Five Star Landscaping

Used this company in the fall of 2016 for bi-monthly mowing. They did an ok job, but never showed up on a reliable schedule. Also didn't do anything beyond mowing and blowing. Don't expect them to clean up your beds, weed anything, trim bushes, etc unless you want to be charged extra. We've had companies in the past where that was all part of the bi-monthly service. They were proud of their work. This company is just rushing and overscheduled. We stopped for the winter and then when spring came they sent out a letter to start up service again. We asked for a quote to also do thatching and overseeding of our yard. They quoted it in writing, and then would not honor their own quote as they said our yard was larger than the amount they quoted. Since they were doing work regularly for us last fall, they knew exactly the size of our yard. They also have not been able to set a reliable schedule for regular maintenance. We started talking back in mid-March and it's been over a month before they could get out here. I finally complained and they said they'd come today, but after reneging on their quote, and proving unreliable, I've cancelled their service.

If you just want your lawn mowed then you'd probably be ok. If you want trimming, pruning & weeding BEWARE! Jose hires guys who have no yard work experience and they pull out and cut down everything in their path; because they do not know a plant from a weed. I saw a review on google by a gentleman who needed the same kind of maintenance and they cut down his prized, rare hydrengas! And told him they'd grow back as well (at least Jose's excuses are consistent!) They removed my erosion control plantings which has caused severe erosion and when questioned said they'd grow back! Of course they haven't and also stated this is what I requested. (Why would I personally plant a hillside with hundreds of vinca, salah, oregon grape and sword ferns to stablize it to have them tear it out?) Refused to try and correct the situation or even work with me to resolve the problem. I would not recommend someone this rude to my worst enemy. Nothing is ever his fault. Also researched after the fact and saw his license was issued for general contracting not landscaping.

Used the company for weekly service for approx. 1 year. I wanted a 2-3 foot wide area above a rockery cleared for planting a finished looking bed. They removed a 10 foot area of the hillside which has resulted in major erosion and said it would grow back. 7 months later the hill is still bare. I am selling my home and asked he put in 3-4 sword ferns and beauty bark to make the hill look tolerable. He was quite rude and claimed that is what I requested and refused to co-operate. Now I have to go to the hassle of taking them to small claims court. It will cost $2-3000 to replace all the erosion control ground cover and plantings. This does not include a laurel hedge they trimmed back so far that it no longer provides the privacy it was intended for.

After several unsuccessful attempts at finding a provider for front yard cleanup during the month of April, I was happy to get a quick response from Jose agreeing to an estimate visit within a few days and a commitment to get the job scheduled within a week. Jose came out on a Friday morning, was very professional and gave me a quote on the spot and a promise to get timing set by the end of the day. Early evening I received confirmation of the quote in an email and a request to do the job the next day! Jose and two workers showed up Saturday morning and got to work with lightning speed. I have a wooded corner lot and nearly 1600 sq ft of shrub beds that were heavy with weeds & moss from the winter, along with lots of dropped rhody leaves, and pine and cedar sheddings from late fall onward The bed borders were uneven with spreading grass and moss and I had marked off redesigned edges requiring some grass to be taken out. I had thought this job would take nearly a full day with a crew of two, but Jose and his two workers completed the whole job in two hours! The results truly exceeded my expectations, everything was precise and tidy and the beds were finely turned over, raked and leveled better than they had been in years. Jose also took the time to suggest a process and products to rehab the lawn over the next few weeks. Later that day my neighbors from across the street told me thry were similarly impressed; they too could not believe the results achieved in the time spent. I will definitely be contacting Jose again for fall planting and cleanup. After using several other services over the years with merely "OK" results, it's very nice to have someone worth re-employing.

I asked them to blow leaves, trim edges and mow lawns, and what I got was close to $800 worth of horrifying damage in my front yard. How did this happen? Let me start my story. I started my contract with Five Star Landscape back in 06/14. For $90/mo, the company agreed to blow leaves, trim edges and mow lawn for my entire yard (including front and back) twice a month. The appraisal was done by the company owner Jose Alvarez. Within the first couple months, I noticed Five Star employees were not punctual and unprofessional. At first, they came in late for a couple of hours, then they started came in a day late. Soon, they start to forget blowing leaves and trimming edges in my backyard. I called and e-mailed Jose to express my concern many times but it kept on happening. I lived with it only because I was too busy with work to look for a new gardener. Then, the horrifying incident happened. 12/1/14, I noticed all of my prized Endless Summer hydrangeas and Lime Lite hydrangeas (11 of them) on the left front yard were gone. Where the hydrangeas used to grew was only dirt and fallen leaves. When I scrutinized the crime scene closely, I found someone has come in and lopped away all my hydrangeas from the base. At first, I did not think it was gardener's work because no leaves were blown and no edges were trimmed in both front and back yard --My yard was still a big mess. If it was the work of gardeners, they should have at least blown the leaves. I thought about calling the police, but then decided to contact Jose just in case he knew something about it. It turned out it was the work of his workers. I asked him why they cut away my hydrangeas without asking me first, he told me they were "trying to make impact". I was very angry because first of all, they were not paid to touch my hydrangea. Their work was supposed to be blowing leaves and trimming edges!! Second of all, they did not trim, but damaged the hydrangea badly. Anyone who has taken gardening 101 in the North West knows that no hydrangeas can be cut to the ground. Hydrangeas are only supposed to be cut for about 1 inch from the dead flower/the new sprout. Also they touched my hydrangeas at wrong season. Hydrangeas are supposed to be pruned in early Spring, not in the middle of the cold winter. Their behaviors showcased that they were not trained for the job properly and also guaranteed that I would have no flower for the entire next year (if it ever grows back at all). Also my hydrangeas were my natural short walls which covered ground and gave my house some privacy, now my yard is just an ugly open space. I also asked Jose why his workers never blown the leaves or trim the edges (the work they were actually paid to do) He said my yard was too big. It was too much work for them. I couldn't believe my ears. I asked Jose to visit my house and take a look at the damage and help me fix it. Jose refused to come. He insisted that the flower "might come back next year" and he's only willing to pay for the flower which would not come back by next Summer. He also mentioned that there's no way for him to fix it now because no one is selling hydrangea in winter. To show case how bad the damage was, I took the picture of where hydrangeas used to grew and the mess of the rest of the yard. I sent pictures to Jose, but he remained silent. Also to proof to Jose that there's nursery which sells hydrangea right now, I called around reputable nurseries in my area and got confirmation that they were selling the flowers. I even got quote for how much it would cost to replace all the flowers this year. Average of the quotes I got from the nurseries was $676 for 2014 (excluding shipping ($80~100) and labor(TBD)). Since the flower price will go up in 2015, I asked him to pay me immediately so that I can buy those flowers before the end of the year. Instead of Jose, Roseta Ngy (wife? office manager?) wrote me back, saying they would only pay half, and on top of that, they would deduct this month's payment out of it (and instead of $90, now they say it's $135) so they would only pay me $205 for the entire damage. (p.s. when Jose originally did the appraisal, he also said in the summer time, he would mow the grass, and during the winter time, when there?s no grass to mow, he will work with me to customize my yard cleaning. That never came true either. As soon as they stopped mowing grass, I asked them to help me clean the area underneath my bay window or mulch my trees but they did none of that!)