JPA Landscape & Construction, Inc

Our HOA in Palo Alto wanted to comply with the Santa Clara Valley Water District county-​wide request to decrease water-​consumption because of California’s continuing drought. We requested a plan and bid from our landscape company, JPA, to change from our existing lawn and above-​ground sprinkler system to drought-​tolerant plants with drip irrigation. JPA worked with us over several months to determine the best combination of plants, irrigation, and mulch detail which was then submitted to and approved by the SCVWD. We’re happy to say the project was completed 10 days ago and looks great. The JPA crews, administration and management were responsive during the process and got it right. Thank you JPA!

I used JPA Landscape to perform tree trimming, a bark installation and install Fido stations throughout our HOA. They did such a great job that we are looking to switch over to them to perform our landscape maintenance.
Their customer service has been very responsive in notifying us of scheduling and responding to questions that have arisen.

Their team has been awesome helping us out. They have been doing this for many years and their experience shows in the quality of their workmanship.
Thank you JPA.

This is my first Unilocal review and I started it to review this company. Initially, I was stuggling to find a sutiable landscape design for our HOA remodel. It seemed like other companies were trying to sell me on boxwood hedges and lawns just so that their mow and blow maintainence teams would have more work to do later. I really wanted a living landscape, a space were my residents could look outside and see a hummingbirds or bees foraging for pollen. A peaceful environment where they could enjoy a day off without being awakening by the roar of a leafblower next to their bedroom window.
JPAs customer service during this design charette process was unparalled, they were open minded to my idealist fantasies and had some awesome ideas about saving and holding water on the landscape as well! After giving them the greenlight on the design they quickly and professionally installed a drought tolerant landscape with a plant pallet that featured a wide variety of natives to ensure that something is in bloom during every season. The cost of installation was a little more expensive than installing an outdated lawn but, I will be saving so much on water and maintaince costs!
Thank you JPA!

JPA just completed a renovation of the landscape at our HOA. They were able to create a mixture of plants that fit with the climate and soil demands, our budget, and was pleasing to the eye.
JPA’s water saving knowledge helped out community cut its water bill. Their irrigation technicians were very in tune with what was going on.
JPA is a great company. They have a phenomenal customer service department. I enjoy working with them.

jpa landscape has been my go to company for all my properties issues! they are always available for same day service and very fair pricing! frances is always a pleasure to deal with i highly recommend them for any yard issues you are having!

This is my first Unilocal review ever, and I created it just to rate this company.
JPA contracts for our HOA, and their workmanship is extremely poor even by the low standards of the «blow and mow» firms that typically do low-​end work for HOAs and suburban corporate sites.
Some specifics:
— Complete ignorance about proper tree care. A month ago, they topped and sheared seven healthy juvenile street trees (oaks) in front of our property, turning them into dinky lollipops. The central leaders were lopped, destroying the structure of the trees and opening them to disease. Arbitrarily chosen branches were hacked off with jagged cuts made at improper locations (i.e., midbranch rather than just above the branch collar at a 45 degree angle). The crowns were reduced 40 percent even though the trees were only 7 – 9 feet tall and were nowhere close to being in the way of anything. These errors went against even the most basic principles of arboreal practice. JPA did receive instructions from the HOA to «trim the trees,» but the specific actions they took were JPA’s interpretation.
— Indifference to or ignorance of the law. The destroyed street trees were in the city’s right of way, which meant that only the city had the right to grant permission to do work on them. No such permit was obtained. JPA and the HOA were censured by the city following the destruction of the trees, and the HOA may still face fines and other penalties for the damage. If you hire JPA, you expose yourself to legal liabilities.
— Heavy use of pesticides and herbicides. Our landscaping is heavily mulched and therefore practically weed-​free, but their general approach is to cover everything in a heavy coat of chemicals so that they don’t have to bother with even very low levels of weeding or other manual work. Beware, especially if you have children and pets that like to play outside.
— Regardless of the plant type (bunchgrasses, shrubs, trees), everything gets a sheared, flat-​topped look.
— Neglect of fundamental maintenance in favor of more immediately visible tasks that signal that they’ve «been by.» For example, the sprinkler system is misdirected, spraying half of the water onto the sidewalk. Instead of spending their time fixing such important problems, JPA spends it on ensuring that every plant gets some sort of a cut or buzz, to give the appearance that they’re doing actual work.

Here is my 6 months update — little has improved in our HOA paid «gardening» provided by JPA. They are truly worthless. JPA continues to claim they show up weekly, but it’s all clearly lies. We still have lots of large weeds and our trees go untrimmed. It’s a sad state of affairs. New photos attached…

So here’s the story:
There was a mixup and my personal irrigation system got disconnected when servicing the one for my complex. JPA manages the one for my complex, and so I contacted them to resolve the issue.
I spoke to Madison, she was extremely understanding and polite. And they scheduled a tech to fix it the same day. No argument, no delay, just quick resolution.
I would definitely like to see this with more contractors. It is very rare that a contractor does not play the blame game. I think the normal reply is «this is not our problem». These guys instead focussed on getting things fixed with no fuss.

