622 Outdoor Lifestyles

We chose Mario based on a referral from a friend, and he exceeded our expectations. Mario and his team did an amazing job on a complete backyard renovation including a pool, spa, decking and outside cabana. Mario was very patient with us in the design, contract and permitting process, as I had lots of questions and it was a very large project. Mario and the team were very conscientious during construction which is very much appreciated with a dog and kids and a backyard undergoing serious construction, and the construction timeline was much quicker than the large pool builders we considered. Mario has been great on small touch ups which are part of any large project like this. We’ve known quite a few families who have built pools recently and it’s rarely a positive experience, which is why we are so grateful to Mario and the team. It was a great experience and we are super pleased with an awesome pool, cabana and backyard transformation. We have since recommended him to friends and family who are also very pleased with his work!

Mario and the 622 team transformed our backyard!! When you ask around about people’s pool builds, one thing is always the same. People will tell you the horror stories and that they made the wrong choice with their builder…..that is not the case with Mario and his team! They have become family to us during this process. Mario takes pride in every detail of the backyard transformation! You are not just getting a pool, he will design your dream outdoor living space. Sure, issues will come up, but Mario is always thinking of solutions around the problem. Every single member of his team is kind, respectful, knowledgeable, diligent and friendly. If you are even considering a project, make sure you contact Mario. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

Mario and his team did a fabulous job on our backyard! We didn't know anything about the process beforehand, but Mario walked us through the whole thing and helped us make decisions. He considered not only the current project but our future plans and made sure everything would tie together. He even managed our irrigation schedule until our sod settled and continues to answer questions for us first-time pool owners! Our project was completed ahead of schedule and on budget. We are looking forward to working with Mario more in the future and can't recommend him enough.

If you’re even considering putting in a pool or doing any sort of significant backyard renovation, it would be a mistake not to consider Mario and the team at 622 Landscaping. Mario provides design and turnkey construction services and does impeccable work. He is client focused and personally involved in every phase of the project. His skilled laborers genuinely care about the homeowners happiness with the outcome and process of the projects. Mario is detail oriented, passionate about what he does, and stands by his word and his work. Would give 6 stars if it were an option. The scope of our project was a custom pool, outdoor kitchen, and complete backyard renovation, and we couldn’t be happier. The entire timeline of the project (including design, permitting, construction, inspections, and completing punch lists) was 6 months, which is much shorter than most production pool companies. The renovation had changed our lifestyle significantly and we couldn’t be happier

Mario and his team are true professionals. Our newly upgraded outdoor space is everything we imagined plus more. Everything looks and performs perfectly, but even more importantly, the level of professionalism is second to none! Mario came in and bid the job and gave us his expectation on timing up front. He underpromised and overdelivered. He even threw in extra painting in areas they didn’t build just to make it all tie together. If you want a contractor who takes pride in their work and follows through 150% on their promises, these are your guys!

