BRL Design

We actually started working with Brent in summer of 2014. After staring at the eyesore that was our previous courtyard for too long, we decided to call a few experts to see what their vision would be for our space. As a business professional, I immediately wanted to work with Brent and team. He is prompt, respectful, and my favorite quality of all… a perfectionist. Brent takes such care and pride in his work that when he passes by he’ll make quick touch-​ups when needed. Each season he transforms our courtyard into a work of art. So much so, that I often catch pedestrians stopping to admire and photograph his work. I would recommend Brent for anyone who is looking for a true designer.

Brent and his team assisted me with outdoor decorations for the holidays. The weather did not cooperate but Brent and his team made the best of it and produced a beautiful holiday aesthetic that has been getting a lot of compliments.
Brent met with me to discuss a plan, delivered a bid on-​time and within budget and then delivered the final product. We had a bit of a malfunction with some lights and Brent returned quickly to make an adjustment and repair — and the holiday splendor was back on full display.
Brent and his team were knowledgeable, creative, friendly and fun. I’m very pleased and I’ll be sure to call on Brent for future outdoor landscaping needs.

Brent and his designs, creativity and spirit are phenomenal. We started using his team a few years ago to design our roof top deck, parkway and front lawn area. He and the team are so professional and easy to work with. They are extremely busy, but that speaks for their work. Give them another chance. you won’t regret it!

If I would’ve written this post a year ago, after the first time Brent did work for us, it would’ve be met with a much more favorable tone but unfortunately Brent’s efforts on our back yard dictates this review.
Brent did an amazing job on our front yard a year ago, unfortunately the sequel, our backyard, is a much different story. In fact, if it were indeed a sequel it would’ve bombed in the theaters, been booed at and garnered a 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. For those not familiar with Rotten Tomatoes, that score sucks, ROYALLY!
Brent himself didn’t even show up to do the work. He farmed it out to one of his people. The design was not as promised, corners were cut, ground cover was not properly planted, flagstone is already cracking. To say our backyard looks sloppy is an understatement.
I even reached to him and explained that we weren’t satisfied, twice. Finally he responded, standing by his work. His guy, not him, came back, planted a few other plants and that was the last we heard from him.
When we go to sell our house in the future it’s something that we’ll have to fix. More $$$, more headaches.
Brent completely betrayed our trust and I would not recco working with him until he can prove that he can handle the growth of the landscaping business.
We even recco’d him to a friend and Brent left her hanging, big time.
Dude, get it together.
Sorry, you screwed the pooch.
UPDATE: In response to Brent’s response.
Brent, you are a very nice guy and I never put your character in question. It’s your ability to handle the workload of a growing landscaping business with the same amount of integrity you’ve shown in the past.
If you put the same amount of effort into fixing my backyard as you did responding to this review and clearing your name, we’d wouldn’t be in this situation.
If you so stand behind your work on my backyard, throw it up as an example on your website, I’ve got pictures.

Working with Brent has been unique, enlightening, fun, and beautiful. We were fortunate enough to hire him 2 years ago to help us find a truly special tree to go in our small city yard. He introduced me to a Japanese Stewartia, hunted down the most gorgeous specimen he could find in the city, and it became mine. He also took the boring little garden we had and transformed it into a beautiful garden that I was so proud of.
A year later, we purchased the lot next door, with the intent to turn it into a side yard. There was never a question of not hiring Brent. He knew what he was doing with my little yard, and I couldn’t wait to see what he would do with an entire lot. I was rewarded with something I honestly hadn’t seen anywhere else in the city. He created our own heaven. An oasis from the chaos and noises of Chicago.
From start to finish, and now even a year later, Brent has been unbelievably present and on top of this project. He took loads of time to drive me around to all his favorite garden centers so that he could understand which plants made me light up, and which I didn’t respond to. He introduced me to the types of plants that I should pay attention to, and ushered me away from those that weren’t going to be good for us. That experience alone was phenomenal for me. Brent truly delights in beautiful plants, and his expertise is easily seen.
He then spent weeks designing our yard, thinking about the timing of when different plants would bloom, and grouping the trees and flowers and shrubs into differing heights and colors and textures. We created different zones of the yard: the enchanted forest, where our little children could step on the walking stones and play hide and seek behind the shrubs; the orchard, with the apple and pear trees; the butterfly garden, with the most whimsical flowers I could hope to see.
Actually turning the designing and creating into a real yard was intense. It involved Brent coordinating with the demolition crew to make sure they dug deep enough to install new soil. After the house was down, Brent and his crew added rich new soil and compost for the plants. When a heavy rain revealed that my yard had zero drainage, his guys worked incredibly hard digging an extremely effective drain under the yard. Water never pools in the yard now. Brent also made sure the irrigation was perfect, and came back multiple times to make sure the timing was what our plants needed. Months later, in the dead of winter, during the record-​breaking sub-​zero temperatures, Brent came to my yard and literally shoveled snow over everything to protect all the new plants, and it worked.
He would not stand for anything except perfection. And as a result, my yard is absolutely exquisite.
A year has passed, and I still see a lot of Brent. He comes by to make sure everything is still beautiful and thriving. All summer long I have been sending Brent photos of the new flowers that have come up, or the beautiful colors on the trees. He always responds with smiles. He loves the yard too.
Now the work is done. Now I sit on my wooden swing with my baby and watch my older children run around the yard. My daughter often picks one flower from every area of the garden to present me with a perfect bouquet. I gaze at the beautiful trees. I admire the flowers. And I just can’t believe what Brent has given to us. He is such a talented and skilled artist. He is so passionate about making something that is exceptional.
I could not be more grateful.

