I hired Avila Landscape and Design of Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta to do a landscape project at my home. Why? My neighbors also hired him, he is a licensed contractor and seemed professional. Therefore, I had some confidence.
I ignored the first warning signs like the guy doesn't call you back or respond to emails when you call for an estimate, cancels the appointment made and then has to reschedule, etc. Makes promises like send me your info by text or email then never follows through with the info and gets back to you as he says.
To make a long story short, the project finally starts after 2 months of delays and broken promises after giving him a deposit. His guys finally start, but don't really know what to do and I have to stand out my yard, supervise and manage his workers.
The owner Jaimie Avila typically comes out the job site about once per week with the only purpose to pick up a check from the home owner for the next installment of the project. Not to supervise or manage his workers. So any false sense of security you had about a "licensed contractor" is immediately gone, but you still have a legal contact with this guy.
You get a bunch of strange guys who don't speak English you have to watch and manage on your own. So I wonder, why don't I just hire guy like this for save myself $10,000 or more if I'm the only person managing and supervising them and the owner is out of the equation about 99.9% of the time during the project.
The concrete work he did was full of careless flaws. (Maybe a new guy just getting trained in and doesn't know what he's doing? Maybe a guy who doesn't care because it's not his house and no boss is supervising his work?) Items around the property were damaged with oil from the concrete machinery used, long concrete brushes that banged against the house knocking paint and the stucco off the house, fence and other property damage.
He routinely stops short of completing work that is obvious part of the project. Apparently, to see if I notice or not. You have to remind him that items were part of the contract, then he reluctantly tells the guys to finish the job. It becomes a cat and mouse game.
The company seems mismanaged in that he regularly tells me he's short of workers that's why he's behind. Then during the project he's the ONLY person that brings out and delivers the supplies the guys use. During 2 afternoons he had 3 guys who sat around my yard for hours and couldn't work while they waited for the owner to deliver landscaping supplies they needed to do their work. For some reason he had something more important going on that morning that made it worth it for workers to site and do nothing waiting for him. This is the same landscaping items he knew he needed to purchase for this project for the last 2 months.
When I bring up the problem of the concrete poorly done the owner Jaimie says, "there's nothing we can do about that now, the concrete is already poured." He quickly promises to fix the items around the property. Then he keeps making promises through the last payment for the project.
Then he stops communicating about it and never sends anyone back to repair damage he did to my property.
Beware of this company. They are extremely expensive and are not worth the headache. The owner makes all sorts of little promises he never follows through on despite seeming reliable and professional on first impression.
Avila Landscape & Design Reviews
I hired Avila Landscape and Design of Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta to do a landscape project at my home. Why? My neighbors also hired him, he is a licensed contractor and seemed professional. Therefore, I had some confidence.
I ignored the first warning signs like the guy doesn't call you back or respond to emails when you call for an estimate, cancels the appointment made and then has to reschedule, etc. Makes promises like send me your info by text or email then never follows through with the info and gets back to you as he says.
To make a long story short, the project finally starts after 2 months of delays and broken promises after giving him a deposit. His guys finally start, but don't really know what to do and I have to stand out my yard, supervise and manage his workers.
The owner Jaimie Avila typically comes out the job site about once per week with the only purpose to pick up a check from the home owner for the next installment of the project. Not to supervise or manage his workers. So any false sense of security you had about a "licensed contractor" is immediately gone, but you still have a legal contact with this guy.
You get a bunch of strange guys who don't speak English you have to watch and manage on your own. So I wonder, why don't I just hire guy like this for save myself $10,000 or more if I'm the only person managing and supervising them and the owner is out of the equation about 99.9% of the time during the project.
The concrete work he did was full of careless flaws. (Maybe a new guy just getting trained in and doesn't know what he's doing? Maybe a guy who doesn't care because it's not his house and no boss is supervising his work?) Items around the property were damaged with oil from the concrete machinery used, long concrete brushes that banged against the house knocking paint and the stucco off the house, fence and other property damage.
He routinely stops short of completing work that is obvious part of the project. Apparently, to see if I notice or not. You have to remind him that items were part of the contract, then he reluctantly tells the guys to finish the job. It becomes a cat and mouse game.
The company seems mismanaged in that he regularly tells me he's short of workers that's why he's behind. Then during the project he's the ONLY person that brings out and delivers the supplies the guys use. During 2 afternoons he had 3 guys who sat around my yard for hours and couldn't work while they waited for the owner to deliver landscaping supplies they needed to do their work. For some reason he had something more important going on that morning that made it worth it for workers to site and do nothing waiting for him. This is the same landscaping items he knew he needed to purchase for this project for the last 2 months.
When I bring up the problem of the concrete poorly done the owner Jaimie says, "there's nothing we can do about that now, the concrete is already poured." He quickly promises to fix the items around the property. Then he keeps making promises through the last payment for the project.
Then he stops communicating about it and never sends anyone back to repair damage he did to my property.
Beware of this company. They are extremely expensive and are not worth the headache. The owner makes all sorts of little promises he never follows through on despite seeming reliable and professional on first impression.