John Williams Design

John is passionate about what he does. This comes through in every aspect of his work. His standards are very high. His approach is collaborative. He is very detail-oriented and knowledgeable. He maintains contact even after the project is completed. I would highly recommend him.

Our experience with John Williams Design was outstanding in every way. Our initial project was centered around adding flowers and ground cover to the hillside behind our house, along with additional landscaping. With a number of in-person meetings as well ideas sent back and forth by e-mail, we were able to develop a detailed plan for the landscaping of the hillside, along with several other areas around the house. With pictures of all the plants that were planned, along with drawings of the new plant locations and planters, we had a very good idea of how the project would be done. John had so many good ideas that we expanded our original plan to make use of many of them. When this expansion led to a more expensive estimate than we had originally planned, John worked with us very effectively to decrease the cost back to the level we wanted. Our project involved significant clean-up of the hillside, several new concrete planters, improved sprinklers and drip irrigation, outside lighting, and many wonderfully colorful and varied plants. We were extremely happy with all of the work done by his group, and by the sprinkler, concrete, paint and electrical people. They arrived on time, cleaned up every day, were very responsive, and all worked well under John’s direction. We are very very happy with the final results of our project. The new plants and flowers are gorgeous and growing well, the new planters are exactly what we wanted, and the lighting has dramatically improved our enjoyment of the landscaping in the evening. John and his people have been extremely responsive when a couple very small things needed to be adjusted or fixed. We have nothing but good things to say about the entire project – it has succeeded well beyond our expectations, and we have only wonderful things to say about the work with John and all his workers and contractors. We very strongly recommend John Williams Design for your landscaping projects.

John completely re-designed the layout of the backyard, advised on removing trees and other old vegetation, as well as demolishing cement and replacing it with new flagstone. He helped find the contractors to completely renovate the swimming pool with new plumbing, new equipment and to tear down an old fence and replace it with a new redwood fence. He also helped us select the flagstone and tile for the pool and decking. He planted new trees and vegetation and put in a new low voltage lighting system. The end result is a spectacular back yard with a gorgeous garden and swimming pool. John is very collaborative and easy to work with and we highly recommend him.

We haven't started with the actual landscaping yet but at every juncture of the process so far, John has been terrific. As someone else said, if I could give him an A+ rating, I would. He's pragmatic and creative.

I wish A++ was an option. I said to my husband, if more companies and humans operated like John did, the world would be a much happier place. John and Carlos not only showed up on time, they showed up 5 minutes early. They worked on the promised days, demonstrated tremendous care in all they did, and we ended up with an absolutely beautiful yard. It's extremely rare that we trust someone so completely with our home but John was just the best. In terms of design, my husband and I had asked for a peaceful and sustainable space that didn't have an overly complicated plant palette. Beyond that, we simply told John what plants we liked and didn't like and he ran the design show from there. The photo attached to this review features one of the focal points outside of our living room. Beautiful! Again, A++! // Work included: irrigation, plant overhaul, lighting

I wish A++ was an option. I said to my husband, if more companies and humans operated like John did, the world would be a much happier place. John and Carlos not only showed up on time, they showed up 5 minutes early. They worked on the promised days, demonstrated tremendous care in all they did, and we ended up with an absolutely beautiful yard. It's extremely rare that we trust someone so completely with our home but John was just the best. In terms of design, my husband and I asked for a peaceful and sustainable space that didn't have an overly complicated plant palette. Beyond that, we simply told John what plants we liked and didn't like and he ran the design show from there. The photo attached to this review features one of the focal points outside of our living room. So lovely!!

John is a pleasure to work with! He made our backyard come to life (which absolutely helped its resale value) and he xeriscaped the front yard of our new house. We will probably use him again (for the 3rd time) this fall to fix a difficult shady spot in the back. The best things about John are his creativity and willingness to incorporate our ideas. He is easy to talk to and get answers from. Our garden is thriving--and even when we had a plant that wasn't doing so well, we were able to get him back to our house to offer suggestions and replacements. We are so happy with how it looks and enjoy our yard every day.

