We worked with Lisa and the team at Lazar and had a wonderful experience. They really took the time to understand our needs, desires, and budget to prepare wonderful proposals, and engaged with us to refine them until they were perfect. Our yard in particular is on a large incline, and Lisa worked creatively to determine solutions that fit our needs. They also drove the Oakland permitting process, which was long and arduous. Once construction started, they were efficient and continued an open line of communication when decisions needed to be made. The whole team, from designer, to project manager, to workers were kind and courteous. I would recommend Lazar to anyone looking to improve their landscaping and hardscaping. read more

We worked with Pam, Maribel, and her team this winter to redesign our front and and backyard. They did a fantastic job from start to finish. Pam was great to work with on the design and she really worked with what we wanted, and also made some great suggestions. Once the project started, everything was done on time, prices were very competitive, and in the end we feel we got everything we paid for and more. We also really liked the Lazar crew. They were with us for four months and the entire time they worked really hard, cleaned up every day, and always addressed our questions or concerns. Lastly, several months after the project was over, we discovered a leak in the yard. The Lazar crew came out right away and figured out that it was our neighbor's sprinklers. They fixed the problem and our neighbor was thrilled and will probably hire them too! read more

I had the pleasure of working with Lisa and Maribel at Lazar to renovate my backyard. The process was easy, efficient and the results were above expectations. Lisa was a great idea partner for the design and planning of the project and Maribel and the Lazar crew executed everything perfectly. The team was also very professional, transparent and went out of their way to ensure I was satisfied with everything. 10 out 10 and would 100% hire them again for a project. read more

Pam and Asa offer complete service from design to construction to maintenance. Their vision for our yard exceeded our expectations or even our own ideas. We had many "Wow! Never thought of that" moments - including the biggest - moving the garage door to create front yard space. Love how they created so many "rooms" in our yard so we are never bored and always find a shady or sunny spot depending on the temperature. The work is well done - from demo to hardscape (including stone courtyard and wall, ipe deck, fire pit, and kitchen construction and installation) and plant choices. They stand behind their work and make the whole process easy. A bonus is having them as our maintenance providers. They know the yard, they have ownership and understand the vision. It's been two years since completion and we are still thrilled with the results. We get many compliments from neighbors and local "walkers". Check out their website for awesome photos of their work then give them a call/email! read more

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A couple of years ago, we had them do a project to clear and grade a reasonably large section of our backyard to make enough space for a large trampoline. They were a little expensive, but I feel like we got what we paid for. They were prompt, professional, and really did a nice job. I had filed away in the back of my mind that when we finally get around to a more significant landscaping "remodel" that they would be great. Then our 30+ year-old irrigation system started having some problems last summer and I reached out to Lazar to see if they could do the repairs. They said "yes," and after some early scheduling hiccups (one of which was my fault), it's been largely radio silence. I'd reach out after a few weeks, they would say that they would contact me to schedule something in the next month, then nothing. This process repeated itself for months, though with the winter rains, it was less-urgent for me. Now that spring has sprung early, I need to get the irrigation system repaired and the same process repeated itself. It was told that they have been swamped "recently," though we've been trying to schedule something since last August, and then I was told "I apologize we have such a long wait in rescheduling the appointment you had to cancel." Seems like they are passive aggressively blaming the scheduling problem on my cancellation from last August. I know that cancellation was my fault, but, come on, that was seven months ago! So, my thoughts appear to be pretty consistent with some of their other reviews: they do good work but are hit-or-miss with scheduling and responsiveness. That rings true since I had one "hit" and one "miss." I'll definitely look for someone else to help me going forward, though. read more

My pictures say it all. The posts on the railing are crooked so the cap boards have detached. I have called and emailed with no response and no one picks up the phone. read more

