John's Landscape Service

The rest of the negative reviews here and other places pretty much speak for themselves. If you want to pay top dollar this is the place.

John's is extremely efficient, and their staff is wonderful to work with. They come in, get the job done and leave you with a beautifully constructed and maintained yard. They have the team to get any project big or small done, and they do an amazing job helping you keep your property perfectly pristine. Services: Lawn care, Landscaping design, Yard landscaping, Garden decorating, Landscape management, Landscape installations, Lawn landscaping, Landscaping maintenance, Landscape design, Walkway landscaping, Retaining walls, Garden design, Grass seeding

This is the worst company ever. Only contact this company if you want to end up being sued in small claims court. We contacted John's Landscape to meet with us to redo a small backyard for a family gathering. We communicated right from the start that we needed to have the work done by a certain date. And that the top end of our budget was $12,000.

We asked for a free estimate. A woman met us at the property and we suggested some ideas on patio, grass, and shrubs. Mind you the yard, like most properties just outside Boston, the back yard is postage stamp size. After several emails back and forth with Lisa, she sent us an "estimate" of the cost of the job. It was not an itemized estimate but ranges.

The total cost was $17,500! We asked for an itemized estimate so we could start eliminating options to reduce the price. We asked for a picture. None was provided. In fact we stated that we could perform some of the work ourselves to save on the final cost. That suggestion was never factored in. We asked what the cost of a particular stone would be the very first meeting and were provided a price.

When we were given the "final" estimate the price for the stone was much higher. Because we needed the work to start right away we paid a good faith deposit of $1,000 to be put towards the final cost. We were sent several "plans" from Lisa with some ideas of layouts for the yard. Working with Lisa it became clear that we could not agree upon a plan or a cost.

It was not until several weeks of going back and forth with Lisa that the owner John jumped in. His goal was not to please the customer but to make sure he could get as much money out of us as he could! He was antagonistic and very condescending. From our conversations I learned he is not actually educated or trained in the landscape business. He is a business man!

He never once came to the property to suggest ideas or attempt a resolution. After much stress and anxiety from this man, we decided to go with another awesome company who did the work and then some for $5,000 less than what John's Landscaping wanted. Happy ending to the story? Almost! John sued us to keep the $1,000 deposit which he stated was for the cost of the plan Lisa drew up - a plan we did not want! AND we googled landscape plans and there are hundreds of the same plan for FREE on the internet!

We spent months in court fighting this charge. Turns out we are not the only customers or potential customers that he has sued in small claims. A search of court records shows at least 25 other people that he dragged into court. Most people settle out of court because it's easier and quicker. Some people who did not settle and defended themselves in court won.

No wonder John never came to our house. He is in court so often the court workers are familiar with him. In the end, John gets paid for unsatisfactory work. Long story short do not consult with this company. You will end up paying for a "free estimate"!

We did a huge project with John's because they were the only landscapers that actually sent a designer and had suggestions, rather than just expecting me to tell them what to do. We removed trees, graded, added a patio, walkways, and shed bed, added retaining walls, dug the driveway wider, and added irrigation and grass. Throughout the project, it was. fine.

Absolutely every item came in at the tip top of the quoted range. But work went quickly. Communication was. ok. People would show up at unexpected times to go over things. The sub-contractors for the patio and stonework were great. We had to ask like 5 times for them not to kill a section of groundcover by leaving dirt on it. By the time it was moved, it was already dead.

So some good, some bad. If it was just that, I'd put it at 3 stars. Maybe 4? It came out well. It was a big project, 2 full months of work. Stuff will happen. But, we've also used them for fall cleanup the last 2 years. We've seen billing mistakes each year, added services we didn't ask for, mediocre work, arguing over billing, raised prices with zero notice. What a waste of time. All I want is to pick up the leaves at an agreed upon price without blowing all the mulch into the grass.

Their lawn mower is way too loud and annoying. It is a disturbance for the neighbors and usually they come during the afternoon which is particularly irritating.

This landscaping company regularly comes to Cambridge and uses multiple loud tools on a single property for over an hour at a time in the mornings and afternoons. The fumes and dust they kick up with their leaf blowers is awful. We have complained to the company and to the residents, but that's what you get for caring about yourself more than others. Stop using leaf blowers on these small properties when you know you have a lot of neighbors. Where is your common courtesy and thoughtfulness for the environment?

This landscaping service sent 2 employees and two leaf blowers along with a commercial composting attachment to their truck to garden street in Cambridge December 1st. Not only are leaf blowers not allowed on a Sunday in the city, 2 are not permitted on such a small property that they were on. They do not respond to calls and I had to call the city (also not responsive on a Sunday) and eventually the police.

Why do you think this is an acceptable way to operate? Your noise and environmental pollution is unnecessary for a property that small, and your disregard for the rules put in place for people to live peacefully in this town is why you should not be allowed to operate as you do. I have seen your truck in the area before, also violating the leaf blower ordinances in the summer.

