Sunscape landscaping
 

Once again I used SUNSCAPE LAWN & LANDSCAPING to give my lanai a little more privacy. Jeff Revis and his crew did an awesome job on enhansing my lanai. The professionalism and workmanship is just the best. You will not find any better - and I'm fussy. His number is: 352-223-7850
Regards -
Jim Rose

Do you have anypictures to post? We've been thinking of doing some landscaping out back and need some ideas. thanks!

I will second the recommendation of Jeff and crew at Sunscape. You may find cheaper, but none better. Remember you get what you pay for. The biggest thing about Sunscape is their, "service after the sale". They routinely ride by to see how things are coming along, and if it doesn't look right they will correct it for no cost, with a smile.
Sunscape is THEE only choice for quality landscaping in TV.

Army Guy

Beware of Sunscape Landscaping
 

On the advice of people on the blog, I contacted Jeff from Sunscape Landscaping to landscape my house for a cost of almost $5,000. I specifically told him to only plant freeze resistant plants. I said he was the expert and I would leave it to him. He totally disregarded my request for freeze resistant plants and actually planted tropical plants. The result was that 33 out of 37 plants died. As a side note he planted everything in December after telling me there would be no problem planting that late in the year. I am from up north and so I treated him as the expert. Since the latter part of January, I have left Jeff too many emails and too many phone calls all of which have gone unanswered. He refuses to talk to me AT ALL. Short of going to small claims court I am at a loss as to how to get ahold of this gentleman. When he is initially doing a project he is accessible, but once he gets ur money in his hands, he becomes a phantom.

I would not recommend Sunscape Landscaping to anyone and if u are foolish enough to use them, I would recommend highly you prepare an iron-clad contract.

I repeat, USE SUNSCAPE LANDSCAPING AT YOU OWN PERIL!! The owner IS NOT an honorable individual.

Jeff, I look forward to your rebuttle as there is no other way to contact you.

I had him come to my home to give me an estimate for some work. I spent time talking to him, which plants he recommended, cost, and ongoing work taking care of shrubs and lawn. Something just did not feel right. He bugged me for a while, but finally gave up. Sorry about your experience, but I am not really surprised.

Wow! These reports are quite contrary to those given by many others in this forum. Confusing and interesting.

Double wow. This is really bizarre. A lot of people have raved about Sunscape Landscaping. I had Jeff to my house for an estimate but haven't used them as yet. And of course, now I would be hesitant.

K2at, I feel extremely sorry for you. Being from up north, a lot of us just give landscapers free rein as experts. It just doesn't seem that there could be a good excuse for the lack of communication you are experiencing.

I think Sunscape was advertising on TOTV. Hopefully Jeff will read this thread and respond.

I've had friends and clients who have absolutely loved Sunscape. I've had others who spit when they hear the name. Guess it depends on what they wanted done. Those who wanted the tropical landscaping seemed to be pretty happy. Those who wanted something other were highly dissatisfied.

Sadly, hiring a landscaper seems to be one of the riskier undertakings in TV -- you really don't know what you're getting until the job is done. No matter how good of a job they did on your friend's or neighbor's is no guaranty that you're going to be happy with the job on your lawn. On top of that, you frequently have to pay at least a portion up front because their costs are so high.

The best thing you can do is try to educate yourself as much as possible as to what you want. Learn about local plants if you possibly can. Talk to as many people who do their own gardening or are master gardeners as possible. Definitely talk to several landscapers and ask LOTS of questions.

I'm sorry you had such a miserable experience. Jeff's attitude towards you is inexcusable. At the very least, it seems he could have offered some sort of compromise to replace at least some of the dead plants. While I understand (and sympathize) that no one expected such an extreme freeze as we had and that standard planting didn't have a chance of survival because of that freeze, at least Jeff could offer to replace the tropical plants. The hardier plants should have been fine given a normal Florida winter, so I could see him not being willing to replace all of the plants.

