B&D Rockeries

It was very hard to say how many stars to put; if there was a 2.5 star that’s what it would be. I found B & D rockeries after several attempts to find a company willing to do a retaining wall for my house in the summer of 2015. At the time it seemed like no one had time to do it, but B&D found me and assured me that this was the perfect job for them. I had 2 scopes of work. First, a two-​tiered retaining wall in the front of my house with a stair leading down to my yard, and second, a 3-​tiered retaining wall that wraps around the side and down behind my house. They started on the front of my house and spent the bulk of their time making the 2 tiers and stairs in the front (which turned out great). The boulders that they brought in were large and I was always wondering were the smaller rocks were for my side retaining wall and just thought maybe they would come later. On the 3^rd day they were still working on the front and told me that morning that they would finish the front and work on the side portion tomorrow. At the time, I thought that was good time management and that it would be great to give a whole days attention to the side retaining wall which they had yet to start on. Later that day, my wife gave me a call to tell me to rush home because they are packing up and leaving for good and the work was not done. Confused because the schedule changed, I got there and they seemed bothered, tired, and anxious to leave. It seemed that they thought they had done everything that they were supposed to do. My wife showed me, and we pointed out to Neil, that the rocks did not wrap around the back. We asked Neil to finish that portion and he just picked leftover boulders that were laying around from the excavation and plunked them down in a single layer and said «is that what you want me to do?». I could tell that they just wanted to leave. So the last 3 quarters of the side retaining wall just has individual large boulders sitting there with gaps in between them, they are not retaining anything, and it looks poorly done. I paid them and within 15 minutes later they were gone. A week passed by and we had extreme buyers remorse because they did not finish strong and the side yard that I saw everyday (which was the main reason we decided to do this project) still looked crappy. I gave a phone call to Neil to ask if he could fix it. Our schedules didn’t align because both of us were out of town, but eventually I sent him a text with pictures showing him the areas that were sloppy and asked him to fix it again. He called me the next day and agreed to fix it. The day he was going to come, he called to tell me his machinery was broken and I never heard from him again. My lesson learned is don’t pay the last installment of the job until you’re completely satisfied. Ask for the rest of the day to critic their work before paying, so you don’t feel rushed that it’s done. Stick to the schedule that they give you and if it’s done early it probably isn’t done right. I admit we are partly at fault here because we didn’t clearly communicate our expectations but assumed they knew what needed to be done because it’s their business.

Our new home on Camano Island required a long tapered retaining wall on the uphill side of our driveway that was carved into the hillside.
I proceeded to get bids to construct the wall. Since we were looking at making a significant expenditure we wanted several bids. I was ready to go with the lowest of my bids but my wife suggested we get one more bid. She found B & D Rockery on the internet. I contacted Neil Eneix, the owner, about my retaining wall and the next day he came to the property, looked at what was required and wrote up an estimate on the spot which was impressive considering the time involved in getting my other estimates.
Since Neil’s estimate was considerably lower than the other bids, and after looking at some of his work we set a date to start our wall. Neal said it would take about 3 days which surprised me. I expected it would take a lot longer to build a wall of that size.
Neal was there by 7am with the first load of rocks and by mid afternoon Neal and Charlie had delivered about 8 loads of rock from the Iron Mountain Quarry.
The following morning by 6:30 am Neal, Mark, Randy and Greg started on the wall and Charlie continued to haul rocks. I was totally impressed with Neal and his track hoe which sported a fully rotational/​articulating clam bucket used for setting the quarry rocks as large as 4 feet across perfectly in the wall. These guys worked hard and steady as a team in building the wall and within about 4 hours competed 400 square feet of wall.
They showed up early the next morning and by 2 pm they had the retaining wall complete. The wall is a work of art and perfect in every aspect. In fact it looks better than I had envisioned it would look.
I would highly recommend Neal and his B & D Rockery crew for any your retaining wall, rockery, water fall, or landscaping work you may need done. They are true professional, highly skilled, and downright great guys to work with, you will not be disappointed.
FYI-​I initially submitted this review on 6÷5÷2014 but didn’t realize I needed to give a rating. I’m resubmitting this review with a FIVE star rating.
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Fast forward to 8÷22÷2014:
Since Neil and his crew did such a fantastic job back in June, I requested their services for another long retaining wall and one shorter wall.
As with the first job B & D rockeries did in June, they did the same exceptional work today. (⁸⁄₂₂).
They showed up at 6:30 am with truck loads of quarry rocks and crush rocks and the necessary equipment to do the job. With Charlie hauling the rocks, Neil operating the «super cool» excavator with rotating grapple for setting the rocks and Mark and Randy working at the wall, they were amazingly able to finish these two retaining walls before 4 pm the same day.
Neil had given me a quick back of the envelope estimated when I first talked to him about the two retaining walls and surprisingly enough his final bill to me was less than the estimate. This is unheard of in any building trades work I have ever been involved in.
In addition, Neil was very prompt in returning my phone calls and when we agreed on a date to do the job, the B & D crew showed on time and were ready to get the job done which they did in less than a day.
I would highly recommend B & D rockeries.

I would NOT recommend working with this company. We accepted their bid to build a retaining wall and were told they would start the job within a couple of weeks. When we didn’t hear from them for about a month, we called, and Neil, the owner, told us that he’d gone on a family vacation. He then assured us that our job was the next in line, and that they would start in the next couple of days. Once again, we waited a couple of weeks, but no word from Neil. I’ve also left a couple of phone messages that have gone unreturned. These guys have wasted almost two months of our time and exemplify the unreliable, unprofessional subcontractor that we all come across now and then. Don’t bother with B&D Rockeries.

It takes a lot to make me happy, and B & D Rockeries made me happy. This company is set up to do rock work! These guys started at 7am, worked their butts off, and were damn fun to be around. Most importantly the work they did was excellent and worth every dollar I spent. I made several changes during the process and the crew worked with me on all of them, no questions asked. I had approx. 300 sqft of retaining walls, terraces, drain pipe, and top soil bid on this job, and in a day and a half these guys made my yard look really good. Neil and his crew added a few extras, like making a pile of old rock that my neighbor wanted to use, hauling off some shrubs, and tearing out some old brick work to accommodate the new rock. It’s been a long time since I’ve had such good customer service and value for my dollar. I would recommend B & D Rockeries to anyone who wants rock work done. A big thanks goes out to Neil, Mark, Randy, and Charlie.

Neil and his crew did an amazing job on our rockery for a very reasonable price. He even built stairways into the walls so that we could easily access our upper yard.

I found B&D rockery after dealing with an inept landscaper who thought they could do everything! Neil and his crew came to my house and in 3 days built a beautiful 2 tiered retaining wall and patio area, turning what was once unused space into entertaining space for 20! We also had B&D install a 4′ waterfall that cascades from a top pool to a pool 12′ below via a wandering path.
Their work is admired by all my neighbors since they transformed an eyesore into a top notch zen/​entertainment area. I enjoyed working with Neil and his family, and have even bid out additional jobs around the house.