J & R Rockscapes

Everything went extremely well. Due to conflicting availability of a follow-up contractor to put in a sports court, timing became critical. Ryan arranged for delivery of materials during the week, and he and his staff came out on a Saturday and Sunday to complete the work. The work looks great and Ryan and staff were incredibly professional throughout the process. I would definitely utilize J&R Rockscapes again in the future!

It went great, they were friendly and knowledgeable.

Ryan came twice to talk over the project. He sent a bid. We interviewed 7 different groups for the project. Ryan was by far our 1st choice. He set a start date w/in 2 weeks. He showed up with one other worker or two other workers for 7 days straight. The job is excellent.

So awesome! It would be hard to express the level of enthusiasm I have for how this turned out. I have always wanted a fire pit, but this just looks so beautiful and perfect that my expectations were exceeded. There is a lot of work that goes into this--the 2 boulders we brought in for seating weigh about 5000 pounds, so moving around those kinds of materials is a big job! Then there are just so many other steps to doing this right that you are not aware of ahead of time. They were quite thorough and did not take any shortcuts, and also integrated my input about things at every step of the way.

We are pleased with the work that J&R Rockscapes did for us - the patio is great. They were willing to work with us and use the rock we had already purchased and around a few imperfections in the job we started. The patio looks good; rock spacing is good and the overall pattern is good. There are two landings on the patio and the grout on the lower one set up great. The upper one had some cracks/imperfections and we were worried we would have freeze/thaw problems. They came back out and fixed all the spots we identified without question. They were good with communications. We got several quotes and J&R Rockscapes was in the mid-range (I did not trust the low bidders) - so I consider this a value - good job for mid-range price. We had a few challenges with schedule - they were backed up on another job so were delayed starting and they worked shorter days (in the summer heat) so others may have done it quicker. Time was not critical to us, and they worked independently and steadily and we now have a nice patio. I would recommend them and use them again on another job.

We have used J and R Rockscape for several projects over the past six years, including a waterfall, stream and pond, three stone paths, two patios, a dry-stack stone wall and two stone steps. Obviously we have been very pleased with the results - we keep bringing them back. All projects were completed on time and in budget, and the results look great. Ryan has been great to work with - always friendly and upbeat, and he really sets the standard for good service. We highly recommend Ryan and his company, J and R Rockscape.

Ryan came by house at time promised, we walked the property and discussed the job. Ryan took pictures and committed to sending me a bid two days later. I waited a week, called and left a voice mail. Got an email three days later with another commitment to provide a bid in two days. Never heard from him again. Business must be good. It will get bad again and this review will still be here. Don't waste peoples time. It would have been better to have just said you weren't interested in the job.

J&R Rockscapes' bid to us said the "Cost includes all labor and material from start to finish to industry standards". The turf was not laid to industry standards - Our biggest concern is it has very big, distracting, visible seams throughout, and areas are also starting to come up. However, there are further concerns as time is going on (i.e., no border was installed so edges are fraying, not enough infill was used so areas are becoming matted). J & Rockscapes admitted in person and in writing that the job was not right and instructed us to contact another turf company to repair the seams for him. Below are just a few of the several statements we have from him in writing: * "I guess it doesn't really make sense to look at the seam at this point since there has been no improvement, so we should actually move forward on ideas on how to handle the seam from here." * "In the meantime; I may consult with a professional turf company and see if they can come out with me and give me some advice, so im not wasting any more of my time or your time getting it right." * " I would be ok with that other company repairing the seams, please let me know what they say it would take to repair." We have a very detailed written statement from another professional turf company detailing exactly why the job is not up to industry standards, and even stating "I do not recall an installation that looked this bad, and I have seen many of poor quality." We have been trying to resolve this for months, until it got to the point that J & R Rockscapes was no longer responding to our emails. We are having to pay the other turf company $4,150.58 to re-lay new turf since the turf that J & R Rockscapes laid is not salvageable. So we are asking for a refund of $1750 for the turf portion of the job that was not done to industry standards, as we both agreed it would be in the initial bid. The other turf company said they would have charged us $2100 for the prep work that J & R Rockscapes did, so we feel a refund of $1750 is fair for the turf portion of the job (that is also about the amount that the actual turf cost at cost price, which we paid for and is now completely useless to us). We would just like what is fair and for all of us to be able to move on with clear consciences. We feel very unsettled with having no resolution to this problem that J & R Rockscapes is fully aware of. We have tried as much as possible to resolve this directly with J & R Rockscapes, and were willing to work with them on a reasonable solution. We do not want anyone else to have to go through this.

