I've had such trouble with landscapers and I always used professional companies. In my experience, they never show up when they say they will, they work like 2 hours a day, and they go 5-months over the deadline for every project. It's a frustrating process! Hoping everything works out for you!

Married to a "fix it" guy and I will say that those who are "doers" are notoriously poor in their communication skills. Not sure what the remedy is. They hate having things in writing as well. The only advice I have is you have a right to have your yard done right, the way you want it to be, so don't feel bad if they guy is giving you bad body language when you try and communicate your desires to him. It truly is HIS problem!

Here's what you do. Go outside and go over everything you all discussed. Tell him you want to make sure he understands what needs to be done. Also, go over the price. Ask him if he'd like ice water or something to get on his good side.

I don't care how small the job is, it still cost money and you don't want the end result being a travesty.

Then go inside and lock your doors. Not kidding about that. :)

Well, I have relaxed a little. I’m not home at the moment so I’ll see what awaits me when I get home. I also had to listen to a long rant about having to pay legal fees to keep custody of his son. Sheesh. Sorry about that. So we’ll see what happens. House looks weird without all the old misshapen bushes,

Thanks!

A professional would know and want to have a written contract. It protects them as well as you. If I were you, I'd type out a list of what I wanted done. You could have him add prices and sign. Our landscaper had everything spelled out in writing, down to the name of the plants, etc. You may feel like it's too late to back out, but IMO, it's not too late to go over the plan, write everything down and have him sign. Best of luck!

Yeah, I did go over the verbal to-do list. He acted like it was the first time he’d heard some of it. I can see I will have to stay on top of this. So far he’s yanked out the old shrubbery, so my house is looking very bare. Crossing my fingers the rest goes well. Lesson learned for the future, not that I haven’t learned this lesson many times over!

Write it all down, you can refer to it when speaking with him. He probably underestimated the time and effort it would take. I might fudge a bit on the price, but not a lot. Do you trust him to report his hours accurately when you're not there? Pricing a job properly is one of the most difficult tasks in managing a landscaping business. Not everyone is good at it, but they should not take that out on you.

I’ve been in those shoes a few times and it’s so frustrating. I’m not a perfectionist by any means, but it’s always obvious they want to do as little as possible for as much as they can squeeze out of you. In my case, I also feel like I’m being talked down to because I’m a woman (which doesn’t go over well at all).

This year when it came to the fall clean up, we had a real mess on our hands, much more than my DH & I were prepared to do. Instead of looking for a company, I used an app called LawnGuru instead. They did a fantastic job and actually exceeded my expectations. The pricing was on the higher end, but having a middle man to manage the transaction was awesome.

These landscaper apps offer all kinds of services and have found a niche that is appealing. I also used them in the winter for an emergency salting of our driveway and again, they did a great job.

Wish I’d heard of LawnGuru.

I may be rushing to judgment. Perhaps I’ll get what I want. I just expect more from him than the way he is going about things. He just isn’t running his business in a professional way, which I realized too late.

ill keep you posted on the final result. Here’s hoping I won’t need another venting session.

Fingers crossed for you!