I'm very pleased to have found this service. To be specific, David found me when I placed a request for bids on my verrrrry overgrown nightmare of a project.
I'm in a corner house with a large backyard and tons of street-side garden. When I moved in, 3 years ago, everything was impeccably landscaped. As life got busy, I became less and less concerned with its maintenance until finally, one day, I got a message from my neighbor: "please do something about your disaster". (Okay it's not exactly what she said but I got the picture.)
I turned to Yelp and requested some quotes. I heard from two people who were willing to bid the job. The first I connected with was David, and the other wanted to set up an appointment for the following week.
David was available to stop by my house that same day, just 2 hours after my initial request. Now, I'm not saying I'm impulsive, but in my humiliation, I made myself available as well. He planned to stop by between 4 and 5 PM that day to assess the situation and give me a quote.
He arrived at 4:27 and took a long walk around the property. He asked a lot of questions and helped me formulate an attack plan. He felt the job would cost a total of $450 to $500. And here is where it gets good.
The last thing he asked me was if I have a budget. I thought hard about that. Since I rent and don't own the house, I felt that I didn't really want to spend more than $250, because any more than that seemed like it would be more of a landlord expense and I didn't have permission to spend someone else's money. Which is a bummer for me because I love spending other people's money.
The number was something David felt he could work with and we adjusted my expectations.
Then a really cool thing happened. David asked me if I had a problem with him starting work immediately. Of course, now is always better than later, so I happily agreed. I did say I had to leave soon for dinner plans, so we worked out what he would do first and agreed that I would leave him alone to do what he does.
At 5:00 PM, I gave him $100 bucks and left him to it. I did my own thing and left for dinner at about 6:15 PM, basically trusting him to do right. Not always a good idea, I know, but I did. I trusted a stranger and was not disappointed. He sent me a text (see picture) when he was done for the day, having filled my yard-waste can, and planned to return for more work the following day. And he did.
True to his word, David arrived at 6:00 PM and began the next sections, which included more side and most front yard. He cleared 3 additional contractor bags (his own, not mine) of rosemary/evergreen trimmings, crabgrass and weeds, which he hand pulled. I gave him another $100 when he finished work at 9 PM.
Now listen, I can do basic math. 6 hours of work for 200 bucks. That's $33.33 per hour. But let me tell you, I've had crews here in the past. 2 guys at $20 per hour EACH did not even come close to accomplishing what this guy did in the same amount of time. He used some of my tools and some of his. When I ran out of bags, he used his own. I ran an extension cord out my window for a hedge trimmer, and when I saw that again, it was neatly re-wound, inside the window, now shut. It's in the DETAILS, people. I was so pleased with the results that I forced a small tip on him. He tried to resist, but I wouldn't take "no, please" for an answer...I've tried to do what he did and i know it's no small thing.
I have already heard from my neighbor thanking me for his work. That's good...it means I don't have to avoid her anymore for a couple weeks.
When he left about an hour ago, he planned to return tomorrow to finish the work he felt I had payed for, but looking around, I didn't see there was anything more I needed from him that I couldn't do myself for free with a good music station, some cold beer and a boyfriend. Thankfully I can count on all three of these, so we concluded that I would call him after the weekend to see if there was any more he could help with.
I mentioned that the only thing I wished was that the bagged clearings were being hauled away, and that I'm fine doing it myself but I wasn't looking forward to it. David suggested that I should leave the bags outside my gate and he would come by on his own time to pick them up when his SUV wasn't full of tools. Wow. I didn't expect that but I'm delighted right now. I'm beginning to see the beauty of this property again and it wasn't as painful as I imagined.
In fact, I'm so thankful, I'm writing a review. I want to promote this business. (Not to the point that David is too busy for me, though. That would be bad.) read more