Shambhala Landscapes

We couldn’t be happier with the work of Tsering and his crew. They did a fantastic job completely transforming the front of our house. It’s been a few months and it still makes us smile every time we look at it. Sometimes we catch ourselves looking outside just to appreciate the beauty. Tsering has a great sense of design and aesthetic. In the beginning of the process, we showed him some examples of what we liked, and he was able to make more recommendations that not only complemented our house more, but the environment as well. Like most home improvement projects, we came across some issues with material availability. With Tsering’s resourcefulness and creative thinking, we were able to quickly make changes to the design which in the end worked out just as well, if not even better. Not only do they do great work, they were fast, efficient, on time, on budget, honest, and have integrity. When it is time to upgrade our backyard, we plan to work with them again.

Working with Tsering was the single most satisfying experience with a contractor I have ever had. We had let our back yard go to seed, and we needed a lot of old decking taken out and replaced. He and his colleague completed the entire process on time and on budget, with minimal disruption to our daily routine and no mess. And we love the result.

Tsering and his team just completed our backyard renovation. And it’s now the sanctuary I’ve wanted!
We have a fairly large Marina district backyard, and are lucky to have some interesting older (50+ year old) plants. We wanted to better highlight these plants, while bringing in more color and adding some privacy. We wanted new stonework, lighting, and irrigation. And at the project onset, we decided we wanted a water feature.
That’s what we knew. We wanted Tsering to figure out the rest. And he did! From adding boulders, a planting design next to our shed, to literally reformatting one of the older trees that we considered removing, Tsering had the ideas we wanted and would never think of ourselves.
But it was hard to know we’d get there. We had our initial conversations, we had a very basic drawing and an estimate with lists of items, and we started the project with some questions still outstanding. So we just needed to trust the process. Tsering seems to have it all clear in his head, even if you can’t completely grasp it. That would be the advice I would give to others deciding to work with him– trust the process.
Tsering and team are not inexpensive. But they are conscientious, very clean, efficient, and most importantly trustworthy. Tsering was recommended to us by friends, and we are happy to pass on the referral per our own experience.

Tsering and team transformed our backyard from a place we spent absolutely no time, to our favorite part of our house in about 4 weeks. It looks like part of a resort in wine country!
We have one of the slightly larger than average San Francisco backyards (ya know, really small, but not the smallest). They tore almost everything out except for a few nice trees. They built two new fences, added a retaining wall that spans the yard, created a 2-​level flagstone patio, built a custom natural gas firepit, LED lighting, drip system, and several beautiful planters with a great mix of low maintenance plants. All of the work is top notch.
Tsering and team were also very easy to work with and built a lot of trust during the process. They did the little things that matter — like being really careful about closing the garage door whenever they weren’t in front of the house, and making sure the necessary mess never spread beyond the working area. Tsering’s design work is excellent — we had a 1 hour walkthrough/​conversation about what we wanted, and his design was spot on. The only miss we had was quickly corrected after a brief conversation (the firepit bench was not as long as I expected — he tore out the completed bench and replaced with one that was perfect the next day). He was also great with follow up a couple of months later when a couple of plants had died — he quickly replaced the two that were clearly dead along with 2 others that were suspect.
We can’t recommend Tsering and team enough!

Tsering was an absolute pleasure to work with. The entire process from design to move-​in, stone work, plant selection, finish and move out went very smoothly. He spent a lot of time with us in the beginning to understand our needs and requirements. He then offered a design and tweaked it based on our feedback. Tsering did the same for plant selection: He recommended a palette and then worked with us to finalize it.
Tsering is very creative and has a great eye for design. I was impressed by his use of space in our backyard and his placement of all the elements we wanted (stone platform for a fire pit, stone pathways, dry creek, bamboo tree, Japanese maple, etc.). We always felt we were being informed about his choices and were heard every time we had a concern.
Bonus 1: he finished even one day earlier without compromising the quality.
Bonus 2: he dealt very professionally with our challenging neighbor.

Tsering and his team just finished our project. Could not be happier! Promised 6 weeks and finished in 4. Tsering had great ideas and we followed his advice. Thank goodness!!!

