JRW Lawn Care

I hired Joe last summer to do some landscaping work in my yard which included putting down about 13 yards of mulch. Joe was initially prompt about getting me a quote and communicating when he was going to come out to mulch my landscaping beds. His price was reasonable and he arrived on time. He even stopped by beforehand so I could point out some small plants I wanted to make sure didn’t accidentally get pulled as weeds or covered in mulch. Here is his proposal:
Landscape Bid includes:
Mulching
Edging beds
Trim Shrubs
Pull weeds
Apply weed preventative
Mulching
Mulch was applied very unevenly, some areas didn’t have enough -- some landscape fabric was visible right away – and some spots had no mulch at all. In other areas he buried my plants in mulch – I had to dig out at least a dozen of them. The lower branches of almost all of my arborvitae trees and bushes were buried and had to be dug out, as well. Mulch was piled up against the trunks of trees and shrubs (which should not be done as it can cause disease and insect problems). And those plants I pointed out to be careful of – gone.
Trim Shrubs
The shrubs that were trimmed were trimmed poorly and trimmings were left on and around the bushes. Many bushes were not trimmed at all.
Pull Weeds and Apply Weed Preventative
Weeds were a serious problem after Joe and his team put the mulch down. It didn’t seem like Joe and his team spent much time weeding before applying mulch and after they left I noticed they had missed a number of weeds. Over the following days and weeks many more weeds popped up. I let Joe know I was concerned about the unusual number of weeds. He insisted that he did pull weeds before he put the mulch down, but he said he would come out and “spot check”. He never did. I later found out that weed preventative was NOT mixed into the mulch he ordered, as he said it was (the supplier he used does not even offer this as an option). When I notified him of this he did not come out to apply the weed preventative I paid for, nor did he compensate me in any way for buying and applying Preen myself (not to mention compensate me or even apologize for countless five gallon buckets full of weeds I had to deal with as a result of this error).
Instead of pulling some weeds that were growing through a rock border in our landscaping by hand, Joe used weed killer. Unfortunately, it drifted onto surrounding grass and plants, killing patches of grass and multiple plants. Joe completely denied any responsibility for this and insists it wasn’t his fault (according to him I’m just “assuming” the grass and plants died because of the weed killer – the only patches of dead grass and plants are directly adjacent to where he sprayed...see pictures). I now know he shouldn’t have applied the weed killer in the first place because as far as I can tell he does not have a license to do so (my understanding is that by law in the state of Ohio any business applying any sort of pesticide needs to be licensed ***). Regardless, of whether or not the weed killer was applied correctly, I do expect professionals to take responsibility for their work. After pressing him about this he said he would come over and put down some grass seed. He didn’t. I had to buy and plant replacements at my own expense, as well.
I expected a higher level of quality and professionalism from Joe. I’m very frustrated with the amount of time and effort I put towards trying (unsuccessfully) to come to a resolution with him. Ultimately, I have spent hours of my own time and a couple hundred dollars fixing all the problems he left behind -- very disappointed with the quality of his work and that he does not stand behind what he does.