Adventures in hiring a landscaper
 

We moved to TV in July and among the other fun stuff has been working with potential landscapers. We have a CYV and only need the front landscaped which entails removing the current plant life and pine straw and replacing it will new stone and plants.

Having followed the "Perils of Landscaping" on TOTV for about 3 years this is the most daunting task of our relocation. So far we have cut the list to 3 finalists.

In the process we had:

One company came to review the work and promised a sketch and quote with days, I am still waiting 3 weeks later.:cus:

One company came to review the work and didn't listen to us at all, went back to their car for about an hour and came back with a rough sketch and price. What they quoted had no resemblance to what we asked for and they wanted 50% deposit, don't let the door.........:duck:

One company came to review the work and gave us a very professional computer drawing of their proposal. They are the most expensive of the quotes but I called them back to scale back their proposal. The owner agreed that he was higher priced than the competition but never justified the higher price (they were 75% OVER budget). Then when I reviewed their contract they wanted a 30% deposit, I told him that was a deal breaker and he told me not to waste his time any longer. BYE BYE:throwtomatoes::throwtomatoes:

We are getting new proposals from the 3 finalists after fine tuning the originals.........

to be continued

Gosh, Mel they are putting you thre the wringer! Did you try Mansfield? A lot in our CYV neighborhood have used them and they seem good, but don't know price. Of course my first choice would be Sunscapes but many are down on them right now. As I have said many times, Sunscape has always done right by me.

Army Guy

You might consider giving Jeremy at Advanced Curb a call. They just did our back yard and completed the work in the front yard that was left undone by Sunscape. We're satisfied customers.

try Village Palms
 

I have met with Wendy at Village Palms and was very impressed with her knowledge and ideas. She seems to know plant material and what to plant and not plant. We want to add a waterfall and will probably use them. They have some water features at their place for you to look at and get ideas.

Ditto for Villages Palms. They did a great job for us and it includes a water feature. We went thru the whole process, talked to a lot of folks, had a lot of estimates, and looked at a lot of finished job. It is a jungle out there but we are very happy with the efforts of Wendy, Bill and the crew at Villages Palms. Bottom line is do your homework.

If you can it is best not to put a deposit down. Remember in Florida it is easy to put a lien on your property, even if you paid the prime contractor. Thus there should be very little credit risk for the landscaper and a biger risk to you that they do not perform. If they can not finance the job that mybe an indication that they are not too good of a company. Be sure to read about the lien laws and get releases from the subs and the sellers of the plants etc.

Wendy at Village Palms did our original landscape design when she worked for Fairfield Farms. I would not hesitate to go back to her again. She is very creative.

Try Sabriena at McGowan. They have an office at wedgewwod. They have done lots of work in Amelia and other newer neighborhoods.

Army Guy seems to be happy with Sunscape, but I can't stress it enuff, "Buyer Beware". Sunscape is an outfit I wud not touch with a ten foot pole. I used them and got really burned.

They are one of the three finalists

Decision time this week, down to two companies/designs, pray for us to make the right decision.:angel:

I am, MelZ. I hope they do a wonderful job at a reasonable price and you are delighted!!

Keep us posted.

Yes, as I said before, I have used Sunscape twice and each time they did good by me, in price, work ethic, and finished work. So I can not talk bad of them.

Army Guy

Does Sunscape still take private jobs though? I thought I read in previous threads that since they have become a sub for the developer, they don't still take individual home projects. Am I mistaken?

Sunscape
 

Here is Sunscapes web site: http://www.thevillageslandscaping.com/

Their business is located in unincorporated Twilight Zone. As I was driving south on Buena Vista from 466 I noticed that the grass in the parkway was getting a little long. But I just figured that it was the Sunscapes section of business.

When you don't return calls and don't do any follow up, and this involves a good customer, you deserve to be ripped.

Back on topic

The landscaper has been selected and work starts in September.......

to be continued

Thank's Army Guy for the responses. For any other uneducated information we have 2 locations. Look in the phone book please.

3475 CR 521 Wildwood, Fl. 34785 (south of Wildwood on Hwy 301)

18 LaGrande Blvd. The Villages, Fl. 32159 (on villages property)

To answer another question, yes we are doing aftermarket jobs for homeowners.

Members please remember to not always listen to unsatisfied customers without hearing both sides fairly and equally. It doesn't matter who you choose to work with but do it with educated decisions and unbiased information. Remember there are 2 dogs in every fight.