I am really a very easy going guy and far too trustworthy. I assume a professional is a professional. I would have preferred if Jeff simply left me an email or a phone message saying the problem is mine. I could have then come to closure in my own mind. But to refuse to communicate with a concerned customer is inexcuseable. After 3 months of grief, I just hired another contractor for an additional $1200 to redo the job.

BEWARE OF SUNSCAPE LANDSCAPE.

Thanks for the warning
 

I'll scratch Sunscape from my list.

Word of mouth is the best advertising or your worst nightmare. No Sunscape on my property.

X

I hope it is not a total loss. Some of my frosted bushes are just now sprouting from the ground. It was an usually cold winter here.

This is the Landscaper version of the Ponzi Scheme:

Landscaper does good work at reasonable price:MOJE_whot:

Landscaper builds up his business reputation:blahblahblah:

Landscaper uses good references to screw new customerschilout

Since I will be in the Market for a landscaper this summer I am at a loss :grumpy:

Sunscape Landscaping
 

We also had a horrible experience with Sunscape. We hired Jeff for lancscaping of flower beds and curbing. His curbing was the worse we have ever seen. Your are correct, you never hear from him on warrantry issues. Our last correspondence with Jeff was on January 7, 2010 when he even admitted in writing that his curbing was "sub par" work and he accpets full responsibility and will take care of the problem accordingly. We have given him a date on our next return(in several emails + phone calls) in order for him to correct his poor workmanship. Of course we have not heard from him since.

Sincerly,
Coloradoavs

i'd be tempted to put a sign in my lawn or window [within the parameters of your covenants, of course] to the effect that the landscaping was poorly done by sunscape...or put a sign in your cart or car and park it in spanish springs or sumter landing on market nites...maybe that would get him to call you back.

I have only myself to blame as I thought the ethical standard people down South subscribed to was higher than up North. This may very well be the case, but with every barrel of apples one is surely likely to find a rotten one.

I, unfortunately, found the rotten apple vis a vis sunscape landscaping.

I am surprised to hear about the problems with Sunscape. They did a great job for us, and like many people we lost most of our small plants to the freeze. Sunscape came back and replaced them at no charge. He did not cause the cold weather, and I didn`t expect him to do it for free, but he did. Sorry to hear about all the problems people are having with his company.

Reminds me of a sub-par pool install at my former home neighborhood. The neighbor erected a sign the size of a sheet of plywood on his lawn, stating for all to stop over to see the workmanship of the company that did the work if they were considering installing a pool or spa.
Amazing what word of mouth can do. Both good and bad. I read somewhere that good work word of mouth might 2-3 people, but bad work word of mouth reaches 10+.

We had carpenter work done one time and before the work began, mentioned to the contractor that my wife had over 70 employee's working for her at the hospital. The work was excellent, and anybody who asked was referred to this contractor.

Thanks for the heads up on Sunscape.

Gary42651, I am glad you had a better experience with Sunscape as mine was a horror. I believe I was a model customer. I asked him the cost of the project and agreed to it. I asked for no plot plan, nor a contract, I left the selection of plants up to him with the caveat they had to be freeze resistant, I made a point of inquiring as to whether we should wait till March to plant so the roots could establish themselves, and overall I treated he and his workers with dignity and respect. Despite all of that, 95 percent of the plants died and he absolutely refused to return my emails or my phone calls.

The proof of the pudding is that he has not even responded to this THREAD. I know if it were me, I would want a chance to defend myself.

When or if he does, I would like to see how he will attempt to lie his way out of what I have said.

Wont use Sunscape again.
 

I contacted Jeff at Sunscape based on the positive postings in TOTV for some landscaping work as well as paver cleaning. He responded right away and seemed very knowledgeable and honorable. His crew came as expected and the work was completed on time and to my satisfaction. I was a bit put off by the fact that Jeff did not come to review the work or check with me after it was completed (as he said he would). However, I was ok with it.

I attempted to get in tough with Jeff in order to have some additional landscaping work done. I left him a voicemail. No response. I sent Sunscape an email via their website. No response. I called the office and spoke with a woman who answered the phone and was assured that Jeff would call me back. Again, no response. Sent an additional email. Once again no response. Finally, yesterday I sent a private message to Jeff via TOTV and guess what - no response.

