Get matched with top landscape curbing installers in Franklin Square, NY

"Anthony and Joe are great. Excellent work with quality materials at a fair price. They installed 2k sq ft of pavers around my pool with seating walls and pillars. Wish I could post pics. Couldn't be happier."

"From the first interaction with JA, they were prompt, professional, courteous and on time. I would highly recommend them for landscaping jobs big and small. Jon, the owner, provided a detailed estimate and was onsite during the whole project. Not only did they plant many trees but they built a retaining wall and added drains. I could not be happier with the work from JA and would not hesitate to recommend them fully. Planted over 20 trees, built retaining wall, added drains, moved irrigation, reshaped beds and redesigned landscaping suggesting appropriate plantings for each new section"

"No problems at all. Good communication and prompt service."

"This is the 3rd time in 7 years they have been here for different trees and each time aside from the missing trees, it is almost impossible to tell that big trucks were hear and removal all debris took place. They show extreme care with the property and leave almost no trace they were even here. Mike and Marvin were the guys in charge but this team of 10 guys were in and out in less that 2 hours with me smiling at how there was no damage or debris left behind. This team worked together like an efficient well oiled machine. I am grateful I found them."

"This was a perfect appliance-purchasing experience. I called them at 2pm on saturday and the new washer was installed by 11am monday. Very efficient, prompt, professional."

"It went well. Mr. Gallo looked at the condition of the retaining wall and said it wasn't something he wanted to work on. He said he was more of a plant maintenance and landscaping person. He gave me an idea of the kind of company I should hire. He was very helpful although he didn't perform any work.
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"We had several other
companies give estimates over the course of a week, but they were unable
to do the work in the short time span with which we had to work. Greg
was able to take down two trees quickly and for a reasonable price. 0
Friendly, professional, and safety conscious. Highly recommend Double Tree Services  !
"

"Great job very thorough will high again excellent work"

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I can't rave enough about Billy Vamvakidis and his crew.
Billy is a pleaure to deal with, and understood the vision for the new stairwell and patio that I described. He clearly explained things that I hadn't thought about (such as drainage concerns) and reviewed with me the simple pictures that I had drawn.,
He came back with a quote in a week (which was exactly how long he said it would take). We revised the quote only once, as I had been revising the drawing. We realized we had underestimated the square footage of the patio.
After all was said and done, the final cost was only about 4% higher than the original quote - because we needed additional retaining wall blocks, based on the issues detailed below.
As the actual work got under way, Billy made -- and made good on -- a number of and quot;Don't worry - I'll take care of that for youand quot; promises, Some of the snags and solutions we encountered are detailed below.
1) Yard was difficult to access.
The only access to the backyard was from a neighbor's driveway, which is about 4 feet below the grade of the yard. Billy removed our chain link fence, and backed a flatbed up to that wall, and very carefully drove the bobcat and digger across a steel plate bridge. I'm pretty sure other contractors would have looked at that access problem and walked out.
2) Rocks, Rocks, and more Rocks.Our house is in Cliffside Park, on top of the Palisades. You can't dig down more than a foot or two before you hit big rocks and/or the cliff head. Billy and his team unearthed some giant rocks (and kept them for us to decorate the planter boxes) as they were grading down the yard. Finally, toward the back of the yard, they hit a rock (or the cliff head) that would not budge. The top of that rock would have to become the lowest point we could grade to. Billy's crew then had to UNDO the grading that had already done to bring the rest of the yard back UP to that minium level. They didn't charge me extra for that work, although -- that meant there was less material to remove, so - that may have been a wash, cost wise.
3) Solving design issues as they come up.The original plans called for a much wider stairwell down to the ground floor entrance. When the old, narrow stairwell was removed, it became clear that there was no bricking on the exterior of the house below grade. Rather than try to re-brick the newly-exposed wall - or create some kind of stucco finish that wouldn't match, we re-though the return walls of the stairwell to create more of a and quot;flareand quot; -- so that the more and quot;openand quot; feel would remain, even as the return walls came closer to the door.Also, once the big, immovable rock re-set the grade of yard about a foot higher than planned, it became clear we would need to add a step up from the patio entrance (at the side of the house). Also, the new curved retaining wall suddenly seemed very short next to the raised patio. Billy added a course of wall block to raise the retaining wall (bringing it back to and quot;sittingand quot; height) and created a nice design element uniting the stairwell's return wall to a single step up to the patio.
4) Little Extras without nickel-and-diming.I did not haggle with Billy on the initial quote. and quot;I'll pay you what you want, but I don't want to be dinged for the little extras here and there.and quot; I think that understanding worked out quite well for us. The only thing he charged me for (beyond what was quoted) was extra wall block: because of the and quot;big rockand quot;, we needed to raise the entire length of the wall by another course to preserve the and quot;sitting heightand quot;, and we needed wall block for the riser for the new step that was needed. Also, as we finalized the grading, we realized that the curved wall really need to extend around about 12 feet further than planned. What's important to note is what I DIDN'T specifically pay for that Billy felt added to the overall quality and appeal of the job:
4a.) Two window wells - since the yard was graded higher than expected, we needed two window wells at the house. He didn't charge me for these.
4b.) Cinder-block cap to outside retaining wall on east side of property. When we raised the curved block retaining wall by another course, it's top was now higher than the outside retaining wall facing the neighbor. Billy added a and quot;capand quot; of blocks to this existing wall so that its height would match.
4c.) Bury a conduit for me: in the back of the yard about 40 feet from the house is an 8' x 8' quaint-looking painted cinder-block building we use as garden shed. I've always dreamed of having electricity out there. Since the yard was being all torn up, I asked Billy if he could run a conduit from the house to that shed, and he did - at no extra charge. He also drlled the difficult holes in both the house and the shed to complete the run.
4d.) Double-sided block for the end of the wall: The original plan called for the curved retaining wall to and quot;disappear into the ground' as the grade behind it sloped down to the patio level. When completed, this looked a bit odd -- there was about 8' -10' of wall cap that just seemed to be sitting on the ground - begging you to step over it - or worse - trip on it. It seemed clear that the wall needed to be the same height all the way around, and just and quot;endand quot;. The problem was that - for this last 8' - 10', we needed double-sided block - because you would be able to see the and quot;other sideand quot; of this higher wall from the lawn. Billy somehow managed to get his hands on a few matching double-sided blocks to complete this, without making me buy a whole pallet of them. (or maybe he cut some single-sided blocks and put them back to back?) I don't know. Don't care. It looks great.
4e.) Small and quot;porchand quot; patio and interesting wall return at the Garden shed. Hard to explain - but totally his idea. Looks great. Pictures coming soon.
4f.) Totally unrelated repair. On the other side of my house is a three-step stairwell down to another ground floor entrance. The return wall on that stairwell is falling apart. As we were closing the deal, he off-handedly mentioned - and quot;Oh we can fix that up for you.and quot; It wasn't mentioned in the quote/contract, and - he could have easily 'forgotten' about it. But he didn't.
All this work was done over the course of about four weeks. His crew consisted mainly of two guys who were here every day. Billy would come by every day in the morning and late in the afternoon. We talked about the yard - while actually standing it it - almost every day for 15- 30 minutes before I left for work.
I would recommend Unique Custom Landscaping for extensive hardscaping work to anyone without reservation.

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"Roca and his team were very professional and did a thorough job on repaving my driveway and repairing our front sidewalk. The team delivered as promised and on schedule. In addition they worked quite fast although it was clear they paid attention to the important details. I would surely hire them again and am quite satisfied with the work they did ."