From The Ground Up

My experience with From the Ground Up was spectacular! Daniel spent hours with myself and my husband discussing the design. He put a lot of time and thought into our project. Upon completion, we were blown away! The entire yard which included the pool, deck, water feature, lighting, patio, and landscape was STUNNING and far better than I ever envisioned! Daniel and his team were exceptional and professional. He is extremely talented and I would highly recommend From the Ground Up to anyone and everyone I know. We have since hired the company for the maintenance of our property and have also recently hired them to design and install new lake property. Daniel is extremely passionate, very talented and it shines through in his designs. We are definitely life long clients!

DO NOT HIRE THIS FIRM!
In September 2014 we engaged From the Ground Up for landscape design and installation. Before finalizing the contract we sat with one of the owners, Daniel Houchard, in our kitchen and one of the things my wife and I confirmed was that all the costs were included in the bid. The contract included terms like «removal of shrub and debris» and we knew there was one large tree and two smaller ones (over grown shrubs) that needed to be removed and wanted to confirm these costs were included. We were assured these costs were included. Work commenced in October and at one point I asked Daniel if this was the right time of year to place new sod and was once again assured all was good. Fast forward to early 2015 and Daniel sends us an invoice for over $ 3,000 for tree removal. Despite my wife and I confirming our discussion, no exclusion in the contract and no separate contract or change order with the Daniel nor the tree service company, Daniel tells us his insurance won’t cover that work and there is no way he agreed to include those costs in the contract and they are due separately. Daniel was unable to find any supporting information where we approved separate charges and we continue to explain to him that we sat in our kitchen and discussed this very item and refused to pay the additional fee. Separately, we had engaged From the Ground Up for weekly maintenance. We paid the VERY HIGH costs because it was supposed to include extended maintenance for all the landscaping we had just installed. This service was charged in advance for three months at a time. By late March 2015 Daniel is still coming to us for the tree removal and sod is not growing in and Daniel refused to replace pointing to the contract that does not warranty sod. So the situation has gone from bad to worse when the weekly maintenance guys don’t show up. During the second week of April I call Daniel to find out what is going on with the maintenance and he states that they completed the prepaid first quarter, but refuse to honor the rest of the annual contract. They did this with no notice just did not show up. We find other weekly maintenance and now it is mid July and we have not spoken to nor heard from Daniel, good riddance, we have a lot of bare spots in our lawn and just received an invoice from the tree removal subcontractor for over $ 3,000.
If you are considering From the Ground Up don’t! If you avoid this warning and want to roll the dice read your contract in detail and ensure that EVERYTHING is in writing!!!