Landscape Recommendations
 

Looking to get a couple of bids on a couple of (fairly simple) landscape jobs. Has anyone had experience with any of these 4 contractors:

- TerraScape
- Sharp
- A2 Stylish
- Brandon's

Of course interested in quality of the work, responsiveness, as well as cost.

Thanks!

The first thing some new home buyers do is to hire a landscaper to tear out all of the landscaping that comes with the house. I think it wise to wait about 18 months to see how it grows and fills in. The landscaping that the developer has chosen is not inferior in any way. It is chosen to grow well in the conditions here. The only thing I would suggest is to have any Live Oak tree removed before it gets to a certain size and protected. They to me are hazardous planted close to homes and with the strong winds we sometimes get. I am also NOT a fan of most Palm Trees. They attract Palm rats. Just my opinion.

I have had neighbors who have spent thousands to have landscaping put in and thousands to have it removed.

I recommend Jason Schmidt Landscaping. 352- 425-6361.

We've used them for three projects at our home. The first was removing the junk plants the builder planted, and adding several palms and other plants. We've found them to be extremely professional, responsive and a pleasure to deal with.

Landscaping
 

Luis Landscaping did work for us at 2 houses.

Most of these threads are useless without photos. You can do a better job driving around and if you see something you like, ask the homeowner. The other 3 names I've never heard of, Jason Schmidt did a lot of the homes in my area and they look good. Here's some photos of our CYV landscaping by Terrascape. They did it originally 2011 when it was new and did a refresh in 2019, here's how it looked last summer. I like their work and their reasonable prices and they have their own nursery on 301 and you can pick the shrubs if you want to or they'll do it for you.

https://scontent-mia3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...8f&oe=60076D13

https://scontent-mia3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...47&oe=6007DEEE

It's been some years, but when I had TerraScape give a quote, they wanted to sell me a "Mercedes" when I wanted a "Honda". Way too much in the way of plants and $$$$.

I never had the experience in two encounters with Terrascape. First time I had Terrascape in 2011, I said I want all the pine straw removed and weed block put down and copper rocks installed in the front and back yard. He said, that's going to be about ten tons of rock and two guys can do it in one day, that' $2800. I said if you'll do it for $2500 you got the job. He said, pay me in cash when I'm done and it will be $2500.

The owner no longer gives the appraisals or handles the design, he has young girl that been working in nurseries since she was 16. In 2019 I told her I wanted it all refreshed with new rocks, new shrubs, and the irrigation checked out and fixed, and the retaining wall fixed and glued back in place. They gave me a price of $1900. There was four guys who worked all day and I got a lot for the money, you can see the finished job in the photos above.

What are Palm Rats? We just moved from the North

Water oaks are the ones that sometimes go over with very high winds.

Magic Garden 352-702-8238 does our work & comes back to do maintenance as we request. Very reasonable. Actually had him give me quote yesterday & will be doing work next week. I have palm trees & have NEVER heard of palm rats or seen one. ( assuming they look like some type of rat) limit on what you put in. We had work done in 2014 - not Magic at that time. Now that it has all grown in, I’m having 10 things taken out. Too busy -too much for me. Drive around & take pics of what you like & what you DONT LIKE. That can be just as important! Ask about growth & how often things have to be trimmed.

Same experience

Had Terracapes do ours in 2017 and we were extremely pleased. We went in and told them we were on a budget and they respected and worked within it.

Swilley & Son are fantastic!
 

We used Swilley & Son and the results were fantastic. They were always on time, on budget, and cleaned up each day, I highly recommend them.

Jireh is best

Just don't use Brother's Landscaping
 

Just don't use Brother's.....they do not stand behind the work they do!!

We used TerraScape in 2012 to landscape our corner lot. They did a great job and worked with our budget.
We had Jason Schmidt put in a paver patio and do a refresh of some of the shrubs this past summer. Also recommend Jason Schmidt. They did a great job as well. I think you will be pleased with either one.

We just had Village Palms change our landscaping out in front and on right side of house. 8 years ago they did our rear right side patio and an island. This time we added an island and front done. They are on 466 and design center is in rear. Plenty to choose from. Happy with them both times. They are not the cheapest but do have quality products. We have several palms and have ever had a palm rat.

Landscaper
 

Sorry you're not getting much help with the other 3 companies. We used Fairfield Farms - too expensive and am having to take out most of what was put in 2 years later. Many experienced Floridians, including me, will tell you not to do Palm trees. Don't know if we have palm rats here, but palm trees are also messy and need a lot of maintenance to keep them looking nice.

Jamie’s Landscaping, there is a reason they don’t have to advertise. As for palm rats, never have seen one and I think that’s an overblown urban legend. Any landscaping from time to time may attract undesirables. Like you never had the occasional skunk stop by up north :icon_wink: As for upkeep, no harder here then anywhere else except you have more time here to be active outdoors with your landscaping.

Florida has there own wildlife. I have never had a rat problem in 23 years here. Just pick native Florida foliage and flowers. Do not pick large plants. Things grow very fast here. Trim your tress and palms according to an arborist. People over trim palms, which causes them to grow way to fast and makes them unhealthy. Learn to live here. Do not try to do what you used to do where you home from.

Landscapers
 

I just had my side yard and front yard re-landscaped by Tomas Landscaping, 352-303-2917. The owner Tomas Perez is professional and will provide a solid estimate, start and end date and meet the commitment. He removed 2 queen palms in the front of the house, the bismark palm and robelinis palm were left and filled in with new plants and 2 big rocks; in the side yard he removed overgrown agave cactus and left the palm and washingtonian palm and rock - simple and easy to care for.[ The wall was added in place of curb-it so ARC approval was not necessary as curb-it and.
the space was less than original which was done in 2015.
Pictures provided.