Ioriginally contracted John to design a landscape for both my front and back yards - which he did beautifully. Before installation, I decided to build a pool/hot-tub in my backyard. John was very patient while we took the next 6 months to build the pool. John was always available and happy to help guide me along the way regarding pool design and decking decisions. When the pool was finally completed, John came back with new designs for landscaping. I mentioned I always wanted to change the exterior of my home but had no idea how to design a new "look." John stepped up to the plate once again. Who knew my landscaper could also design houses? John drew a beautiful design for the exterior front of the house including recommending a window designer for whom he had personal experience. I have been very pleased working with John who is a brilliant designer and very amiable. My house, while the project is not quite complete is going to be stunning with a new faced as well as exceptional, drought tolerant landscaping.

<p>We love our new yard. We feel the design, especially in front where there is more room, is really beautiful. We have seen lots of xeriscaping projects lately, and many of them look skimpy to us, with seas of decomposed granite interspersed with a few succulents. Our yard is generously planted. One aspect of the design that we really like is that John put in 2 good sized (maybe 10 years old?) olive trees in front, which provided an immediate impact on the look of our house and yard. The choice of plants is creative and varied. A neighbor calls it our park. </p> <p>John is a very friendly and pleasant man, very responsive and easy to work with. The project moved forward in a timely manner, the crew was also very nice. John continues to check in on the yard when he is in the neighborhood. We like that, not just because he's monitoring the job he did for us, but that he keeps track of how plants look after they've been growing for a while, not just how they look in the beginning.</p> <p>In terms of John's design services, I'd say his aesthetic (at least in our yard) is a plant-filled natural look, without a lot of straight or hard edges. As I said, not a minimalist. Works for us.</p> <p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /></p>

John took a dull landscape of lawn and neglected borders, and transformed it into a gorgeous paradise.  At our first meeting, he gave us his ideas to improve the flow of our outdoor space, using landscaping and hardscaping elements.  Although we had only been thinking of replacing the plants, we were excited by his suggestions, and we hired him right away to create the design.  The plan was ambitious, and required finding a contractor to convert our unused garage into a beautiful pavilion for outdoor entertaining.  Because of this, it took a while for the project to get off the ground (and with this in mind, I suggest you make sure the schedule and budget have been agreed-upon before you start).  Once the work began, John was here every day to supervise, and sometimes even work beside, his excellent crew.  He was very knowledgeable, and always ready to address our concerns.   John has stayed in touch to make sure things are going well and he even came back to give us tips on how to care for our plants and to replace a few that weren't doing well.   <br /> We are just loving our garden, and feel great about saving so much water.  We've received tons of compliments, both from friends and from people just walking by, who stop to admire.  John is great to work with, and he is highly recommended. <br />

John Williams is an amazing talent and a complete pleasure to work with. I actually discovered him on Angie's list, where he has many, entirely deserved glowing reviews. He completely transformed my back yard from what my daughter had termed "an abandoned lot" into a spectacular oasis. When we first met, I described to him what I thought I wanted to do.  He listened to me, made great creative suggestions and then delivered actionable plans very quickly.  His budget was more than reasonable for the amount of work required and he met it.  His own crew was terrific, as was the outside crew he brought in to build a patio. The work was done quickly and he returned on numerous occasions to make sure everything was coming in well. John is honest, reliable, incredibly gifted and great fun to work with. I am looking forward to working with him again on my front yard. I recommend him to anyone looking for a fabulous landscape designer. <br />

The project was well executed and completed in a timely manner and within the budget. We appreciated the extensive discussions with John on his proposed design and his close engagement during the whole duration of the project. John was very responsive to our concerns and views, and displayed excellent knowledge of plants and materials. He helped us, among other things, to choose the most appropriate stone for the hardscaping and fountain for the garden. This included going out with him a couple of times to see actual projects and potential suppliers. We felt that the people John brought in did very good quality work. John made sure that things flowed smoothly by supervising the work and providing guidance on a daily basis. We are very happy with the results and very much enjoyed interacting with John, so we would no doubt recommend him and resort to him again for this type of project. <br />

