El Toro Landscape Management

Paul /​El Toro did a fabulous job!
We needed a fresh redesign of our courtyard. Paul came up with a plan and went to work. It looks amazing! Paul is a true professional and very knowledgeable. He repaired and refit our irrigation system and connected a new timing device. He also installed artificial grass in part of the courtyard specified for dogs. Our courtyard now looks amazing and is completely user friendly for the dogs and the humans.

Paul is Awesome! I had a sprinkler valve problem and after looking at the how to video
on you tube I knew I needed a professional to help me. I looked on Unilocal!and I found Paul. I am so glad I did!!! He was able to quickly fix my valve and even helped me set water levels for my sprinkler heads. I am the «Mrs Fix It» person in my family, so I rely on the honesty and professionalism of local contractors, Paul is your man. He answers his phone and if you do get his voice mail — he does call you back right away.

Paul is good guy. He came out and diagnosed an irrigation problem and it’s remedy and where to get the part to fix it, as well as made recommendations to improve the existing system. He was recommended by the local irrigation supply company. I would also highly recommend him. Thanks to Paul, the system now works and will work better than if I had not sought his expert advice and experience.

I contacted Paul regarding a leak in my sprinkler system that I couldn’t figure out. I have a crazy work schedule and he was very accommodating with coming at a convenient time for me. He stayed for an hr and troubleshot our system, explaining everything he was doing throughout the process. The trouble ended up being in the timer itself so no physical labor was needed. When I asked what the cost was for his time, he didn’t ask for a penny! Great guy and very helpful. I will definitely call him again for any trouble and/​or projects I have in my yard.

The first time we called Paul to repair some faulty «gardening plumbing». A main
outside water valve kept breaking and the guy who installed in was in over his head.
After many breaks and a $ 500 water bill split over 2 months. My husband found Paul
on Unilocal.
He fixed the problem and explained (we requested) the mechanics
behind why the leak kept happening. Then he looked around and saw other leaks
while he was there and we scheduled him to come again to fix those. He fixed
those & in addition to fixing the original problem he recommended the best times
to have water on, for how long it should run depending on the season.
In all, the next full month we saved an average of $ 80 per month on our water bill.
I have to say I thought his rate was fair, but after that savings I was kicking myself
that it didn’t occur to us to have a garden audit before!
I’m a novice gardener (it was my first garden) and Paul was super cool. He gave me
some great gardening tips, was very patient with my toddler son and even explained
to me how to improve and add onto the drip irrigation that we had installed, and how
to save the most water & still get the best results.
Just when you thought he couldn’t get any better, we were selling that house and we
needed my compost pile moved to the new house AND the rest of the yard needed
to look «sell me quick pretty» & not «we have a toddler» pretty ASAP.
Paul showed up and saved the day on a moments notice. He was there the next day
with the crew and even waited while I called my friends to figure out where the
compost pile could go since we didn’t have permission to put it at the new house.
Super patient, pleasant. Highly recommend!

He couldn’t be bothered. He came over and walked around, made some comments and never got back to me. I finally emailed him and he told me to find a gardener! Unless you have a huge job and lots of money — don’t waste your time.

