Outdoor Concepts

We had a stone sidewalk through our garden and wanted additional access. We called Outdoor Concepts - we have used them on 5-6 landscaping projects (both design and installation) over the past 8 years. Genie's design really enhanced our outdoor spaces. Joe and his staff are professional, prompt and efficient. Overall, a great value. It's a company we trust for quality work.

The old walls were a complete disaster, located in the front of my house, very visible and prominent, and were a huge detraction to the front entrance. Built too close to a couple of banks of basement look-out windows, they gave a moat-like appearance to the front of the house. Outdoor Concepts built the new walls out of large limestone pieces, a variety of sizes and shapes, some up to half a ton in weight. The finished results were excellent, with a lot of attention to detail, creating terraces in places, and planting pockets in others. The retaining that needed to occur (the main entrance to the house goes between these two wall areas) stil does, but the space is more open and airy, letting in more light, and feels a lot less confined. I believe they used close to 40 tons of stone, and assembled them in jig-saw fashion in a manner very pleasing to the eye. In the course of the project they also straightened out some tricky drainage issues that were problematic to say the least. They started when they said they would, and finished in a timely manner. Came in right on budget, and were good communicators through the process, very pleasant and professional. We've worked together many times in the past, in a personal as well as professional sense with my business, Vujovich Design Build, and look forward to working together in the future.

Joe Ebertz is very experienced and had great ideas for how to landscape the hill in a very natural way. The stone patio is maintenance free and invites daily use.

We sat down and planned the work to be done and established the day to begin and how long it would take. The price was negotiated to mutual satisfaction, and he came in about the middle of estimates provided by four companies. He assured us that the moving of heavy equipment and large rocks across our back yard could be done with little damage, and that which occurred could be easily repaired. He did the work personally with one other workman on time and with an eye to appearances. They were courteous and careful.

Joe and Outdoor Concepts hardscaped our backyard with a circular, brick paver patio and complimentary colored brick paver sidewalk extending from the back door, curving beautifully around the patio, and forking to two entrances, one to the garage and another to the workshop. They also incorporated a paved a patio outside a larger workshop door. We had a very specific idea in mind and they executed it beautifully and with quality workmanship. They communicated when they would be there to begin, and they were, and it was finished on their promised finish date. It's become a focal point for our gardens and gathering place in the 3 seasons Minnesota gives us outdoors.

I had a raised patio in mind and Outdoor Concepts grabbed hold of the idea and improved it to deal with above ground roots of the trees in the back yard. Rather than dig down and disturb the roots, they brought in fill and then put beautiful stone about 6 inches raised from the ground. In addition, I wanted a slightly amorphous shape working with a pergola and the trees. They totally got it and lined the "floor" with contrasting border stones. It is absolutely stunning! I get so many compliments on it. Also, there is a raised garden bed separate from the patio so that I can grow herbs outside the kitchen door. They also threw in a rock border around my air-conditioning unit and hose area. It is quite beautiful in all.

Outdoor Concepts was very flexible with our plan and was able to make adjustments to our plan as necessary. We will have more work for them this spring in completing our landscaping and rock work around the rest of our home.

Joe and Company Outdoor Concepts came out to our site, assessed our needs and developed a plan of attack that would give us the most bang for the buck. He then set a time table for moving forward, and let me know, what I needed to do to make sure the site was ready to go when he arrived. The materials were delivered, and Joe arrived with the crew and in short order built three very impressive stone retaining walls, two on the south side of our home and one on the east. The east retaining wall was built with the idea in mind of creating a future water feature. We are hoping to have him back out later this summer to do that. Having seen other water features that he has done, we are really looking forward to the transformation that can only add to his already beautiful work. With the plantings that were tastefully added last fall, the wall and plants are really the focal point of our yard. We couldn't be more please with the process, and the outcome. Joe listened to what we were asking for, and delivered in a big way.