HEMAX Construction Services & Landscaping LLC

I called Hemax to get an estimate and ideas on what to do in my townhouse's sorely-neglected backyard. They were prompt in returning my call and prompt about setting an appointment. Henry was a pleasure to deal with, and thru our discussion, decided on a plan of action. I knew I wanted some sort of patio and a few bushes, but I had no vision for the space and I wanted low maintenance. In addition, my yard sloped (quite a bit, as it turns out) and that had to be considered as well. Henry and I talked about what I wanted, and it was his suggestion to add a retaining wall.  I needed a retaining wall to support the cement pad upon which the hot tub sits.  I hadn't even realized there was a problem with erosion until Henry pointed it out to me.  We talked, he took measurements, and then he went away. Several days later, a plan showed up in my email. Their price was good, especially in light of estimates from other companies that came in much higher for less work. Hemax had the best all-around plan and price for what I wanted to do. After some back and forth on the plan detail, the price, and my schelpping out the Manassas to pick the paver colors, they provided me a start date.  Interestingly, it coincided with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.  I feared for my job, but they arrived on Wednedsay, October 31st and worked non-stop for the next several days.  I don't know what time they arrived, since I was at work, but they worked every day until dark, which impressed me.  Everything was completed on schedule, including the powerwashing and sealing.  I was worried that the weather would get too cold, but we had some really good days and everything was completed exactly as promised on November 10th.  Throughout the process, Hemax was very good about keeping me informed about what was happening, and they always made a point of emphasizing that if I had any questions or problems to call them.  I didn't have any problems, and everything looks great.  I am extremely happy with their work and wouldn't hesitate to call them again.  It's just to bad I have only one back yard!  

Every aspect of the landscaping and masonry work went well.

They arrived when scheduled, did the work promptly and completely, cleaned up afterward.  They did a great job planting the trees,
 
Hemax has a great reputation for excellence. They use high quality of trees and shrubs. Toney is very knowledgeable in his area of expertise.  Also he is easy to work with.   I would highly recommend them.  I would use them again in the future.

As stated before a professional job was done with both projects.  They came when they were supposed to and were very professional in all that they did.

They were very responsive from start to finish, even with the many questions that I had previous to starting the project.  While the workers were at my house, whenever I had an issue with something, they were quick to resolve it to my satisfaction.  For example, when the old stoop was demolished and removed, I noticed that the wood framing behind the old stoop was rotted through.  At my request, they were able to replace the rotting boards appropriately.

Henry and his team did a fantastic job. Very professional and very hard working. They were completely equipped with the heavy duty equipment they needed and were very competent. We recommended them to several neighbors who have also used them. We were impressed!!! Their prices are fair. They completely regraded our backyard and than placed sod. If we needed something again we wouldn't hesitate to contact them.

From the time I first called the HEMAX office till the time I signed off on the project, everything went great.  Riccy and Tatiana in the office handled appointments and gave me information in a timely and professional manner.  They communicated efficiently and promptly by email and telephone, and my calls and emails were always answered promptly.  Henry came out as scheduled to give me the estimate and he was generous with his time and knowledge of the business.  He explained my options clearly and was at all times professional yet friendly.  No question from me was treated as too silly or insignificant.  When I decided to go ahead with the project, it was scheduled at my convenience, and Max and the crew showed up on time and completed the work in two days, as promised.  The crew was efficient and professional and kept the area neat while they completed their job.  They had to remove some pavers and shrubs to get the equipment into the back yard and no damage was done to anything.  I will say that a couple of small shrubs were replaced in slightly different places from where they had been.  When I mentioned this to Henry, he was eager to make it right, offering to come right out to move them and to replace any that may have been damaged.  This was not necessary, but of course I appreciated that he wanted it all to be perfect. The sod looks beautiful five weeks after installation and I have faith that it will continue to do so.  There were several follow-up calls from the office and Henry even stopped by while I was out of town to see how the yard looked.  I can't say enough good things about this quality small company, and I look forward to working with them next time I have a project around my house.

Hemax was fantastic and by far the best contractor we ever used on any project.  Henry and Max were courteous, professional and also very knowledgeable.  We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted the final project to look like but Henry and Max provided excellent ideas that significantly improved the final results. They created a design and discussed it with us in great detail before deciding on the final options and design.  Their crews were excellent and cleaned up every day before leaving.  Henry and Max were very flexible in making adjustments to the project as we moved forward and spent plenty of time at the site both supervising and working.  The amount of stone work we had done was considerable and their crews were excellent.  They have a eye for design and the placement/mixing of the various flagstone on the porch, wall and sidewalk was a work of art.   The drainage reconstruction was well thought out and will significantly address prior drainage and erosion issues in the sloped areas of our property.  Overall, we are extremely satisfied with the results, which exceeded our very high expectations.  Would highly recommend.