Based on this thread it is probably good that Jeff has not gotten back with me. I cant understand how people can do business like this. It is one thing to not respond when there is a complaint but another to not even respond to someone who wants to give you more business.

I will be contacting other companies to do the work I need and wont waste any more of my time with Jeff and Sunscape.

I went to my list of recommendations for a landscaper for when I move to TV.
LANDSCAPING:
John's Landscaping Services
• Is anyone currently using, or have used in the past, a landscaping & gardening company called John's Services out of Lady Lake? Met one of his employees yesterday and he spoke very highly of the owner, John Marko. Usually, if the employees are impressed the owner is doing something right. Apparently he's been in the area about 38 years.
• I am new to TV and have been given contact numbers for:
lawn mowing
weed removal
garden pest control
shrub care
palm tree care
tree-trimming
lawn green-up
What I really want is one person to do everything, rather than seven different specialists
• I just hired Joh's Services, John Marko - owner to handle all the things you mentioned for myself and my neighbor. He is a small business out of Lady Lake but has been doing landscaping and related services for 39 years. Call him for a quote at 352-409-6087. He's a hands-on gardener who's staff really like working for him. I've met with him several times and am impressed with
his work and quality. Nice man!
Hope this helps

I'm also disappointed to hear this about Jeff and Sunscape Landscaping, I was one of many that recommended Jeff based on the job he did for us.

Unfortunately this is a very familiar scenario concerning services and recommendations in TV. A homeowner will have a great experience with a service provider be it handyman,yard service,pavers,painters,plumber etc and recommend that company or individual only to find out later that they are not providing the same quality service that the recommendation was based on. I don't have a solution to the problem, but do appreciate being kept informed of homeowners experiences good or bad.

Last year when I bought our villa I called Jeff to talk about taking care of lawn since we are part timers. Jeff agreed to meet me when we was in TV. I called and never heard from him. I had to scramble to find a lawn service in a short time. I was considering calling Jeff as I am ready to landscape the yard as we prepare to move in full time. Thanks for the heads up. It enforces what I suspected last year. Back to square one on the landscaping.

Agree Sunscape Jeff is not reliable
 

Woooow thanks alot--I have tried numerous time to have Jeff return my calls ---New to Villages and wanted landscaping done--I also find him a poor customer relations Person Thanks for saving me from a big mistake Herb New villager

Based on all the recommendations I used Sunscape in mid February and was most pleased. They put in two paver patios, stone bordering, and numerous bushes and plants. All went as expected. At the end of the project his right hand man had a heart attack at the races in Gainesville.

I called a few days ago asking for Jeff to call me as the bracing is still on a Queen Ann palm that they put in. I also would like him to just check out the plants and get a summer watering schedule from him. No call back even though it was promised. If he doesn't call a happy customer back there is little chance he will call anyone with issues.

I was told his right hand man is doing well now, but Jeff must not be. How else could you explain such a turnaround? My son owns a landscape company up north http://www.lawnstopatios.com/ and said that Jeff is erasing all the good will that makes a business successful. What a shame.

ColoradoAvs.
 

We have been attempting to arrange warranty work with Jeff since last October without success. Sunscape been informed numerous times by email and telephone that we are arriving at our home in TV on 5/21/10 and would like for Jeff (he has stated that he did not perform the job (curbing) to his standards and would perform warranty work) to re-do the curbing while we are in TV during this trip but have not heard one word from him.

ColoradoAvs.

I agree. We have been attempting to reach Jeff since last October to perform warranty work on the curbing that he installed. Even though he has admitted that his work (mixing process) was poor and he would come back and re-do. Through numerous emails and calls, we have informed Jeff that we would be back in TV on 5/21/10 and would like for him to fix the warranty issues during our stay but have not heard from him.

ColoradoAvs

What a shame that someone would destroy their company's as well as their personal and professional reputation with total disregard for their current and future clients. If Jeff no longer wishes to be in the landscaping business he would have been so much better off to make such an announcement here on TOTV than end it this way. I also had difficulty getting him to return calls and quickly got the message. As any elementary student soon learns, you can only use "the dog ate my homework" as an excuse one time.