Being asked to remove/​edit my last review was not cool. I stand by my bad review.
This is now in addition to my review of May 2012…
Recently, jpa came to cut down a dead tree and ended up chopping two limbs off a healthy mature shade tree. It is now only half a tree. A resident had to run outside and stop them.
If you hire them, be sure to supervise them closely as they sent someone who obviously didn’t know one tree species from another.

HORRID EXPERIENCE! BEWARE!!! Awful people, very rude, and subpar work. These guys do the landscaping for condo complex I live in. They are constantly landscaping area on my property that they should not be in. After they «trimmed» the rose bushes to stumps I asked to to please stop landscaping the areas that are clearly not part of the complex. Still have not stopped. They show up on site early morning before 7am and stand around their vehicles yelling on their phones and at each other. Today I was told by one of their employees that I slam my car door too loud, as he is standing in my driveway throttling a bush trimmer at 7:30 in the morning. I was then told to F OFF when I informed him to mind his business and get off my driveway. HORRID EXPERIENCE. I will be contacting the condo association and if needed start a petition to have them replaced by more polite, capable landscapers.

One word — terrible! Our HOA uses this company for landscaping maintenance in our community. «Maintenance» is a misnomer as they don’t show up more than once or twice a year. The workers are extremely incompetent. They send interns who don’t know what they are doing rather than professionals to do maintenance. The condition is at a point it’s hard to tell plants apart from weed. There don’t replace dead grass or plants. They hack away plants as if it’s done by a child. They don’t respond to repeated complains. They should not be given responsibility for maintenance of any community landscaping. Our community got extremely frustrated with them, and the HOA fired them.

Consistent in their mediocrity. They faithfully mowed the lawns at our HOA as they became weedy and full of bare patches but did not deal with the weeds or the reason for bare patches. Trimming of shrubs had no rhyme or reason, some high some low, but always overlapping the walkways. Once they hacked a shrub badly so they offered to buy a new one to replace it then charged us the labor for planting. I do not recommend this company for your landscaping needs.

My HOA used this company and they were inconsistent in trimming shrubbery on the property. JPA said they trim in zones, but one large bush went untrimmed for 4 months! My neighbor had several of her plants mowed down because the workers didn’t seem to care. The board removed them recently and I hope they don’t return.

The guys at JPA are very attentive and always try to meet the needs of our homeowners. They have been able to meet to discuss any issues that may come up and are available to attend the Board meetings when necessary. I am very happy with the way the company is structured and like that they aren’t «too big» of a company and can always find a way to get the job done, from installing plants to trimming trees and repairing concrete. Great place!

JPA is the maintenance company for the HOA in which I live and I have to say I’ve never had any problems with the general maintenance of the communal grounds. The landscaping services are always timely and highly professional and any issues or concerns have been addressed in a timely manner by the company’s HR people. From having attended an HOA meeting before where a member of the company’s managment was present, I can say they certainly seemed knowledgeable and eager to resolve problems. All in all, they have done a stellar job in my neighborhood.

I have no idea where a lot of these other reviews come from, but it’s probably how you address someone to begin with!
The employees at JPA are really great! Fast efficient clean up from the landscapers.
Supervisor in Customer service is very nice and great at following up.
I’ve dealt with some terrible terrible vendors in HOA property management, these guys are pleasant and thorough.

We have used JPA for five years for our properties. We used two other landscape services prior. JPA is thorough with their work, courteous to our tenants, and they respond quickly to our wishes! Good people to work with. We can’t ask for more.

This post is an unsolicited response to Toni M. below. I’m a member of the HOA and the landscaping committee for this townhouse development and I’m very happy with the results of JPA’s work. The response from most of the HOA board and from every member of the community who has offered to comment has been overwhelmingly positive.
We hired JPA to replace an underperforming landscaper. JPA performed a survey of the landscaping and then the president attended a board meeting and explained to the members that much of the landscaping was overgrown, incompatible with the confined spaces, or doing poorly in the local conditions. He explained that a radical cleanup would be necessary as a starting point and the board approved this action. We expected the haircut and the landscaping recovered quickly.
JPA then re-​worked the landscaping in a test section of the community, at their own expense, to show how their proposed solution to the longer-​term issues would look. It’s open, airy, diverse, splashed with color, and generally pleasing. It wasn’t until I saw the renovated area that I fully understood the problems with the existing stressed plants and overcrowding.
Since it takes time for the newly maintained landscaping to mature, I’ll give JPA four stars for the current situation and withhold the last one for a later evaluation.
Don K.

Please believe the negative reviews about this company and do not use their service. I live in a SFR with a HOA and the HOA contracted with this unprofessional company, so there is little I can do about it, now. However, if you are looking for a landscaping company, avoid them. Why? Their administration is unresponsive and the field workers are rude and don’t realize we are the customers that pay them to have a job. On numerous occassions they began their loud electrical mowers and blowers before 8am which is insensitive and rude! They also do not perform a thorough job of cutting and cleaning letting debris and cobwebs remain in the bushes and on the lawns. Just avoid them! If they can’t get better at respecting the dollars you spend with them, avoid them!