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jmoney74
Guest
More reason to go to JoJo aka Echo Family.
Pavilion Park Homeowners: Beware of Tom Gonzales (Landscaper)
- Thread starter gasman
- Start date
NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
LOL... are you a landscaper?
Um.. something called money up front. Most of the time, you should take most of the monies before the job is complete. How they going to re-negotiate the last 10%? NEWB.
California law states the deposit should be 10% or $1,000 - whichever is less. Anyone who asks for 10% deposit on a $30k or $40k landscaping job is a scam artist. They all know the rules.
One guy gave me a $50k quote for my yard and wanted 15% down. Kindly asked him to leave and I would "get back to him"
Uncle Jo from Echo Family is your man, but I think he is already booked this year and maybe early part next year but won't hurt to give him a call. He is a little unconventional and can come as weird at times, but overall, we are very satisfied with his work and flexibility and the price is very reasonable (we also got bunch of last minute addition that he didn't charge)
Other satisfied customers:http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,11454.msg246196.html#msg246196
Jefferson Rand does good work. Wont be the cheapest but the job will be done well and they will address any problems quickly. I would go around and look at the work that your prospective landscaper has done. Pay attention to the workmanship on the stonework, the way the sprinklers are placed, and the amount of drainage that was put in. It's easy to make something look good on the surface, it's the details that count. Try to talk to the homeowners, ask about how they came up with the design. Get ideas on how you want your yard to look first, and be wary of guys who try to steer you to what they want to do. And make sure their license is up to date.
I wonder if this is my neighbors yard (a few homes down). Their front landscaping has been sitting at 50% complete for over 6 months. They even put the rebar in and the pilasters are up (but just bare cinder blocks).
I feel sorry for them and can't imagine giving someone a check for thousands of dollars and then they just vanished. I don't know if I could bring myself to hire someone else knowing that I've paid the first Contractor to do the job and I'm holding onto the sliver of hope that they may return and complete what they started, so that I don't have to pay double.
OCAgentGold
New member
There are scammers on both sides. Irvine residents are also accused of waiting until a job is complete and then wanting to renegotiate the price. Many quality landscapers in Orange County wont come near Irvine for that very reason.
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jmoney74
Guest
OCAgentGold said:
LOL... are you a landscaper?
Um.. something called money up front. Most of the time, you should take most of the monies before the job is complete. How they going to re-negotiate the last 10%? NEWB.
Something to add is many of the landscapers take the 10% upfront before even drafting your plan. So how do you get the HOA to get you your 10% back? The person who is approving the plans actually works for the property management company hired by the HOA versus someone who is actually on the HOA board of directors. And while many landscapers who are familiar with your HOA and process, many times you are asked to submit the plans yourself. Putting the responsibility on the shoulders of the HOA seems a bit difficult for them.
aquabliss
Well-known member
broda said:
California law states the deposit should be 10% or $1,000 - whichever is less. Anyone who asks for 10% deposit on a $30k or $40k landscaping job is a scam artist. They all know the rules.
One guy gave me a $50k quote for my yard and wanted 15% down. Kindly asked him to leave and I would "get back to him"
NathanIrvine
New member
To turn this into a positive thread, can we get a list going of landscaper that have done a GREAT job. I really don't care about the cheapest as they are the first ones to cut corners. I just moved into GP and will be looking for a landscaper in the next month or so.
NathanIrvine said:
Uncle Jo from Echo Family is your man, but I think he is already booked this year and maybe early part next year but won't hurt to give him a call. He is a little unconventional and can come as weird at times, but overall, we are very satisfied with his work and flexibility and the price is very reasonable (we also got bunch of last minute addition that he didn't charge)
Other satisfied customers:http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,11454.msg246196.html#msg246196
NathanIrvine said:
Jefferson Rand does good work. Wont be the cheapest but the job will be done well and they will address any problems quickly. I would go around and look at the work that your prospective landscaper has done. Pay attention to the workmanship on the stonework, the way the sprinklers are placed, and the amount of drainage that was put in. It's easy to make something look good on the surface, it's the details that count. Try to talk to the homeowners, ask about how they came up with the design. Get ideas on how you want your yard to look first, and be wary of guys who try to steer you to what they want to do. And make sure their license is up to date.
Just a quick update on an old thread...I've learned this week that Tom (aka Coastal Lanscaping, aka New Season Landscaping) has recently abandoned a project in Pavilion Park. I'm truly sorry that another homeowner had to fall victim to this guy's antics.
On a positive note, I also learned that this thread has prevented Tom for landing 2 new jobs in Cypress Village! For the folks in CV, please watch out for this guy...he's bad news.
On a positive note, I also learned that this thread has prevented Tom for landing 2 new jobs in Cypress Village! For the folks in CV, please watch out for this guy...he's bad news.
aquabliss
Well-known member
gasman said:
I wonder if this is my neighbors yard (a few homes down). Their front landscaping has been sitting at 50% complete for over 6 months. They even put the rebar in and the pilasters are up (but just bare cinder blocks).
I feel sorry for them and can't imagine giving someone a check for thousands of dollars and then they just vanished. I don't know if I could bring myself to hire someone else knowing that I've paid the first Contractor to do the job and I'm holding onto the sliver of hope that they may return and complete what they started, so that I don't have to pay double.
irvine buyer
Active member
I suspect these contractors lure their customers with low prices. A neighbor on our street went with a contractor that IMO did poor quality work. The only reason they went with this contractor was the lower price. They said they talked to two other contractors who have done work in the neighborhood and their pricing was significantly higher. There were so many evenings where we heard the contractor arguing with the homeowner over the work done. Common sense would tell one that when a contractor is significantly lower priced than others there must be a reason. I think that people in their quest to save money convince themselves that they found that unicorn of a contractor that does high quality work for a really low price.
Don't know if this was the case here, but those that have had landscaping done, the full payment was not due all up front was it?
I asked that our landscaper accept multple payments vs. one up front payment, to "somewhat" prevent something like this from happening, at least I wouldn't be out all of the money.
I asked that our landscaper accept multple payments vs. one up front payment, to "somewhat" prevent something like this from happening, at least I wouldn't be out all of the money.
