Cascadian Landscape, Inc.

Lets fast forward to 2015 from my previous 2013 5 star review to illustrate what an absolute incompetent nightmare Cascadian has been. After spending more than 100K with Cascadian, lets talk about the MAJOR issues:

1) What kind of contractor installs a gas line and does NOT pressure test for gas leaks BEFORE concrete is poured??? That is MAJOR MAJOR mistake # 1. They had to come back 2 years later and rip the concrete and reinstall new gas line and this time pressure test and was forced to install commercial grade line instead of the cheap home depot small white pvc which was originally installed.

2) what kind of contractor would install mulch without ANY type of weed fabric???? We had to literally spend $$$$ to hire someone to take all his mulch out and install weed fabric which we bought and install NEW 50 YARDS of mulch on top of the new weed fabric. WE hired someone else to rip his idea of "decomposed granite path that was riddled with weeds and pour concrete on the same path. A competent licensed contractor should have installed weed fabric and poured concrete instead of decomposed granite in the slope area.

3) What kind of contractor is forced to pour concrete 2 times AFTER the initial pour due to major cracks????? That would make it 3 pours in 2 sections.. WoW!!!! Its amazing how many times we have seen jackhammers breaking concrete for a redo on our backyard.

4) What kind of contractor would install cheap home depot Malibu lights when in fact the original plans specifically called for Unique lighting systems??? This licensed contractor went way out of scope of the original plan specifically the lighting system which was very very detailed in the plan. My brother once hired someone unlicensed to pour his color slate concrete and 5 years later it looks much better than the crap I have with a licensed contractor.....

Its amazing how we have to leave 10-15 messages to even get a hold of him and sometimes even his mailbox is full and not taking messages.

I am absolutely flabbergasted how a LICENSED contractor with over 30 years of landscaping experience would make such MAJOR MAJOR mistakes and then criticize unlicensed folks that would not make half the mistakes he did.

Finally, his attitude is legendary. His one liners like "I gave you this or that for free, etc." is a song and dance that he plays to anyone that complains....

In fact, we are not the only one with these issues with him....check this out from a neighbor of ours....

http://www.Revdex.com.org/northeast-california/business-reviews/landscape-contra...⇄ />
When you spend over 100k and you feel so duped, disrespected, BULLIED, its time to stand up....especially when you know you are not alone and this pattern of behavior will continue....

I posted this same review on Yelp:

I interviewed a few of my neighbors who were using Cascadian. They all had great things to say about them. Unfortunately, I interviewed them during the beginning of their project. In talking with them again, because I was having problems with Bob, they told me their rest of the story, which is not different from my own experience. My problems started towards the 2nd phase of the project and remains until now. It's not a small project by any stretch. The concrete along is over 4000 sqft and there are hundreds of plants. Project started December 2013. Still uncompleted items remain as of the posting of this review, Sept 28, 2014.

Let me start with the positive. Bob's crew does great work. The work looks good and there's a good amount of attention to detail. I do believe they take pride in their work! Bob has a good vision on how to do the yard to give the look and feel we were looking for. We hired him because he was able to articulate how he would execute what we wanted. He was not the cheapest guy nor the most expensive guy. His bid came almost perfectly in the middle.

Bob seemed like a very honest and easy going guy. We had a great working relationship at the start. I paid him way more often than stipulated by the contract, and even paid for some change orders in full before they were completely finished because Bob said he needed some help with cash flow. I took his word on his promises and had no reason not to trust him. In life, there's got to be trust and civility among the people we meet and work with. One has to stand behind ones words! That just my principle of life.

Now the bad. I think my relationship with Bob deteriorated late spring and got worst over the course of the summer. Progress on the project was completely stalled. What supposedly should take 3 months had dragged to 4-5 months...and then 7-8 months. It's not like his full crew was over here working hard because the job was under-estimated. No, that's not the case. His guys were missing in action for weeks at a time! They would return when I complain, but they would soon disappear again. Promises of finishing this week became next week than next week than next week. It just dragged!! It's stressful and a waste of time hounding him to do what he said he would do and what I paid him to do. Lots of unfulfilled promises. My trust weaned and have completely disappeared. When it comes to Bob's word, I believe what he says when I see it!! It became a stressful experience with him asking for payment after payment for things he's done, even though his contract only stipulates 3 payments. It became practically a mild argument with him demanding payment and me eventually caving and meeting him halfway to keep the relationship workable. You should know that when you work with Bob, you WILL be expected to pay him more often than stipulated in the contract. And you WILL hear how much free stuff and free work he has done for you. It's an endless broken record of how much free stuff you get from him. It is both annoying and stressful arguing about which free stuff and how much of it there is, etc, etc......where is the stuff I paid for?!! I must have paid for some of this stuff too right?! AND lastly you will have unfulfilled promises.

And lastly a word about his crew. He has a very small crew. I count perhaps no more than 10 guys. I was led to believe that he can tackle massive jobs like mine, but he's not able to do it. What I've surmise is that he's juggling. He would start multiple jobs at a time, work on each a few days, and then disappear to work on other jobs. The first installment payment is rather hefty. He's very motivated to start jobs, but very unmotivated to finish them....and he will drag projects on, like me, for as long as possible until the customer screams loud enough or stop paying. Like I was saying, this is not the kind of experience you would look forward to, even if the work is well done and hopefully eventually finished. This is his modus operandi.

Let me close by saying that I am go to go through arbitration with the licensing board with Bob. We have come to an impasse. He is not paying his supplier. His supplier has placed a lien on my house. He's demand I pay him. I told him to first finish the work he's promised to do before more payment. We couldn't agree so I will be asking the licensing board to help me sort this out. It very well might be that I am out of line, that his verbal promises are worthless in the eyes of the licensing board and that he doesn't have to complete the work listed in the contract. Or it could go the other way. Regardless of the results, I wish nobody to go through this level of stress and trouble to get their yard done.

I will update this review with the result of the arbitration process.

When a business is good, people should know! I needed landscape design ideas and cement work. I found Cascadian Landscape through Yelp reviews and after calling, the owner, Bob, came out the next day to see my property. I gave him a couple ideas that I wanted and he jumped right in and creatively expanded the potential of my yard while working with a few of my absolute requirements. Bob's team showed up, worked diligently and clean up at the end of each day. The team leader would check in with me when needed to be sure they were going in the direction I wanted and there was never an uncomfortable moment when I did make a change. Overall, my front yard went from basic grass, big tree and some rocks to a beautifully landscaped yard with an expanded stamped cement patio, drought tolerant plants with a drip system, a beautiful dry river bed and beautiful boulders placed throughout the landscape to keep the appearance natural. Over 50' of existing side section of cement was redone for RV parking with the proper joists and rebar. The old/dead backyard lawn was pulled up, new sprinkler system laid, gravel laid for garden and dog run area with drainage, and a firepit built in a seating area.

The other reason I wanted to write this review is because when Bob stopped in to check on the progress of my project he noticed my husband helping my neighbor. My neighbor was trying to prep the ground for an above-ground pool for his children. Bob sent his guys over to my neighbor's house and using the appropriate equipment and tractors, had the ground prepped and leveled in one day. All this extra work was done at no cost!

Bob and his team were polite, professional and hard working. Everything turned out beautiful. I see people drive by and stop and look...even take pictures. Those that walk the neighborhood have stopped to talk to me about my yard and get Cascadian's name and number. I'm very happy with my new yards.