At the first meeting John introduced himself by showing us projects he had done before and he explained the whole process including the fees. After we had decided to do the project with him we talked about our ideas for the front and backyard. He then worked on a design which integrated our ideas. He presented the result in a detailed drawing, which, after discussing it, was modified here and there. This was one of his many pluses, -he was always open to comments and concerns and tried to integrate it in the plan. When the actual work was performed he was there at least once a day to check on the progress. He always let us know when the workers would show up. His crew was great. They worked very hard, seemed to be very knowledgable, very friendly and tidy. Each day before leaving they cleaned up everything. <br /> To summarize my experience with John, I would say, he is not only very good at his landscape designing job but he has other qualities as well: he is easy to talk to, open to the clients wishes and very reliable. I highly recommend him! <br />

He was very easy to work with, had great ideas and gave me exactly what I was looking/hoping for (a minor miracle, since I couldn't tell him what I wanted it to look like, only what it needed to "feel" like and how I wanted to use the space).  We started with a very neglected large rectangle of space with a patchwork of grass (mostly "crab" and other weeds) and he created a "wooded" sanctuary of curves and color and focal points.  His strategic use of trees created privacy in a neighborhood where houses are right up next to each other and blocked some objects that were "less than aesthetically pleasing."  When you walk into my back yard now, it feels like you're on vacation in some casual, comfy yet swanky resort.  <br /> Wherever possible, he used existing plants (I had several established ficus trees that had sprung up in clumps before I bought the house -- he pointed out it would cost $500+ to buy trees like that, so instead of taking the easy route and removing them and replacing with new, he carefully transplanted them around the yard, even though it was a lot more work for his crew). <br /> In the front, he recommended that we remove all the grass and replace it with a "tapestry" of plants -- making my front yard look incredibly lush, and working brilliantly with the "cottage" nature of my house.  It's drought tolerant, using much less water than the lawn did....and features an abundance of flowering plants and trees rather than the typical "drought tolerant" go-tos of cactus/succulents and rocks!  It also takes less maintenance (with no grass to mow).  Neighbors routinely stop by to look and comment about how much they like it -- and the guy next door thanked me for having it done so well an "raising the property values for the rest of us."  :) <br /> John has been exceptionally responsive throughout the design and installation -- answering questions immediately and quickly addressing any of the issues that are bound to come up in any project of this size.  <br /> John loves what he does and it shows. He's got great ideas -- along with a great crew and associates -- and he's got the kind of commitment to client satisfaction that is extremely rare these days.  I would would with him again in a heart beat.  <br />

They have done a great job. The price is fair and they haven't gone over budget at all. Everything has been exactly what we expected it to be.

As very happy previous clients of John's (see previous report), we contacted him about doing some areas of our garden that we hadn't done in the first job, as well as augmenting a couple of the original areas.  John came out and did a walk through, and we discussed what we were looking for.  He gave us a very fair quote on the spot, and we were off.  Trusting John so implicitly from having worked with him before, we were a bit less hands on with the specifics of the design, and again were thrilled with how everything turned out.  The work happened in a timely fashion, and within our budget parameters.  What impresses me more than anything about John is the care and attention that we get as clients.  This job was quite a bit smaller than our first job, and having seen John's portfolio it's obvious that he works regularly on a much grander scale than what we hired him to do.  Nonetheless, we again felt like John and his crew went above and beyond to make sure our needs and expectations were met, which they were in spades.  Having worked with John twice now we would absolutely not look anywhere else for our landscaping needs.

