Garden Studio Design

Like Marilyn, I wish there had been reviews when I hired Eric to do my landscaping.
Where to even begin with what has been wrong:
1) they were supposed to conserve and reuse my artificial turf — when they destroyed it, they then tried to charge me several thousand dollars to replace it
2) the expensive hardware they used on my front gate was damaged on installation so the gate won’t stay closed
3) a bunch of my turf sank and had to be repaired
4) the way that they installed my turf and set the irrigation killed my two mature fruit trees. They have refused to even acknowledge my communications about the dead trees.
5) they initially installed gravel in a place that was supposed to be turf and then tried to charge me to replace that too.
This was an expensive job that is still costing me money.
DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY

JUST SAY NO! I did not work with the plantscaping side of this company so I have no complaint with them. The hardscape/​construction side of the company run by Eric Fenmore is a nightmare. Bluntly put Eric is a hack! The fountain and the sub ground watering system he sold us were both installed wrong and had to be re-​worked by contractors that actually knew what they were doing. One would be better off to save some time and just burn his/​her money outright then to work with this company.
Do yourself a favor, keep looking…

Wish there had been reviews here when I selected this firm 2 years ago. I called on their ad in the newspaper «When mow and blow is not enough» I had a fountain that was not working and I wanted to lose the grass in our yard. They sold me on installing a drip irrigation system. The fountain was a problem — was always out of water even though there was an input from the drip system. They kept telling me that water was probably being deflected by a branch or leaf. This went on for over a year. In desperation I called a fountain service company. They told me the fountain wasn’t level and fixed it. I have had no problems since then.
Most recently a representative from the local water agency came out to speak with me about why we seemed to be using more and more water (Eric had sold me on how much water we were going to save with the drip system). In the process he saw the valves for the drip system which had been installed below grade. He told me code was above grade to prevent back flow from the yard into the house. When I emailed Eric to inquire about why it had been installed this way, I never got a response.
I’m so glad I did not go for the fire pit they tried to sell me on!

I had a very odd experience I saw an advertisement saying «When mow and blow isn’t enough», I wanted to replace my existing plants and redo my irrigation and low voltage lighting as my front yard and side yard was getting tired. The website even had a section
I thought hey tis is just what I was looking for. This «spring planting» was an immediate need for me. Note I didn’t want to «touch» any of the hard-​scape in either the front yard or side yard it is perfect.
I did have an optional area (in the rear of my house) that I would need some design work in several months (e.g. phase II — I was very clear this was optional and should have a second separate quote).
The owner, Eric Fenmore, gave me a proposal $ 1,500 in design «services» to give me a planting proposal as a deliverable. He refused to break out the front yard and side yard replant/​re-​pipe/​re-​light into a separate quote.
I feel kind of stupid I wasted two hours from work meeting with his assistant Chelsea (she seemed knowledgeable and trustworthy — she could run the business better than Eric) — she even told Eric (via a CC’d E-​mail) that I needed two quotes or two phases, but all I got was a single sad quote saying:
Landscape Design Fee: $ 1,500.00 with an embedded «vague» deliverable «Estimate for Installation of Landscape». Really I would have to pay $ 1,500 to get a quote to find out how much for him to replant trees shrubs and flowers. When I pressed him for a two part proposal he said he was too busy for new work and sent out an E-​mail calling me an «A».
My humble advise stay away — this is a scam to merely sell Landscape Design Plans which in the contract says that they «do not include any Engineering, Architectural or Structural Drawings» — think concept. I really don’t know if people are happy with Garden Studio Design’s work, but I just don’t think he understands what it takes to act professional. Don’t be fooled just because he runs ads in the paper and has a nice web site.
My advice Eric Fenmore and his company is not actually interested in the «niche» between «full re-​landscaping» and «mow and blow» — so take your business to someplace like Armstrong Gardens — then ask for a referral to a competent landscape individual — you will spend about $ 350 for a consult (might even get some credit for plants) but they will do you right.
Jon Strabala
Costa Mesa