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Meh. We recently finished a fairly large project with them. The on-site crews were great. Friendly and hard working. I cannot believe how much material they moved on/off/around our yard including dealing with steps and a sort of tight walkway to get to the work area. The overall result is nice yet average with that kind of spend. However, working with this company was a bit painful. As best I can tell, while the Lazar name has been around for a while the current ownership group has only been in place for a few years and is headed by the former plant designer, Pam. While that means the planting is good there is a top level void as she seems to lack construction and project management experience. Our yard is a down/side slope and the project involved building a lot of retaining walls. We went with a design-build firm because we wanted some flexibility as they worked through the lot. That went pretty well. Still, at every meeting during wall construction, when the design was most fluid, Pam would say something could be built and then glance over at Maribel, the construction manager, for either assurance or correction. One place things went awry was our main seating area designed in a corner of the yard to have a fire pit with seating around 3 sides. In construction the corner had to be rounded off because of the roots and canopy of an existing Oak tree. That skewed everything else. But they couldn't help us with that. I'm pretty sure they don't have any CAD function. We had to rough out the design on our own. The kicker was they couldn't understand how we placed the fire pit even when I marked where one corner should go. They thought it should line up with stairs to that level. But they obviously hadn't looked at their idea because it would've resulted in the fire pit being too close to one wall for seating while leaving a bunch of excess space on the opposite side. It was ridiculous. There were a few other less significant oddities. We came home one day and found a roll of synlawn on our driveway even though we'd never talked about what style we wanted. They once left sample paito tile but never mentioned it until a couple of weeks later when they said they needed a decision because it was to be installed a couple of days later. That created an issue because we didn't like their original choices. Despite many substantial design change orders they never checked to see if we wanted to change any of the original planting design (we did) and again simply told us plants were going to be delivered in 2 days. Most of that was communicated via email which invariably added in some delays and the ubiquitous reply saying 'I'm really busy. That's not an excuse.' Stuff like that happened pretty much through completion of the project. If you don't already know you will soon find out that there aren't a lot of choices out there. Hopefully Lazar will grow into its reputation. In the meantime, I'm off to look for someone to fix up our front yard. read more

I am completely annoyed with my experience with Lazar. First the website questionaire, wasn't even sure it worked and after getting a error several times, I gave up but then they called me back, so I guess it went through after all. After playing phone tag for a week or so and their phone system, if you dial an extension, it hangs up on you, but I wasn't deterred by that, just left a general voicemail (some companies have bad phone systems). Finally got an direct email contact, several emails later, I get a call back from a different associate - mind you this has been after about 3 weeks - the guy tells me they only do pavers and patios. I have a big backyard that is a blank slate, I have some ideas but need an overall master plan and some landscape guidance for example what kind of plants to plant, how to build a garden from the dirt up, some hardscape structures, how to deal with some drainage issues. Based on reviews here and their photos here and their website photo gallery, I assume they knew plants and gardens, pools, water features, kids play areas, carpentry but the associate I talked to said they only do patios, they weren't really into building gardens and that Concord was out of their area. And he said it like Concord was really beneath him. I suppose I dodge a bullet on working with such a snobby company. Maybe they should fix their website and only showcase what they actually do. read more

We heard great things about Lazar from friends in the business, so we contracted with them to re-landscape our front yard without reading reviews or getting other references first. We had to terminate the relationship after four months of ongoing unresponsive communication, missed appointments, and excuses. We no longer trusted Lazar to perform an expensive job without unreasonable complications. We explained our reasons and absorbed significant design costs to end the contract. While they did apologize for their poor performance, they didn't offer to defray our costs or otherwise compensate us. We can't recommend Lazar. read more

Sorriest job i have ever had done by any professional.contacted owner and he never came back. Paid $200 for a poor job. Will never call again. read more

The plants are not appropriate for the microclimates they are put in. The owner was not responsive to feedback, and once the job was over and the irrigation was botched, I never heard from him again. For "Maintenance", this company sends out workers who know nothing about plants and charge $50. an hour. I don't know how a company with their business ethics stays in business. read more

Lazar just completed a planting project for me, and the early returns look great! Backing up a bit: I've talked to any number of different people to help me out with this project over the last year. I've learned that the world of garden landscaping can mostly be split into three types of providers: (a) the larger professionals, like Lazar, (b) the boutique folks, and (c) the guys with a truck and a crew who do a lot of the work for the first two groups, but occasionally hustle their own business too. I've talked to them all and a have a good sense for the pros and cons of each. The guys with trucks work hard and are cheap but usually don't have a good design sensibility or know how to wrestle with the finer points. The boutique folks typically have strong opinions about their craft, but often don't listen well or respond promptly because they don't invest in scaling their business. And the professionals are exactly what you'd expect: exorbitantly priced, but... well, professional. Lisa was my expert guide from Lazar. She was highly responsive, flexible, and most importantly, embraced my wish list while influencing the project with her own creativity. She was awesome. (Special hat tip for collaborating quickly and effectively over Pinterest to get the design right.) I'm not sure if I just lucked out, but we got things scheduled super quick rather than the usual "yeah, we'll be there in 3 months". More incredibly, they started and finished exactly when promised with minimal disruption to my life. Nice work! Let's talk price: it was expensive -- there are no two ways about it. They worked hard to fit my stated budget, but they obviously have more mouths to feed than a guy with a truck. That all said, I'm happy to pay the premium for the professionalism and quality result. Better to pay a king's ransom once with certainty than to pay small amounts repeatedly for half-assed jobs. Nice work, Lisa! read more