Let me start by saying that my wife and I are difficult to please aesthetes. We care deeply about design and visual beauty and we were both fearful when we started our landscape designer search. We had a strong vision of what we wanted (and what we didn’t want). We’re not easy to please people. We have high expectations. We’re demanding (but fair). We’re control freaks. So anyone stepping into this situation was bound to fail… but not Brent. Despite all of that, Brent (& his team) totally met our expectations each step of the way. He listened. He actually cared. He came through. He went above and beyond. And he delivered a final landscape that’s the envy of all our neighbors and undeniably the most beautiful on the block.
What was so impressive was the blend of talents that Brent & his team have — the perfect combination of creativity, fun, expertise, care/​finesse, and strength/​work-​ethic that would make any landscaper jealous. On the design side you’ve got Brent leading the team — Brent knows horticulture, he knows zones, and planting times, and soil, and grading, and perspective, and balance, and scale and which things play well with others and on and on. My wife is a well known interior designer and she appreciated his design skills and they worked well together.
Not only was he wonderfully talented, but he’s also a great listener. And not just the ‘repeat what I said’ listener, but he actually understood, interpreted, and brought our ideas to life in the most beautiful way possible by combining it with his expertise and knowledge and creativity into a final product that was better than what we imagined. He wasn’t just plopping down plants on paper to appease us or to sell plants, he was truly DESIGNING where they would go with thought and care blending our ideas with his to create something that reflected our taste but had his expert eye and knowledge embedded. I think that’s what a truly great designer would do. And when we met with other landscape designers we did not have this same experience.
Then on the landscape installation/‘brute force’ side I was equally impressed — the team that joined Brent for our installation days were just as great as Brent. Extremely knowledgeable, careful with delicate plants, strong enough to handle large shrubs/​trees, hard working, etc. These weren’t just hired-​hands, these were experts who loved gardening & were as passionate & hard working as Brent.
And to top it all off the whole crew was just plain fun to work with — we laughed every time we were together. They made the process enjoyable (not stressful). He was passionate that the end result would be beautiful, and he worked tirelessly to ensure it turned out as beautifully as he planned.
We had 1 tree that had a bit of transplant shock (which can happen on a large tree). Brent or someone on his team would stop by every week or two to check on it just to make sure it was doing ok, and of course now it is doing just fine.
In the end, we had a great experience, and our yard is the envy of neighbors for blocks. Literally dozens of people have stopped by our home to comment on the landscape’s beauty… during the install there was a crowd watching because the transformation was so dramatic (in a good way). We of course have gladly passed his name along to friends and neighbors.
Now stop reading and call Brent. It’ll be the best landscape decision you’ve ever made.

Brent and his team are awesome! They created beautiful planters vas garlands for our home. They had to come take it down and put it back up a few days later because Chicago fire was filming in our street vas needed all decorations down. The day im they put it back up was one if the coldest days of the season and they still did it fabulously! Brent is also very nice, professional and very accommodating. Affordable prices.

Exceeding expectations is the name of the game with Brent. I reached out to him based upon signage I saw at a property he landscaped down the street. I had a back yard with nothing but sod, and it was completely not me. Meeting with Brent to show him the space and throw some ideas around was a good start. His estimate and design came back, and he worked with me to get it to something we could both agree on. From that point on, he listened to exactly what I wanted, and interacted with me in a way that allowed him some creativity, but also gave me final say on the major components and made it a true collaboration at the end of the day. The result is a back yard that I still look at and can’t believe is mine, and I couldn’t be happier with the work he and his team did. It has elements I didn’t expect, and completely above and beyond reflected what I had hoped for. It’s amazing and anyone who sees it is floored at how great it turned out. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for someone who takes pride in their work and wants their customers to be happy.

Our condo association hired Brent and he did a great job.
His company is prompt and professional.
Andrew M.
Chicago