Henry and Max were a pleasure to work with from initial estimate to the completion of the project. They responding promptly to all communications and accommodated our last minute changes as the work progressed. They came in under time and on budget. Their crew was very professional. The craftsman who built the flagstone patio and wall is a true artist. Our yard turned out even better than we had expected - and we had high expectations! We plan to use Hemax again when we are ready to tackle our front yard and would highly recommend them.

THE IMPLEMENTATION:
Hemax began work approx 2 weeks after contract signing giving them sufficient time to procure the plants & shrubs (159 in total) and schedule workforce. The day work began, it took less than 2 hours before the first disaster. The Hemax salesperson advised us that instead of planting the new shrubs around our 15 year old azaleas, & rhododendrons (as detailed in the blueprint) they removed all nine of my mature azaleas & rhododendrons and replaced them w/ small 3 gallon shrubs. The prized blooms were gone forever. Had the laborers looked at the blueprints or supervisor that spoke the laborers language were present this might have been avoided. For this mistake Hemax did not charge for the small replacement shrubs. I would had appreciated replacing with shrubs close in size to what had been there but Hemax was not accommodating with that option. Personally I felt that that resolution was not equitable and I suffered. The laborers moved on to the backyard and disaster struck again. Nothing was learned from the experience in the front yard, the laborers removed 80-85% of all the pre-existing perennial plants & shrubs that I had purchased and nurtured over the last 18 years. The detailed landscape blueprint obviously wasn?t used. With no supervisor who knew what was to be done my backyard was pulled apart and thinned out with no approval of such action from me.  Being upset at my loss, I assembled all of the receipts for shrubs purchased and planted in my backyard over the last four years with that amount totaling $3,799 (w/o planting costs). I presented before, and after pictures, and for my  $3,799 financial loss, Hemax gave me a credit of $475. Once again, Hemax allowed the customer to suffer a huge financial loss due strictly to their actions. When the truck arrived with the new plants & shrubs unloading was extremely quick and planting even quicker which created 2 new concerns. First, I was not given the opportunity to see the plants to evaluate the condition, size, number or types of what I receiving. Secondly, with the speed in which they were planted how much time was devoted to planting them as the experts landscapers would (i.e. preparing the soil in the hole in order to give the plants the best opportunity for survival. At the completion of the planting, the laborers had packed up and left ready for the next project. At this time, something just did not seem right so the next day when the salesperson wanted to perform a walk-thru of the completed work, I requested a plant inventory audit. He identified, and I recorded, every single plant that Hemax had installed and in conclusion I was shorted 79 shrubs. Prior to this moment, there had been absolutely no mention of plants having not yet been delivered. I was shocked and then the Hemax salesperson stated ?oh yeah, the nursery did not have everything that we ordered?. Keep in mind that Hemax had 2 weeks to procure the  shrubs and in the D.C. area there is a multitude of nurseries available to obtain shrubs. Believing that 79 plants were not available was a little difficult for me to believe. I informed Hemax that I wanted the remaining delivery for the rest of my shrubs expedited and that I needed to be present at delivery to avoid this happening again.  The remaining plants came in a couple of days and they were planted and I had hoped that we were nearing the end as I had now grown tired of all of these antics. This last effort of attempting to deceive with shrub delivery is probably an action that I should have escalated to the Washington Area Better Business Bureau. The next day after the initial plantings three hydrangeas had already died. I had attributed that to transplanting and thought nothing of it as I had been advised by the Hemax salesperson that I had a six month warranty on all 159 plants and shrubs. This was the beginning of another issue that would be uncovered. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, even though I was watering for 2-1/2 hours daily another four shrubs (3 hydrangeas and a rhododendron) died.  At this time I pulled up the dying plants to inspect and I discovered root systems on all were completely ?Root Bound? (or Root ball). I did some research from the ?Do-It-Yourself Network?, ?This Old House? and ?Home and Garden? and discovered that if planted while being root bound the shrubs have just about a zero chance for survival since the roots have no place to grow as they stay embedded in the root ball and die. According to expert landscapers, it?s imperative to split, separate and   remove much of that root ball to give the shrub a fighting chance for survival. Now I have four additional, to the original three,  shrubs dead all being due to the root bound situation. This is information that I would expect a landscaping company to know and to avoid. Again I didn?t worry about this too much as I had a six month warranty plan per their salesman. When I tried to exercise that options, Hemax advised me that the warranty was NOT put into the contract therefore I had NO warranty due to salesman forgetting to include in contract. I am now preparing for more financial expenditures as the shrubs continue to die because of their inability to plant correctly. I'm now up to 9 shrubs dying with 3 PJM Rhododendron replacements costing me $59. Hemax also laid sod primarily between the street and the sidewalk. All of that sod, along with additional sod on the side of the house had died despite me watering every day for 2-1/2 hours. Once again, I did some research, this time on laying sod, and discovered that it is imperative that sod installers   test the soil, use additives to enrich the soil, lay the sod correctly and then compact the sod with a water wheel to create a good bond between the two. None of these critical steps were performed by Hemax yet they felt compelled to blame me. Since installation 5/2012, my water bill usagehas tripled which doesn't support their "lack of watering theory".  Hemax with all this information regarding laying sod,finally conceded and laid the sod that second them but with no change in the process. The laborers were also to transplant additional shrubs as we requested. This was in the contract, but was not completed. I feel that that tasking was omitted by the fact that I could not communicate with any laborers as they could not speak, or comprehend, English.  The only English speaking person was the salesman who was not present for a majority of the work.  Also, the laborers in their haste to complete the job quickly, destroyed approx 7 of my low voltage landscaping lights by stepping on them, crushing them and leaving parts spread across most of my yard for me to clean up, of course once again with no remorse, or compensation. When I decided that I just wanted to end this working relationship, even though not all completed which they continue to deny due to the fact that they wrote the statement of work to do basically nothing as it was so general. My goals were clearly stated & detailed but the statement of work wasn't..because of Hemax. In hindsight, with them you need to have every single action detailed so that you don?t get deceived. Many times they inferred that the work that I was requesting was not in statement of work, but that was only because Hemax wasn?t ethical, or efficient, enough to create a statement of work based upon my input. By now, I just wanted to pay the balance and disconnect my relationship with Hemax.  I called them to advise them of this and they informed me that my ?balance at completion? was different from the ?balance at completion? listed on the contract (something about discounts being calculated incorrectly). and therefore I owed more.  With that response, I informed them that I was going to seek the compensation for all the damage for which they were responsible.They later advised me, on the phone, that the