Made several attempts to schedule a walk thru of my property for a substantial landscaping job. Pam apologized and said she was scatterbrained and would like to discuss my project the next day. I told her I was free all day. I never heard from her. Lack of professionalism and organization at the consulting stage makes me very concerned about their ability as a company. read more

EDIT 4/27/18: I logged into Yelp for the first time in many months to write a positive review on my gym/trainer and saw that Pam responded (finally...and had to maybe since the situation was made public?). I am glad at the end of her response Pam acknowledged she should have been much more responsive. After all, if she took all those proactive actions that she listed and did not communicate them with me, how am I or anyone to know that anything is actually happening? That by the way is Business 101 (I manage clients and have been client-facing most of my career as well). Silence to a client = no forward movement from their point of view. You have to set your prospect/customer's expectations and guide them on next steps on their journey. There continued to be silence after I called her office two times and asked for a call back on next steps as well as emailing her multiple times. I abandoned the Lazar ship after that and moved forward with another company. Also, I don't understand her accusations of my taking advantage of her time for free. I contacted Lazar several years ago (I think before she took over ownership of the company according to other reviews) to see what a reasonable budget would be for implementing a master landscaping plan for my home. As I originally mentioned Barry came out and was very thoughtful and suggested we could stage it in phases and what those phase could look like. Note that Barry has left Lazar and has her own Landscape Design company (Rock Paper Scissors Design Build). I hope her business is flourishing as she was great: https://www.houzz.com/pro/rockpaperscissorslandscape/rock-paper-scissors-landscape-design-build So when I was ready to implement the first phase I called Lazar and asked them to come out to discuss. That short meeting (about 35-40 minutes) was the ONE and ONLY time Pam came out. I don't know how any business expects to get work on a project without an initial conversation and assessment of its scope and cost. I've interacted with two other well known east bay design build firms in the same way (McCutcheon and Levitch) on different projects and followed the same protocol with no issues. I was going to contact Barry at Rock Paper Scissors next to get a bid, but my regular contractor after hearing of my situation with Pam/Lazar was equally disgusted and told me he would prioritize my project in his schedule and it all worked out. I had originally gone to Lazar instead of my current contractor as I thought since this project primarily involved an outdoor space with planting considerations, a Landscape Design company instead of a general contractor would be a better fit. In the end I did get my project completed to my satisfaction and enjoyment (and the expressed admiration of my friends and neighbors) and on budget...the same budget cost that Pam said was unreasonable by the way. Private message me if you want to see pictures. Maybe I'll get around to uploading them to Houzz for folks to see. read more

We have just completed a job with Lazar and found their company a pleasure to work with. They have a very professional team that's makes sure the job is completed to your satisfaction and on time. The design aspect with Lisa was seemless, she takes your ideas along with her expertise and creates a concept that develops into a plan. The feedback and follow through in the process are critical to a job that is well thought out to ensure everyone's expectations are met within a framework and budget . The job was performed by Miguel and Martin that take great pride in their work and work hard to deliver a quality product. Maribel is the project manager and stops by daily to make sure the job is being done correctly and meets the expected timelines. Her knowledge of reading the plans and foreseeing any issues is so important. Their efficiency is apparent as they have a delivery truck delivering materials when needed so the workers never leave the site and only materials that are needed in each phase are there. We are now working with Linda to do some follow up maintenance to protect our investment and have found her knowledge of plants and experience very helpful. Overall a job well done. They are not the cheapest but you pay for what you get. I would recommend them. read more

the business just changed owners. not sure if the new owners are worse than the old owners, but nothing has changed. it took months to get them to correct invoicing where we charged but no service provided, even with back up emails, etc. from their own project managers. only did their crews loose the keys into our yard, the group would not reimburse us for re-keying. this occurred at the same time we had them quote on replacing our drip water system and they went ahead and installed without us approving the quote. so glad we don't use them anymore, even though they are only a few blocks away. read more