If you are looking for a contractor you can count on, do not use J&R Rockscapes. They will reschedule your job repeatedly, not show up when they commit to, and provide no communication. Overall an extremely unprofessional company that cannot be counted on to deliver to their commitments. We recently underwent a major home remodeled, back to the studs, and Ryan has been the most unprofessional, unreliable and frustrating contractor we have worked with across numerous trades. J&R was doing work for our neighbor, that required access through our property, so we got to know them. We needed to have some grading and boulder work done, so we contracted with them to do the work and take advantage of the equipment already being on site (something Ryan had highlighted to us when we were discussing having them do the work). He eagerly met with us, provided us a quote, and agreed to a time line (initially early July to coincide with the work he was doing for our neighbor). He was unable to make that timeline, so asked if he could spread the work out over a few weekends in July. We agreed. He then asked if he could shift and do the work the week of 7/19 when he could focus on the entire job and get it done. We agreed. 7/19 was then rescheduled to 8/19 as his summer had gotten busy. Again we agreed, noting we could not have any further delays. We reached out to confirm the 19th (as we needed to have trees delivered that were part of the work J&R was scoped to complete), Ryan asked to move it to the 8/25. We asked to hold to the 19th as we had experienced too many delays already. We got a firm commitment they would be on site the week of 8/25 and therefore had $1000 worth of trees delivered. We followed up with an email on 8/23 to understand the schedule for the week of the 25th and on 8/24 received this reply from Ryan” Thanks for your email; I would like to sincerely apologize for the lack of communication and lack of planning on my part. My season has been busier than ever and I have spread myself thin on many projects; including yours. At this time I cannot commit to completing your project as I would not be able to provide the best possible service for you both. I am overextended at this time and again I apologize immensely for coming up short in accommodating your landscape goals”. We responded, noting this was not only unprofessional it also left us in a very difficult position as we had patiently waited for 6+ weeks to have this work done, had invested numerous hours working with Ryan on what we wanted to have done, had a lot of trees waiting to be planted before the Fall, and now were being asked to start over. On 8/25 Ryan responded “ I would be happy to still complete your project, but I do not have the resources for next week and I do not want to commit if I cannot provide the best service when we are on site. I will make some phone calls to my landscaper that I work with and see if he can get in there to at least get the trees in the ground; then I will reach out to my resources and coordinate the original bid items for the week of the 2nd”. We thanked him and accepted the offer to complete the work on the second, asking for clarification on the start date as the 2nd was a holiday. 8/29: “We will be there. I will have a better sense of scheduling for the week this Saturday. Thanks”. This is the last communication we received from J&R Rockery. 9/2 came and went as did 9/3 and that entire week. No one ever showed up to do any work. We tried to reach Ryan through phone (left 3 voice messages), text (sent 4 text messages) and email (3 messages). No response. Undependable and unprofessional = J&R Rockery. Today, we reached out to another rockery company to start the process we started 10 weeks ago. Hoping for a much better experience and to be working with a company that cares about their customers and the experience they are providing. Hoping this review can help others avoid the frustration we have had in trying to work with J&R and Ryan.

Ryan was quick to respond via email with follow-up questions and then provide a quote. I ended up going with another small company that was closer to my neighborhood, but thought the quote from Ryan was fair and would contact them again if more work comes up in the future.

I couldn't be happier with the finished product-- it's almost like I added another room to the house. All of the stonework is beautiful and it has exactly the feel I wanted it to have. My friends love it too. I felt I had the perfect amount of options for stones-- plenty to choose from but not so many that I needed to spend a lot of time picking them out. Starting out I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted and I got three estimates. J&R was reasonably priced with great reviews and I felt like Ryan really listened to what I wanted to do with the backyard (a different contractor completely disagreed with a number of basic things I wanted and gave me a different estimate than what I asked for; another contractor tried to convince me I needed other more elaborate landscaping). The whole process was completely straightforward. Ryan was very accommodating in providing a detailed estimate with contingency plans, since it wasn't clear how high the retaining wall would need to be until the area was excavated. Minor changes that I asked for were incorporated as they went (e.g., I decided to add another set of stairs after the excavation). Ryan is a nice guy and was easy to get ahold of and the crew was very professional. In the end everything was under budget. I got exactly what I wanted. The stonework is well-built, it's artistically done, and the process was completely hassle-free.

The job required building two retaining walls one above the other with the slope of the upper wall matching the adjoining cement wall. They removed some large roots from a nearby tree which had damaged the wood wall so that the new wall could be built. The job took 3 days which is what Ryan estimated. The work was first rate and we are very happy with the result. Ryan was able to make suggestions that helped me make decisions on what made the most sense for our job. The work team was terrific to work with and very professional. I have already recommended them to my neighbors.

