I contracted Sweet Briar Lawns/John LaBianca to renovate a small overgrown area of junipers on my front lawn. He arrived as agreed and I wish he hadn't. He requested $1000. in cash to start working. I gave it to him. He has since denied that payment was received. He ran his tractor around, damaging my paver driveway in the process. His "crew" never arrived, and after an hour or so, he packed up and left. Despite repeated requests, he refused to provide a detailed proposal, insurance information or contractor information. He has a quick temper and a Sailor's vocabulary. My yard is a mess, my driveway is damaged, I'm out a thousand dollars and he is GONE. RUN AWAY FROM THIS ONE! read more

We recently had our home's landscaping refreshed and couldn't be happier with the results. John, the owner, was responsive, knowledgeable, and offered very fair pricing. He was easy to work with from start to finish, and the quality of the work really shows--my wife and I are both extremely pleased with how everything turned out. The yard looks better than it has in years. We're so impressed, we've signed up for his annual lawn maintenance program as well. Highly recommend! read more

Consider this a zero stars review. What a slob and an arrogant jerk John is. He rides around on a spreader machine to get done really fast. He sprays tons of his chemicals (pellets) everywhere, all over the patio, the walkways, and on the public sidewalk and cleans up nothing. Even the township of Clark (where he's based) sent residents a letter asking them to keep lawn chemicals off of surfaces other than the lawn so that they don't get washed into storm sewers/waterways. H's supposed to be a professional (ha,ha,ha) and can't even do a neat job and follow town guidelines. read more

Our property now has a fresh look thanks to John and Mike. We were very impressed with their knowledge of soil, drainage, sun direction, trees, shrubs and even pesky chipmunks. John listened to our concerns and ideas about our landscaping and as a result, we were very pleased with their work. read more

I can't say enough about John with Swest Briar Lawns. When I contacted him, he immediately fit us into his schedule for an estimate and was amazing at communicating. He had a great vision about our landscaping and drainage. He was honeat, up front, and beyond knowledgable. He was very efficient with everything and communicated with us every step of the way. my husband and I are extremely grarefuel for his expertise. We will definitely be using him again and recommend! read more

While I know many of the reviews on here are negative, I had the opportunity to work with John on a few projects. He came highly recommended by another company that does weekly maintenance, but does not to renovations or true landscaping. Our lawn was in poor condition (to say the least) and John was detailed in explaining the work that was going to be done, did not try and price gouge, and did the job when promised. Based on that, we also had him do some renovation in front of our house. He ripped out all of the old dying and mismatched trees and shrubs and planted about 20 new pieces along the front and side of our home. We are really looking forward to the growth in the spring and seeing how it all comes together!! read more

I use to have Sweet Briar Lawns, however after working with the owner I Found him to be extremely rude and dishonest when working on my lawn. He would make up stories of treating the lawn and drop off bills to which wasn't done. I have security cameras and know every time someone steps on my lawn I see them. On the dates and times he did the work I could prove he didn't stop by. After releasing him from service I've had reports from local lawn vendors that he's become violent and destructive to previous customers. Over the last 2 years he has rode by my house and made smart remarks about killing my dogs and destroying my lawn. Today, he stopped by my lawn and was doing some very obvious things to my curb. After calling the police to report the incident, I found out that over the last 2 years there has been several complaints of Sweet Briar Lawns burning customers lawns with chemicals. So, this is a warning to anyone in Westfield, NJ to be careful of Sweet Briar Lawns, if you have a disagreement with the owner he will try and destroy your lawn by putting chemicals on it to burn the grass. Don't take my word for it, check with the local police department in Westfield, NJ like I did today. March 12, 2020. read more

I've been using Sweetbriar lawns for a couple of years now. My lawn was beyond dead and John was able to bring it back to life! Now I'm going to have some shrubs and other landscaping done by them . Cant wait ot see the improvements. I'm sure its.going to look as good as my lawn. read more

Having issues with drainage, John from Sweet Briar, came in performed the excavation work needed to run some drain collection and pipes. In less time as thought, his machine came in and dug what was needed. John provided two options for the excavation and we went with the one with the lowest impact to the rest of my lawn. If you need any type of excavation, give John a call. It was more reasonable than renting a machine and doing the work myself. read more

Wish I could give this man a ZERO star review but YELP would not let me. Do not hire this man as he doesn't understand what professionalism is. He does not do a good job. Stay away! read more

I've used Sweet Briar lawn service for about 12 years now for lawn maintenance, treatments, etc. I just had John take care of a drainage issue for my back yard and so far everything is good and performing as described. My yard is lower than my back neighbors, so John dug a trench the width of the yard, put in the drainage, built a berm with plantings to hide the pipe. John will cover the pipe with some mulch to finish the look, but per John, waiting for a few more rains to be sure all is good. I have to say, its been working fine. While he was here, he did a seating area with a mulch/stone combination, finished up a bed around my patio and planted an area that was pretty much dirt. It all looks great. I know there are some bad reviews here and everyone has a right to voice their opinions and experiences, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend John to anyone needing yard work done. read more

I will never use this company again. Owner (John) backed into my driveway with his trailer and broke (accidently) a sprinkler head. When I called him about it he told me a few things: "your lawn sucks" "move to a house where you can afford to fix your driveway" "you mother F$#%er" which he called me about 40 times" I called several times as he kept yelling and hanging up. He then sent several texts berating me and said he called the police on me because I was harassing him (this over a 5 minute span). I said I wasn't harassing, I was a customer calling to complain about a broken sprinkler head. Needless to say I'm done with this company. read more

I have used Sweet Briar for many years and my lawn looked beautiful. Best on the street. While it's unfortunate that some people had a bad experience, I have never had any issues with the owner and my lawn looks great. Highly recommend. read more

I have used this company for the past 2 years on my moms lawn ...ive taken care of her lawn for years and couldnt control the weeds ..after the first year the lawn looked great and now after a full 2 seasons of treatment the lawn looks perfect. Ive recommended him to other friends and they are all happy with the results..price is more than fair read more

Today John the owner of Sweet Briar reads the rating I gave him about a month ago about his horrible service and decides to call me and harass me through text messages. Not only is he very rude but also very immature. I would highly recommend everyone to stay away form this man or his landscaping services. read more