We had a front and back yard in Moraga that was in dire need of work. We didn't have any idea who to go with but saw Lazar's signs in the area. Lisa was our designer and provided a great plan for low maintenance and drip irrigated plants for the front & back yard. We wound up bidding the job to another contractor or 2 once the plans were completed by them, and Lazar actually was extremely competitive price wise with other contractors. The entire job went well, their crew was extremely hard working, coming in at 7:00 am and leaving at around 4. They had a bunch of crew members who were very considerate about our property. The job took two weeks and was on time and on budget. This firm is very professional and worth the money, we highly recommend. read more

Lazar executes! I worked with a Lazar designer to transform the front of my house. The plans were well executed and the implementation looks terrific. The installation included new bluestone walls and front steps, a paver driveway, sidewalk cutouts, irrigation and all plant material. My neighbors complement me regularly on the attractiveness the front of my house - two years later. Lazar sends potential customers by my house to see the quality and creativity of their work. I highly recommend these folks for their professionalism and attention to detail. read more

I wrote a detailed letter to the manager regarding a project and received no response. I wrote and called the designer and was told I would get a phone call. It never happened. Unresponsive and rude. There are better choices for the East Bay and Berkeley Hills. read more

I've seen several of their projects and In my opinion they are overbuilt and really expensive. I called them for an estimate on my yard and they said, to paraphrase, that if we couldn't spend at least $50,000, they didn't have time to come over. In my opinion, I wouldn't hire them if I were you. read more

I have contracted twice with Lazar and both times have been very happy with the design and installation and overall service provided. The first contract was over 20 years ago and the most recent was late fall of 2011. The recent work done was a thorough makeover of my back yard and it went from ugly to gorgeous. The designer who worked with me listened and clearly understood what I wanted in my dream garden. She came back in a week's time and produced designs any one of which I could have selected as they were each a lovely reflection of what I expressed I wanted. The work commenced exactly when agreed upon and everyone who came to work on my yard was professional and patient with my last minute change of mind on things. I have to admit I was a bit obsessive about the details of the design and we had a lot of communication about the colors of plants and all my input was accepted courteously and implemented in the installation. One of the other aspects of the work that I appreciated is that they cleaned up the job every day. I did not have unsightly debris left behind each day. I appreciated knowing who was in charge of the installation and who I needed to talk to if I had a question as the work progressed. During the follow-up meetings I told the Lazar employees I have spent more time in my garden in the first month it was installed then I ever spent in the entire 19 years I've lived here. I love being in my garden and so do my guests. read more

Lazar Landscape Design and Construction designed and installed our hillside back and side yards for our home in the Oakland Hills. Initially, we provided the firm a design that we had drawn up by an independent landscape architect. Our backyard was tricky with a pretty decent slope, gophers, a meadow of weeds, and poor soil that turned into slick clay when it rained. Lisa, our designer, provided us a bid for our original design but also (on her own initiative), came up with an alternative, less traditional design that not only was stunning but also considerably less expensive. The crew that worked on our project was polite, efficient, and hardworking. Maribel, the project manager, definitely has a can-do attitude and it was a pleasure to have her oversee our project. We finished the project on schedule and with no unpleasant budgetary surprises. Our yard is now beautiful with concrete retaining walls that have been hand plastered, anodized aluminum steps, decomposed granite pathways, and drought tolerant grasses, shrubs, and trees. Our previous, impractical steep slope has been regraded to several flat levels so it is pleasant (not to mention safe) to stroll through the garden or play on the lawn. The transformation of our backyard has been quite unbelievable and the maintenance has been minimal which was exactly what we hoped for. After the job was completed we had a few issues. The professional manner in which Asa has resolved the issues is a testament to the integrity of this firm. I highly recommend Lazar Landscape to anyone looking to add beauty to their surroundings and especially to homeowners with sloping lots. read more

Lazar did a good job revitalizing our backyard. We live on a hillside home and the backyard was not very usable. They took us through a process that created a very usable space within our budget and they executed the plan without a single change order. The results exceeded our expectations. If you have a landscaping project and want it done professionally and within budget, I would recommend Lazar. read more

