Flores Artscape — Local services in Los Angeles

Our newly purchased home was completely renovated by the seller, and looked fantastic...with the exception of the backyard (I guess they ran out of money). So after moving in, we hired Flores Artscape to bring the backyard up to par with the rest of our new home. Flores Artscape did an amazing job, were a pleasure to work with, and I plan to re-hire them for a new project on our front yard next year!

When choosing our contractor to renovate our yard, we researched dozens of companies, and narrowed our choices down to three to meet and interview on-site. Eric from Flores Artscape impressed us the most with his professionalism, preparedness, and deep knowledge. He had very informative answers to all our questions, and even pushed back on some of our initial ideas--citing ways to save on costs, materials that could work better, or design choices that may be a better fit. That pushback is something we especially appreciated, and was often missing from our other two initial “sales pitch” meetings with the other contractors, who seemed to agree with whatever they thought would make us happy and sign a contract.

Once we signed with Flores Artscape, work began very quickly. As new homeowners, this was our first time doing a major renovation project, and we weren’t quite sure what to expect. After all, we’ve all heard horror stories about contractors delaying builds, stopping work halfway for weeks at a time, demanding huge additional costs/charges, etc… I assumed the project would take 2-3 months, with another few weeks of added delay time (especially considering the pandemic, labor shortages, building material shortages, etc…). It turns out all our concerns were completely unwarranted… they estimated the job would be done in 6 weeks, and they were absolutely correct!

Throughout the build, the entire Flores Artscape team was incredibly responsive, with emails and text messages often answered within minutes. Any changes to the proposed timeline or schedule were fully communicated in advance, and we felt completely in the loop the entire time. If we ever had any questions or concerns, we never felt like we were being brushed off or met with radio silence. Good communication is key, and the Flores team absolutely delivers here.

As with any large renovation project, there are going to be some problems. As happy as we are with the work Flores Artscape did, we do have a complaint about one aspect of our yard. A few weeks after our project finished, our DG (decomposed granite) pathways started showing rather large cracks. Fortunately, even though our project ended weeks prior, Flores Artscape sent someone out to take a look the very next day. Ultimately they had a team of 3 guys come and re-work parts of the pathway within a few days. Great service! However…Unfortunately, we’re still having some issues with the DG pathways. The cracks have come back, and on top of that, recent rainstorms have eroded some fairly deep grooves into the pathways. We haven’t alerted Flores about these issues yet (we’ve been busy around the holidays), but I assume they’ll do their best to fix the problems once we reach out to the team. I’m also not sure if deep erosion grooves in DG pathways is just a normal thing people deal with when it rains heavily…again, first time homeowner…or if it’s an issue with our pathway construction (maybe not enough stabilizers?).

Despite some recent hiccups with the DG pathways (which I’m confident will be taken care of), we’re extremely happy with the job Flores Artscape did on our backyard. The fact that we plan to hire them again for our next project for our front yard should tell you exactly how confident we are with their...

Where do I start! I am so grateful to have found Flores Artscape and could not be happier with the results. I live in a house where my front yard is my only yard (there is no backyard) and I wanted to start making use of this outside space. With a 2-year-old toddler and 2 fur babies needing an outdoor environment, I needed it to be safe and practical for all. I had my own set of design ideas but knew that I needed guidance and an expert eye to make my ideas a reality. What I knew I wanted: artificial (pet friendly) turf on one side and a deck on the other side.

This is where Eric comes in. Eric was the salesperson/designer that came out to provide a consultation and quote. Eric is awesome! He is this really cool, super knowledgeable, honest, personable guy and he totally sold it for me. He is a great representation of this company and after meeting him, I knew that I wanted to do business with this company. What I appreciated the most was that Eric was honest with me. I shared some of my ideas and although he never said it could not be done, he gave me great feedback including why he "would or would not do this/that" for me to think about. In turn, he provided me with other design ideas that I had not considered, which I ended up following through with and getting done. The only bummer was that after that initial contact, I was only able to thank Eric via email. Thanks again Eric!

Next was Arturo, the amazing project manager. I cannot say enough about the level of professionalism and customer care Arturo demonstrated. There were multiple daily check-ins with me throughout the process to see if I had any questions or concerns. Be prepared, this company sends an army of workers to get your project done! Arturo was skilled at coordinating all the work and getting his crew to get the project done in a timely manner. Daily, each group of workers knew their task and got it done. It took these guys less than 2 weeks (about 9-10 days) to finish the project. They work fast (excellent work ethic!!), they are detailed oriented (the nails on my deck could not be any straighter), they clean-up at the end of each workday and they are all just a great group of workers.

Financially, this was certainly an investment. I believe that they are pretty comparable with other companies, maybe a little bit more expensive, but it has truly been worth every penny. Their work is impeccable, and it has been one of the most stress-free house renovations that I've had done. More importantly, the best part of it all, has been seeing my little girl enjoy the new grassy area and beautifully constructed deck.

I am so incredibly...

Update (2019-03-25):

A much more professional company quotes for $1k less than this expensive one! With same amount of work and a better customer service!

Update (2019-03-20):

Change to 2-star after an email communication with the business, but I still feel the business does not do things professionally and had many unnecessary excuses.

They told me the early arrival of the representative was due to their system setting up the window of arrival 30 minutes prior to the original appointment time. But still this cannot be the excuse because the representative states he need to get back at 1pm for the next appointment, even though 1pm was supposed to be my original appointment time.

They agree the price was expensive and send me the detailed breakdown of individual tasks. They also recommend me to ask neighbors to find cheaper options because they will charge for a half day of work to fix the filter, and because they are a larger landscaping company and do not usually do irrigation repairs for a single service alone. They apologized for not mentioning it when we set the appointment.

They claimed those single review posters are from clients who normally do not write reviews but was asked to write one if they were satisfied with their job.

Original Review:

TLDR: Flores Artscape: No punctuality; No professionalism; "Not worth it" to do the work; Pay $1800 cleaning then I will do the work; Possible fake 5-star reviews; Avoid at all costs!

Need to fix the filter on the irrigation system. I made the appointment at 1pm on Saturday and a person called me around 12:30 and told me he is at the property and he needs to get back at 1pm, so I have to abandon my lunch and follow their schedule instead.

After a quick look he told me he is not here for fixing the filter and he is only taking a look. He told me I will get a quote by email after he gets back. But there was no quote or any email followup on Saturday. So I called in on Tuesday and they replied by telling me they feel it was not worth it just for fixing the filter! But if I do the one-day clean up for the backyard and they will "happily" throw in the filter fix for free! And the price? $1800! for a 7k sqft lot sized house!

Then I double checked all those "5-star" review on Google and found out most of them are reviewers with only 1 review! That should prove how honest this business is and what you should...