We worked together to create the design.  I truly enjoyed working with John.  He understood what I wanted and put together a garden that I just love being in.  He could have done the job for less.....but I wanted that fountain.  And, as I say, it is a large space.  John Williams has my most enthusiastic recommendation.  The plants of mine that he moved to other locations are all doing much better than before.  He took me on a couple of drive-arounds, looking at plants, discussing what could go where.  By doing this he got a feel of what I liked and what I didn't like.   Except for the spacial design, I had no ideas to give him as I really didn't know enough.  I didn't want the garden totally finished, I mean I knew I would want to add plants that I found or that people gave me, I want to be able to change the 'feel' of a section as my whim takes me.  John provided exactly this:  an excellent foundation, an attractive garden, but with 'space' for change and development.

I chose John because he returned my call right away, I liked what people said about him on Angies's List and because his creative ideas and words seemed to be good match.   It just clicked.   At  times he would say what I already knew, but wanted permission to just do.  ..."get rid of the hardscape where it is" ..and sometime it was a novel idea I had never thought of..".you could put a tree right here".  And most of all he was very open to other suggestions and making " tweaks along the way" as the process unfolded.  <br /> <br /> The slowest time was after the initial plans were done and we were interviewing for hardscape team.  There were vacations, a death in my family, and waiting for the right team. I signed the first contract June 16th and the demolition began August 15th.  Waiting this long got us a team of brothers that I had worked with before, gave a space  around family issues and the timing was agreeable to John as well.  <br /> <br /> Once we got rolling, the days all  went all very smoothly  (seriously) (!) and the hardscape finished in 4 weeks.  Based on overall  plan, I  was making day to day decisions with the hardscape team, as was my preference, but  John checked in  frequently and was always available to stop by within  a day and often the same day, just for a minute to check progress or advise on a creative point. For example, one too many large birds of paradise got taken out by accident.  This was unfortunate, but morphed into removing some old lattice and opening a whole new vista..point of interest.  John was helpful in that and other transitions.   For me it was all just great fun!   It was a good team.... Efficient and nice balance of creative teamwork.  I very much appreciated John's collaboration and flexibility.   His expertise and advice was given without  preciousness or having things done in just a very certain way.  <br /> <br /> Once the hardscape was finished and the  the redwood retreat completed,(not included in price above), John started the landscaping with his team.  He is pretty great . I am very pleased with the final product.  I have 5 new trees, a soothing (small)  patch of green, a retreat with a hammock, and that new outdoor room  feeling that is soothing and nourishing.  But what brings a smile to my face as much as the overall space does, are the colors and combinations of textures John chose in the plantings...very nice.  The watering system needed  tweaking and John and his team were available and I feel I could still request a quick visit it something came up about the landscape. <br /> <br /> It was a true pleasure to work with John and I would certainly recommend inviting his sense of creativity into your plans....did I mention how much I love my yard?

We can't say enough about the positive experience both my husband and I had working with this vendor. To begin with John was a pleasure to work with. He was very personable and spent a lot of time with us helping us to clarify what we were looking for in the finished project. He has a broad knowledge of plants and acquainted us with a wide variety of plant choices. Using his experience and expertise, he then came up with a design plan that was a clear vision of what he wanted to create, but also incorporated everything we asked for.  He was also flexible and addressed every change we wanted to make along the way. Since our home is part of a community association, we were required to go before a committee and present our plan. John attended the meeting and presented the plan to them in a way they could understand, which was key to having it approved. While the work was going on, he was readily available to discuss what would be happening next or any concerns we might have.  John had a great crew of polite, hard working, talented, nice guys. He was able to explain their tasks for the day and leave them to work, but he was also attentive to the project and spent time on site working along with his crew. John also helped us to make choices on exterior paint colors for house. He, along with us, was invested in creating a beautiful finished product. We feel the price of the project was very fair. John actually came in under budget.  The original quote was between $23,500-$28,500 (this includes a $3500 design fee for front and back yards). Although we spent $25,300 total, this included $1250 in things we added and does not include the $1400 city rebate that John knew about and told us to apply for. With these all taken into account one would have to say that the originally agreed upon work came to $22,650 after deducting the extra work and rebate. In our opinion John is a true landscape artist. His use of color, design, shape and texture created two incredible spaces. Instead of yards, we now have beautiful, lush, vibrant, yet calming gardens to enjoy and we couldn't be happier with the outcome.

