Starting Landscaping - Rare Earth Systems

Lucky, one suggestion for you even though you're not planning on extensive plantings.

Ask for written instructions on plant maintenance, particularly on the perennials and shrubs.  Ask for names identified along with trimming/cutback instructions and timing thereof. 

If you don't, you'll find yourself taking clippings down to the local nursery asking what is this again?
 
nosuchreality said:
Lucky, one suggestion for you even though you're not planning on extensive plantings.

Ask for written instructions on plant maintenance, particularly on the perennials and shrubs.  Ask for names identified along with trimming/cutback instructions and timing thereof. 

If you don't, you'll find yourself taking clippings down to the local nursery asking what is this again?
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Thanks, nosuchreality. Good tip.

Just another reason for me to praise our landscaper: As we were driving around yesterday, he kept remarking how badly most every yard was being neglected. In the middle of that he said he'd definitely be providing detailed instructions for us on what exactly we need to do in order to keep everything in top shape.

Not only did he write the name down of every plant we liked, he knew by sight the name and details of every plant we looked at.

(I know; I'm gushing a bit. But it's totally appropriate.)
 
stromung said:
My wife called on Friday for an estimate and John said he will call back, that never happened.
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Whoa, really? Sorry to hear that, especially after my ridiculously glowing review. That's totally unlike him. I'm going to call him to ask what happened. I can only imagine maybe he was driving when he answered the call and had no way to take a note then forgot.

He is so behind the times technologically that he is able to receive texts but he doesn't know how to send a text.

He's even done the olden-days thing where he was driving and couldn't write a note, so he wanted me to call back to leave a voicemail to remind him about a meeting.
 
@stromung - Spoke with John last night. He explained that he took the call while on the freeway and said he'd call back between 1:30 and 2:30, but because he was tied up called at 3:30 and got voicemail. He said he left a message but didn't receive a call back. He explained that because he doesn't want to be a nuisance, if someone doesn't call him back he typically won't keep calling and bothering you since you may have decided to use someone else and no longer want to talk to him.

After he learned that your impression was he never called back, he says he's definitely going to try calling again asap. Please let us know how it goes once he does!  :D
 
@Lucky ----My bad, he actually returned wife's call and we had the guy came over last night and apologized to him as well.  Nice and prof kind of guy he is.  He said will be back next week to give me the estimate.
 
stromung said:
@Lucky ----My bad, he actually returned wife's call and we had the guy came over last night and apologized to him as well.  Nice and prof kind of guy he is.  He said will be back next week to give me the estimate.
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Thanks for the update. Glad to hear it went much more like I would have expected it to. : ) I think you definitely won't be disappointed dealing with him, especially with how quick a turnaround you get with his designs and how much time he'll happily spend talking to you.
 
I just called John and he's coming tomorrow for an estimate. He knew right away where I am so I guess he is familiar with Stonegate.

I made sure I mentioned Rommel referred me.  ;)


lucky said:
Irvine_Dreamer said:
akim997 said:
Also, there are plenty of landscapers out there who will take your money... believe me.  The hard part is finding somebody good.  Hmmm.... I actually haven't heard back from Chris in a couple of days...  Hope this is not the start of something bad...
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I agree, but who?  Who can I trust, has reasonable price, does a good job and communicates on timely manner?  I see a contractor who's doing my neighbor's yard, and he doesn't have a license, and I saw him shortcutting few things.
By the way, Chris never came back with quote on time, so I crossed him off my list.
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I highly recommend the gentleman we recently settled on.

At the moment this is our experience with and opinion of him:
- He is definitely very trustworthy and knowledgeable and has had his business for over 40 years.
- He is licensed and insured.
- He is very easy to get in contact with via phone. (He's not so technically inclined, so he doesn't answer emails or texts.)
- He drew up the first draft of the design Friday after the Monday we met him (last week).
- He is extremely relaxed, friendly, and patient. In fact, yesterday we took a 2 hour drive around Irvine neighborhoods together to look at other homes' landscaping so we could discuss what we we liked and didn't like.
- He will have our official design ready for submission to the HOA by today or tomorrow.
- He is very anti-cookie-cutter. He was very unhappy with all the streets we saw where he could tell the same landscaper did several of the houses because they all looked so similar. He insists on only putting his name on a nice, custom design.
- His price is lower than everyone else for the same design and he doesn't require any up-front deposit.

