Landscape Solutions

Quick to respond, gave a quote on the spot and started work after Providing proper documentation in order to perform the job. I explained what I wanted and he delivered exactly that. Amazing job! Definitely recommend him for future work.

In September 2024, I contracted with Scott C. McIntyre, the owner of Landscape Solutions to do landscaping work at my residence in Los Altos, Ca. The work consisted of replacing existing retaining walls and steps in my back yard and installing a new patio on an already flattened area on the hill in my back yard. Mr. McIntyre declared the work completed on November 4, 2024 although there remained issues with incomplete and substandard work and failure to adhere to rules imposed by the California Contractors State License Board (CSLB). I have filed a complaint (currently not resolved) with the CSLB. I paid Landscape Solutions $56,385.41 of a Total Contract Estimate cost of $58,790.00 (with a not to exceed clause of $60,000) with final payment to be made when the project was completed to my satisfaction. The project was never completed to my satisfaction with some (not all) of the outstanding issues described in this review. ISSUES WITH WORK QUALITY - NON-CODE COMPLIANT, SUBSTANDARD, NOT COMPLETE 1. The Guard Rail over the lower retaining wall is not building code compliant. The most serious issue with the work that Landscape Solutions did was that the guard rail built over a retaining wall does not meet building code and is not child safe. A picture of the guard rail is shown in the review I posted on Yelp (posted with a one star rating on January 20, 2025), but I am not able to show a picture on an Angi's List review. The guard rail is made up of vertical posts spaced approximately 45 inches apart and two horizontal rails between the vertical posts. The upper horizontal rail above the surface of the newly built patio forms the top of the guard rail. A second horizontal rail below it is halfway between surface of the patio and the top of the guard rail, leaving two large gaps between the horizontal rails, each gap approximately 19 inches wide. Code dictates the maximum gap in the guard rail is 4 inches. A child could easily fall through the large gap in the guard rail to the level below. A baby crawling on the patio could plunge head first off the patio to the lower level and be seriously injured. I emailed a picture of the completed retaining wall and guard rail to my city's Building Code Enforcement Division and inquired if it was building code compliant. A Code Enforcement Division representative replied with an email message (Client can provide the actual email message). Following text is from the email message: "The rail needs to be 42" high and there needs to be a maximum of 4" between the horizontal rails. The fence as shown does not meet the standards and intermediate rails need to be added." -----End of quote from email message sent by city's Code Enforcement Division------- NOTE: ALLOWING A CONTRACTOR WHO DOES NOT KNOW THE BUILDING CODES TO BE LICENSED PUTS THE PUBLIC IN DANGER. 2. Incomplete and substandard work i. There are areas with no pavers, just dirt, adjacent to the lower retaining wall. Contractor fixed some but not all areas along the newly built lower retaining wall. A picture showing an example of this issue is shown on my Yelp review but I am not able to show a picture on an Angi's List review. The picture shows where paving stones should have been installed next to the retaining wall. ii. Gate not installed in lower retaining wall. The retaining wall that was being replaced had a gate. I called this to Mr. McIntyre's attention in a reply message to his message that the project was complete. He replied in an email message that he would replace the gate. iii. In doing the work, Landscape Solutions workers moved items (e.g., wooden glider bench, other patio benches, chairs, patio table, an umbrella stand) from the flattened hill area to other parts of the back yard. I requested that the items be returned to their original locations. Mr. McIntyre, in an email message, agreed to do so. This was not done. Returning items moved to their original location should be a standard part of Landscape Solutions clean-up work upon completion of a project. ISSUES WITH NON-ADHERENCE TO CONTRACTORS STATE LICENSE BOARD REGULATIONS In items 3 and 4 below, quoted text is from Contractors State Licensing Board publication "Contracting for Success", which was downloaded from the CSLB website. 3. Contractor did not give buyer a copy of the signed contract as CSLB requires. "Before any work is started, the contractor must give the buyer a copy of the contract signed and dated by both the contractor and the buyer." 4. On the day work began, Contractor asked for payment of $15,000 along with the signed contract. "Except for a down payment, a contractor can't demand or accept payment for work or materials until the work is actually done or the materials are delivered. The down payment may not exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract amount, whichever is less." Contractor gave following reason why he asked for $15000 at start of project. Quote is directly from an email message he sent client. Client can provide the actual email message. Text of email message from Mr. McIntyre, in quotes: "My son is out of state at college and it is very expensive. My cash flow and bank account funds do not allow me to pay for your materials before delivery and pay my payroll in advance of getting paid by you if this is what the CSLB requires." --------End of quote from email message sent by Mr. McIntyre-------------- 5. Contractor made additional changes not in contract without a change order being added to the contract. Contractor's office manager then billed client for the unauthorized work. The Contractors State Licensing Board publication "Terms of Agreement A Consumer Guide to Home Improvement Contracts" (downloaded from the CSLB website) states the following: "Extra Work and Change Orders become part of the contract once the order is prepared in writing and signed by the parties prior to the commencement of any work covered by the new change order."