I got an estimate from them for a small backyard that needed a lot of work to take out the grass and make a patio, repair the rock wall and plant drought resistant plants. I fell over when they sent the email: $ 15 000! + depending. Just thought you should know what prices are in this area. Didn’t feel too Zen liked. Maybe a price range should be given in a phone call before even coming out. Lila

Tsering and company are miracle workers. They took our small and blasé backyard and transformed it into a beautiful urban oasis. In the span of 3 weeks, I watched a patch of crappy sod and poorly crafted decks turn into a beautiful, hardscaped backyard complete with amazing flora, a natural gas firepit and an amazing outdoor kitchen.
Tsering came over and consulted free of charge and emailed me a proposal based on some work he had done before and what we wanted in a yard. We changed a few plants, but overall loved the work he proposed. Tsering gave us a time and price estimate and we shook hands.
During the construction, I gave the team our garage clicker and they were extremely conscientious about keeping everything but the backyard clean. They worked from 8 – 5 everyday with Tsering there most days. He kept me in the loop about the progress, but for the most part I left them alone.
The job finished up a week early and was actually cheaper than I though. How many contractors can you say that about? Couldn’t be more pleased with the team and the job they did.

This review is long overdue. We had a terrible experience with another company and asked Tsering to help transform our garden from wrong to right. He was a joy to work with and saw our vision exactly and transformed our yard into the perfect oasis. It’s been well over a year and our yard is thriving and beautiful thanks to him and his team.

We used Tsering and Shambhala Landscaping to help with our backyard in Bernal Heights, San Francisco. We needed a new fence on three sides of our house, a retaining wall and landscaping. Tsering was quick to deliver a quote and stayed on budget. He was extremely professional during the entire experience and the work he and his team produced was amazing. The week of the project it rained for 3 days and they still did a great job of working around it somehow and finishing on time. I would highly recommend Shambhala Landscaping for projects small and big.

Wow !
We are thrilled with the work Tsering did in our backyard in Golden Gate Heights ! We hired him to design and build a limestone patio and fire pit to extend our entertaining space and add some value to our home. He is responsive and detail oriented and patiently walks you through the pros and cons of what you are envisioning for the project. The end result surpassed our expectations and we hired him for a second project on the spot !
I highly recommend Shambhala Garden Design to help you design your ideal backyard !

Wow! Tsering and his crew just finished our beautiful backyard addition and we are beyond thrilled. From beginning to end Tsering was not only pleasant to work with he was professional and a true visionary. He transformed a steep hill filled with weeds into a beautiful oasis.
Tsering met with us and completed extensive plans that were required by our HOA for a deck extension, two retaining walls, a blue stone patio, a built in BBQ, fire pit with built in seating, landscaping and very detailed irrigation, drainage and lighting plans.
Once they got to work I was impressed with the speed, efficiency and extreme attention to detail they displayed. We were also very impressed with the calm and respectable manner in which they spoke to and worked alongside one another (which has not always been the case with other companies we have worked with). We turned over a lot of the vision to Tsering and we are so happy we did. The completed project is STUNNING. We feel so lucky that our family is able to enjoy this beautiful new space every day. We feel just as lucky that we found the right person and company to do this project.

I highly recommend this company. They just installed a patio and driveway for me and did an excellent job. Tsering gave me a good design up front, which was different than what I was envisioning, but it turned out to be the much better idea! The patio was kind of complex and it came out wonderfully. He integrated it into the site so well. The price was reasonable and the down payment small. They started promptly and completed the job in practically half the time he predicted, which was nice. Tsering consulted with me throughout the job and modified elements as needed but kept to the initial price. Everything went so smoothly — there was nothing at all — in the process or in the result — for which I am not completely satisfied. I’m so excited to have this new element in my garden and I’m happy every time I look at it. I’m so glad I found them!

I would not hesitate to recommend Shambhala Landscapes to anyone interested in creating or improving their garden. Tsering designed and executed the most beautiful garden for our Noe Valley home. It surpassed our expectations. He really turned our old garden (where we never went) into a beautiful idyll where we now love to sit and bask in the beauty of it all. Tsering’s aesthetic matched ours perfectly and he was more than willing to work with us and make changes as we went along. He did many things to improve the space that weren’t part of the original proposal and best of all they didn’t affect the bottom line.
Practically, Tsering and his crew of (mostly) Tibetan workers arrived on time every day until the completion of the gardens. They were friendly, professional and worked very hard. This turned out to be a difficult project and they were tireless workers from start to stop. Tsering himself was on site throughout. I was used to contractors who would absent themselves to look for other projects and leave the work up to their team. Tsering supervised every aspect and every detail of the garden himself even working alongside the other men to get things done on time, on schedule and on budget.