Henry Cruz did the estimate and the final walk-through.  He provided me an estimate and drawing with sample photos by email very shortly after our first meeting.  Everything was done unbelievably well.  The workers left the site beautifully cleaned every day.

The results have exceeded our expectations!  We are very pleased with our new front yard and the added curb appeal!  The Hemax team was great to work with.  Henry met with us several times and patiently listened to our plans and offered many options to create a new front yard.  We hesitated making a decision right away as we were concerned about the cost of such an investment. Once we finalized the plans and costs, the Hemax team moved fast to schedule the work.  Tatiana, Assistant Manager, quickly  provided a schedule of the work and notified us of any changes because of weather, etc.  The landscape crew was very polite and worked hard  to meet the daily goals. Clean up was superb.  Toney, the landscape designer, was quickly able to come up with a plan consisting of plants that would work well.  He was genuinely interested in creating a new, fresh image for our home.  We appreciate all his suggestions for enhancing the appearance of our yard.      The responsiveness, communication and professionalism of the entire Hemax team has been outstanding.  Follow up has been excellent and the short punch list was resolved quickly.     Hemax also handles our routine lawn service.  We are also happy with the service we receive each week.

They provide small jobs like landscaping or bricks and stones.  They were excellent.  They were very cordial, they were on time and they kept everything so clean.  They did what they promised they would do in a very efficient manner.  You don't have to worry about them.  I told them this is what I need and it was a bit more than I expected but they were very professional.  They were excellent and their price was very reasonable.  I look for punctuality; I don't want to wait around all day and they said they would come early in the morning and they came.  I would absolutely use them again.

I don't think that we could be happier with the service and quality of work with Hemax. They will be our go-to company from now on for all of our needs. When we started, our "yard" was an eyesore. Many neighbors said it was the worst looking yard on our street. We had a vision in mind and we worked with Henry to design the wall and fencing. He expertly handled our permit challenges and dealt with the city so we did not have to. Any additional challenges that came up, he let us know immediately and if there were incremental charges, handled it to work within our budget. Once the wall and the fence were built, they graded the yard and added better soil. They then installed healthy, quality sod. There were always there when they said they would be, they completed the job on time they cleaned up so you never knew they were there. We liked the work that they did so much, we had them come later to install a flagstone walkway, which required them to rip up the existing concrete, grade the area, install the flagstones and install the grass around it. Fantastic. Could not be happier. It was the largest home improvement project we had ever done at any of our houses and it went off without a hitch. If you want it done right, I highly recommend them. They are our contractors of choice from now on.

