I need some advice, first 3 pics are what my yard looked like before I hired a landscaper. Last 3 pics is what it looked like afterwards. we agreed for him to get rid of some of the weeds, leave a LOT of plants (precious ones my mother had been growing for years) and just put tarp under the mulch. He said if he did move around any plants, he’d save them and replant them. That did not happen.
He ended up literally removing almost every plant- or his crew did I guess- the last 3 pics I have in the “after” pictures are AFTER I told him he removed too many and especially ones we TOLD him specifically to keep. He then said he’d “compensate” and add more back. Well, that’s what he added back. Virtually nothing. I included 2 texts here as well where I discussed this with him (I uploaded the texts backwards, the last one is technically the first one when I first asked him if he had maybe saved the plants, because we noticed they were ALL GONE). First text was sent July 13, and he never updated me if they saved the plants, I had to text a whole week later on July 17 (first text here) if he knew were they were??? I was trying to be nice via text and not come off too harsh, because I thought he’d be bringing more- but nope.
They took out SO many plants (even ones not in the pics I have here) that we didn’t agree on and did NOTHING to compensate for filling in our yard again. On top of that, the previous mulch I had was fairly nice, thick, good quality (no mushrooms growing either). I told him I liked how he did my neighbors yard- which had similar mulch as my old mulch (thick, dark brown, etc). Well, I come back to literal like shreds in my lawn. It’s hard to tell, but up close, the mulch here are literal shreds and looks like leftover bits. On top of that, the new mulch is growing mushrooms. Also, there are areas of my lawn in the front where the tarp isn’t even connecting? Like open spots where weeds are growing through bc he just did not connect the open holes between the tarp.
I don’t know much about tarp, but I told him I wanted this to be low maintenance and the tarp not have any weeds come through. Today (2 weeks after he “completed” this job) there is grass and other small plants spurting through the tarp he used in the areas he laid tarp. Like literally piercing up through the tarp.
I really don’t know what to do. The plants he pulled out were so expensive and beautiful my mother had been growing for over a decade, I don’t know if I am overreacting, and if I am, please call me out here. I spent $900 on this front lawn alone, not including the $160 he charged me for the mulch, but he did use the mulch in some other places as well that were not the front yard.
I am trying to be nice, but I am so sad for my mom that I thought I was doing a nice thing for her, and now her garden area/ plants/ lawn are so barren and NOT what we agreed to. Trying to work with him but he is not keen on refunding me for the front yard. I may try to go and buy some plants myself and new tarp and new mulch, but that will cost so much money again.
by StrictProfessional29
22 Comments
I’d be sad too if I paid someone to ruin my landscape.
I believe you have a right to be upset. You may be under reacting. Good luck.
I’m so sorry to hear about this.
at least they seem to want to fix it. Let’s see what they actually do to fix it. It’s pretty bad right now. But at least see if they can redeem I guess. Fingers crossed.
I’m sorry, that does not look right. Doesn’t sound like he took the proper care to ensure you got what you asked for. He can blame it on the crew all he wants, it’s his business so it’s all on him.
Did your mom know you were going to do this?
nope. looks worse
That is so tough, I’m sorry. Not overreacting, and definitely keep on them to replace equal to value of what they took out. Maybe even ask your mom what she might like and give them a list. Do you have written proof of the work agreement especially around not removing plants? Send it back to them if they fight you on more replacement plants.
For the tarp, unfortunately they really don’t work so that’s not on the contractor. Gardens will always need weeding, though thick mulch (2-4″) will help. Not sure how much they put down.
Serious communication disconnect. To get the proper execution, you needed to walk through the specific areas and address each step. If it’s not too late, try a different approach-not by text.
I’ll take the dog
most landscaping companies are completely worthless. they know little about plants, soil, design, or anything else beyond whatever lowes churns out for them. if youre able to, id suggest cutting the loss and doing it yourself.
Have them pay to replace the plants they removed that you told him not to remove. I work in high end landscaping and this would be an unacceptable response to any of my clients. That being said, you tend to get what you pay for with the average landscaper who may or may not know much about plants or even how to properly show a worker how to do what the client specifically asked for.
I am so sorry this happened to you. That is absolutely horrible, I can’t imagine doing that to someone. I would be bending over backwards and dropping several thousand dollars at the nursery to try and make it right.
I would ask him to take you to a wholesale plant nursery, give you $500 credit (I know they were worth way more), and buy anything else you want out of your own pocket, and have them transport them to your house and plant them. Personally I would just have them drop them off and plant them myself, and just be done with these losers. I know this isn’t a fair solution to you, but it’s realistic when dealing with someone like this, and you can be done with this situation and begin to move on and watch your new plants grow.
I’m really sorry, to both you and your mom. That is so tragic and messed up. I hope everything works out
If anything, you’re not mad enough. Putting a tarp down isn’t going to do much by way of weed abatement. Cardboard is just as effective and decomposes naturally without adding Microplastics into your soil. At most, every plant they planted would cost $30-40 each. $2k is ridiculous and I’m sure you could’ve done better with much less money
What was the goal (s) of your project? As in, was there a problem you were looking to solve?
What are the plants taken out (what type/species, I mean) and what kinds of plants were added in?
Oof I would be HOT and I don’t even care about things like that but damn I wouldn’t have paid ole boy until it was actually rectified but that’s just me. NOR
Tarp? Landscape fabric is garbage and defeats the whole purpose of mulch. Mushrooms are just from said mulch breaking down and improving the soil quality…if it wasn’t for the tarp
Just making assumptions, but I wonder if you hired someone under-qualified based on the price you mentioned alone. I understand it can be a large sum of money to many people, but not for a professional gardener/landscaper/horticulturist. Unfortunately in this business it is the case you get what you pay for. For 900 dollars, that would be a couple people for a few hours **at most.** After that my business would be *losing* money. There are a lot of guys/girls who know nothing about horticulture, don’t have necessary overhead (like accountants, insurance, etc), probably pay their guys & gals under the table, have little experience, fly by night etc. This is the kind of work they do.
By tarp I assume you mean weed fabric. Tarps don’t allow water through, weed fabric does. They may have used a poor quality type or not properly removed the weed roots before laying it. We don’t use weed fabric.. I don’t believe in it, but if we did lay it there would not be plants through it that quickly. One exception being tree suckers/aggressive roots from trees a shrubs that can sometimes lift and fight through pretty quickly.
As far as your plants, my guess is these guys just don’t know how to properly (or didn’t want to take the time) transplant/divide your perennials. I can’t see any reason they would have discarded any, unless the root systems were so infested with weeds that it would have been cheaper to buy you new ones.. but where are the new ones?
My advice next time is to find a gardener rather than a “landscaper” for this type of thing if mom’s plants are something you hold dear. Not throwing any shade at landscapers, I owned a business for nearly 20 years and respect the people industry and its workers. That said, so many “landscapers” are just lawn guys who call them selves landscapers because they have some of the relevant equipment. One small trick you could try in the future… when they come to look at the job, if you are talking about one of mom’s flowers and they can’t name what it is instantly.. hire someone else.
Hopefully you can find mom’s plants in the compost or they return them to you… sorry about the situation :/
dear god i’d be bringing that jerk to small claims for stealing my lovely mature plants. i’d be wondering what other client he sold them to. WTF. you are being way too nice.
Not an over reaction at all. I would be very unhappy!
Wow this looks like doodoo. Sorry op 🙁
I wish just could help but I didnt want to read your whole novel. Plant more stuff? Plenty of room even after those fill in.
What did you hire a landscaper for in the first place? It seems you didn’t actually want or need anything done?
Wait for it to grow in.