First, I would like to begin by saying how unfortunate it is that I even feel compelled to write this review of Mario Kauachi of 622 Landscaping. I much prefer being able to promote local businesses in providing positive feedback and recommendations. Just as important as referrals, I feel very strongly on speaking out against those businesses who aren’t acting in good faith with their consumers. In this situation, it is my recommendation to please exercise extreme caution in hiring services by Mario from 622 Landscaping. We chose Mario’s services after careful consideration of several landscaping designers, to complete the addition of our new pool. Mario’s reviews at first appearance, are very good and positive. He won our business after meeting with him and presenting his vision. I will admit that Mario comes off as a very knowledgeable and likable person which I felt made him stand out as we were searching for services. Instead of having our dream yard to compliment our new pool, we are left with an ugly reminder of our poor choice in choosing such an unprofessional, unethical landscape contractor who lacks moral integrity. There are two positive additions that I would like to convey. The contractors that Mario hired to build our pergola as well as our steel planters, were wonderful. They each did a good job in their designated projects. Unfortunately, I cannot provide further praises regarding the actual landscaping beyond these two items. I am only allowed to post a limited number of photos, but it is my intention that they provide some insight into what Mario felt was acceptable to his standards. We recently brought forth a final concern after less than 1 year from completion of Mario’s services and due to his continued double talk and run around, we have chosen to end all communication. PLEASE GET EVERYTHING YOU DISCUSS IN WRITING! I will follow with sharing some of our experience… -In our initial meeting, we were very clear about the necessity of immediate privacy on both sides of our home. Throughout discussion regarding vegetation, we were promised large sized, mature plants to avoid having to wait for our privacy. I was shocked and disappointed to see small plants being installed and when I questioned Mario, his response was that the larger, mature plants did not look as good/healthy to him. **If you decide to move forward with 622 Landscaping and you are requesting mature plants, please demand to go pick out your plants with Mario so you know you are getting what you’ve paid for!** -Our irrigation installation left us with sprinkler heads and drains sticking out of the ground too high for regular yard maintenance along with an incredible amount of large sized rocks from digging that were not cleaned up properly (we are still removing after a year). While mowing for the first time, a few of the irrigation covers were chopped up due to the extended height. When mentioned to Mario, he said that he would come back and try to sink them deeper. As a result they were barely lowered and Mario left the damaged irrigation units exposed without replacing the tops. We had to purchase new tops on our own to cover these units. We also have to take great care in edging around a few sprinklers that have left us with large brown spots in our yard. -Plant bed construction: We have a severe downgrade on the sides of our pool. We had a patio installed by the pool builder on one side and a plant bed installed by Mario on the opposite side. This bed was not designed properly. Mario laid a piece of landscape fabric on the downslope and placed mulch on top. Such a poor decision. The mulch immediately was washed down with the first rain and gathered at the bottom on our new grass, effectively killing it. Though I’ve raked it and picked it up, the mulch continues to be washed away. I shared my concern with Mario, and he verbally said he would lay river rock down as a solution in the pathway of water run along with an area in the front yard that had needed it. He never did it. I sent him a message and asked him what I needed to buy and how much, if he would lay it. I did this not only as a reminder of the situation but thought it would present an opportunity for Mario to stand by his work and make things right. Rock should have been placed here to begin with. Common sense says water is going to wash mulch down the hill. If Mario had planned for mulch, then the gutter should have been extended to drain below the bed, or the bed should have been leveled and drain prepared appropriately. We will now need to spend about $500 to buy several bags of River rock and lay it down ourselves. Formation of our front yard bed was not prepared appropriately before laying down landscape cloth. I noticed something green sticking out from the mulch. To my surprise, it was the same soft tipped yucca leaves that were originally in there prior to Mario’s work. These were to be removed and a clean bed of mulch created. I’ve since noticed several bare spots showing in the front bed and upon closer look, discovered the cloth to be lifting up due to the same plants having grown back underneath the cloth. When we contacted Mario, his explanation was that what we were seeing, was growth from the oak tree roots which were now able to expand due to extra space. He also made the remark that he is a designer and not responsible for any maintenance. I know the difference between oak leaves and soft tip yucca leaves. These plants should have been completely dug out and any remaining roots killed with the expectation that they would not grow back again. I would expect maybe one or two might beat the removal, but we are experiencing regrowth under the entire bed. We now need to have this entire area lifted and re-done correctly. -Landscape lighting: wiring of all landscape lighting surrounding the pool has been exposed. This should have been installed appropriately where the wire was buried. In the front yard, I noticed recently that one of the lights was out. When I mentioned to Mario, he felt it was due to the winter storm. He said he would come out to take a look. 8 days went by and I didn’t hear from him. I contacted him again and said he was too busy to come. He did end up stopping by and discovered that it was our fault for slicing it while routine edging. He did fix it, but took no responsibility for running the wiring against the driveway in a shallow dig. He later tried to make us feel like he did us a favor by fixing it without taking his own accountability for the shoddy installation. -We had Mario remove a tree that was between our home and the neighbor’s, for an extra $1000. He simply cut the tree at the base and disposed of it. He did not have the stump/roots dug out and now we have an ugly tree stump in our yard, that is growing new shoots. -New Sod application: New sod was applied as the final component. Mario short changed us in not replacing large areas of ruined grass due to having the pool installed. The time between final pool completion and Mario finally getting to lay sod, allowed some areas to regrow green “weeds”. He initially left them and when asked about it, we were told to apply weed emergent and that eventually grass would grow there and choke the weeds out. Completely unacceptable. These were areas needing new sod from construction. He even left a small strip near our sidewalk where construction workers had damaged the sod during the previous 7 months needing desperate replacement. It was so unprofessional. After insisting it be finished with new sod, Mario did replace with new sod. These are just a sampling of photos and descriptions exhibiting a strong lack of professionalism, incompetency, and moral integrity that we encountered in choosing to work with Mario at 622 Landscaping. After reading this, one may think I’m a difficult person to work with. On the contrary, I am very laid back and easy going. I’m in healthcare and I’m naturally outgoing. I was never confrontational throughout this process and tried to reason with Mario. Each time we encountered an issue, we were given runaround and double talk. Bringing anything up that we were unhappy with was always uncomfortable and shouldn’t have been. We were made to feel bad, constantly reminded that fixing the situation was coming out of Mario’s profit and that he never had any clients prior to or after us who had any problems or were unhappy. Bottom line is we are unhappy and shouldn’t be.