Quote process was simple. Work started on time. Workers were respectful. Small delay in some materials, but the project was bid fixed price so not an issue.

Very efficient and great communication throughout the process. Easy to work with and customer oriented. I'm pleased with the end result and how easy it was to get the project completed.

I am so happy with the results. They cleaned up, trimmed trees, put down bark & rock. My yards look amazing. These guys really went above and beyond. They cleaned off the roof of my shed. In fact, they even fixed my mailbox!

He tried to consider different that would work and fit in. I appreciate the fact that he tried to look for some options. They are trustworthy and honest. They are also willing to refer somebody who can do the job better.

We have used Landscape Solutions several times for various yard projects both large and small. They are professional and do great work, and are excellent communicators throughout a project.

I just completed a job with Landscape Solutions in Los Gatos and wanted to share my experience with anyone who might be looking for a landscape company. Our project was a small yard with a combination of hard surface and the installation of artificial turf for our dogs. I was surprised how good it looks and the dogs seem to enjoy it as much as real grass. I interviewed a few companies and chose Landscape Solutions based on how easy they were to talk to and how transparent they were with their process including design and billing. The entire job went very smoothly. I changed a few things after we started, and they were upfront about how that would impact the time to completion and the cost. In both cases their estimates were accurate. Their pricing was competitive and given the quality of the finish product and the ease of working with them I found it to be very reasonable. The guys they had doing the work were very professional, polite, and easy to work with. They cleaned up after each days work and returned the next morning right on time. I appreciated that they were very respectful of my time and my home. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience and I have already recommended them to a friend who may need work done in the future. They are a 5 star contractor. I highly recommend them. They did an amazing job with the lighting and the drip system as well.

I just completed a job with Landscape Solutions in Los Gatos and wanted to share my experience with anyone who might be looking for a landscape company. Our project was a small yard with a combination of hard surface and the installation of artificial turf for our dogs. I was surprised how good it looks and the dogs seem to enjoy it as much as real grass. I interviewed a few companies and chose Landscape Solutions based on how easy they were to talk to and how transparent they were with their process including design and billing. The entire job went very smoothly. I changed a few things after we started, and they were upfront about how that would impact the time to completion and the cost. In both cases their estimates were accurate. Their pricing was competitive and given the quality of the finish product and the ease of working with them I found it to be very reasonable. The guys they had doing the work were very professional, polite, and easy to work with. They cleaned up after each days work and returned the next morning right on time. I appreciated that they were very respectful of my time and my home. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience and I have already recommended them to a friend who may need work done in the future. They are a 5 star contractor. I highly recommend them.

Outstanding work. Once the job was started the workers were on site every day until it was completed. Quick, efficient and quality work.

Everything was done to our specifications in a timely manner.

Landscape Solutions is a very professional organization that listens to the needs of the customer, does exacting work, and is very thorough about the job they do. The crew is very friendly, polite, conscientious, and eager to please. My project was more about landscape repair, than design. Other landscapers were not excited about pulling weeds and cutting out weed-infested ground cover. They painstakingly got the weeds out, root and all, and managed to save existing landscaping. They cut back the roots of invasive ivy too. In addition, they built beautiful Trex fencing around my pool pump and air conditioner which made my backyard even more beautiful! Very pleased!

Problem resolved. Valve was replaced . Adrien Patterson and his team were very nice and knew what they were doing. Pleased with results

Went well and done well.

Very professional. Work done in a very neat and quick way. Will use them again and will recommend them to anyone who has a need.