I can't recommend him enough, especially after dealing with ~6 other contractors, most of whom stopped calling back or just never called back at all (after taking the time to measure our yard even)!

If you phone him, I'd really appreciate if you would please be sure to tell him Rommel referred you. (My name is pronounced RAW-mull.) I very much want him to know how much we appreciate his efforts. :) (In fact, after our 2-hour drive yesterday my wife is planning to buy him a $50 gift card to express our gratitude.) His name is John and can be reached at 714.351.9071.
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Thanks @Irvine_RC! Totally forgot to mention his company name. :p Yes, his website is pretty ordinary, but he's lucky he even has it because it was his son who insisted that he set it up for him.

@lookinginirvine - Thanks for mentioning me! It really means a lot to my wife and me that he knows how much we appreciate him. :D I hope he's the right choice for you. I think he's quickly becoming a Stonegate expert. Which community are you in?
 
Lucky - I'm in San Mateo. Landscaping is the last thing on our to-do list. Once landscaping is done, we will have officially completed everything we wanted to do to the house and can finally sit back and relax and enjoy the house.
 
I know how you feel. We still have lots more to do for the house, but landscaping is the biggest thing on our list. The awful thing is we just got word back from the HOA and the person who approves landscaping plans just got back from vacation, so despite that we submitted our plans 3 weeks ago, she says we shouldn't expect a response sooner than 3-4 weeks from now. >: (
 
lucky said:
stromung said:
@Lucky ----My bad, he actually returned wife's call and we had the guy came over last night and apologized to him as well.  Nice and prof kind of guy he is.  He said will be back next week to give me the estimate.
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Thanks for the update. Glad to hear it went much more like I would have expected it to. : ) I think you definitely won't be disappointed dealing with him, especially with how quick a turnaround you get with his designs and how much time he'll happily spend talking to you.
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How was the design and pricing? I've gotten a few quotes, but haven't favored one landscaper over another. Wondering if I'll get lucky with John.
 
@Jenita143 - As far as quality of the final design, it is great, especially because we kept coming up with new ideas about how to change the design. John was totally easy-going about our constantly-evolving adjustments and patiently helped with lots of his own suggestions. As far as price, we went well above what we were hoping to spend, but (and it's a big but) it's because we were able to get *every* one of the featured from our design wish list included and our total price is still thousands below what every other landscaper quoted as a minimum.
 
lucky said:
@Jenita143 - As far as quality of the final design, it is great, especially because we kept coming up with new ideas about how to change the design. John was totally easy-going about our constantly-evolving adjustments and patiently helped with lots of his own suggestions. As far as price, we went well above what we were hoping to spend, but (and it's a big but) it's because we were able to get *every* one of the featured from our design wish list included and our total price is still thousands below what every other landscaper quoted as a minimum.
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Will you be updating your post w/ the final design?
When are you starting the landscaping?
 
@Irvine_Dreamer - Yes, definitely will. John gave me 3 copies for the HOA and I didn't bother to take a photo/copy for myself, but I'll do that whenever I have one in my hands again. We still don't have a start date because we're *still* waiting for the HOA to approve our plans. : ( We submitted the day we closed escrow immediately after they handed over the keys. Two neighbors on my street are already in the process of having their landscaping installed, so we don't understand why we still have to wait another 3 weeks from now. Just another example of our really horrible luck.
 
lookinginirvine said:
Lucky - I'm in San Mateo. Landscaping is the last thing on our to-do list. Once landscaping is done, we will have officially completed everything we wanted to do to the house and can finally sit back and relax and enjoy the house.
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Did you get your quote from John? Do you mind to share the quote? How do you think his price comparing with other quotes?
 
