R & S Landscaping

I moved into my property in Ridgewood, NJ about 4 ½ years ago. The prior owner left me in great shape inside the home, but the outside needed help and the corner lot on a busy road was more suitable for older children, than our 2 year old and one on the way at the time of initial development. Long story short, we have done two major projects with R&S totaling over $ 60 K with them and another $ 13K with their recommended contractors for aspects of a project that they don’t do (removing large trees, installing a fence and laying asphalt in our new driveway).
The first project was removing four large trees (done by Sean at Jeff Smith Tree service) in our side yard, two of which were just killing our lawn with a steady recipe of shade, moisture, pine needles, and tree sap. After the tree removal, Rob Schucker and his crew installed twenty 6 – 7 ft arborvitaes to give us privacy from the busy road (3 years later they are easily 11 ft after trimming) and .15 acres of sod to give us a new yard. They also transplanted some shrubs from the front of the house to the back of the house to clear things up and give a more aesthetically pleasing appearance to the front of the house. Rob also suggested planting flowers along the side of the house for seasonal beauty. Listen, Rob always has a «suggestion», sometimes his «suggestions» cost you money, sometimes it is worked into the price, but I’ve always been happy. Anyway, I went from having a damp, dark, dead pine needley and ivy covered yard to a gorgeous green play space for my now 3 and 5 year old to run around in! He recommended Arba Fence in Garfield, NJ who put a beautiful white picket fence around my entire house (on a corner lot). I was a bit worried about what the neighbors would say even though I had a village permit, but they all love how classy and tasteful it looks and that made me happy because that thing was a pretty penny!
The second job started two years later when I called six different contractors to examine my side patio and driveway. I had major flooding and drainage issues, mostly as a result of my neighbor’s nifty work on his property (that is another story). Anyway, my driveway and patio were crushing 25 — 30 years old anyway and I had an area of unused space that I wanted to incorporate into the patio. Rob and the other contractors gave me their initial quotes and I decided to hold off another year to save the money needed to do it right. I came back to two contractors including Rob Schucker at R&S this past spring (2015) and although Rob cost more, i went with him. (More on that later). Rob, of course, had more «suggestions», but I have to hand it to the man, he made my property look great and I’m very happy with my brand new «Southern California» patio (my neighbors all love it and that is what they call it). I feel like I have a new home and his driveway guy Bruce Borduin is absolute aces! Rob also put in a seepage tank into my driveway and graded both my patio and driveway with massive drainage pvc pipes underneath. I have not had any drainage issues since Rob and his team finished and that used to be a significant emotional event every time it rained or snowed.
So here is the deal with Rob, he is a hard worker! He is hands on with the project. He will be there getting his hands dirty and supervising his guys. One of his «right hand men» named Damien is a hard charging working and assists in supervision. Rob, if you are reading this, your are lucky to have Damien, treat him well and hold on to him! Rob is near the top and sometimes on the top of the price range with the estimates you will get. But lets be fair here, #1 You will NEVER need him to redo his work! #2 His work is guaranteed! If a plant or tree he plants dies, he replaces it, no questions asked! He has done this for me during extreme heat. I’ve got friends in town who never hear from their landscapers again when things like this happen, but hey, they «got a great deal»! #3 Rob knows Ridgewood, Ridgewood code, etc. You won’t run into unexpected delays with him. #4 He communicates with you and listens. #5 Good enough is not good enough with Rob. He is tedious and detail oriented, if you are as well, accept no substitute. Call Rob at R&S!
Drs. Nathan Heltzel and Roshni Desai

Came to turn on the sprinkler system, but was not prepared to complete the job. Finally, after waiting 3 weeks for my next appointment to make the repairs and having to take the day off from work, the day finally arrived and they were a no show.
I’m extremely disappointed in R&S Landscaping and would not recommend them nor ever use them again.

Do not hire this company for your landscaping! They damaged my lawn lights. I sent them pictures and emails but never got a reply. They won’t acknowledge the damage. Customer service is very rude.
***Update as of September 3, 2015: Hi Robert, I appreciate your follow-​up. I sent you a reply on Unilocal and to your email with my details but still have not received a response. I am really disappointed with this company. I hope you can stay true to your word that you really intend to address my complaint. I await your response.

Did not receive service that we requested. Called owner twice and got back-​talk.
Won’t use them again, and would not recommend.

My back yard was a muddy mess and R&S was hired to redesign and improve it. Over the course of two days the crew cleared out and dug up the whole yard area, put down fresh topsoil, planted shrubs, trees and flowers, mulched around everything, and laid the stone. There were a couple of design changes that happened on the fly due to availability of certain plants and finding out we didn’t have quite as much room as we wanted for everything. I had asked for an English cottage-​garden style that would also incorporate a lot of plantings for butterflies, birds and bees. I was very pleased with the design and the execution. The designer was on site both days supervising the work crew and was pleasant and easy to work with and extremely flexible with my needs. A few weeks after the work was completed, I found aphids on some of the plants (must have come from the nursery). The owner of the company himself came out and treated the plants at no additional cost. About two months after the planting, a couple of the flowering plants died despite my following the after care instructions carefully.. The designer came out with replacements again at no charge (the replacements survived and thrived). One year later, all of the plantings have matured, everything has filled in beautifully. I have added a few small touches here and there as the garden has evolved. My neighbors are constantly stopping by to complement the garden. Overall very happy with the service.

awful, awful, awful!!! COmpletely unreliable service — from the proposal stage, to negotiations to the actual execution of the landscaping project, I was completely disappointed in the service I received from R&S. It seems as though spending $ 5,000 on a project does not make you a valid customer in their eyes — I let them know that there’s potential for more work all over my property, and still, this company seems disinterested in winning more business or making customers happy. The proposal process took over a month, scheduling the project took an additional three weeks, empty promises were made, and the ultimate execution of the project was really disappointing. Ive spent so much time and energy dealing with this company, that I can’t even have them fix what they did. Please stay away — there are so many landscapers in the area. go with someone else and avoid throwing your money away on R&S and feeling completely cheated! HORRIBLE service.

I had contracted R&S Landscaping for lawn care and landscape maintenance of my property for a year. Over that year, I had to call on a number of occasions to complain about services rendered.
My property had edging already installed into the ground to keep the borders of the lawn and mulching clear and defined. They had removed them without my consent and trashed them. I had not been compensated, and my mulching started washing over to my walk ways and off property. Grass has also started growing over the borders.
During their lawn mowing with their tractors, they ran into my privacy fence, putting black stains of their tires into my white fence. They had also ran into my house, making holes into my vinyl siding.
Not knowing, I was home, one of their crews took a break in my rear lawn, and their crew members lounged and slept on my lawn. I’m not paying for unprofessional conduct on my property, especially since R&S is priced higher than most of their competition. (I took pictures of them as proof, and confronted them, only to be told that they were on their lunch break. Do not take your lunch break on my lawn.)
I also had a single employee enter my rear yard without prior notice. I had no idea why he was there, and upon calling the company, they had no idea why an employee was there either on his own, just looking around. All I know, he was there scoping out if my place was ripe for being burglarized.
On all of these incidences, I had called to complain, and late in the season, I was so rudely talked back to for calling a large amount of complaints. I would not have to call so often if I did not have something to complain about.
Just for the lawn services plus sprinkler maintenance cost me $ 5,000 or so bucks. It was one of the worse $ 5K I’ve ever spent, robbing me of peace of mind.