Richard's Landscaping, Inc.

Description of Work: We've been using Richards's since Approx. June of 2011 to mow our grass. They do a great job of mowing and trimming and we have no complaint about this part of our service. However, even though the owner, Ryan, advertises as a Landscaper, we have found his services to be quite lacking in that regard. In early spring of 2012, we contracted with Ryan to install 8 to 10 Leyland Cypress trees in our landscape. We had installed many of these trees in our yard approx. 3 years prior and all of them are healthy and beautiful. We followed the previous landscaper's instructions to the letter and have been extremely pleased with the results. The trees tripled in size and have given us the complete privacy we needed for our pool area. Last year we added a new fence around our entire yard and now needed to add more trees to keep the landscape symmetrical. We approached Ryan and he was more than willing to take the job. On one side of the yard is a berm and that also needed to be extended. We the 'crew' arrived (2 men) we a little skeptical since the original tree installation had taken a full crew of 5 men and an auger to dig the large holes. Ryan's men had a pickup truck and shovels which they proceeded to drive into a tight space in our yard and get stuck. The resulting tire spinning ruined our grass and all this was accompanied by loud cursing that could be heard through closed windows! The 'dirt' they brought to build the berm was nothing but red clay and the root balls of the trees were also red clay. The trees looked half dead, however, Ryan insisted that they would 'come back' and when we say 'insisted' we mean he argued about his landscaping prowess and knowledge, etc. Again, we gave in and of course, the trees were dead in a couple of weeks. It was close to Memorial Day and we were having a pool party, so we contacted Ryan who immediately began to argue that he had planted 100s of trees and all of them looked like this and would come back. Ee responded that the other two dozen trees in our yard had NEVER looked like this and we were not willing to look at dead trees all summer. He finally agreed and two men eventually turned up with some trees. One if the guys came down to the house to wash is shoes off and we were on the back porch with another contractor. I asked the guy if he thought maybe the trees weren't doing well because they were planted in red clay which packs together and makes it difficult to spread their roots. He responded that ALL trees are planted that way which I then responded that the other trees in the yard had NOT arrived that way and had tripled in size in 3 years. Before he could answer, the other man with him came racing down through the yard and said the trees had died because they were wet!! This was the guy who was originally involved in the stuck pick up and cursing incident. The owner had told us NOT to water the trees and even though the other landscaper had told us to soak the trees twice a week, we complied with Ryan's suggestion. My husband replied that if the trees are wet then you need to speak to God about the rain because we had NOT watered the trees. Well, all but two of the trees have now stood in the yard COMPLETELY dead all summer. Our yard looks terrible. One phone call to Ryan was answered and he stated it was 'too hot' to replace the trees, but he would do it when it cooled down. It has cooled down and he doesn't return calls. Meanwhile, we also made an agreement to build a planter behind the wall that enclosed our pool on two sides. He dropped off some flat, small stones that didn't match our wall or meet our approval. When we finally made him understand what we wanted, he said 'it will cost more than I originally stated' and we said, that is fine. We just want it to match. Well, that was in early Spring also, and he just never showed up. My conclusion is this, Richard's Landscaping is not a landscaping business at all, but is just a lawn service. We just want our yard to look nice and not like a graveyard for dead trees. It's embarrassing. We DO intend to get satisfaction even if we have to file suit to get a refund, but who has the time or inclination to do THAT. Just beware and don't let this company rip you off.

Description of Work: We contacted this company to get an estimate for some landscaping work in our backyard.