Get matched with top elevation certification pros in Cambridge, MA

"The creative interactions with Michael were great. He has great ideas and good interaction and iteration on the design. However, Michael is not a detail person, something his normally excellent staff properly compensates for. However, he had three staffing turnovers over the course of our project. Not including Michael when he was filling in, we had five project leads, at least two of whom we never met. This led to inefficiencies and continuity problems that resulting in playing catch up once the build started. Which leads to the other issue. Micheal is not good at communication and does not easily admit when he is wrong or unprepared. He insisted that the staffing turnover wouldn't impact the schedule. He presented plans at the kickoff with the builder that, in hindsight, were clearly not ready. He presented changes to the plan shortly after kickoff that immediately ate 40% of our planned contingency budget as they were not the plans the builder based his bid on. Later, another 12% was chewed up because he didn't plan ductwork in a house with a flat roof. The results were livable, but until the end, he insisted he didn't make a mistake despite saying he's had trouble with ductwork in the 15 years he's done residential design "because every contractor wants to do it differently." Every one of his staff that we met and worked with was fantastic. They supplied the detail that Michael lacks. They executed better than I would expect for picking up where someone left off. Unfortunately, they don't have the autonomy you would hope, and Michael doesn't communicate with them well enough to let their judgments stand. On several occasions, he overrode their judgments in confusing and public ways, sometimes after a delay of days."

"We were referred to J&J by our landscape architect, who promised that this company is exceptionally detailed, very client-focused, and above all, quite nice. We were also told that J&J has a particular devotion to clients, in that they make projects as personalized as possible to ensure that the client is content and that the plants grow. Our project involved planting at least a dozen large-ish trees and hundreds of perennials and shrubs on our lot. On planting day, there were at least fifteen highly professional landscapers who sited the plants, dug the planting holes so that there would be both a berm around them and a slight depression to optimize watering, and then watered everything. It took almost the entire day to do this, and afterwards, our yard was transformed. The folks at J&J have come back to review their work over the last two years and have provided guidance on watering, pruning, and yard care to us on each visit. They are really exceptional."