Craig Bennett

Review of Santa Rita landscaping

We picked Santa Rita Landscaping after reviewing m...

We picked Santa Rita Landscaping after reviewing many photos on the internet. What attracted us to the was their overall theme, which in many cases centered around a fountain. I have a water fountain my Dad built 57 years ago for a house he designed. I always wanted to use the fountain somehow, but never had a good idea on how to implement it.

We called Santa Rita in October of 2020 and met with Jeremy. He listened to our goals, showed him our current landscape photos and outlined our budget. He had some good ideas and we agreed to move forward with a proposal from them. We met again in mid-December, which Jeremy showed us a very detailed, professional drawing of their vision for our project. After going through the plan, we made a few minor changes and signed the contract. We also signed a contract for a Pergola that is handled by one of their trusted partners.

They stay very busy, with work scheduled out several months. This is a sign of a good contractor IMO. We got a window for the work at the end of March 2021, which worked out well for us. A meeting was held at our house with Jeremy, Esteban (Foreman), myself and wife. We went over all details. One issue that came up several weeks before the work begun was our choice of pavers. With COVID-19 problems, tumbled pavers was near to impossible to be had. Jeremy and Kristy (the project administrator) were able to track down the correct pavers in Phoenix and have them delivered on site without additional cost to us! Outstanding.

On the start date, everyone converged on our house....porta John delivery, pavers, gravel, sand, dirt, and the crew. I oversaw a worldwide engineering firm for years and the start day always amazed me to see it all come together. This was no exception...these guys are professionals!

The crew lead was Jose'. This guy is amazing! He aways had our plans close to him and was able to sequence all the steps perfectly. Our job was not huge, but required 2-weeks schedule for completion. The way Jose' sequenced it, I thought it was all out of order, but by the 4th day, I saw how expertly he had it managed. I also had HVAC replacement scheduled at the same time and had wanted pavers placed for the outdoor condenser units. Jose' made sure they were installed in time for the HVAC contractor. In fact, provided a very sturdy and level base where the condensers will never have a sinking problem.

Jose' placed all the pavers, including the curvy sidewalk path he made out front. Did an outstanding job! The plumber/electrician, Juan and I discussed how to power the low voltage lights as well as connect up the fountain. I really had no clue how he was going to build the fountain. He came up with a perfect solution by drilling a 1/2" hole through a rock and placing the fountain head through the hole and allowed the rock to be the base! I would have never thought of this! It was perfect! He also fixed our irrigation supply and provided the water to the fountain by connecting into the main water supply to the irrigation system. This has worked well. I use Apple Homekit smart switches made by Meross to control the fountain and the low-voltage lights.

Jose' was always available to me to discuss how he thought certain things should be done and made sure I was in agreement before proceeding. Our communications was excellent and I never felt he pushed his idea on me, but rather was alway interested in making sure I was pleased with how every detail was done. This was refreshing to me. Usually one had conflicts with contractors, but not one conflict and all outstanding items were address immediately.

I cannot speak highly enough on Santa Rita Landscaping! It is interesting to me that I hired CertaPro Painters to paint my exterior since all my landscaping and HVAC work is complete. Joe, the owner came out to provide a quote and remarked how nice the landscaping was. He wanted to know who done it, when I told him, he got all excited as he recently signed a contract with Santa Rita Landscaping to do landscaping at his house!