Ken Nesland Landscaping

Mr [redacted] s yard could not be rototilled because of the roots as his architect specedHer specs were wrongSoil had to be addedThe back of the wall had to hav soil added to bring it up to level which was over tree rootsIf you were not to add more soil his plants would have died and and he would have a wall standing up in the air with no support: he would have been after me to replace his plantsA no win situationThe only altenative was to add soil to make the plants liveCedar trees are highly resistant to this as I have the same situation in my own yard and have seen it it othersIn short we did nothing wrongMr [redacted] had a difficult situation and now he is trying to make it my problem instead of hisI will not pay Mr [redacted] anything as I did nothing wrongHis other cedar tree right behind the one that died is doing fine.If he still has a problem he needs to address it with his architect as she shouldn't have speced the wall there or plants underneath the tree if she didn't want soil thereYou can't just plant plants in cedar roots and expect them to live

Mr N [redacted] just continues to repeat himself Unfortunately, all I can do is repeat myself in response However, I will try to be more articulateMy landscape architect ONLY did a design of plant placement and garden bed / wall placement with the exception of specifying tilling and mixing topsoil in There were no detailed specifications beyond this I only paid her $for a quick creative design, plant selection and placementKen was hired as a landscaper to do the work and he bid everything, firm bid before starting including tilling the soil down and mixing topsoilAfter tearing up the yard he determined he could not till the soil due to roots He said he had never seen a condition like that in his years of landscaping (really?)His solution was to raise the level of the entire yard with topsoil on top of the existing roots He said it would be a good fix and he did not mention that it could cause any other problemsIn doing this he buried the cedar tree, not by the inches of additional top soil but by an estimated ft (my estimate) of soil The level around the tree is actually a good ft higher than the rock wall top I have no idea why he did that but I also know that I am not a landscaper and would not know better The tree died and I had no idea why I paid an independent arborist (he does assessment only, not tree services) $to tell me how to revive the tree He reviewed it and wrote up a detailed report including the conclusion that the tree died due to being buried under all that soil Having the arborist conclusion I also researched a number of arborist web sites about burying tree roots and found these articles in a few minutes: https://www.thespruce.com/will-soil-over-tree-roots-hurt-tree-, http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/soil-covering-tree-trunks.4024/ , and http://www.post-gazette.com/life/garden/2010/05/01/Gardening-Q-A-Leave-exposed-t...⇄ many othersBottom line is I hired Ken as an expert landscaper with years experience including being a key landscaper at the Northwest Garden Show and having impressive credentials He is a person that is an expert in landscaping and would have known to warn me the tree might/would die He did not say anything about that and yet it is a well known problemShould an expert landscaper be required to tell a customer that their 36" diameter tree is likely to die because of the landscaping they are putting in? Do they have any responsibility for telling the homeowner? Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Sincerely, [redacted]

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because: The landscape architect specified tilling down inches in order to plant the landscape There was no specification to raise the level of the yard other than to till in good top soil The rock wall that the landscaper is referring to that he claims built up the soil around the tree was down slope from the tree and was designed in to make the surface level with the BASE of the tree, NOT to increase the depth around the tree by ft The architect drawings show this clearly to be the case It was NOT the architect's specification or fault The problem occurred when the landscape contractor decided to raise the entire level of the yard in order to overcome the roots in the lawn that could not be tilled down Since he has been in business for years and done tree evaluation in the past he must have known that what he did would kill the tree In spite of that, nothing was mentioned
Sincerely,
*** ***

Mr [redacted]s yard could not be rototilled because of the roots as his architect speced. Her specs were wrong. Soil had to be added. The back of the wall had to hav soil  added to bring it up to level which was over tree roots. If you were not to add more soil his plants would have died and and he would have a wall standing up in the air with no support: he would have been after me to replace his plants. A no win situation. The only altenative was to add soil to make the plants live. Cedar trees are highly resistant to this as I have the same situation in my own yard and have seen it it others. In short we did nothing wrong. Mr [redacted] had a difficult situation and now he is trying to make it my problem instead of his. I will not pay Mr. [redacted] anything as I did nothing wrong. His other cedar tree right behind the one that died is doing fine.If he still has a problem he needs to address it with his architect as she shouldn't have speced the wall there or plants underneath the tree if she didn't want soil there. You can't just plant plants in cedar roots and expect them to live.