UPDATE: We went with another company to do some landscaping and additional sod installation - HUGE MISTAKE!!! The sod that HEMAX installed for us had no weeds, grew thick and green, the additional sod from the other company was full of weeds and had to be installed twice and is still full of weeds. We will NEVER make that mistake again!

My backyard has pretty bad soil, this area has a heavy clay soil which gives grass and plants a harder time to grow. Some of the plants grow well others grow poorly.   I started this project with the express purpose of putting in a lot of new soil and tilling it into my yard so that things would have an easier time growing, and I could make a pretty nice garden.  This is not what happened.  I had to spend a lot of time watching the work to make sure that what I asked for was done.
 TLDR: Hemax ignored the contract that I had with them and completed the job how they wanted to, then tried to convince me that I didn't need what I had asked for.  Without me watching the work crews, would have probably  cheated me out of 250 dollars worth of deliverables (not necessarily out of malice, but possibly out of neglect).  Total breakdown in managing the work and then a lot trying to convince me that what they did was okay.
I choose Hemax Construction because of the excellent ratings it received on Angies List and Service Magic.
Hemax and I had a contract to till my entire back yard (600 square feet) put in 4 cubic yards of soil and install sod.  They were successful in installing the sod, but failed on the first two points.  They failed because the sales person I worked with (who is suppposed to also be the foreman) did not know what I had wanted to have done.  Either they assumed what I wanted because he has done this kind of job many times before, or wasn't paying attention when I told him what I wanted.
  The work crew came when they were suppose to and were professional.  They cleared out the existing grass and weeds, but then immediately began laying down sod.  I called the foreman since they had not laid down any of the soil that I requested yet.  He called the work crew, and they started taking soil out of their truck (which they did bring, but for some reason was not going to use). 
The crew started putting down the soil, but there was no tiller in sight.  I called the foreman again (since he was not actually at my property at the time, and only showed up for a brief time).  He assured me that the guys were going to use hoes to till the ground and a roto tiller was not necessary for a yard my size.  I didn't like this but I took him at his word.
 After they finished laying out the dirt, which appears to be  1/5 of what I had requested (I don't know for certain whether I got what I asked for in terms of soil, 3 cubic yards for my yard should be 2 1/4 inches or so in height, and I've got about half an inch) , they started laying down sod again.  I called the foreman again, who told me not to worry and he would work things out. 
Throughout the day I was working from home and was not able to check on them for awhile.   They finished laying down the sod, cutting it to match the garden beds, and started laying down mulch.  I called the foreman again, asking if the soil had been tilled.  His response was that it was not necessary which was a direct contradiction of what he told me he would do earlier.    At this point I can see the soil on the garden beds and it has not been tilled either.  At no point in the process when I told them "this is not what I asked to be done" did they stop and actually do it right, but continued to give me the line of its not necessary.
  I told him that regardless of whether he thinks I need it, it is in our contract to do so.  We went back and forth, I finally sent the main office an email to document what had happened so far.   Henry, one of the supervisors contacted me, and came over to clear up the situation.  
I don't know if everything would have gotten done if I had not been watching the crew throughout the day and calling the supervisor.   Eventually we settled on a reduction of the price for the job because I don't want to go through the hassle of going to court.

Henry, one of the co-owners, came promptly to the appointment for the estimate, and also promptly sent me the estimate by email.  He made useful suggestions that had not occurred to me, and seemed quite knowledgeable about his business.  The work was scheduled quickly after I accepted the fair estimate.  The workmen came on time, were considerate of my property, and cleaned up after themselves when they were finished.  I asked Henry to provide an estimate for a limb removal to forward to a neighboring family that had unexpectedly lost the father and are preparing the house for sale.  He offered to remove the medium sized limb for free, an offer that was gratefully accepted by the family.  My project was completed on time, on budget, with no surprises.  Henry came to review the job at the end, noticed a few things that needed a small amount of attention, and had it quickly fixed.  The next time I need a landscape contractor, HEMAX will be the first company I call.

We had a downspout that had drained under the front porch cement slab for many years leaving a gaping hole. The Hemax guys dug up the area in front of the porch, saving all plants that I wanted to keep, filled in the hole under the slab, graded the area for proper drainage, transplanted the plants, and mulched the area. They also dug up and repositioned the slate walkway that ran through the area. 
Then they extended the drainage on two downspouts and installed pop up drainage emitters.
The guys were so nice, did a great job, and even helped me load some plants that I wanted to move to a different area of the yard into my wheel barrow.
They took away all the garbage and left the everything looking well-groomed and beautiful.
I highly recommend this company.