We’ve worked with many contractors over the years — Tsering is the best by far. This year he did major makeovers of our back and front yards and constructed a deck (with permits). On each project, he was helpful, prompt, responsive, and absolutely reliable every step of the way. The work was started and finished on time, within budget (at prices lower than the competitive bids we solicited), with expert execution and craftsmanship.
A few words about the projects Tsering and his Shambhala crew did for us:
— The deck: When we hired Shambhala, we had plans for the back deck, but they hadn’t been approved by the SF Dept. of Building Inspection. Tsering met with the finicky plan checkers. They raised a dozen issues about the design — large and small. Tsering quickly amended the plans to deal with all the issues and satisfy all the concerns. He also worked with us to finalize cosmetic details such as railing design. The construction was completed on schedule. The craftsmanship was first-​rate. When an unexpected rainstorm left spots on the stain finish, Tsering’s crew returned without question to redo the staining. They also returned to add additional fasteners to the Ipe decking. We’re 100% happy with the deck.
— The back yard landscaping: We had an outstanding landscape design in hand when we brought on Tsering. (The beautiful and innovative original design was done by Katey Mulligan of Liquidambar Garden Design.) Tsering executed the design to a tee. He addressed issues related to a new fence we’d installed, selected stone for a retaining wall and patio, and added raised planter beds that were not in the original design. He was wonderfully flexible and helpful in making sure that we understood our options and got what we wanted. Everything — the stone work, plants, irrigation, lighting, arbor — was beautifully executed, on time, and at budget.
— The front yard landscaping: Tsering did both the design and the construction of the front yard makeover. His design was terrific, the work was outstanding. Again, everything was done on time and within budget.
— Maintenance: We’ve retained Tsering and his crew to maintain our landscaping. They continue to do an outstanding job of keeping our yard looking great. As issues have arisen — irrigation line adjustment, a few sick plants, an annoying gopher — they’ve continued to be responsive and helpful.
In sum, we recommend Tsering without reservation — he and his crew are truly outstanding landscape contractors.

I have never posted on Unilocal but my experience with this business was so extraordinary that I feel compelled to share. Shambhala Landscapes is owned by Tsering Wangchuk who was intimately involved in all stages of our project. Our project, in Russian Hill, presented many challenges as we live off the road, down many steps. We wanted to:
* flatten our yard (many landscapers we interviewed said this was impossible or came up with bizarre ways to accomplish)
* build a retaining wall
* leave as much room in the design as possible for a yard
* build a fence to secure our property (50 foot by 25 foot)
* build wood planters around the yard to provide color and greenery
* build cobble stone planters and stairs
* rebuild and update our old deck
* build a new deck with access to new storage space and place for kids to play/​swing
The original design went through a few changes as we began the development. Tsering was responsive to all our concerns. We were apt to make change requests mid-​way through and he listened and addressed them immediately and cheerfully. He was always respectful of any concerns we raised and came through with outstanding results. His pricing was fair (we had estimates which were higher from three other landscapers). His team of artisans are talented and detail oriented. The project was done on time and they were even able to complete the additional work we requested in a timely fashion. Now that our initial project is done, I cannot wait to get Tsering and his team back on site to complete the landscaping of the other side of our house!

Tsering is my hero. :)
He rescued my backyard from ruins and made it gorgeous once again. He really put thought into aesthetics, and worked with me and my budget. He is responsive, professional, reliable, detailed-​oriented, organized, and… wow…this guy worked fast! His rates were completely reasonable (yes, I shopped around, but there was no question he was the first pick!). And he stayed true to his estimate — there were no surprises… only good ones (like when things ended up cheaper than he quoted!). I completely agree with all of the positive and outstanding comments below. His portfolio pretty much sums it up. He really is an amazing landscaper and designer.
Book this guy up while you can! I wish I had more backyards to spruce up!

I found Tsering while he was working on a neighbor’s landscape. I got his card and checked out his website and I was impressed with his work. In fact, I told him my only concern was whether I could afford to hire him!
He came to see my disaster of a yard that day and we discussed my goals, desires and budget. Within a day or two he had submitted a proposal with several options, which were within my budget. He was more than willing to work with some of my suppliers and went with me to select materials.
Within 6 days of turning over the first shovel full of dirt, my back yard had been transformed from a weed infested, smelly dog run into a peaceful, pleasant and meditative garden – with plenty of room for the dogs to run and enjoy themselves – all within budget. Lawn, hard surface patio, river stone retaining wall, fountain and irrigation! We’ve entertained outside a few times now and no one can believe the transformation!

Working with Tsering was a joy. He was prompt and courteous throughout the whole process. It took less than 4 weeks to get my new yard in place, including a drip irrigation system. The cost was very reasonable, and he was flexible with the plans. His knowledge of the business was very apparent. I would recommend him in a heartbeat.

We hired Shambhala Garden Design to execute a design by our landscape designer. We were extremely satisfied with the high level of workmanship, from the hardscape to the outdoor kitchen with concrete counter tops and hand– built Ipe wood cabinets. They are thoughtful in their process and easy to work with, not to mention very reasonable. I highly recommend them for your next garden project.