We've used Lazar for three projects now. The first was a complete overhaul of our backyard in April -- it was an uneven, poorly graded, weed-covered mess when we moved in. The designer, Lisa, did a great job working with us (and was totally patient with us changing our minds from the pie in the sky dream backyard to a more reasonable plan once we saw the initial price!). They totally transformed it -- new patio, stepping stone pathways, drainage, grading, lawn and garden -- and it looks beautiful! More importantly, we no longer have to worry about improper drainage, and water pooling near our foundation -- they did a great job with that. Then this fall we wanted to put in a drought-tolerant garden in the front yard, and did not have much of a budget. They were totally willing to work with us - finding appropriate plants, and allowing us to do some of the work to keep the cost down. Finally, we used them for end of year maintenance, and they were seriously great -- fixed a bender border that we had tried to install(!), pruned, weeded, the whole she-bang. They've done a fantastic job with everything we've thrown at them, and have consistently been flexible with our needs and budget -- getting us the look we want, but finding ways to achieve it for less. read more

Unfortunately, we never got to work with this company, since we really loved their designs. They are too busy! If you live in the East Bay, this seems like a really great place to update your landscape. read more

Lazar took my dirt hillside back, front and side yards and transformed them into a usable and beautiful space. I'm so grateful to my designer Cassidy and everyone who had a hand in my outdoor transformation. The follow through before, during and AFTER is imperative should any issue arises. Transparency and communication is what you get with everyone at Lazar. Big, small, luxurious or simple projects. I cannot say enough good things. read more

I needed a contractor for drainage and landscape work and found Lazar doing a number projects in the neighborhood. I contacted them and they responded promptly. Their work was of high quality, timely, and professional. They started work on the date they committed to, and stayed focused on the project, which was completed ahead of schedule. I am very pleased with the results of their work, but I equally appreciate their integrity. Unanticipated events will occur in construction, but Lazar handled the project professionally from start to finish. I view Lazar as an exceptional company. I will gladly use them again; and will recommend them to friends without hesitation. read more

Two years later and we still love our yard. I never post on Yelp (use it all the time) but these guys are great and STILL stand behind their work. The design process was painless and the designer presented us with three options based on our budget. Once we finalized the design, the installation was completed on budget and on time. To this day Lazar has been responsive to all my crazy requests. The scope of work included excavating and installation of three stone retaining walls, blue stone patio and BBQ island as well as replacing 80% of plants and installing overhead lighting and irrigation. Ask for Barry! read more

Design work was OK, but nothing special. Installation of fountain/pond was poor. The water flow through three outlets is inconsistent, so sometimes it runs too high, meaning we lose water unnecessarily. Auto-fill mechanism, to add more water when warm temps leads to evaporation has malfunctioned more than once, leading to a pipe running full bore for hours and a high water bill. Our backyard is on a slope and newly-leveled grassy area does not drain well, so water is coming under the house where it didn't before. This could have been solved with slight grade being incorporated. When follow-up maintenance is required, Lazar's staff won't return calls. I wish I could get a refund on the $50k I spent with them and have steered many a friend or neighbor away from using Lazar. read more

Stay away from this company. The owner, Gary, sells you a bill of goods, makes it sound like you are getting a complete package. We were impressed. Once we had our initial meetings with him, we never saw or spoke to him again. This, in spite of numerous phone call, e-mails and letters.Their billing system is ridiculous, impossible to understand, to say nothing of their outrageous fees. I had the opportunity to price out something they bid after they were no longer working for us; only to learn that they upcharged the item by a factor of three!!!!!!! We have since re-done the work done by Lazar as we were very unhappy with the outcome. Our new landscaper has pointed out so many mistakes; simply too numerous to list here. The most glaring is the quality of the masonry...terrible. They must have had blinders on! In summary, I would stay as far from this company as possible. There are many good landscapers in the area....not Lazar read more

I can't believe I'm reading negative reviews about this terrific company. I have to think they are written by their competitors. Because Lazar Landscape did my garden in Lafayette 20 years ago, and did my garden when I moved to Berkeley in 2010. They did fabulous rock stairs and walkways, and helped construct a labyrinth to my specifications. They put in automated irrigation front and back, and helped me select native plants that bloom in all seasons. They came when they said they would, and finished on time; cleaned up every day! They are a great company, and my garden looks even better this year than it did last. You can see it on my blog www.dactyls-and-drakes.com. Just search for the word labyrinth. I am really picky about my garden and would use nobody other than the best. Lazar is the best in the Bay Area. read more

