Jara Landscaping

Project timeline stretched beyond expectation and belief. And now Juan and crew are gone from sight, prior to completion of the job. Throughout the project I gave the benefit of the doubt, but now I’m concerned that Juan NAND crew are simply dishonest

Yes, just one star… because this is what Juan Jara & his guy deserve. They are always late, sometimes don’t show up at all. Juan promises work that NEVER gets done. But he bills you as if the work is completed. The work they do is sloppy at best. For some reason they can never finish a job to completion. Something always has to be left behind. They do not have the appropriate tools to do the job, which I don’t understand if they say they do & are supposed to be legitimate gardeners. When I asked them repeatedly to bring a ladder to reach ivy on the roof they agreed, but then did not bring it. I gave these guys a second chance after firing them last year. They were in my employ for 6 months until I decided I was unhappy with the quality of their work & their false promises.
I hired them this time around because they were the only gardeners available within 2 days notice. There was a tall bush bordering my property and the neighbor’s with falling berries. The neighbors’ dog was eating the berries & getting very sick. It was urgent. But big mistake to hire these guys again, because I just got screwed. Additionally, they left garden stuff in the middle of the lawn where my blind dog would fall over it. I have back surgery so it is impossible for me to bend down & lift hoses, heavy ceramic pots & décor that they left strewn about & did not return to their proper place.
They told me that they had a wood chipper which I requested for the cuttings from bushes and trees. I did not want the cuttings left behind. They did not have a wood chipper & left my green been full to the brim with the clippings and now there is no room for lawn trimmings for the week.
When we hired Juan this time around to do a job I figured it should take one day & with required equipment. I hired him to get specific things done which could be completed within 6 hrs max with two people. ¹⁄₃ this time with three. He wanted to come at 8 am, but this is too early for my neighbors so we agreed on 8:30. He arrived at 9:17 and did not start work until after 9:30. Juan did not bring the equipment requested over the phone which reminded repeatedly him in text messages. Most egregiously, he did not finish the job.
After explaining what I needed to have done, I offered him the paper listing the work agreed upon & what we had discussed. He said he remembered everything and would get it done. However at 1:50pm he said he was done. But when I pointed out the weeds & ivy, Juan said he forgot the ladder and promised to come back the next day to finish the work. So, he and his partner left early in the afternoon after a leisurely lunch. Without finishing all the work.t.he work they did was sloppily done. It was not as if they did not have enough time or ran out of daylight. Even without the ladder there was other work that needed & could be done. I had to point out things, areas that they overlooked. I asked for an area to be cleared they left lots weeds all over the place & a dead bush is an area I specifically wanted completely cleared for new plantings.
Juan and his one person crew lack any sense of professionalism or responsibility & what it means to have a contractual agreement for work to be done. He promises the sun, but an barely deliver what most landscapers and gardners consider consider the standard, easy, basic.
They lack consideration & conscientiousnes because his crew guy was rinsing off pavement while I was in the backyard and I had to move to avoid getting wet as I was talking to Juan. Then right in front of me he hosed down the steps into the house and directly sprayed water onto my garden shoes and my husband’s leather sandals. I know this sounds petty. But it is just another thing that speaks to their lack of professionalism, conscientiousness, and consideration. And imagine coming home from work and being surprised when you slip on you soaking wet leather sandals! Not cool!
He has still yet to respond to my texts and messages about finishing the job. Very stupidly, I gave him the payment for the job because he promised he would come back and finish the work the next morning when I would be gone. I have all this documented in text messages. I gave him the money and the benefit of the doubt because he mentioned that he and his partner just had babies and he seemed as if he needed the work and was eager for more work.
I find it suspicious that he request that I write the check for payment directly in his personal name & not the business name. (Avoiding taxes?) Additionally, he says that Jara Landscaping has been in business since 1982. I am definitely older than he is, and I was 12 in 1982. Yet when he sign his name, he writes next to his name…“Since 1982″. Who does that next to their name… execpt a hooker?
I write this review not out of spite, but as a warning to those out there who might hire Jara Landscaping or Juan.