We were looking for a redesign, as the landscaping provided by our home builder was not particularly attractive.  In particular, we wanted our front yard to look good year-round, and we wanted to remove some dead plants/ trees and transplant others to the sides and back of our house which lacked landscaping.  Toney Mooney provided a sketch along with pricing -- we met a couple of times to review and make changes, and after getting one other estimate, we decided to go with Hemax.  We liked that Toney would be on-site often, and we really appreciated his friendliness, responsiveness and creativity.  Hemax's pricing was also very competitive.
They began work on May 17 -- took approximately two days to finish.  They installed purpleleaf sand cherries, dwarf blue globe spruce, gulfstream nandina, oakleaf holly, and fountain grass pennisetum.  Additionally, they removed some dead plants and trees, and transplanted our azaleas and some other plants from the front yard to the sides and back.  Toney understood that, wherever possible, ee didn't want to waste anything.
Toney came by often, and he returned after the major work was done to plant additional flowers and move things around to improve the aesthetic.  We are very pleased with the results and would happily recommend him and Hemax to friends and family.

Henry, Max and the gentlemen are very professional and very knowledgeable.

They were professional, worked at least 12 hours, and came back the next morning to finish up. They cleaned up after themselves and Toney made sure I was satisfied with the work.

We could not have been more pleased.  Toney was in charge of the estimate and work complettion, while Tatiana kept us informed as to the schedule and other adminitrative issues.
Hemax was our third use of a professional landscaping company, and Hemax is so far above the others we won't consider using anyone else in the future.
They were courteous, gave us a very resonable price, and did a fantastic job.
I highly recommend them.

HEMAX is an outstanding DRAINAGE company. Earlier this year a window-well overflowed and ruined all the floor and wall in a room in my basement. I recently joined Angie’s List and found three companies had the best reviews. I called all to get an assessment to determine how my window well could overflow and how to repair. Only one company responded within the first two days and the first to respond was HEMAX. The other companies were not available for two weeks. HEMAX came over on the third day after I started my search for a drainage company. I immediately knew I had found to best company. They started work the next day.   The head of HEMAX customer relations/sales spent over an hour in discussing the problem and solutions, and how it would be priced. The next day the head of operations/installation gave me detailed information about the repair approach. The reason for the leak was a poor installation by the homebuilder. There was a mix of black plastic and PVC which had cracked and leaked and had collapsed. The PVC pipes were not glued together and leaked at the joint.  The entire drainage system had to be replaced. The excellent repair job by Henry and Max and their company made it happen. They were fast, professional and very reasonably priced. I strongly recommend HEMAX for all their services. I have since used them for sprinkler and outdoor light maintenance and was very pleased with all their work.

It went very well.  This was a large project and big decision for us.  Henry came out twice to give estimates and explain what work would be done and how it would proceed through our many tasks.  He answered all my questions and explained his processes and pricing (in person, over the phone and e.mail).  We had two other estimates and decided to go with HEMAX.  We also received a positive recommendation from a neighbor who had lawn replacement completed by them as well.  We worked out a schedule and it took 5 days to complete the work (one of which they worked in steady rainfall and another where they worked around another crew who were installing our new fence) which is exactly the timeframe Henry estimated.  We added one task to the list during the work which went smoothly.  I watched much of the work being completed and was impressed with how hard Henry's crew worked.  Each day we enjoyed seeing a little more of what the finished project would be like. They were professional and cleaned up each day.  When the work was completed they cleaned up the yard, all debri was removed and they cleaned up the street.  I was very happy with this because the yard was really torn apart during the work.  They also cleaned up another garden and put fresh mulch in on their own to make it all look nice. None of the many FIOS cables were disturbed as they completed much of the digging by hand and their Bobcat operator was very experienced.
 
We are left with a beautiful new front and back yard and a very positive experience with HEMAX.  Their office was responsive, pleasant and helpful.  Henry was knowlegable in suggesting a plan that turned out better than I pictured and gave good advice on the best materials to use.  I have not seen harder workers than these landscapers.  Several neighbors have complemented us on how wonderful the yard looks and asked what landscaping company we hired.  We are happy to recommend HEMAX and look forward to working with them in the future!

I found them from Angie’s list.  The person on the phone was excellent.  When he came out, he was excellent.  They quoted half the price from the others.  I would rate them highly.

I would like to cover all details however I'm short on time. I can't say enough positive things about this company! You will not believe how hard these guys work. They do not leave until you're satified with the job . Worth every penny, hire this company, you won,t be sorry!