We had a great experience working with Mario. We are what you would call, very detail-oriented people :) Fortunately Mario is as well, and was kind, professional and patient as we went through the process. Mario is creative and genuinely loves what he does - it's apparent any time you talk to him about the vision of your project. He and his team do everything with precision and expect excellence from themselves and each other. If you want to work with a knowledgable, talented, fair and timely company, look no further. After being burned in the past on various projects, we really value transparency and doing what you say you're going to do. Mario hit this mark every time, and was patient with us when we were unfortunately hesitant to feel trusting. One of the things I respected most about working with him was that he felt confident pushing back where necessary. If what we envisioned wouldn't work, or if our expectations of something were not based in reality, Mario professionally and confidently shared his perspective based on his vast experience, expertise and commitment to delivering a quality result. That's something that I value in a person who is helping us with a large investment. He was always sharing perspective on long and short-term vision/investment and ROI, and it never felt like he viewed our project as just a "transaction." We can now confidently say that we would trust Mario with any project, and can wholeheartedly share that he will do what he promises, be honest about options, and deliver a killer end result in the budget and timeline agreed upon.

Mario and his team do AMAZING work! From the planning stage, Mario has great vision and perspective. He pays a great amount of attention to detail and aesthetics to make sure the project blends exceptionally well with existing structure and allows space for any future additions. Our new patio literally looks like it was built during original home construction. His mason is incredible and also meticulous. We couldn’t be more pleased with our new patio with fireplace!!

Mario and his team executed brilliantly on a very large yard makeover for my family. During the entire project, we were made aware of next steps and any weather related delays. Having clear expectations and accountability put our nerves at ease during the entire course of the project. The project finished on time and was beyond our wildest dreams. Top notch operation and an excellent experience. No one has the creative mind that Mario does and we're blessed to have worked with him.

Mario has a good eye for design and does high quality work. We’re very happy with the project he did for us and would hire him again!

I was so impressed with the service, professionlism, and the quality of work by Mario. It started in the beginning by having a on time appointment to share my needs for landscape lighting. To his collaboration of ideas, and never feeling rushed. He explained the process and delivered on every promise, every step! He even finish project early! His Results where amazing, and we enjoy them every night! Thank you Mario for making this so easy!

Working with Mario and team at 622 Landscaping was easy from start to vision. Mario has amazing vision and was able to come up with something that hit all our requirements for outdoor living space. The project was well-thought out and even when faced with hurdles in our timeline the team went above and beyond to get the job done. Would absolutely recommend them for their high-quality and creative work.