We have a steep upslope property in the Oakland hills that was mostly dirt and weeds when we moved in. Lazar and our amazing designer Barry have transformed it into a beautiful stone patio, carefully landscaped paths, terraced planter areas and raised vegetable beds for some urban farming. We chose Lazar after having seen their work in the hills at an open house before we bought our current home. We didn't know what to expect from the design or build process, but knew we liked the look Lazar could achieve. Now, after a two month design process and eight weeks of work, we couldn't be happier. Barry was very responsive to all of our ideas and prioritized the elements we wanted, but she also encouraged us to fix some problems we weren't even focused on. To get to the yard, you had to climb a steep set of stairs. We were willing to live with that, but Barry helped us see how much that staircase blocked the light in our den and made it uncomfortable to go into the yard, and dangerous to come back down. Her changes to the staircase have opened up the yard and improved our view from inside the house in ways we never imagined. She also continued to monitor the job as the build phase progressed, and even brought us a new design tweak when the construction crew discovered some issues that unexpectedly affected our plans! The Lazar crew was also fantastic. They knew that keeping our mature oaks healthy was our top priority and it showed in their very careful work around all the tree roots. Unlike prior landscaping experiences we've had, there was never a single day when they left debris or materials piled up in front of our house.They swept our driveway and (once it was built) our patio clean every day! Part of the planning process for the build even included asking us about our neighbors and making sure they accommodated our special requests with regard to keeping our most finicky neighbors happy. Lazar couldn't solve everything -- we're still at war with the gophers, and we had to sacrifice a few things we wanted during the design process to get to our budget number -- but there wasn't a single change order and the project was completely on time. They were totally up front about cost and extremely willing to get creative about finding alternative materials or methods to achieve the overall look we wanted. Especially if you have a hillside property and want a company that can deliver in a challenging environment, these guys are great. read more

I only have good things to say about Lazar Landscape. A little over two years ago we bought our house. With the house came a front garden with a few nice plants, but an unsafe staircase, a crumbling fence and an acacia tree covered in 20 feet of jasmine. Our driveway, with its two-tone concrete was also and eyesore. And the backyard.....again, a few nice plants, but in general an overgrown jungle that I couldn't control, another crumbling fence and an odd patio system that did not work for socializing. I'm a graphic designer myself and I love gardening so I came into the process with a lot of ideas about our new gardens. Pam Cosce, head designer and co-owner, was wonderful to work with. She took my ideas and said, "I love your ideas, and I've got some of my own." For both the front and the back gardens my husband and I reviewed three designs that incorporated my thoughts, but improved on them. We settled on final plans in a couple of weeks. We also got sound guidance on material choices from Asa Sanchez, the other co-owner, allowing us to weigh cost, longevity and aesthetics. Pam came up with the brilliant idea of moving the old pavers from our backyard into the driveway, thus saving us material cost and allowing us to focus on a new, lovely bluestone patio for the backyard. As Pam was developing our plant palette I probably had more opinions than the typical client. I'm a person that appreciates a straight shooter. Plenty of my plant selections got the green light or the comment "love it" or "you got it." Then there were others that got these comments: "a thorny beast", "looks like a mangy dog in winter", "stinks", and my favorite, "could make your life a living hell." But, every time a plant was shot down, there was always a suggestion that started with, "if you like the look of that plant, you may like this one..." She really helped me build cohesion and sense into the landscape while staying true to my taste. The crew showed up everyday by 8:30 with smiles and 'good morning's. Really nice, hard-working guys. Neighbors on both sides even commented on how nice they were. When the yards started taking shape, there were a few instances when I wanted something changed or adjusted. Mirabel Ramirez, the project manager, always answered with "no problem" or "easy peasy." The work has been beautifully done. The carpentry on the fences and beds, the stone work on the patio and stairways - all has been completed with great attention to detail. And the driveway - an amazing result from reused material, looks fantastic. My backyard has transformed from an unwieldy mess to a gorgeous open space for socializing; beautiful beds with fruit trees, flowering maples, evergreen shrubs, tried and true perennials, and raised beds for vegetables. The front yard gets a ton of sun so we landscaped with drought-tolerant plants. Succulents, sedums, kangaroo paws, salvia, purple smoke bush, and dymondia to name a few. And the neighbors won't stop talking about how great the place looks now. Not only did it greatly increase the value of our house, but I think the whole neighborhood is pleased at the increase in property value for the block. The place was really a shambles before. Now, rather than wincing as I pull up to the house, I come home dazzled with my gardens and driveway. These people are great to work with and do excellent work. Highly, highly recommend! P.S. I live in Mill Valley. Though they are based in Oakland, they had no trouble working in the North Bay. read more