Before you do any landscaping project, please give John Williams a call. I have been a loyal Angie's list member for several years and have always been happy with the people we have hired, but John far surpassed any of our expectations (and no, I am not related to him). <br /> <br /> We called John to come to our house and give us an estimate on our landscape project. He was prompt and came well prepared. Before we even started talking about the details of the job he showed us a multitude of projects that he had completed on his computer. This helped us by giving us some design ideas he thought might work well with our property. What struck me was not only the large number of jobs he had completed, but the variety of homes and locations. In each one he literally had transformed every one of them no matter how big or small the job. In addition, his knowledge of plants was incredibly comprehensive. <br /> <br /> My husband and I were so impressed, we agreed that John should do the project. He came back with a beautifully detailed design and went through every detail with us. He had some wonderful ideas how to transform our yard not only with foliage but by raising planting beds and adding details that we never would have thought. John was very environmentally conscious - recycling turf, shunning toxic pesticides, installing a more efficient irrigation system. His crew was always on time and very professional. The job took several months and throughout that period John was always involved on a daily basis and worked as hard as his crew. He was definitely not afraid to get his hands dirty. <br /> <br /> We love how John has transformed our yard and enjoy it every day. What started out as a way to reduce our water bill has now become our own private sanctuary. I cannot recommend him highly enough, if you are thinking of doing any type of landscaping you really should give John a call.

They did a wonderful job.  They were very diligent and there was not a day they didn't work on the 2 1/2 weeks it took.  John Williams has a couple of crews but the crew that has come out to our home is headed up by a gentleman named Carlos.  He is as talented and a true craftsman as John Williams.  His crew is very talented as well.   When I hired John it was not only to do the hard scape it also included to get his tile guy to re-tile our front porch area.  W now have a beautiful front porch as well as beautiful landscaping.  <br /> <br /> John Williams is so professional that he noticed that a gas line was leaking.  Carlos crew trenched deeper than would have and saw that our gas line was terribly corroded.  He asked me if I could save you some money would you be willing to go with my guys.  We decided to go with them and he saved me $600.  Pete Sanchez did a great job with the gas line!  Even my plumber that I use said they did an awesome job.  <br />

We asked John to look at our backyard for help in blocking out the view of a neighboring home and decided after looking at his portfolio that we wanted to do much more. We decided to redo the landscaping on our entire property. We removed our front lawn, replacing it with an exciting, drought-tolerant landscape and created much-needed privacy in our backyard. John also suggested adding a new door to connect our dining room with our back patio. It was done flawlessly and a created a great, new dynamic for indoor-outdoor living. For creative design, ingenuity and follow-through we highly recommend John Williams Design.

Fantastic. Beautiful, on time, on budget.

See above.

Before choosing John we'd interviewed and gotten quotes from 5 other landscapers. We were immediately impressed and comfortable with John due to his impressive portfolio, but more importantly by how relaxed and straight forward he was. With the other prospective landscapers there was lots of posturing regarding the price, and we ended up with more questions than answers about how the job would be approached. John came out and met with us, asked us a number of questions, and then laid out what he'd do and what the cost would be. After a quick and easy back and forth we settled on a price we could afford, and we were off. Within a week or so John brought over the initial plan and drawing of what he wanted to do, so that we could discuss, amend, etc. We made a few small comments, and then scheduled to meet at a local nursery to go over plants in more detail. After that he made the final plan, and the irrigation guys got started a few days later. The total job took 7 - 8 days. We are extremely happy with how this turned out, and having had a poor landscaping job done by a different landscaper the previous year, we understand how the opposite side of this story can play out. We really felt like John listened to our desires, but also took an appropriate amount of initiative given our lack of knowledge. The end result is a beautiful, inspired job, that is far from the cookie-cutter type jobs you often see. We would use John again in a heartbeat, and would definitely recommend him to friends and family.