John's Landscape Service is excellent! I have an enormous oak tree on a corner lot. with its mass of autumnal leaves plus leaves dropped from neighboring oaks, I'd be at a loss without John's Landscape! I've used his service for years and every year, I'm so glad I do. The landscapers are very professional and everyone I speak with in the office is helpful and friendly!

If you have a flat yard, lots of $, and low expectations hire them. Our experience was this: Edged 2/3 of the garden and left the rest untouched. Why would they do that? Cut down the perennials when using the trimmer to cut the grass. Our uneven sloped yard was cut with a big mower so in some spots the grass was 1/2 inch high and in other spots it was 6 inches high.

Often didn't even cut the whole yard, skipped cutting along the neighbors fence and around our shed. Spend no more than 20 minutes on our yard each week. Sprayed/fertilized but didn't fill in the tag for how long we couldn't use the yard. Moved lawn furniture to cut grass but never put it back. We really wanted to like them but it just wasn't going to happen. Our yard is till in recovery.

Worst landscapers I have ever dealt with. asked them repeatedly to not block our driveway while working or to pull down our driveway as it widens at the end so we and the other residents in our house can access driveway. they continued do the opposite. came home with my infant and full car of groceries to them blocking me out with no safe place to park. after 20 mins of looking for the driver, honking and calling the company phone with no response I got frustrated when I finally found the guy way back in a huge yard. he gave me a hard time immediately and was rude when I asked him to not block my driveway. then PJ comes by and made things worse. arguing with me about it and why honking my horn doesn't help and I should just walk around to find the landscaper. with an infant? Poor customer service and they don't even deserve one star.

One of their drivers hit my vehicle and kept driving. They were driving too fast on a narrow and windy road and driving over the median lane. The trailer took out my rear view mirror. I had to follow the truck for about 10 minutes before they pulled over. The supervisor came out and accused me of making it up. I felt the whole interaction was very dishonest and unethical. I cannot speak to the quality of their work, but based on this interaction, I would question the company's honesty and ethics.

(Note: I would leave zero stars if I could.) If you want to overpay for mediocre service to a company that completely disregards their customer's requests and performs services you did not request and then makes you pay for them, John's is the perfect landscaping company for you. We had been using John's for spring and fall clean-up for nearly three years.

We would contact them a month or so in advance, request a quote for leaf pick up and removal, and basic trimming/pruning, and then approve the services we wanted, and schedule a time for them to come. We specified the week we wanted the clean-up services performed to make sure the last clean-up was done after all of the leaves had fallen. We also never said anything about cutting our lawn and in fact, specifically mentioned to them that we handle that ourselves.

The past couple of times John's came for spring/fall clean-up services, they came weeks before the last leaves had fallen, and also tacked on a $90 fee for mowing the lawn. When we emailed Toni to express our dissatisfaction with the timing of the service and the fact we were charged an extra $90 for something we specifically asked not to be done, Toni was rude and blamed John for the timing issue, saying that he added us to the schedule and he's the one that handles that.

She also reluctantly removed the $90 charge for mowing after going back and forth over email a few times. Toni also mentioned she would "make a note in our file" that we do not want the lawn cut. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and figured the past issues were misunderstandings, so we reached out to John's for a quote for fall clean-up again recently.

And while we were still trying to figure out how we wanted to handle clean-up this fall with our neighbor, they took it upon themselves to show up to our property to mow the lawn, clean up, and remove barely any leaves without our consent or approval. When we contacted Toni to find out why the services were performed without our consent, she sent a rude email, basically blaming us and claiming that we were on "auto renew." Auto renew is not something that was ever discussed or mentioned by anyone ever.

We have been requesting a quote and providing approval for services twice a year for more than two years and auto renewal of services was never mentioned. After contacting John about this issue he swore up and down there is no lack of communication and claims that his company "leads the industry in our response to clients." Unfortunately John is severely disconnected from reality, and clearly doesn't pay attention to the feedback he has received from his current and former clients.

In addition, John is sorely mistaken if he thinks that responding to a client email within an hour or two means that he is providing quality customer service and that his team has stellar communication. If you don't listen to your customers when they make specific requests, and your scheduler doesn't communicate to your team performing the services about what they should and should not be doing prior to going to a customer's property, that equals poor communication.

There are a number of specific examples in this review alone of places where your company failed to communicate internally. Toni's said she made a note in our file about the lawn cutting and yet, our lawn was cut when the team showed up to complete services we did not authorize. More than once, someone on their end screwed up, because of poor internal communication.

We are not only getting blamed for it, but they are trying to make us pay for services we did not authorize. I strongly suggest going elsewhere for your landscaping services. Don't waste your time having to deal with John's.

Very professional. Great service and my yard looks great. Toni and Dave explained everything very well and were very prompt with getting back to me with any questions I had. Highly recommend them.

