DODSON'S LANDSCAPING

The walls look absolutely fabulous and I will say that was a major improvement. That is the beginning and end of the good things. Deck seal job was horrific. I could see the squirts of sealer - never coated fully - all that for $750. I could have paid high school kids to do it with squirt guns better. Next - They planted a hedge row of 15 trees way to close, and every single one of them died. The trees they planted were (A) sick - had some sort of fungus, (B) the holes they dug were way to shallow, (C) they promised a warranty on the work and reneged, (D) offered to replant the row for $75 MORE per tree. Sealing the driveway - looked great at first. Promised they would fill the cracks. As the seal dried, it was obvoius they never filled ANY crack. Re-set the front walkway. Never pulled up the railroad ties we have to create a grade but said they did. Weeding. Said they set down anti weed tarp - never happened but we were charged for it. We went to local gardening shops this weekend and bought all new trees to plant ourselves. Asked for best advice, and found that Dodson followed NONE of the basic have-to's for tree planting. My husband pulled the dead trees today (4-3-2011) and found EVERY ONE OF THEM planted in a shallow hole - no more than 9 in or so. All the hedge row trees, new, planted by Dodson, were over 6 ft. Dodson never put new soil into the clay we have, nor tried to break any of the existing clay down to let the trees take root. Important to note - WE had already planted 5 trees 1 year earlier and our trees were fine and stable. We knew about the soil condition and told them it needed to be broken down and new soil added. We hired what we thought to be an experienced tree guy to help us save some time. We're busy folks and needed some help. Turns out all we were was an ATM machine to them. We followed up on our research and found that a decorative mulch, in this case large bark chips, are actually toxic to new and established plantings. That is exactly what they put around all our trees, new and established. At this point in time the damage was not attributed to the mulch but to the fungus, but be warned - if the plantings were fungus free they may have died anyway due to the mulch. Tree Experts? HAH! We called after about a month the new hedge row had been planted to state they were dying, and Dodson came out to spray (to the tune of ($1,100 and change) for some blight they stated the trees had- we have no idea. WE were the ones who took a branch sample to our local gardner (Merrifields - by the way - fabulous) to find out that there was no blight, it was some sort of fungus, and to use a copper sulfite/sulfate to kill the darn thing. We managed to save one tree, ourselves. Now - if these guys are tree guys, why would they have allowed 14 trees to die. They said they were coming by weekly to check on the new trees, but when my husband brought them out back to see the trees and how far they were gone, they were speechless. Obviously they had never been by to check. Our front garden - to the left is an ornamental plum, to the right an ornamental cherry. We had a flagstone stack wall put in as a retainer. We have a sloping front yard - about a 15 to 20 degree slope - enough to need something there. Dodson did do that, and I do have to say it does look really good...............but not happy that it is loose stacked as opposed to perm. They convinced me that was the way to go. Seems to me, given the above, this was just another excuse to come out to fix/repair. I am sure all of you who are reading this will agree that most of this stuff that Dodson did for me is well within your capabilities of doing yourself, as is mine, but the reason we hire people like Dodson is we are just to overwhelmed with the days responsibilities and need some help. Please, look for another provider. Dodson will only waste our money and time.

Just about as bad as it could get. Did not start work when promised. Once George and Randall Dodson started they brought unskilled labor and rushed the job. Refused to return to correct problems. Abandoned the work. Flagstone work was shoddy and used more mortar than flagstone, left rough edges and unfinished mortar work. Fence is shoddy with a gate that does not open properly, uneven boards, etc. Worst, he removed the existing wrought iron porch railings, put in cheap metal rails in part of the area not all of the area requiring railing, do not meet code, look terrible, screws rusted within one week of installation. Also, said he was licensed and was not.