A-1 Landscape Design & Construction

Don’t let these bad reviews scare you away!
My wife and I hired Gary and A-​1 landscaping to do a job and we are so glad we did. My wife found some pictures on
when looking for ideas for our backyard… turned out the pictures she liked were from A-​1 Landscaping. I then googled the company and was sad to see such bad Unilocal reviews. But, I also noticed the 15 reviews below that «are not currently» recommended are much better. So are his Houzz reviews. I was still concerned, so I called A-​1 and asked for a list of references.
Gary quickly responded and I spoke to around 4 or 5 people, that were all very satisfied and had even posted pictures of the work online. We ultimately gave Gary the job and were so glad we did.
He and his crew worked my project and no other project until the work was done. His crew was on time, friendly, and did quality work. Gary did a great job helping us get just what we wanted while staying within our budget. Anytime something came up, or we expressed concern or dissatisfaction, Gary and his crew corrected the problem right away. Don’t let these bad reviews turn you away. Call Gary and give him a chance.

I would not consider his work quality.
missed appts. no shows when you plan your day around his appt.
7 – 10 day job took 7 weeks
cracks in newly poured cement refused to fix
cracks and scratchs in expensive custom cement seating
concrete color not mixed well. streaks of color in cemented backyard
asked for payment before job was complete
constant interruption of my work with problems
repeated phone calls to report fountain not working
constant blaming of others for his mistakes
daily clean up of mess and trash they left
promised everything to get us to hire him
said he would be on the job daily, not true
The only good thing about this job is that his workers were nice and the only true talent in the company and for that he gets a one star for hiring them

Gary has an immense talent for taking an empty landscape of just dirt and filling it with beauty. His ideas were original, blended well with the design of my house and were more beautiful than I could have imagined. I used Gary to design and install landscaping and hardscaping for my property and am very excited with the results. His partner, Susan, was instrumental in helping me to choose plants that were both native to our environment, beautiful and drought tolerant. I highly recommend this company. I was impressed with high level of customer service, on-​time delivery of work and overall artistic mastery of their combined concepts.

We hired Gary to resod our backyard on two occasions– we had half done at a time so our dogs could still play on the other half. Gary was very quick to get the job done and helped us with some extra things (planting some shrubs and sprinklers) all for a great price!
Thanks for your work Gary

We had A1 Landscaping re-​working our back yard. It was a nightmare! I never realized how bad a contractor could be until this.
Don’t make the same mistake as me. Before you hire them, check out their BBB rating (it’s D-​) and their license status at
.
A1 Landscaping talked a good game and referred to a large project they were doing at March Air-​force Base, so it sounded bona fide.
The owner was very reluctant to get the required permits for the work. First he tried to talk me out of getting permits at all. When I insisted on permits he wanted me to pull the permits as an owner-​builder. I talked to the city permit department about that and learned the extent of the risk involved to do that.
They recommended an electrician, who it turned out was not a licensed. He wanted me to pay the electrician directly, telling me that would be cheaper for me. Stupidly, I believed him. In fact, it allowed them to side-​step responsibility for the electrical work being correct and to code. It later came to light that this guy was planning to wire a 15 amp receptacle to a 50 amp breaker, which would have been a death-​trap, literally.
At this point I checked their credentials online a CSLB. I learned that he had no workers compensation insurance. He had filed an affidavit with the CSLB that he had no employees. I learned that he paid his crew cash «under the table» and calls them independent contractors. That is illegal. Furthermore, if one of the workers got hurt on my property I could be a target for a law suit. I checked with my home-​owners insurance and learned that I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on and I wouldn’t have insurance coverage for that. I stopped the project and demanded that he provide proof of both workers comp and liability insurance. That took over a week. He more or less begged to be allowed to continue the project. With a pile of dirt in my drive, a big hole in my yard, and a sprinkler system that they had destroyed, it was easier for me to continue using them than to find some one new to complete the job. So, I allowed him to resume work.
They did get the permits, then had to re-​do some of the work (retaining wall footings) because the work didn’t satisfy the building inspector. That was because they had not met the requirements, but tried to skimp and do the least possible.
The contract called for full soil amendment, which they had not done when they were starting to plant. My wife called the owner. He said that he forgot about that step! Come on! He’s a landscape contractor and he forgot about the soil amendment! Would you believe that? Then he told his workers to just add the amendment around the plants.
When selling the project the owner assured us that he only runs one project at a time and he is always on site. In fact, he was hardly ever onsite, leaving his workers unsupervised. He showed up about 7:00 am, was gone by 8:00, and that’s the last we saw of him most days.
The job was supposed to take about three weeks, but actually took over 10. And, the owner was annoying. He continually whined for stage-​payments before he had completed the work, saying he had no money to pay his men.
The owner kept losing his copy of the contract with his scope of work defined. I gave him three replacement copies. Amazingly, he never lost track of the payment schedule!
On 12÷11÷12 the owner suggested a «cash settlement» if I would remove a previous review. Now, that sums up his business ethics better than anything else could. He later got that review removed by Unilocal because i included his full name. Once you know his name, you can Google him and learn of his record.

A-​1 has done an excellent job of design and installation. The owner, Gary, and his team have always been prompt, courteous, and go out of their way to ensure customer satisfaction. The scope of our project has changed several times, and he has offered flexible solutions which fit into our budget constraints and changing needs. He shows a true interest and knowledge in the xeriscaping concept, as opposed to just landscaping and planting items that don’t work in a specified environment.
I will not hesitate to use or recommend Gary to those I know. I hope to work with him on more projects in the future.

Had our first meeting with Gary this last weekend. Customer service was fantastic, prices were great. So far so good. We will be back with a follow up review once the work is completed.