with most resulting in promises of returned calls which never came, or a promise to be back on site at a certain time, which didn't happen. Then when they did finally return, it would be with no advance notice. And there were several instances of them not accepting responsibility and trying to blame the condition of things on me (fridge door, dead tree, dead plants). 4.) Very bad communication, especially after the install, as stated above. On both projects, they requested final payment before final completion, with the woman doing so being quite demanding and borderline rude. And once they are paid, they don't want to speak with you again. It literally took me months to get them to address a dead tree. Twice! The best quality of service and response that I had in dealing with them was by far and away from their electrical and plumbing subcontractors (Marathon Electric and JR Broderick Plumbing). 5.) They nickle and dimed me to death. They don't tell you in advance that they will plant so sparsely with such small plants that you will want to add plants (that they will charge you through the nose for). They don't tell you in advance that they you will need mulch or wood chips (that they will charge you through the nose for). They also don't tell you that the cheap mulch product you are being charged through the nose for bleeds color, which your dog will track into the house. And on one visit when I asked Nate for a quote to sell me a couple of shrubs to replace ones that the dog had chewed, I was quoted a price that was TWICE the cost of the same plant type at Millcreek Gardens (not on sale and 50% larger than the ones Cottonwood planted). That's when I was certain I was being taken for a ride. 6.) When I tried to get them to replace a pine tree that died within 8 months, it took easily a dozen texts and calls and several months. They finally replaced it when it became apparent I wasn't going to just forget about it. When the replacement tree also died within 8 months, it took even longer for them to come back, when they did, they accepted no responsibility and advised me that they had "done me a favor" by replacing it the first time, because their warranty is just for "workmanship". Workmanship? On live plants? Shameful. In summary: My experience was bad communication, unresponsiveness, being put off, value less than promised (and less than reasonable), warranty not honored, and overall bad customer service. If you have yet to make the mistake that I did and are still considering using them, I strongly suggest you to get in the contract a reasonable payment schedule, the size and number of plants to be used, and details of their warranty. And then be prepared to have to work your butt off to get them to deliver what they promised.

I was overseas when the job was done and was sent pictures when completed. I was shocked when Isaw the pictures. After $15000 the yard looked worse than before. Many of the plants were in poor shape and very dried out, some dead and dying. The trees planted were mere sticks of one-half inch diameter. No mulch was used. When I complained about this not being included in the bid I was told it was not standard practice and I would need to shell out another $500 for mulch. I believe this was dishonest method of creating add-on's and mulch certainly is a standard practice in any landscaping. The plant selection and design was poor. There was no follow-up after the job was completed to ensure sprinklers were well adjusted. The company has been pretty unresponsive in the year since and many emails have been unanswered or involved repeated attempts to get a response. The beds were not well prepared and the following spring the beds are all completely choked by weeds and lawn grass that was not thoroughly removed.

I found this local company very professional, extremely skilled and able, through past experience, to deal with all the issues and unsuspecting problems that arise with these type of construction projects. Their constuction crews are outstanding with experienced staff and hands-on supervision. All were very efficient in time management and the crews are very responsive and extremely hard working. Both projects were started and completed on time. Also, the in-house design architect was very helpful for addressing issues and landscaping alternatives. I was very impressed with how effectively each phase of the projects were organized, scheduled and staffed. I should add, projects of this size that require heavy equipment can result in significant damage to surrounding areas. Cottonwood did a masterful job in reducing collateral damage. Their cleanup at completion was excellent on each project.

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I was overseas when the job was done and was sent pictures when completed. I was shocked when I saw the pictures. After $15000 the yard looked worse than before. Many of the plants were in poor shape and very dried out, some dead and dying. The trees planted were mere sticks of one-half inch diameter. No mulch was used. When I complained about this not being included in the bid I was told it was not standard practice and I would need to shell out another $500 for mulch. I believe this was dishonest method of creating add-on's and mulch certainly is a standard practice in any landscaping. The plant selection and design was poor. There was no follow-up after the job was completed to ensure sprinklers were well adjusted. The company has been pretty unresponsive in the year since and many emails have been unanswered or involved repeated attempts to get a response. The beds were not well prepared and the following spring the beds are all completely choked by weeds and lawn grass that was not thoroughly removed. I have spent many days removing grass and weeds from very poorly prepared beds. The drip system has numerous leaks and many lines going nowhere. It is very ineffective and has required a complete reworking. The owner has been very non-responsive and difficult to reach and offered no help in correctly this poorly designed and executed job. I would not use Cottonwood Landscaping again and would not recommend them.

The lighting was very expensive and very low quality. We had them come back a number of times and it does not work at all now. The plants and trees were substandard. Many of them died after one season. The owner was difficult to work with.