I’ve been dreaming of redoing my back yard since 2015 when I first reached out to a few companies for some quotes including Tree Amigos. I realized doing it properly was going to be more money than I could afford and I didn’t want to compromise by hiring an “I know a guy” type, in the ten years I’ve been a home owner I’ve learned that lesson a couple times using individual handymen with no online reviews, online reputation or BBB file, etc.
Finally this year my budget was in better shape and it was time to revisit the backyard. Our side split is from 1968 and had a sub-ground rear exit to the backyard with stairs crumbling apart and a sorry excuse for a patio that featured a mish-mash of various stones and pavers. We had RAM Construction come in and rip out all the concrete steps, pony wall and patio materials, mason in the rear exit doorway and fill in the area. Next we had Quality Exteriors install a new rear exit door from our dining room at ground level. These renovations were completed in October 2018 so since that time we’ve had an eyesore of a backyard to look back out on, poor creeping Charlie and quack-infested grass, messy borders with the neighbors and an empty expanse of earth where the patio and stairs used to be that turned into a weedy forest every two weeks.
I contacted Drew in late May with a very rough idea of what I wanted to do, I was still deciding between poured concrete and interlocking pavers at the time and probably reached out to 5-6 different contractors and landscapers. I met with at least three personally including Drew for the first time in early June. My wife wasn’t able to make this meeting but did like the look of the Unilock pavers in the catalogue Drew left with me. I wanted a bigger patio than my wife wanted so this resulted in some back and forth. Drew came out for a second time in early July to meet with us again for over half an hour, answered candidly all the questions my wife had about size, brainstormed a few ideas on how to break up the overall area to make it more appealing vs. just one big rectangle of pavers, then came back a week later with four really detailed design options for us to try and narrow down a direction. We had several more back and forths over the next few weeks, ended up having a forego the larger patio so that I could budget in resodding the lawn, doing some nice borders around the property and adding a 6’ privacy fence.
After finalizing the design in late August, our pre-booked spot for the second week of September arrived and at 7:30am sharp Tree Amigos pulled into the neighborhood. The organizational skills here were so impressive. Caution cones were put out, heavy equipment was dropped off, trucks came and went, the guys were working within literally 2-3 mins of arriving. What I thought was going to be a 7-10 day job, these guys were completely done in just three days. BAM! The guys were all professional, courteous and knowledgeable. I chatted with Tom the construction supervisor on the Monday and Matt, one of the team leads, on the Wednesday and these guys, I can’t recommend them highly enough. You just know right away you’re in good hands and the small premium you might spend going with a larger, well-established company, is SO worth it.
We had high expectations for this job with the money we were spending and the reputation of Tree Amigos, and they still smashed those expectations easily. Our back yard looks absolutely amazing and hopefully in a few more years we can budget for them to come back and do the front. Thank you so much to the entire Tree Amigos team, you guys absolutely rocked our job and we’re so happy.
2 Comments