Landscape Solutions did a great job and I would have them back again if I ever need additional work. They installed concrete and drainage in our backyard and walkway. This was a pretty extensive project that was done well. Not only are Scott and Norka (management) personable and honest, their workers are very pleasant and are happy to answer questions.

They came sooner than was originally planned, which was great, and work was done very quickly. Great crew!

The landscaper showed up within the agreed upon time frame (which was quite a few more days out than I had hoped for and needed), he dug out around the pipe stem and unscrewed the broken pipe cap and screwed on another one. (I had assumed it was broken and would need to be replaced further into the ground and cemented.) Took all of five minutes, most of which was finding a tool on the truck and taking it back to the truck. The minimum charge of $140 for a service visit ended up being a bit steep.

Scott McIntyre did an excellent job landscaping our backyard. After an original hiccup about following up on irrigation service (slow response), Scott really stepped up to the plate and helped me in resolving all our irrigation issues.

We contacted Landscape Solutions and 1 other company to get bids on our backyard renovation project. We went with Landscape Solutions because Scott had a great understanding of the project scope and was also able to refer us to a designer (Shanti). Our yard is pretty small, but Shanti definitely helped make the most use out of the space and she totally understood our aesthetic. Scott and his entire team (especially Kevin & Ignacio) were a dream to work with. They kept the jobsite clean, were friendly and even patient dealing with our curious dogs. The finished product turned out just like the design - beautiful!

work was fine, but estimate of time was way off, and accounting for the time was inaccurate (e.g. charged for 2 hrs of supervisor time for what actually amounted to 15 min). Had to argue the total cost down with owner but was still pretty expensive for the work completed.

Great, had a few things happen and they were taken care of right away

FABULOUS! A+++ and we would HIGHLY recommend Scott McIntyre and his wonderful and skilled crew. Scott was such a pleasure to work with and he's the complete package with expertise in design concepts, landscape and hardscape. Landscape Solutions delivered top quality work, on time, within our budget, and the end result is better than we envisioned. We are extremely happy with our “new” backyard. They transformed our gopher and weed infested yard into a clean, drought tolerant, low-to-no maintenance oasis. We had a general idea of what we wanted to do but Scott had the vision. Manuel, Jesus, Alex and his brother (sorry, I'm terrible with names) are very nice, timely, efficient, hardworking and knowledgeable. They did a wonderful job of cleaning up after the project was completed. Attached are before and after pictures. Except for the existing concrete patio, retaining wall (which now looks brand new because Scott's crew power washed it), tree, shed and fence, everything was done by Landscape Solutions. Thank you very much Landscape Solutions!

The whole project, done in September 2015, went well, and all the work was guaranteed for one year.  But now that an irrigation pipe burst, we received a very sluggish response to solve the problem.  Been going on for 2 weeks.  First Scott didn't respond, then kept reporting to later.  Finally sent one worker over, 1 1/5 week later, at 3:30 PM, who had not clue what to do.  Looked at some pipes and told me he didn't see anything, even though a good part of the yard was under water by then.  Said he would come back the next morning.  I wasn't home, but when I came back, he had recovered all the pipes, as if the problem had been solved, yet the water was still sprouting at the leak!  Called again, someone showed up at 5:00PM this time.  Same response .... I don't know!!!  Had to call SJ Water to shut the water off to the whole house .... we were pumping at 200 galloons an hour by then!!!  Scott promised to come yesterday but didn't show, now it's supposed to be today .... In the meantime, we have no water.  Needless to say, I am extremely frustrated.

<p>Met with Susan Laundry a landscape architect recommended by Scott. Susan was so easy to work with listening to what we envisioned. We wanted something that was low maintenance, bee friendly, low water needs, and simple. She made suggestions for types of plants then left an amazing book of plants to look through. We gave her a target for cost which she worked with us to keep costs in bounds. </p> <p>  Scott called about a week after the plans were final and we found a start date. He called before the crew showed up and we were treated to watching our weed patch slowly be transformed day by day. Through out the entire process, which took just a day over two weeks, the crew was very professional and hard working. If I had a question at any point Scott was quick to respond to  emails. Scott was very easy to talk with and when we wondered out loud about the condition of the parkway (which we are responsible for) he made a suggestion which we were so glad we took. </p> <p></p>