Lazar just completed an external lighting and backyard retaining wall and fencing project for us. The retaining wall and fencing aspect of this project involved difficult sloping terrain so I was a bit apprehensive about problems that might pop up. Instead, their work exceeded my expectations. And when they did run into a problem, i.e. they had underestimated the volume of dirt fill needed to complete the retaining wall project, they came up with a creative way to get the fill to the back yard in volume, and did not come back to us for an increase in the budget. I was extremely pleased by the quality of workmanship of both the retaining wall and the fence with the latter requiring working around tree stumps and undulating terrain. They literally transformed our backyard. They also did an excellent job on the low voltage exterior lighting installation using up lighting on several trees and located down lighting on stairs and the driveway for optimal effect. I should also note that in the contract, they had indicated that any foliage cut to install the fence would be my responsibility to remove from the backyard and I anticipated any tree stump removal would be an additional cost. They ended up removing all of the tree trimmings and stumps at no cost to me which was a very pleasant surprise and made the final before and after picture of the yard even more striking. I would also add that the crew was very respectful and careful about not damaging anything in the process of carrying out the job. I was very concerned upfront about an underground drainage pipe that I had recently had installed that was in the vicinity of the planned retaining wall and they were very careful to mark out the path of the pipe and work around it. read more

I had a great experience with Lazar. I had them design, plant and do the work for a major backyard overhaul. It was a challenging project as the area is terraced with varying degrees of sun. The work included installation of a retaining wall, irrigation system, as well as a significant amount of planting. I found the designer, Barry, to be professional and thoroughly knowledgeable. She listened to what I wanted and provided suggestions that I ultimately used. The work was completed quickly and I am extremely pleased with the end result. read more

I know about 3 current jobs and I hear they are all big problems; too many to list here. Did you know the owners are new? Maybe talk to all current customers before making your choice? Maybe all current customers will Yelp about Lazar after the jobs finish? Good selling and high prices doesn't mean good quality. Protect your hard earned money and do your homework. M.E. read more

these guys are terrible in terms of maintenance. they are supposed to come every 2 weeks, and only show up about 1x every 6 weeks. they recently increased our rates from $100 - 150/month without telling us. i do not recommend them. read more

Stay away at all costs! Lazar landscape does very overpriced and in my experience shoddy work. They landscaped my yard and planted inappropriate plants in the sun and shade which died after a few months. I later did some research on my own at a local nursery to see why these plants died and found that they had planted shade plants on a hot sunny exposure and full sun plants in the shade. So, the exact opposite of their needs. Nice design work Lazar. The irrigation that was installed did not properly cover the plantings and that caused me to lose additional plants. I had to hire another company to come in and fix the irrigation.Their gruff and rude supervisor Maribel was a nightmare to deal with. Total lack of customer service skills. The workers were nice but did not speak any English so I was unable to communicate my needs to them. Shop around and get competitive bids so you don't have to learn the hard way like me. read more

Lazar price gouges and they are incredibly inept. We paid them in full for a large backyard remodel and they botched most elements of the job. We started to get a deluge of water in our yard after they installed an irrigation system (creating a swampland on our lawn and streaming down the retaining walls). They refused to troubleshoot the problem thoroughly. We were forced to hire someone else to dig up the irrigation system in order to investigate. We found gross negligence in the way the system was installed. There were uncapped tubes a foot underground pouring water into the soil. When the lawn was dug up to fix the irrigation, it was discovered that the sod was laid directly on top of hard clay (they just threw down some top soil) and rocks so it would never have seeded. In the contract, Lazar states they would roto-till the soil to a depth of 6" and use soil amendment under the sod but those things were not done. The stucco on the retaining walls throughout the yard is cracking, peeling and is discolored in most areas, just one month after the project ended. They planted plants that were not right for the climate and position in the yard, half of the plants died in the first week. After digging deeper into the materials used, we found that although we requested high quality materials and stressed this throughout the project, they used bottom of the barrel wood for the fencing. The project also ran over by one month. They did pay for the botched irrigation but refused to fix or pay for the lawn and stucco issues caused by both water damage and general ineptitude. We now have to pay more money to fix these issues. This company should not be in business. read more