Thanks to all
 

This is what makes this such a great site. The sharing of info whether good or bad to help your fellow neighbors. We are newbies moving to Pennecamp part time in July and will need all sorts of support services. Thanks for all your opinions and helpful hints.
Skip

Landscaping Problems
 

I had lunch with some friends today and found out that Sunscape is now doing work for TV, I do not know which contractor hired him to work but that he is doing work for one of them. This must be the reason he is not at all concerned about making homeowners happy anymore he has moved on to doing the new installs in TV. I thought that TV only hired good reputable companies. Somehow they got hired to do work with them. Contractors must not go on this site and read the complaints he has had lately.

I heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who...:sing:

With this much sourcing and detail, I'll consider it a rumor.

I would bet that many of the people who used Sunscape Landscaping were told that something happened to his right hand man and that is why there is a delay in his completing jobs. In my case the story was his right hand man was not paying his mortgage and the sheriff put all his furniture out in the street. That is why he pulled his men off the job. If he is working for the villages, that would explain why his service went down the tubes.

I had an appointment for Sunscape to do some work for me on April 18. To make a long story short, they never showed up. When I called I was told by the office person that they were busy doing work for the Villages (new installs) and could not do my work that day as promised. I hadn't paid anything so I am just going to have someone else do the work. They lost several hundred dollars in work from me but I highly doubt they care if they have the Villages install business.

ok, till now I have not posted, but since I am seeing so much mis-info on Jeff and Sunscape, I have to tell the facts.
First, Jeff and Sunscape, always did me right, now have they treated others in a less then professional manner......yes. I agree with you all that they should have notified people of their change of client base, etc, and not just stop calling, not calling, etc.
Now, Jeff & Sunscape did some work for me on 15 April 2010. He moved a queen palm for us to another spot, planted us a double queen, and replaced 5 bushes that had died in the cold. All were done in a professional manner as he always did, and all look great. AND we were the last "private" job that Sunscape did. Here is the scoop: While there, I spoke with his right hand man, Bart, who actually OWNS the business. While they were putting in the double palm, they used an actual car wrecker tow truck, and I asked about the price of it. That is when Bart explained everything to me, and also why they were late that day to our villa. Jeff owns a Wrecker Company, always has for years. Bart, who was a friend of Jeff's began and ran Sunscape. Bart told me he doesn't like office work, etc, he likes to be out working with his men on the jobs they have. As he put it, he is a "hands-on" guy. It took him a while to get Jeff to join him at Sunscape to run the books, get the jobs etc so he (Bart) could work at the jobs they get with his men. Jeff after getting his wrecker business up and running, then joined Sunscape. The two of them ran Sunscape into the great Private Company it was and we all recommended, and Jeff had the Wrecker Company also, which by now was on auto-pilot, and still is. They added the lawn cutting/yard service etc also to Sunscape. Along the way they also did jobs for TV. Then late winter this year, TV came and made them an offer to be one of their main contrators for landscaping and irrigation system installers. Of course they took it, and that was the down fall. With the increased demand form TV, they were forced to sell the cutting/yard service, then they started cutting back on the actual private landscaping, till they cut that out totally also.
That is the whole true facts, no rumor, no 3rd party. Direct from them.
Bottom-line: Where they a good Company? Yes. Did they mess up at the end? Absolutely.

Army Guy

Thanks for the update and what had happen.

I guess the next question is: Who is a good landscape service to use for changes in our yard?

Our neighbor used Mansfield, and they did a very nice job. Don't know the cost, but it look nice.

Army Guy

Thanks Army Guy

The bottom line is that no matter how good Jeff, Bart, and Sunscape were, you can kiss any warranty you had with them good-bye, and you can give up on any return calls or correspondence. They are dead to us.

landscape
 

My neighbor just used Kwik Kurb for a complete job. really came out nice. Bushes, trees, stone and curbing. Might want to give them a call.

Chi-town, I agree.

Army Guy