We happened to see J & R Rockscapes work on a neighbors rockery and it looked perfect so I checked to see if he was on Angie's list and I was happy to see he was. I called and Ryan came out promptly to give an estimate. We provided Ryan with a project that was somewhat vague - we just were not sure exactly what we wanted or what would be best for our space. Ryan worked with us throughout the process to select the best combination of materials and colors for the job. His crew showed an amazing attention to detail, with the result being even better than we hoped for. We would highly recommend Ryan and his team.

We have had a wonderful experience working with Ryan and his crew. They were very professional and respectful of both our property and our budget. They did quality work on time and made changes as needed, without a lot of change orders. They have done three additional projects for us since the first big project that had them here for nearly a month and those too have been a wonderful experience. We have also referred them to our neighbors where they did a series of four walls on a steep slope and they too were very happy with the work. We would highly recommend J&R and serve as a reference whenever needed, not something we do often.

Ryan estimated the job, started at the committed time and completed the job within the estimate. He and his crew took their time, carefully measuring and placing the stone work to fix our path. Each day the job site was cleaned up and all of the tools stacked neatly. They did not borrow or take any of our tools, unlike some other contractors we have had do work for us. The stairs are perfectly placed, asthetically pleasing and very comfortable to use and they add a finished look to the entry of our house, which the gravel path was definitely lacking. Not only was Ryan courteous, his estimate was accurate and his work is exquisite. I would recommend Ryan to anyone, he is a true professional.

They were fine...I would recommend them to other members and use them again.

This job was bid by three companies. The prices from all three were close. I liked all three companies, and I chose J&R Rockscapes because Ryan was flexible, confident, plain speaking, and fair in price. In retrospect, it was an excellent choice. The project at my house was smooth from estimate to work completion. The work took about 3 weeks to complete. Ryan and his crew are polite, conscientious, and hard working. The company focused on my imprecise plans and offered suggestions along the entire way. Ryan was great about suggesting options, providing status updates, and setting out his expectations of progress during each phase of the project. The end-product is everything I hoped it would be and better than I could envision. I enthusiastically recommend J&R Rockscapes to anyone planning this type of work -- large jobs and small -- and I will hire this company again in the future.

They were very professional and seemed to know what they were doing. The price was reasonable. They are not doing any work until spring. I would use them again.

I really liked Ryan but because they subcontract out a lot of their work the pricing was too high. Ryan was very nice and I felt like he was honest, polite, and knowledgeable. I would have loved to have worked with him if the pricing was more reasonable. I think if I just wanted rockscapes and they didn't need to subcontract it would have been more more reasonable.

It was great. They gave us a thorough estimate, we just decided to go with someone else. I don’t think they work as much with larger boulders and we found a company that did. There weren't any complications with the quote.

THEY TOOK THE TIME TO DO IT RIGHT INCLUDING MAKING SURE THE GROUND WAS LEVEL, MAKING A CHANGE IN THE PRODUCT INSTALLED WITHOUT CHARGING MORE THAN THE ADDITIONAL COST OF MATERIALS, ETC. THEY ALSO STAYED WITHIN THE QUOTED PRICE. ONE OTHER NOTE, THEY WERE NOT THE HIGHEST OR LOWEST QUOTE (RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE) BUT WE FEEL WE RECEIVED THE FULL VALUE OF WHAT WE PAID.

Ryan the owner of J& R was extremely polite and very accommodating. The quality and price of work was top notch. I love looking at the finished product every day. It is my favorite improvement to the house.

From bid to final payment the process was seamless. Great response time and the ability of J&R to take constructive feedback and incorporate into the project was great.

The final product was quite nice. Well formed walkway and a very clean work area. Once they arrived, they got right to work without a delay. They finished and left me options for other work, and cleaned their job site perfectly. The product was installed very well and a few months into it I'm not seeing any degradation of the install. I'd use again for larger projects, for sure.

We chose the type of stone that we wanted to use. At one point, we were ready to do the job and there was not much stone available. There were some other stone they recommended and we really liked and that was priced higher but they were willing to do the job with same price that was agreed upon before. But, within the next day or two, we were able to get the stone that we originally picked. Their pricing was competitive. While they were working, when they jack hammered out the concrete patio, we discovered at one point that the drain from the gutter had run along the side of the house and it was clogged. It had caused some water damage to some of the timber foundation at that part of the house. They recommended someone who did those kinds of work. When they finished the work, there were a couple of small areas that were not done properly and they came back and fixed it at no extra cost. They also bought a couple of people to review the work that they did.