We had Jamie’s landscaping. They did a great job. Would hire them again.

Sharp did our stacked wall and rock beds. They did a very nice job, were very responsive and returned calls in a timely manner. Very personable to work with. After the job was done, Billy told us they hadn't used everything they anticipated, so the cost was actually less than the estimate, which we were really grateful for. I wonder how many others would have done that?? We have very little front yard, just in front of our golf cart garage and around the side to the patio (we have a patio villa). Our cost was about $3500 for stacked wall, lava rock bed, and French drains with popups on either end of the golf cart garage, taking out a scrub tree and replacing with a 30-gal Robellini palm with stacked wall and lava rock around it. Turned our very nice. We're very happy with it!!

We have used TerraScape 3 times (curbing about 10 years ago, some new bushes/plants a few years ago, and tear out/redo of all of the front landscaping this year. We have always been very pleased. I know nothing about plants, and Megan has really helped show me what will look good and be low maintenance. New since we started with them is a $1500 minimum per job ($2000 for new customers).

Those are rats that live in the Sylvester Palms usually. I've not seen one, but my neighbor across the street said he saw a rat run from my neighbor's Sylvester to my Sylvester. That's one of the most popular Palm Trees, I believe on my block there about 7 Sylvester's on a street of 13 CYVs.

What's even more scary is one of my neighbors trims his own Sylvester and was on a ladder up near the top and saw two eyes looking back at him. He thought it was a rat, but then realized the eyes were too big. It was a Bobcat and it fell out of the tree and passed him on the way down. He got off the ladder and in his villa backyard the Bobcat was up against the 7' villa wall around the yard, the only way out was to go past him. In one motion, the Bobcat scaled the wall and was gone. They're big and look for small animals, so do the coyotes. squirrels, rabbits, cats, small dogs, that's probably why he was in the tree, looking for a rat. Here's a Bobcat, photo taken atop a villa wall in the Village of Hillsborough. If you have a small pet, don't ever let it out thinking it's safe in your fenced yard, even with owners present, coyotes have grabbed small dogs.

https://scontent-mia3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...a9&oe=600853C1

We are using “A cutting Edge”. They are the best I have ever hired

Don't use a woman's touch
 

[QUOTE=sborlove;1876279]Just don't use a Womans Touch.....they do not stand behind the work they do!! And lie.

We were not happy with Terrascape. In our first house, we wanted to remove all grass and existing landscape and replace with rocks and other landscaping. The price quoted seemed fine, so we wanted to proceed. We were then told that the designer “forgot to include the rocks” and that the price would be much higher. We never signed with them.
For our second house, we used Fairfield Farms (Fernando) and was very pleased.

Getting our oak tree removed was the best thing we ever did. Winburns did it and we were very, very happy. We had acorns three inches deep in our lawn and on our driveway. So long to that!!!

Used terrascape
 

Used Terrascape 13 years ago and have been very satisfied. We chose them for several reasons: professionalism, knowledge of plants that would survive the occasional frosts we have, warranty, killer design and comprehensive installation (arranged to have curbing installed and pavers). They were not cheap, but were worth the price because we haven't had to make many changes over these many years!

Just bought our pre owned house in March. We hired Terrascape after getting several quotes from other companies. We are working with Megan and she is terrific. I wanted to bring down the price so she adjusted her original ideas, to work with our budget. She also told us to leave many of the bushes we already have in the landscape. We aren't in TV now and hopefully will have the work done when we come in the summer. We locked in our price too.We have a small palm that kneeled over and kicked the bucket. I called her and she said that it's part of the contract and they will come and remove now. We are waiting to do the work when we are down there so we can pick out the trees and flowers.

We just had our landscaping redone. Requested TerraScape come out to prepare a bid. We met with them and they would not give us an estimate until we committed to having them do the work. (Must have learned this approach from Congress - gotta buy it to see how much it costs.) Seemed backwards to us, so we went with someone else (Village Palms).

I had an experience a few years ago with a much maligned company that does landscape work here in The Villages. But this other company throws in getting lectured to and being berated to on the phone. Also wouldn't come out for an estimate unless we signed with them. Totally laughable, after the fact.

Try McGowen Landscaping they are great and reasonable. They
just finished a complete redo of our landscaping

We used Distinctive Designs by Lori. She is very good and a perfectionist. In addition she makes sure that all work is within the deed restrictions and, finally she stands behind her work. She gives a one year warranty and replaced a Canary Island Palm that did not make it. Not cheap but definitely high quality work.

I would highly recommend Ron's Landscaping. I realize this thread is asking about 4 other companies, but Ron's does a supurb job. Ron used to be a nursery wholesaler for 12 counties, & also for some of the theme parks. With this being said, he truly knows his stuff. We had our landscaping totally redone, for a low maintenance style. Ron takes into consideration your ideas, & enhances them with his designs. He suggests plants for the light exposures around your home - n, s, e & w. His crew is very polite & thoroughly clean up your yard & driveway every night. They continuously work on just your project until it is finished. Check out some photos.

I would highly recommend Ron's landscaping. He does large & small projects. Ron owned a wholesale nursery for many years, so he truly knows his stuff. He sold to 12 counties, plus some Orlando theme parks. We chose a complete redo of our corner lot, with low maintenance plantings. He is very easy to work with. He incorporates your ideas into his designs, & makes many great suggestions. He even had a few surprises for us, since our project was a big one. His workers thoroughly clean up your yard & driveway daily, & they stay on your project until the end.

My added suggestion would be to quickly remove any Magnolia trees, they are the dirtiest trees ever

My experience with Terrascape is that they are over-priced and they will make sure you need what ever it is they have to get rid of. I have also used Bothers Landscaping. They do good work but are also high priced.

McGowen..great