1st Choice Landscaping LLC

Overall, their service was sloppy. Got the snow removed from the driveway but would tear up the grass around the driveway as well. The worst and final part is when they damaged the wall to my garage. It was very slippery out. A day when ice came down first and then turned to snow. Whoever was driving must have raced up the driveway and slid into my garage doing over $300 worth of damage. I called Mike and he absolutely denied that he or any of his drivers were responsible for the damage. He did come out and look at it but completely denied any responsibility.

The owner (Mike) came out and met us a couple times to discuss options and provide a quote. He was very personable and the relationship sounded very positive so we decided to go ahead with 1st Choice Landscaping. We had some top soil brought in because the rough grade left behind by the construction crew was mostly clay. The crew came out to do final grading and prep the yard for a sprinkler system we were having installed. While waiting for the sprinkler system to get installed, we ran into a long stretch of wet weather and it took several months to get the lawn seeded. Some of the top soil washed away, but a lot of it ended up by the curb. As the top soil we had brought in washed away from higher spots in the lawn, it also brought several stones and rocks back to the surface which we were concerned about from the beginning. On the day they came to seed the lawn, they had to do some re-grading because of all the rain. They did not take the time to move the top soil back to the right spots and instead just leveled the top soil out where it was and seeded over the top several stones, rock and clay. I really wish 1st Choice would have spent more time doing proper grading or at least notify us that we needed more top soil. Now its too late to resolve the issue without basically starting over. When this bill came, we were charged extra for the re-grading, which was the first we heard of this extra expense. They at least could have done it correctly the second time since we had to pay for it. The lawn was seeded at the end of July leaving about 3-4 months for the grass to start growing. We watered the lawn constantly the entire summer/fall with the sprinkler system. In that time, I never had to mow the lawn once. In fact, I did not even buy a lawn mower until the following spring. Since I never had to mow and the grass never seemed to grow at a proper rate, rain from the rest of the summer/fall continued to rut up the lawn. Between the stones and ruts, its a very rough lawn to mow to this day. We spent a lot of the summer picking up stones in the back yard where the kids play but didn't take the time to do so in the front. We contacted 1st Choice again in the fall because we were concerned that the lawn was not growing like it should have been. It took several calls, but Mike came back out and asked us to give it more time and that they would come out the following spring to take a look and put down some seed or fertilizer if needed. We specifically asked if we needed to call in the spring and Mike told us he would take care of it. No need to call. So we waited ... never heard from them again. Since the seeding was done in the summer of 2010, we spent all kinds of money during the summer of 2011 trying to get the lawn into shape. We ended up spending a lot of extra money ( approximately $1000) between the water bill, lawn care program with a different provider, and additional seed / fertilizer. Now, in the spring of 2012, we still have the brownest, spottiest lawn in the neighborhood. Neighbors have mowed their lawn twice now and we have not mowed it once. Other problems we encountered include an improper grade from the house. We have some low spots right by the house where water puddles up. Also, they seeded over a large chunk of concrete that was partially exposed. When I pulled it out it left a large deep hole to fill in and re-seed. I later discovered we were not the only people in our neighborhood that has had issues with 1st Choice Landscaping. I have heard similar stories from at least 2 other neighbors now. One of them decided to pay someone else to completely redo their lawn from scratch. The other filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Overall, there is no way I could recommend 1st Choice Landscaping for lawn installations. Mike was very pleasant to talk to when meeting in person but the work that was done was a major disappointment. I would not wish this experience on anyone else. UPDATE: Shortly after posting my review here and with the BBB, I did receive a voice mail from 1st Choice. He said he could understand why I was "bitter" (so he is clearly aware the lawn quality was poor) and did apologize for forgetting his promise to come back out during the spring of 2011 but unfortunately offered absolutely NO SOLUTIONS for fixing the lawn, just excuses leaving me no reason to call them back. As for the lawn, I spent a lot more money (about another $1000) during the summer of 2012 trying to get the lawn to grow. Its now 2013, I have decided to stop throwing my money away. The lawn does not grow at all. I only mow to keep weeds knocked down. All the money I spent for the sprinkler system, the lawn care programs, the water bills, the extra seed and fertilizers was a complete waste in my opinion. I am furious every time I mow the lawn. I still strongly recommend avoiding this company.

They did an excellent job. The results were very precise and look wonderful.