I knew I needed to repair my backyard from years of gopher damage that resulted in lumps and holes,…read moreand poor drainage that caused my yard to flood against the house. To fix this, I needed to tear up my grass, redo my irrigation, level the yard, add drainage, and put down some new St Augustine sod. At least that's how my project started.
Because my wedding got Covid19-postponed, we decided to add a gazebo in the backyard (bought one from Costco... We're going to get married under there). That meant I also needed a concrete pad. Then I also noticed that the weed barrier under the rocks near my palm trees had been destroyed over the past 15 years. I decided to redo the weed barrier, and add more rocks.
I figured that would do it. That way no one would break their ankle on the new grass since it would be level and we'd have a nice dance area on the concrete pad (inside joke... Don't ask for a hexagon...lol).
So, I had about six companies come out to give me quotes. As they came out, I learned some other things that needed to be done. Most of it had to do with whether or not I wanted a mini paver wall or bender board wall along the palm tree planter and my vegetable garden for the new grass.
That was until Danny came over and took a look. He has so many great ideas. Just ask him to envision your yard and what would he suggest. He suggested we add a DG (decompressed granite) sand pathway along the palm trees. He also suggested I add a planter along the side of my house which would improve the look of it. Additionally, he suggested I change the vegetable garden out by adding cedar boxes and DG sand.
I asked him to keep going, what else would he do if it were his yard. That's where he came up with the idea of the stone pathway from my gate to the gazebo, changing out my solar lights for hardwired lights, extending my back porch concrete out a couple feet so that my porch swing has more room creating an open pathway, moving my water spigot and adding another one in the veggie garden, putting in mulch around the new planter and around my existing fig tree, adding in irrigation in the Cedarwood planter boxes.
I also had him move a fountain and install a new fountain. Additionally, rather than me having a fountain sitting on top of two bricks against my house, he built a little mini planter around it with gravel and added lights in front of each of my fountains.
I don't necessarily need to go with the lowest quote, but what is super important to me is having a detailed quote (we went back-and-forth to add little details in here and there like removing tree stump etc. to make sure that we were very clear on the scope of the work) and good communication.
The first thing that I found different about Danny versus everyone else, was his passion. I could tell he really had a vision for these things. He is creative and if you let him help you with the design, you'll be pleased with the results. It was more than I had intended to do but I'm very glad I did it. I hired him to do the job.
Whenever I had questions, Danny texted me right back. His team, Kevin, and the rest of the guys, did an excellent job. Very hard-working. They cleaned up after themselves when everything was done. I had a couple issues which we resolved. For example, the stones on the pathway to were too far apart for my short legs, so I paid to have him add a couple extra large stones for me. Much better. That's now going to be the aisle where I walk for my wedding next year. Another thing I didn't realize is that the DG sand does get wet when it rains even though it harden initially when it dried.
After my backyard project, I also hired Danny to redo my front irrigation which had been hacked together by a previous owner (Lines crisscrossed between planters and grass). His team also trimmed the large tree in my front yard. We may have another project or two in the future. If I end up doing more, I will update my review and add more pictures.
Overall, I highly recommend Danny for your landscape design projects, both softscaping and landscaping.
Note: he laid down the conduit pipes, but I hired my own electrician to run the lines and add the outlets. I bought the gazebo at Costco and my husband and I installed it. Sunjoy (Great customer service!) hexagon. I bought a large rock fountain from Costco. The two smaller fountains came from Home Depot. I installed a ceiling fan and lights in the gazebo. I also use smart outlets so I can control everything with my phone.