Way overpriced. Sent us a contract for 3 yards of mulch and then charged us an extra 150.00 for 4 yards of mulch and never said anything. Refused to take it off the bill. Very unresponsive when I've called. Do not use this company.

To say he is overpriced is an understatement. I had no idea until I talked with a few of my friends who told me what they pay for snow removal.about 1/4 of what John's charges. They were shocked when I discussed his prices. As far as $500 for a driveway as someone else stated, a much better price can be found for a driveway. As low as $100.or less. Live and learn.like I did.

John's Landscaping is the best service I've worked with. They're easy to do business with--scheduling, special requests, etc. And they do great work!

I used John's Landscaping to help me remove the jungle that was growing at my house. John made me feel very comfortable and listened to what I wanted as well as shared ideas. Their work was reasonable and they went beyond my expectations. i know have a green yard and front lawn!

We used John's Landscaping Service for a substantial project at our home in Belmont which entailed stonework, landscaping, irrigation, some carpentry, lighting, tree trimming, paving, and wrought iron railing work. We are extremely happy with the final product and with the entire process. John's network of contractors and employees are professional - they show up when the say they will, are courteous and careful, and collaborative in solving problems. His designers and project managers, Lisa and Chip, understood the look we wanted, and with their experience and skill, helped us achieve something truly exceptional!

Two years ago John's Landscaping created a beautiful garden for me. Their service was excellent. During the winter a representative came and planned. Before spring, the plans were presented for my approval. They came exactly when they said they would---in time for my garden party---and did a superb job. Everyone was prompt, respectful, hard-working, and took great care in the quality of the service. Now two years later, all the plants are thriving and my garden looks gorgeous. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Never a bad moment.

JLS did another stellar job for us. It is rare to find a company that places finding solutions for their customers over everything else. His design team was available and responsive throughout our project handling every issue promptly. I have used his maintenance team and have always received compliments from our guests. My property has become a cornerstone for the neighborhood and John is now serving many of the houses in our area. I highly recommend JLS without reservation.

John's Landscaping has spent many, many more hours mailing, emailing, texting, calling and filing claims against me than he did doing any sort of yard work at our house. It's just baffling the time he has put into hounding me to pay for work he simply did not do. This guy is a true thief. His method seems to be endless harassment, including filing claims in court until you get so frustrated that you pay him off just so he goes away.

His persistence shows me that unfortunately it often must work for him. It's not going to work this time however, I'm choosing to bite the bullet and fight this one in court.

John has built a team of hard-working, honest and talented people. They have done simple cleanups for me and also completely redesigned my backyard. I recommend them to anyone in our area that is thinking of doing work on their yard. Fair prices, personal inspections from John and a nice group of people to work with.

John's created a ground cover front garden for us with a beautiful stone walking path. They also installed an irrigation system to our front and rear yard and did a soil amendment for a raised planting bed to prepare for vegetable planting. The work was beautiful, reasonably priced and very professional. We highly recommend John's Landscape Service!

John's Landscaping was very professional and prompt. John showed up on time and had some really creative ideas for a design. His design team does a great job and worked with us through multiple revisions of the project. The install was done on time and in a professional manner and the yard looks great. Would recommend and work with again!

I hired John's Landscaping to mow my lawn and the job they did on that was fine. I have a small driveway (20 ft by 35 ft). Usually I shovel it myself but with this Nemo storm it was too much for me. So I called John. He gave me a price of $500 to plow the driveway! That is about 4 times what the price should have been. That is how he treats his existing customers. So I am looking for a new landscaper! Stay away from John's Landscaping.

John's was a decent price but they came and started working before 7am and it was a surprise to us as we were still asleep and were sad to be woken by a company that was supposed to be serving us, and they also upset my neighbors. They aren't rude people but they deliver a rude service.

We hired John's Landscape to mow our lawn one season. John had promised "the highest level of service and professionalism" but we got the opposite. I called one day to say that I was unhappy about how the lawn looked, they had missed several spots. They did return the next day and re-cut it and it looked fine. Then a week or two later, the same thing.

I called again and they came out and re-cut it again. Then we had problems with the workers throwing their cigarette buts in the lawn as they worked. Overall the quality was terrible and when I complained, John called me and told me that we were paying the minimum for the service so that is what we were getting for serivce. The following year we hired a different company who was working out quite well.

But then we got a notice that John's had bought out the company we were using and was going to take over for the remainder of the season. I contacted them and cancelled the service right away. There had been several people in my neighborhood that had used John's that same season as well and everyone has gotten rid of them.

In the Spring we had our garden beds mulched by John's Landscape. I had heard great reviews from neighbors who use their service, however, I was not very impressed by the attitude of the foreman on the day of service. He was very unpleasant and had the attitude that he just wanted to do the job and get out of there-maybe he had a bad night. I have to compliment his team though, they did the job and seemed much more pleasant then their manager that day. Overall, they did a good job but based on attitude of the foreman alone-I dont know that I would pay for their service again.