Lawns & Beyond Landscape Company, Inc.

For perspective, here is the same client's review on our local BBB site:
We signed a contract with Juan, the owner, in November 2015, which stated he would begin the work on December 1, 2015. His company did start and worked that day for about 5 hours. After that day, the workmen showed up for maybe 2-3 hours, max, arriving at 10:30 - 11 am, leaving for lunch and return for that last hour. Often the men didn't show up at all. Then in middle of month, Dec. 10, he notified us that he was going out of town for 2 1/2 weeks (during Christmas) and would return on Jan 5th to begin again. So the work completely stopped. Meanwhile we were left with just dirt in backyard. We could go on and on with 1-3 hour work days or not showing up at all. Our project consisted of a new lawn, decomposed granite where some grass has been, and a new sprinkler system put in the grass area. The project was finally completed on February 2, 2016. The bottom line: there was very poor communication between Juan and the supervisor and between us as the customers. The supervisor on the job wasn't "supervising" the worker/s and didn't seem to know what was clearly expected on the job. The men didn't dig down to remove tree roots which would have grown up into the new lawn or DG areas as well as to lift up the sprinkler pipes. This was a very stressful experience for us. Generally, we are flexible, easygoing people who do expect good work to be done in a timely fashion. We feel we well overpaid for the job, but that's our problem. Juan didn't come through as being a professional we expected from a BBB highly rated landscaper. We urge you not to use this company.

And here is the response we submitted:
This review comes as a surprise to us since there had been a good enough relationship built with the homeowner to purchase equipment from them during the project. As a policy, we never tell a client that we will be 100% dedicated to their project and the project time frame is based on what our business can manage for two to three jobs at one time. As a small business we would not be able to operate with only one small project going at a time and since our project resources are used at multiple project locations, they may be gone from time to time, but keeping the deadline in mind. We also rely on our worker’s to get material and make deliveries to multiple projects, so they aren’t always “leaving for lunch.”

Our company policy on project time frames is that if we go over the contracted time, we will pay for the labor above and beyond to complete the project. Meaning that we will complete the project without asking for additional funds from the client, and yes, rarely that does happen due to unforeseen circumstances. That means we may work weekends if approved by the client or go over the time frame, but the project is done properly at the cost we bid at. It is in our best interest to complete a project within the contracted time frame.

In regards to the communications, we ask that our clients communicate with the contractor, not the workers, as they have been told what is expected by the contractor and any other message from any other source will inevitably cause misinterpretation even if the clients just want to get involved during the work.

As for the tree roots, this was not a part of the contract that was signed by the client and would have been an additional cost to the homeowner as it is a labor intensive task and also risks the life of the trees the roots come from. The homeowner took it upon himself to dig at the roots prior to our company completing the irrigation. The tree is a Maple variety and Maples will have massive root systems and are not recommended for small areas.

Although unexpected, we fully admit that the project was not completed by February 1, which would have been 42 days (not counting weekends or three holidays which are not normally worked) from December 1, the same 42 days as signed for in the contract with this client. Since illness rarely picks a convenient time to show up, in December we approached the client with a request to leave the project, unexpectedly, for 19 days in order for us to fly home to care for our mother (our last remaining parent/grandparent to our children) after her heart valve replacement and two bypasses. The client agreed to the absence and if they had not (or any of our clients had not agreed), we would not have stopped the projects. Our business is a small, family owned operation and we currently do not have the manpower to continue a project during an absence and still give the project the much needed skill and detail it deserves. The day of our return from the medical leave, there were heavy storms so bad that our aircraft/pilot made several attempts to land. This storm system caused several more days of delay to the project due to weather, which is defined in our signed contract under Delays; stormy and inclement weather. After the number of holidays and the unexpected medical leave, we are still proud of our company for completing the project with just one day over the agreed to time frame, again, at no extra cost to the client but just the time of one extra day.

Honestly, we don’t look back and think, “Gosh, wish my mom would have picked a better time for her heart to fail.” The three clients we had over this period of time have amazed us with their lack of compassion. If ever faced with another decision like this one, to ask clients for a break from their projects in order to care for a loved one, we won’t hesitate to ask no matter what it takes to fix it when we return, because family and faith will always come first.

Update: April 2016
We are still proud of completing this project in the time allotted by the contract and we believe the yard looks great.