Roland William Landscapes

We engaged James Martinez and his firm for a large project that included planting, irrigation, landscape lighting, and stonework/walkway construction. We selected this firm because we wanted a single-source company that could cover all aspects of our extensive outdoor "remodel". We had several requirements which after a couple of visits James said they could meet. This included an overall budget of $15 to $18k, a comprehensive design including all aspects of the project, sign-off and approval of our HOA, and a rapid completion time. James' design was actually quite nice. But the remainder of the project was more or less a disaster. To give anyone reading this some very specific details of the kinds of issues we ran into, here's a list: Our project would take multiple phases to complete. James and his crew would disappear for WEEKS at a time with no response. I once had to track him down on Facebook to get him to talk to me. He has only ONE subcontractor for each specialty. So if his irrigation guy is booked, your project might be delayed weeks or months. Same goes for his stone guy, his lighting guy, and more. The quality of the work was UNacceptable. For example - when the day came to install our irrigation system, I met in person with both James and the head of his irrigation sub. I had ONE important requirement - DO NOT CUT THE PHONE LINES. We not only did the crew cut our phone and other utility lines, they did so in SIX places. They attempted to repair it without telling us, but we found out because nothing worked in the house. Their repairs we slap-dash as well, forgetting simple stuff like making electrical connections weather-proof when buried underground. Another example was his stone and paver crew. They installed our simple herringbone concrete pavers, which were precision sized, so badly the crew began cutting pavers in the MIDDLE of a large section of the walk because things were SO misaligned. His paver crew had to be taught simple techniques like how to square up the walkway with the house, how to slope the walkway for drainage, and much more. Eventually the paver work turned out good, but my wife and I had to monitor and supervise these guys every minute. Our landscape lighting went the best overall, but even that was anything but smooth. The wiring for the landscape lighting was supposed to be run inside the same trenches they dug when installing the sprinkler system. But they forgot so our yard was dug up twice, causing twice the mess and twice the hassle. The irrigation guys also forgot to run drainage lines before the walkway was installed, then wanted to charge us extra to dig UNDER the walkway they designed and installed. When the crew would disappear for weeks at a time, our yard was left in disarray. Piles of materials stacked in the street, gobs of mud on the driveway and sidewalk, and worse. We started our work with Roland Williams in Feb/March of 2016. It is now almost September and there are still broken and incomplete items. At this point I am going to seek financial recourse to recoupe some of my money as they went over-budget by some $6000. Now to be fair - we did not specify a detailed list of plants, walkway materials, and so on at the outset. We agreed that selection of materials was part of the process. But unless you plan on spending months in the planning phase, there's no level of contract detail that can protect you from their oversights. It really pains me to write all this because James is actually a nice guy, knows plants pretty well, and seems to enjoy his work. But if you project will take more than one day, and if you can't be 100% sure that before you outlay any money that everything you wanted done is complete, I must warn you away from this company.

James and his guys are great, they took an area I was having trouble figuring out what to do with and turned it into an area we use all the time now. I went from dirt and weeds to a beautiful area with flag stone and black star gravel. We have our fire pit and chairs on it and love it. I used them again in December to move 2 trees, while here James saw my yard was covered in leaves and had the guys blow them for me. It was not something I asked them to do but it was a great treat for me to not have to do it. I will be using them again this spring

We have a tiny front yard that was way overgrown. James from Roland William Landscape re-designed the entire yard and was even able to keep some of the beautiful boxwood bushes by re-planting them in another area. The yard looks absolutely fantastic and James is a JOY to work with.

Roland Williams installed a wall of shade trees along my backyard fence, creating instant privacy and a beautiful evergreen look in my backyard. They also defined new beds and mulched the area, creating a great space to add flowers and small shrubs. I couldn't be happier with the services they provided. James, the owner, personally came out and helped draw out a game plan, taking my requirements and than providing several different options at different price points, giving me the opportunity to determine how big I would like the project to be. He also had pictures on his tablet from lots of different jobs, to help determine what would be best for my yard. In the end, I feel like I got excellent value for my money, and my backyard looks incredible. They were extremely professional and completed the project on a short timeline, and within my budget. The quality of the trees installed were very high (we did Magnolias & Japanese Blueberries) and they were able to do the work without having to impact my irrigation system. Communication was also great, as James and I were fully aligned throughout the entire process, staying connected regularly over email, phone and text.

I can't say enough wonderful things about our experiences working with Roland Williams Landscaping! James creates a design for your yard that brings great variations in colors and textures. He also has brought in beautiful pottery to create eye-catching focal points. Aside from their creativity and professionalism, they make this experience as fun as can be! Watching their visions come to life was such a pleasure. Can't wait to work with them again soon!

James took our boring yard and turned it into a tropical paradise! He listened to our ideas and then designed a true masterpiece. James even wanted to see our dog and how he ran in our yard! He then made a beautiful pathway where our dog could still run and yet it blended perfectly with the plants and trees. I think the best thing he suggested was the landscape lighting. It just makes the yard! After this experience, we continue to have James and his experienced crew come once a month to check the yard, make adjustments to the sprinkler system as needed, and tweak the plants. I highly recommend Roland Williams Landscape.

James Martinez is great! He and his team have worked for me twice and have done a great job each time. Most recently they removed and/or relocated several trees and shrubs as well as added some plantings. Just tell them what you want to achieve and they can take it from there! Prices are reasonable and they do what they say they're going to do.

James and his crew did a fantastic job building a landscape planter bordered by stone. We will definitely hire them again in the future for our landscaping needs.