Theres very few things I regret in life, but hiring Newhart Landscaping is one of them. One star because if you dont look too closely, the end result is passable. But looking a little deeper, you can tell shortcuts were taken and there will be problems sooner rather than later that will take significant work to maintain or fix. For example, about 50% of the plants/shurbs installed died after the first year. They provide no warranty and will blame things like rabbits and the weather (despite last winter being the mildest on record in Edmonton since the 1970s). When you go to replace them, you will realize they were planted in sand and road crush, so no wonder the roots didnt take. At least they will be easy to pull out. No shovel needed to dig out those dead plants. Half the lighting has stopped working, but good luck getting them to come back to help troubleshoot.
My biggest problem with these people is their lack of communication. Do not pay these people in full until they have rectified all deficiencies with their work because you will never see them again after they have your money. They will tell you things but wont follow through. When you try to get in contact with them, they give you the run around, dont provide straight answers, or blame each other for forgetting to follow up. Which is ironic considering it is a husband and wife couple that run this company. Youd think if they wont communicate with their clients, they would at least communicate with each other.
Speaking of, they refuse to communicate on the phone. Calling any of their business lines goes to voicemail or to a call centre theyve contracted to take messages. But no one will ever call you back to answer your questions. Emails take days if not weeks to get a response, and when they respond, you will be lucky to get an answer to one of the three questions youve asked. But dont bother calling to try and talk to them about anything, because Susanna, the owner, will never call you back.
We had an irrigation system installed. They stated several times that they take care of the first blow out before winter, and first start up in the Spring to ensure that all the lines are in tact and working after they install. This is a untrue. You will not hear from them. Not that this is hard to do yourself, but if they sell this as one of their services, then either follow through or dont say that you do this.
We were talked into simplifying the post caps on our fencing. When I questioned what would happen if this caused us to fail our inspection and the return of our deposit from the developer, they stated they would return to re-do these. Well, the inspection failed, and despite having in writing that they will return this season to rectify this, and several months of back and forth and trying to track them down, they have ignored our attempts to get them to come back and fix this. Susanna sells herself as a carpenter and how easy it would be for her to fix this, but she wont actually do it.
They will also tell you strange little contradictions that make you wonder if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. Susanna, the wife will tell you that they dedicate their team to one job at a time so that they can stick to timelines and not have to spend time moving their equipment around. Alex, the husband will tell you they have several jobs going on at once and he has to spend several days sorting issues out at other sites. Speaking of timelines, we were told our job would take about 10 days, weather dependent. Well, they started in May, and finished at the end of July. Again, this is not that big of a deal to us in the grand scheme of things (maybe it would be to others), but why say this if its clearly untrue? Also, when I say finished, I mean they were still coming back to finish installing things into October.
At best, these people are amateurs who bit off more than they can chew. I wish they had been up front about that and declined taking our job. Perhaps they are better on small projects. All in, we were close to $100K worth of work on our lot, and the experience has been disappointing to say the least. Save yourself the heartache of dealing with these people. You will sleep better at night working with a different company.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $100,000.00
- Company Response
Thank you for sharing your feedback. Your comments are important to us, and we take them seriously as we strive to improve our services.
We regret that our communication did not meet your needs. Clear and timely communication is vital, which is why we use an answering service. We inform all our clients that communicating via email is more effective, as we receive many messages, and phone calls can sometimes result in lost information.
With over 15 years of experience in creating outdoor spaces and working on approximately 30 sites a year, we take pride in our work as a husband-and-wife team. While we do sometimes get our wires crossed, this is no different from what can happen in any partnership. Alex and your husband Jerry had conversations that you and Jerry did not communicate, which led to some misunderstandings. You kept requesting changes, and we continued to work through them to ensure your satisfaction.
Regarding the post caps, the modification you requested did not pass inspection by your builder and fell outside the scope of our contract. You then expected us to fix it at no additional cost. Although we strive to accommodate all our clients to the best of our ability, we are not a large enough company to cover every additional cost.
On one hand, you are upset that we addressed and continued to fix deficiencies to meet your expectations. On the other hand, you are frustrated that the project took longer than anticipated. Despite our efforts, it seems we were unable to meet your expectations.
I do hope you enjoy your outdoor space.