Landscape Creations Opiniones 

Absolutely unbelievably poor! We had to take them to the Association of Professional Landscapers to get any money back - as per the excerpt from the independent assessor's report:

"..........by electing to carry out my survey in this manner, several apparent breaches of contract arise.

Importantly, I discovered the following discrepancies from the original quotation and the works as examined by me on site.

....... Having lifted the landscape fabric in six different places, I could find no evidence of added topsoil. Indeed, the beds were full of stones and what may be described as ‘rubble’, whether it was indigenous stones or rubbish I could not establish.

There are a number of established plants that were left in situ, and it is difficult to see how imported soil could be added. However, the contractor does not mention quantities…………

The landscape fabric has been laid at or about the original level of the soil/existing plants within these beds, with no attempt made to reduce the soil levels or slot the material edges into the ground, and the fabric simply laid on top of the ground/walls to be held in place by the slate chippings.

This has resulted in the fabric becoming exposed by the elements and gardening activity, not only in the raised beds/retaining walls, but also by the areas of turf and lawn.

The slate chippings cover only to a shallow depth, leaving areas of landscape fabric exposed in several areas.

The beds should have been cleared of existing plants (except for those destined to remain) and the ground reduced to receive fresh topsoil, with sufficient depth to secure the fabric and allow at least 75mm of slate to achieve a professional finish.

The fabric, any topsoil that may have been added and the slate chippings were only cosmetic veneers. Several plants, including crocosmia and alchemilla mollis were growing through the fabric, although they were supposed to have been removed and/or weed killed, and not form part of the planting scheme.

Similarly, I could find no evidence of any imported topsoil being used for raising levels of the old flower beds, but as the turf has now grown over, I did not make an invasive inspection.

The new turf has not been cut into the old lawn, and has clearly been laid against/on top of the existing lawn, with the result that the original beds are clearly visible, with dips and bumps throughout.

Crucially, the quotation mentions 3 tonnes of compost to the drive bed. This is a substantial quantity, equal to approximately four cubic metres of material. (Item seven of the quote).

THERE IS NO SIGN OF ANY COMPOST, AND IF THERE HAD OF BEEN THREE TONNES, THE TOTAL AREA IS ONLY AROUND FIFTY SQUARE METRES, which would have created a berm. Instead, there is no sign of any compost, anywhere on site, with mainly existing/mature shrubs in the bed.

Summary

There is a schedule of defects as set out by the owners, which I read after my inspection and in essence, they are a correct summary. The quality of workmanship throughout is not professional.
Having examined the site, I asked the owners to estimate the amount of topsoil and compost used during the operations. They could not say for certain whether they had seen any. When I explained that three tonnes would be the equivalent of six large ‘Builders bags’, they said that they did not see any such amount arrive on site.
They then explained that they were putting the property on the market, hoping to sell and leave the area (the house being a large B & B business). They did not say what they hoped to gain from making a complaint, but felt strongly that they had spent a great deal of money on a very poor quality project.