Reviews of John De Boer Landscape Grdng (Gardener)

Catherine Bell

This company cuts my neighbours' lawns. They are disrespectful of the community. Instead of speaking to me politely about a perceived problem, their employee chose to yell and swear at me instead. The owner has also been rude - I was simply trying to back out of my driveway and because he chose to park too close to my driveway, in front of a fire hydrant as well, he yelled at me because I was too close to him while backing out!

Vivian Orgill

Started off good, but quickly went down hill. They don't seem to understand that what they are doing looks terrible, and when you point it out they dig in there heels and say that it looks fine. I did not have it in me to explain the difference between and good job and what they were doing, so we asked them to go. My husband is redoing the work by himself, we do not have the money to pay someone to do it again.

David Shaw

My neighbor had work done by this company and she was not pleased. I usually have friendly conversations with her on my way to work. We normally talk about her garden plans for the spring, but when I asked her why the project was unfinished, she could not hold back the tears. At a glance I could not see what was wrong, as I have no eye for these things, but as she pointed out the issues they became glaringly obvious. She said they took her money and left her with an embarrassing mess. They did not put up a yard sign but the woman was grateful when I offered to wright this review, and provided me with the name of the owner and his workmen.

Joshua Boychuk

To whom it may concern, I am very unsatisfied this company, they were hired to put in stone steps and retaining wall in the front of our house. This as a warning to others. John De Boer Landscaping was a disappointment. I left them to their work for the first 4 days of the job without interruption. The first conversation was to inform me they would not be digging the retaining wall as agreed. A major part of the project was digging a 4 foot deep retaining wall, which was clearly requested, described in the contract and applied to the cost. During the build I was informed they would be only doing a fraction of what we agreed (about 1 foot deep), They waited to inform me that they would be skipping it, until after the 40% deposit was paid. So I ended up with a 12 inch deep retaining wall not the 4 foot we had agreed to, with no reduction to price. There are a few technical things they said they would do to compensate for the change but nothing was done. As the paying customer, I felt like I was not being taken seriously and had lost control of my project. On the 4th day, we went out to see the progress, thinking we would cut our losses. At least they had rebuilt the wall in the right place. Due to weather, it had been tarped most of the time when they were not working but on the 4th day we could see how bad the stone was looking. I had a beautiful dry lay wall started by a previous team. Tim asked if I wanted it exactly the same, or could he uses some mortar. I agreed, imagining a clean evenly spaced mortar joints with similar stone placement to the previous build. What I got, was crooked walls, grossly uneven joints, poor stone selection including one stone with a 1 inch deep 3 inch wide hole in it, and mortar sloped all over the face of the stones that were once pristine. Tim assured us it was fine. We pointed out several things that were wrong, including a 5 inch mortar joint, and concave stones that looked like they came from a different wall. We were upset and complaining loudly, even saying "it looked like sh**" to quote my mother. Tim insisted it was a good job and would not admit it had gotten away from him and also said it was illegal for us to yell at him or his workers, as his way of muzzling us from expressing our disgust with the work. Later he pulled me aside and blamed it all on his workmen, explaining they had family issues, an abusive mother, and he would fix what he could, which ended up being the 5 inch mortar joint. We also ask him to fix a very ugly stone arrangement and he agreed, too little too late. The project was a nothing like how we imagined it would be. We decided I would stay with them for the rest of the time they worked, as I did not trust that anything we agree to would be done. One day he began cutting stone at 7am on the Easter weekend Saturday, disturbing my neighbour who came out to complain about the noise. When Tim was approached by the neighbour, he told them he always starts at this time and wouldn't apologize as he was sure of the by-laws but in reality he was wrong. He later informed me, there would be a delivery charge of 100$ each time he had to go pick up for the job, which seemed okay until it seemed he was picking things up one at a time, and anything he broke in transit, he informed us, would be at my cost and I would be billed an additional 100$ to get the replacement. They arrived at 5:00 p.m on the day they were to finish the job and in less than an hour walked off the job leaving the project unfinished. With only 15% remaining on the bill, they insisted they wanted their money when they were done. I explained the job was not done until the city approved it had been done satisfying the permit. This was too much for him and he threatened to start smashing. I reminded him we have security cameras and he calmed down and packed up. Not only was the project poorly constructed, they agreed and charged me for things that they later chose not to do, or skipped. I do not recommend them for stone work and am very disappointed.

Pina Marrella

Talked a great game and did the work but as the work was being done things and stories were changing. We are about 2 years after and everything is shifting. When we called him immediately after the job was finished to make remarks he said he would come but only showed up 1 after he finished and he them mentioned that warranty was almost over and we had to hear stories on how he is losing money because his guys are there working. My front driveway is all lumpy . We spent a lot of money on this project..we even kept him on for the landscpoibg maintenance and etc. Just so we can keep him close but that did not do anything.... just disappointed because he tells stories like Walt Disney.

Irene Boychuk

Before you consider John DeBoer Landscaping. please note the thoughtful critiques of their actual work, as this one is. If there was a -5 stars this would be it. Before work started we questioned Tim about the 2 negative reviews . Tim's response was those clients were irrational and impossible to please, After a few days of work and the heavy secure tarp was removed, I realized how bad it really was. I was furious because there was no accountability and Tim refused to acknowledge how gross it was. His response "Its Fine" Gaping holes in prominent stones , 2 and 3 inch joints, when he agreed it would be dry lay, as we expected. Steps are now off center to steps at entrance. Then he responds Mike and Austin Jermayne, his crew, were having personal problems. One with a girlfriend breakup and the other comes from a dysfunctional family, so they were both not doing their best work. If you check the other reviews that were posted mid April, when our job started you will see , one is from his crew Mike who did shoddy work on our retaining wall. The other general 5 Star review is written by Cindy, a sibling of Tim. Tim refused to redo the awful work and make it right. he angrily packed up his truck , leaving a mess and stormed off. It is pretty much impossible to get ethical tradesmen to redo crappy work, so my son will be doing his best to finish it off. Tim DeBoer should stick to cutting grass and digging holes at the cemetery, something he shared with me, as one of his regular jobs. He has no concept of measurement, esthetics or integrity. If Tim DeBoer had any sense of decency or fairness he would return some of the labour cost, so I could redo his gross shoddy work. I doubt Tim will take responsibility for this, so this is my way to make sure it does not happen to someone else.

Jody Marcoux

I was referred to this company from two different people for a natural stone staircase as well as a 5 tier rock wall for my gardens. I couldn't be happier with the results!! My backyard is an oasis which I get many compliments on. Tim was a real pleasure to work with and was very patient with explaining everything to me and showing me many different samples. I have kept them on for my grass cutting and snow plowing as well!!

Mike Ozyer

Awesome quality service, had our basement waterproofed and finished with interlock. The grass and plants was well taken care of with minor damage, thanks Tim and team!