I decided to wait on writing a review of El Toro, until I had a bit more experience with them. They completed two phases of our landscape plan, and I couldn’t be happier.
We had just moved into some new construction, and our yard was in dire need of something. (Imagine big, dried up hardpan clay, completely barren except for weeds.) Most of the landscapers I tried to contact were either unresponsive, or flakey. Paul was the complete opposite. He is very quick to reply to emails, always gets back to your questions, and is always friendly to work with.
Our first phase of the landscaping, was installing some heavy duty drainage and a walkway in our side yard. During the entire Winter season, we had heavy flooding from both our roof and the neighbor’s elevated yard, which threatened our foundation and basically turned our backyard into a pond of standing water. Paul was the only landscaper I could call in, negotiate the work, and get the installation completed in a time frame I found acceptable. They had originally quoted me about a week or so of work, but completed it much faster. His crew was very courteous and professional, and always cleaned up after each work day. During the walkthrough, Paul explained some of the modifications he added to the build, including raising our A/​C unit mounted to a cement slab, to be level with our cement walkway, laser-​leveling the entire walkway to ensure proper water flow, using PVC piping of the correct diameter (to self flush) for drainage instead of the flimsier black plastic piping, installation of several drain areas, laying down some pea gravel, rebar in the walkway, and access ports for the sewage pipe if needed. They completed the work so fast, but over the weekend, it rained all over our newly laid cement. Paul stopped by and made sure any cosmetic damage from dripping water, was smoothed flat and fixed. Needless to say, we have not had any issues with drainage ever since, and the new walkway is built so well, it almost feels like a commercial-​grade installation.
Our second phase of the landscape project was a bit more complex. It involved installing additional drainage on the opposite side of the house, irrigation, some plantings, and a patio. Paul walked us through the design process, and gave us a list of options to help us narrow down material choices. He was incredibly patient as we flipped and flopped over some decisions which lasted several months, and multiple price quote revisions. After giving the OK to move forward, Paul’s team quickly moved in and got started. They removed part of the fencing to allow their Bobcat access for the heavy lifting, which they also reinstalled without any visual clue it was ever removed. Within the first day, we saw holes dug for the plantings (in solid clay), and the forms laid down for the patio. Within a week, the crushed granite was laid in place, and to my surprise, a concrete foundation was laid for our patio wall. Ironically, the materials held us up over the next few days, but once they arrived, the installation resumed its rapid pace. Again, Paul went above and beyond, this time installing a second irrigation zone for future expansion, building the garden/​patio wall on a concrete foundation, laying the outline of the patio in a concrete foundation, then combining that with the 5″ compacted granite, sealing the entire patio and wall, installing an additional screening tree, re-​grading our entire backyard (it was messed up from the builders), burying an irrigation pipe underneath the patio to reach a newly created garden bed, adding mulch over everything we didn’t yet develop, and even checking out my irrigation system to ensure it both worked, and was tuned properly. Again, their time quote was right on the dot, and within two weeks, we had our wonderful patio installed. With Paul’s little finishing touches, it really transformed our muddy, dry, barren backyard, into something much more pleasant to be in.
Since the construction was completed, I have installed my vegetable garden beds and flower beds, and I keep noticing the wonderful, professional job Paul and his team did. The fit and finish of the work is fantastic, as is the thoughtful design elements. I can’t wait to start using the second irrigation zone he installed, or tap into the line that was also laid down. His foresight has made my gardening much easier.
If you are looking for a landscaper that will exceed your expectations, has a keen sense of design, believes in both fit and finish as well as quality, and builds to withstand the rigors of life and time, Paul is your guy. His background in technology allows him to build utilizing some unique techniques that result in a truly solid and complete product. Paul has been a pleasure to work with, and I look forward to our next landscaping phase.

Paul with El Toro installed our backyard sprinkler system and sod after our remodel. He provides excellent professional services and wen above and beyond to provide the best service. He’s even made a few house calls post install to check on the sod and help me adjust my sprinklers! Great guy — Great Service!

My husband and I decided it was time to do the next phase of landscaping in our sort of large and definitely oddly-​shaped backyard. We called 3 landscapers for quotes. One was out of the park; it was easy to toss out the high quote. The other two quotes were within about $ 200 of each other, so I told my husband, «go with the guy you’d feel good working with.»
Boy, did he make a good decision. Paul (of El Toro) was so responsive to our questions and to our modifications. He let us know when he or his crew would be coming or when they’d be late or would miss a day (and 9 times out of 10, he was there himself; he didn’t toss our project off on someone else). And clean? We had virtually no trace of any bark or soil or wood pieces laying around every day, unlike so many other landscapers I had seen around the neighborhood.
We now have lovely trees along a fence, with 2 trellises and a climber, plus a sidewalk, a new patio, and a beautiful pergola, which he built with more precision than a space shuttle take-​off. Okay, maybe that’s stretching the truth a little bit, but he really did see that every detail about it was perfect.
We have two more parts of our yard to landscape; we’ve already started talking with him about one, and we’ll definitely be calling him for the second one.
He’s great and did a terrific job. We are definitely happy campers.

I just had El Toro Landscape re-​do my front yard, and was extremely pleased with Paul’s plant knowledge, vision of what changes to make to our yard and his work ethic. I also found his pricing to be very reasonable. He looked at our yard and suggested small changes that would make a big difference. He finished in time and stayed within our budget. When doing sprinklers, he takes wind and sun into consideration when figuring out the watering system. Something I wouldn’t have thought about! Definitely worth a call.