Green Valley Landscaping

Regret Hiring

It was a mistake to hire Avery and his crew, and I knew better and I am mostly mad at myself for hoping otherwise. In short, there was poor communication and lack of transparency on pricing and for love of thy neighbor and on principle I am writing this review.

Avery had confirmed a meeting with me the week before they would start work. Mine is a big project and I know good planning always leads to better results. Well Avery never showed up for the meeting but did show up to start work. I should have sent him home because having him start work was just asking for trouble. More on that later.

My original estimate to grade and seed around my barn went from $14K to just under $36K, more expensive than my stone veneer foundation and more expensive than putting in a new asphalt driveway.

To be fair there were some extra charges for extra work; $300 for moving a wood pile & trunks, $1200 for additional grading & seeding, $100 to move some mortar and sand, $900 to bury a tree stump and $600 to move some stones. But what really got me upset was $6000 to spread out 8 truck loads of soil that cost me $6K to buy!

When Avery and I discussed beforehand what needed to be done he was sorry to say I would need 8 truckloads of soil. Which I was happy to purchase from NY Crushings as they were going to remove my hard fill from my old foundation. Avery mentioned he would have to charge me for spreading the soil which I said I expected but what Avery did not say he was going to charge me $6k for something that took a day with 4 - 6 guys, non of which spoke English, with one driving a Japanese Bobcat and the rest raking out the soil.

In addition, I asked Avery to grade my trenches, much like how he was grading my french drain trench which he said he would do but never said he would charge me an additional $4K for something that took little over 2 hours!

If Avery had showed up to the meeting I could have avoided them messing up my berms and reseeding my destroyed lawns. The obvious choice was to just make a pile of debris next to all my other piles.

Avery was mostly missing in action and though most of his crew was very good but spoke no English, they ripped up an electric conduit headed to the barn because Avery didn’t realize the south side of the barn had already been fully graded.

I gave Avery the choice to lower his bill by $6 by only charging $2K to spread my soil rather than $6K, and charging $2K to grade and seed my trenches rather than $4K. To be clear, Green Valley only used a total (8) 40lb bags of Scott’s Landscaping seed for my whole project that at full price only costs $800, just over 2% of the total bill.

In sum, Avery is less of a salesman and more of a con artist waiting to take advantage of you. Do yourself a favor and don’t be a victim and find someone else to work on your home.

Green Valley Landscaping was recommended to me by a friend and I was more than impressed with the outcome of my yard project! A very hardworking team willing to do work in all seasons. It’s hard to find an accommodating team that’s ready to meet your needs and you can trust to do the work, but at Green Valley they know what they’re doing!

I contracted Green Valley Landscaping for two projects for our home - a stacked bluestone retaining wall and picket fence. The retaining wall was completed on time, within budget and the craftsmanship exceeded our expectations.

We were very pleased with the outcome and our neighbors have been very complementary. Unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances prevented the fence project from moving forward but our deposit was refunded.

I just want to say. I am very happy with Avery and his team. I was very impressed when the job was completed. We renovated our yard and installed pavers, retaining wall and redid our driveway. The crews worked diligently and completed the projects. Our pool looks great.