Eco-Land Designs, LLC

Hi Lewis, We are disappointed that you are unhappy with Eco-Land. We enjoyed working with you and still hope to end on a positive note.

First—Thank you for the compliment about me being very pleasant, professional and knowledgeable. We were enthusiastic about your project as we are all of our projects. We promised the job would be completed by Memorial Day and were happy it was. Although not always possible due to factors beyond our control, hitting deadlines is an important customer service goal of mine.


Second—Regarding the (5) Shrubs that did not survive: We planted 262 plants on your property. (4) shrubs suffered due to reasons out of our control and unfortunately, did not spruce back up with fall weather. We have tried to rectify and replace these plants multiple times via phone, text and email even though we did not have a plant warranty on your job. 4 struggling plants out of 262 is actually an outstanding outcome. That is a great benefit to native plants! Regardless, I offered to replace these couple shrubs for you. You requested that the new shrubs be planted in a different location. Re-digging holes requires additional labor but I agreed to do that at no charge. I asked you to mark where you would like them planted. You requested an exact time that the crew would arrive and I explained that a full landscape crew is not sent for plant replacements and that this was done at non-scheduled times. I asked again via text message where you would like the new shrubs planted. I never got a response from you on Oct. 13th and was waiting to hear back. I contacted you again 10 days later via phone voicemail stating I had your (5) shrubs and we were ready to plant them. You texted me to just drop them off… which we did.

I have to disagree with you that we planted full sun plants in shade. Many native plants can thrive in various light areas and I would not change the location of any plant in your garden. You liked the idea of Lilly of the Valley along your walkway and it was very happy there. I cannot be held responsible for rabbits or deer eating plants but we did meet and I advised that if something was munching on them, there are various deer/bunny sprays to help prevent this. I was never informed before, during or after the project that your dog was a concern in terms of eating plants.

Third—The dry-laid pea gravel was not installed improperly or at a 20 degree slope and the price was very reasonable for the material and labor needed to construct. All surfaces need a 2-5% slope for water runoff and your yard was already graded this way. You seemed pleased with the end result, as were we, and never brought a concern to my attention once the job was complete.


Fourth—Concerning your budget… we successfully worked with you through on site meetings and email to meet your budget. You were given a full proposal which was revised multiple times in order to finalize this budget. You also sent us back an executed contract which clearly shows the scope of work and the final cost of $21,000. We are fully transparent with all of our costs and details of a project in our scope of work. The extra costs billed after the project were items that you added once we arrived at the job. Some of these tasks included regrading, removal of existing plants, raking/weeding a sand area, mulching additional beds, adding weed fabric and transplanting your existing shrubs..all of which were not a part of our agreed original proposal.

Although we aim for 5 star customer service, when clients make material changes to the scope of work, add additional items, change their minds about plant placement that have already been planted – this costs money. At the end of the day, we are a business and cannot do extensive additional work for free.

To make it seem that I added $4,000 in extra costs at the end of the job is disingenuous. First, I aim to be completely transparent and proactive on any additional`sea costs when a client increases the scope of work. Nobody likes surprises. You were provided an email on 5-22 that outlined the estimated charges for the extra work. In short – the cost crept up because you added onto the project and all costs were provided to you via email. I do not think a smart person like yourself would have paid in full and in full promptly if you felt misled or cheated with additional costs by my company.

I am hoping that there was a breakdown in communication regarding the plant replacements and this had led to your frustration. Although we are very disappointed and surprised by your review, we thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Thank you for the kind words Kip! We really enjoyed working with you and look forward to seeing you again for the edible garden!