Southbay Design & Landscaping

Another very happy customer of South Bay Design and Landscaping.

We had South Bay out to do a full demolition of the existing “landscaping” from when we bought our house and the installation of an entirely new plan from our landscape designer (check out Dawn Engel- she’s great!), which included a patio space, a pergola, driveway extensions, hogwire fence, raised planter beds, and a side gate added to our existing fence.

These guys do not mess around.

Demolition went insanely quickly, and our property was kept neat and tidy the entire time. We never once saw dirt tracked anywhere by the crew, which we can’t say the same for any of the other contractors we’ve worked with (and we’re actually quite happy with some of them!), and which becomes even more insane to think about when you consider the nature of landscaping work.

Installation went as smoothly as South Bay possibly could have made it. Any time we ran into the occasional hiccup, as happens with all nontrivial projects, Matt, Marcus, and Danny offered thoughtful suggestions and made sure to confirm exactly what we wanted before proceeding. (We had either or both of Matt and Danny on-site most days of our project, and interacted with Marcus via email.) We were delayed a smidge by some heavy rain, but the crew worked through all but the worst of it (talking “if you step in that mud, you’re going to lose a boot” type of rain here).

Partway through the install, we discovered that the previous landscapers had managed to make the L-shaped pathway leading from our driveway to our front door square with nothing- which wasn’t easily noticed until we had the planter beds in and hogwire fence line chalked out. (South Bay had laid them out properly square to the driveway and house, as per our plan.) Matt, Danny, and crew were thankfully able to accommodate our request to fix our pathway up by picking up each segment and pushing the out-of-square part over by 4-6 inches; this added about a week of extra time to our project, mostly due to the fact that not all of the pavers could be reused, and that the pavers had actually been discontinued (!). The guys worked around this by sourcing very similar pavers in a different size, and basically cutting and grinding them to match our existing pavers. Post-install, the only way you’d know there are two different pavers in our pathway is if you’d seen it being taken apart and rebuilt.

Plants, irrigation, and lighting all went in straightforwardly after the hardscaping work was finished, and Danny gave us a complete walkthrough of all our new outdoor systems. It’s been about a week since our project was completed; the plants are all thriving, and we’re still ecstatic about our new yards (and so are our neighbors!).

In short: we had a fantastic experience working with South Bay for our landscaping project. They take pride in doing a quality job, and it shows in everything from literal demolition to day-to-day jobsite management to the finished project. If you’re looking for landscapers, these are your guys.

(Special thanks to Matt and Danny for graciously handling my incessant “are you sure you didn’t forget about such-and-such little detail?” questions and never once forgetting about any of the details, and also to Sergio for spending basically an entire Saturday morning troubleshooting what ultimately turned out to be a manufacturing issue with our pergola.)

SouthBay Design and Landscaping exceeded all of our expectations! From start to finish, Dawn with her awesome design, Matt, Marcus, Danny his team were professional, communicative, and incredibly skilled. They transformed our front yard into a beautiful, welcoming space that perfectly matches our home and vision. Matt guided us through every step of the remodel with great ideas and thoughtful recommendations, and his crew’s attention to detail was outstanding. The quality of their work truly shows, and we couldn’t be happier with the final result. Highly recommend SouthBay Design and Landscaping for anyone looking to elevate their outdoor space!

South Bay did an incredible job on our landscape renovation. They handled everything—hardscape, softscape, lighting, irrigation, drainage, and custom elements like a round bench platform, a foot-washing station, basketball hoop installation, and anchors for net games. It was a large, detailed project, and the quality of their work shows.

The team was efficient, focused, and needed very little direction. Matt was always responsive and went out of his way to help, even coming by on a Saturday so we could sort out our fence stain and materials. His design ideas—like lighting inside the double-sided fence—really elevated the final look.

Danny, the superintendent, kept the project on track and made sure everything matched the design while still being flexible and open to our preferences. His communication and attention to detail made a big difference.

Our neighbors have already noticed the transformation, and we couldn’t be happier with the result. Huge thanks to Matt, Danny, Sergio, Marcus, Dawn, and the entire South Bay team. Highly recommend their work!

SouthBay was recommended to us by our designer, Dawn Engel. SouthBay began the project in March 2024 and completed it within 4 weeks. The involved removing all existing plantings and soil, installing a pond-less water feature (a full day's work with a crew of 6), DG pathways and patio, extensive metal edging, concrete work, installation of 76 plants and trees with irrigation zones, lighting and a small bluestone patio. The crews were both courteous and knowledgeable, showed up when expected, and installed everything with care and attention to detail. In addition to Matt, Danny managed the entire project from start to finish and Marcus quickly took care of all project "add-ons" (there were several). Having had previous experience with several exterior and interior contractors during the past 5 years we can recommend SouthBay highly. We are delighted with their work.

Great experience working with Matt and Southbay to re landscape out back yard. It was a big project and Matt was recommended by our architect. So glad we chose to go with them. Very professional, fabulous job overall. I always felt part of the project as I was consulted routinely and given very good advice. I have already given them my next job.