Thank you. I didn't try to hi-jack your thread but I felt that I needed to address incorrect information.

Sunscapes
 

Sunscapes landscaped my yard before we moved into a new section of Buttonwood. In looking at the neighbors yards out plants were clearly inferior in size, quality, quantity and price, not to mention the beds were smaller. It is my understanding that we all paid the same amount for basic interior landscaping. When I asked the landscaper about it, he said that he has stuff brought to his yard by the truckload and he counts it out and tells his crew to plant it. Other people don't do as many houses as he does per week so they can afford to go and hand pick the plants that would look good in each yard. He doesn't have time to do that. My yard shows the results of this approach. His comment was, "They'll grow."
We will have to augment the landscaping now and I doubt he'll be in the running for the job. I hate to be short changed, I worked hard for my money and I need to conserve it. :mad:

Salybow, that was a great post. Concise and coherent. I figure it won't be long before all of Sunscape's work will be aftermarket. Good luck then.

Used Manfield and I am satisfied. Called him on Monday and he came the same day and gave an estimate and the work was completed on Thursday. I like that.

Used Sabrina McGowan and extremely happy
 

We just had our landscaping done by Sabrina McGowan. We love it. It was done in a very timely manner. Employees did a great job. She asked for the money after coming back to inspect the job. I would use her again!

Many of our neighbors and we have used Sabrina. She has a fairly large scale operation that is well supervised. She does not ask for money up front.

I've heard nothing but great things about her. Last time I was down, I was talking to a neighbor and complimented his beautiful landscaping. Yep, Sabrina McGowan.

When I got down to the finalists Sabrina came in 2nd. The difference was minute and I am sure she would have done a great job also.

Also interested in waterfall until some posters suggested that snakes and mice are attracted to waterfalls, plus expensive upkeep....scared us away!

McGowan and Village Palms
 

We had major landscaping done last May. We live near Wedgewood so we tried to find her office..it does not exist. She did not even bother to return our phone calls.

We ended up getting an extensive landscaping job by Wendy and Bill at Village Palms and they are great to work with. We had our rental house landscaped in the Village of Amelia. At Village Palms you can pick your trees right off her lot so you know what you're getting. My friend used McGowan and he told me she does NOT have her own nursery so you cannot pick out your trees, etc.

Another indorsement for Village Palms. Wendy and Bill and their entire crew are incredible. We have a large corner lot and they did a fabulous job. I went to the UF newcomers briefing about landscaping today and everything I heard from the agent during the briefing I first heard from Wendy.

C and E Landscape
 

It is a bit scary and boils down to luck of the draw but this summer I paid a surprise summer visit to my empty house and fornd my lawn to be non existent -- Trugreen and a guy mowing seemed to forget to tell me the lawn was completely burned out and I found bare earth. Annoyed I picked up the Daily Sun and responded to an ad for a landscaper -- the name was C and E from Lady Lake -- they came in ripped everything out and put in a who;e bunch of native plants, a few palms and all decorative stone.
I lucked out -- it was a quick, honest job and I love the new look.

Hope you fired TruGreen and your mowers. . . .

Yes, there are two dogs in every fight.
 

I had Sunscape work on a drainage problem in a CYV I had just purchased. We had not moved here yet. Part of the work was done when we were here visiting. They were to lay sod to replace sod was damaged by the drainage problem and the sod damaged by their work. We returned to our then home and I emailed Jeff and he said the sod had been laid. NOT SO. I had a friend come and check...no new sod. She took pictures. Also the drainage problem was not fixed. I have pictures of standing water with soda bottles (the crew left) floating. I emailed Jeff several times and left phone messages. He NEVER returned my calls or answered the emails. We moved here in December and again, no response to emails or phone calls. I also ran into his sidekick, Burt, this summer and asked him to have Jeff call me. NO CALL. Surprise, surprise. So. Jeff, your actions - or inactions - speak for themselves. I would gladly take a refund for what I paid which was 1. a job that did not fix the problem you were hired to fix, and 2. a job that was never finished. So bark all you want. Your tail is between your legs at this point. There are too many people that were screwed over when you thought you had a new line of work and didn't need them anymore.

We are having Wendy at Villages Palms do some landscaping now and it will be interesting as they dig to know if you even did what work you said you did.