bones said:
Irvine_Dreamer said:
akim997 said:
Also, there are plenty of landscapers out there who will take your money... believe me.  The hard part is finding somebody good.  Hmmm.... I actually haven't heard back from Chris in a couple of days...  Hope this is not the start of something bad...
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I agree, but who?  Who can I trust, has reasonable price, does a good job and communicates on timely manner?  I see a contractor who's doing my neighbor's yard, and he doesn't have a license, and I saw him shortcutting few things.
By the way, Chris never came back with quote on time, so I crossed him off my list.
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We used Jefferson Rand and was very happy with them.  It's owned by an Asian woman and they have an in house landscape "designer".  Try giving them a call.  714-253-3167.
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Hi Bones,

I am looking at landscaping and read your post of them. A lot of TI members say KS is good.  Also Jo from Echo but dont know his work.  His pics seem kind of simple.

Do you have any pics or details you can share about what you did?  May I ask how much you spent and the timeframe to complete? You can PM me if you dont want to post here.  Thanks for the help.
 
shadyoc said:
bones said:
Irvine_Dreamer said:
akim997 said:
Also, there are plenty of landscapers out there who will take your money... believe me.  The hard part is finding somebody good.  Hmmm.... I actually haven't heard back from Chris in a couple of days...  Hope this is not the start of something bad...
Click to expand...
I agree, but who?  Who can I trust, has reasonable price, does a good job and communicates on timely manner?  I see a contractor who's doing my neighbor's yard, and he doesn't have a license, and I saw him shortcutting few things.
By the way, Chris never came back with quote on time, so I crossed him off my list.
Click to expand...

We used Jefferson Rand and was very happy with them.  It's owned by an Asian woman and they have an in house landscape "designer".  Try giving them a call.  714-253-3167.
Click to expand...

Hi Bones,

I am looking at landscaping and read your post of them. A lot of TI members say KS is good.  Also Jo from Echo but dont know his work.  His pics seem kind of simple.

Do you have any pics or details you can share about what you did?  May I ask how much you spent and the timeframe to complete? You can PM me if you dont want to post here.  Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I would love to share but sadly, I can't.  I do have some advice for you:
1. Pictures are great, but visit the landscaper's other jobs in person if you can.  They are usually more than happy to drive you around, or tell you which houses.  I would also personally talk to the homeowner and ask them specific questions about the job.  There have been instances where contractors bring clients by homes that they DID NOT do.  Also, talk to more than one homeowner (I suggest talking to at least 3) to get a broader opinion. 
2. In terms of timeframe, I know everyone wants their landscaping done ASAP but I would not use this as a deciding factor when choosing contractors.  Good work takes time.  Value getting it done RIGHT versus getting it done QUICK.  Landscapers can work neatly.  If you want, ask them to only use 1/2 of your driveway so you can still park your car in the garage on certain days and have clear access to your house.
3. Ask for a written contract with a detailed invoice.  This will allow you to see how much stuff costs on a PSF basis, etc.  And if you decide to cut certain aspects of the job, you know how to do that math.  Also, if you want to add to the job, you can also calculate.  The invoice should also outline a payment plan.  You should not pay more than $1000 initial deposit and have the contract broken up into multiple pay stages.  For example, 15% for initial start/materials, 20% for ground work, 25% for face work, 20% after sprinkler set up, etc.  There have been tons of stories about contractors getting fired midway through the job with 80% of the $ in their pocket.
4. If you are doing new construction, get the brands/colors/grout of your house exterior from your builder.  Give that to your landscaper and have them match everything - insist on it!  You'd be surprised driving around how much stuff (i.e walls) do not match. 
5. Double check their license #.  There have been instances of landscapers giving out a license # that appears to be correct but not. 
6. Ask them the order in which they do things.  For the life of me, I can't understand why landscapers plant trees/flowers prior to finishing all the hardscape.  Also, make sure they don't cut corners on drainage.  No one ever said - man i have too much drainage?.

Landscaping can be a complete PITA but if you take the necessary steps, it can actually be a good experience.  Best of luck in your search/project.
 
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