Mr N[redacted] just continues to repeat himself.  Unfortunately, all I can do is repeat myself in response.  However, I will try to be more articulate. 1. My landscape architect ONLY did a design of plant placement and garden bed / wall placement with the exception of specifying tilling and mixing topsoil in.  There were no detailed specifications beyond this.  I only paid her $500 for a quick creative design, plant selection and placement.2. Ken was hired as a landscaper to do the work and he bid everything, firm bid before starting including tilling the soil down and mixing topsoil.3. After tearing up the yard he determined he could not till the soil due to roots.  He said he had never seen a condition like that in his 44 years of landscaping (really?).4. His solution was to raise the level of the entire yard with topsoil on top of the existing roots.  He said it would be a good fix and he did not mention that it could cause any other problems.5. In doing this he buried the cedar tree, not by the 6 inches of additional top soil but by an estimated 1.5 ft (my estimate) of soil.  The level around the tree is actually a good 1 ft higher than the rock wall top.  I have no idea why he did that but I also know that I am not a landscaper and would not know better.  6. The tree died and I had no idea why.  I paid an independent arborist (he does assessment only, not tree services) $150 to tell me how to revive the tree.  He reviewed it and wrote up a detailed report including the conclusion that the tree died due to being buried under all that soil.  Having the arborist conclusion I also researched a number of arborist web sites about burying tree roots and found these articles in a few minutes:  https://www.thespruce.com/will-soil-over-tree-roots-hurt-tree-213281...⇄ , http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/soil-covering-tree-trunks.4024/ , and http://www.post-gazette.com/life/garden/2010/05/01/Gardening-Q-A-Leave-expo...⇄ among many others.7. Bottom line is I hired Ken as an expert landscaper with 44 years experience including being a key landscaper at the Northwest Garden Show and having impressive credentials.  He is a person that is an expert in landscaping and would have known to warn me the tree might/would die.  He did not say anything about that and yet it is a well known problem.8. Should an expert landscaper be required to tell a customer that their 36" diameter tree is likely to die because of the landscaping they are putting in?  Do they have any responsibility for telling the homeowner?
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Sincerely,
[redacted]

From: KEN N[redacted] Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 10:06 AMSubject: RE: Revdex.com Complaint ID # [redacted]This message is to respond to the complaint from [redacted]. We landscaped Mr [redacted]s yard about19 months ago.We did not design the yard. He hired a separate architect to design and...

spec the yard. We followed the architects specs. She designed in a dry stack wall out from the cedar tree a ways which required back fill of topsoil and she designed in numerous plants underneath the cedar tree.Cedar trees have a massive mat type root structure and suck up a lot of water making planting directly into the roots a non issue.So we added some topsoil on  one half of the tree to  allow for planting.The other side of the tree just had a normal amount of soil for mulch. The cedar tree directly in back of this one is doing fine,which we also put topsoil for mulch around.The roots of cedar trees reach up to the surface if something is over them and not piled too deep.I have cedars in my own yard with the same conditions and they are fine.This tree was also affected when the sidewalks were put in as they had to cut roots to put in the walk.We do not feel we are responsible for mr [redacted]s tree dying.I have been in business for 44 years and used I to go out and evaluate trees for people as one of our services.During our work with mr [redacted] he came to us with bogus complaints such as wanting us to put sod over his bare tree roots on the curb which we refused to do.He over watered his plants and killed some of them which we replaced at no charge even though poor maintenance isn’t covered under our guarantee. Then after we replaced them it got drier and he didn’t water enough and killed some more .I offered to replace them but said that would be the end of it .He got mad and said well forget it then. He tried to get us to do sprinkler work that he didn’t pay for and I even let my guys do it for him.I bent over backwards for Mr [redacted] and even gave him $600 worth of free topsoil when we realized his yard had so many roots we couldn’t even rototill it.We got not so much as a thank you.Mr [redacted] was paid by our company to advertise for us.After these events I cancelled him which I am sure made him mad.Our customers are usually ecstatic about our work and even though Mr [redacted] yard still looks very nice he just keeps complaining and trying to get something for nothing.