Southern Scape, LLC - Madison, Alabama

wchorton13

Beyond impressed with the quality, craftsmanship, and service Southern Scape brought to our home. Our front yard was due an upgrade. From the start, Southern Scape sent employees that saw our vision and enhanced our ideas. Their staff were dedicated, polite, and professional. The actual transformation that happened in our front yard almost seemed like magic. The finished product not only adds aesthetically pleasing value to our home, but a genuine joy for the artistry constructed. We find ourselves going outside daily to admire, and have had multiple neighbors inquire about who did our yard. Thank you, Southern Scape!

Edward Parmelee

We contracted Southern Scape for flower bed, turf grass and tree treatments. Gerard was a great Project Manager. He communicated well and addressed any 'snags' which came up. The turf company was a bit delayed but Gerard was able to handle it and keep us informed. Once everything went into place, the work was quick and the quality was awesome. Gerard went out of his way to make us happy and to ensure all subs were working in sync with us and Southern Scape. Couldn't ask for a better Project Manager. Well done!

Bruce Weddendorf

We hired Southern Scape LLC to design and build a stone paved patio with a fire pit, seating wall and a water feature in our back yard. Also they built stone paved walkways connecting this to our house, and re-did the planting beds and edging in that area. They also re-routed and re-worked our irrigation system and did some planting. All the work they did was top notch, and we are delighted with the results. The project took a bit longer than planned, but it was not an issue for us and they communicated clearly and were very easy to work with throughout the process. We highly recommend them, especially our project manager Sloan.

Ray Toth

UPDATED:
Had a chance to speak with Denny after his response to my review below. He was great to talk with and apologized for not meeting our expectations on the project and offered to reimburse us for the tree and sprinkler repair. I really appreciate him reaching out and offering to try to make things right!

First I want to say that the office staff in Madison were all very nice people and were great to work with. Unfortunately I can't say the rest of our experience was quite as good. It all started off pretty well, they were responsive to calls and questions and Greg, the owner, spoke with me and came out to try to understand what we wanted early on. The problems started after they began running behind on our relatively large and what I considered expensive project. We could tell they started rushing to complete the work and it started showing toward the end. We were supposed to get a specified amount of mulch in all of the new beds, which never happened despite having them come back out three additional times to add more. It was also clear they had a few workers on their crew who weren't as diligent at planting plants as the rest since at least 20-25% of the plants died within a 6 month period. They did come out to replace the dead plants after about 9 months; unfortunately the gentleman who came out replaced two living trees that were trees we really wanted, with two trees we didn't want, and left some of the dead plants in place. Finally, after a year passed, they came back to replace the remaining dead plants and the two incorrect trees. Two weeks after replacing one of the trees, it was dead again and despite sending text messages to the project manager, I never got a response. After looking at how the plants/trees that died were planted, I wasn't surprised as they were half buried in holes that were too small with mulch pushed up against them to make it look like they were planted correctly. We wound up replacing the trees at our own cost and they seem to be thriving now. Lastly, they added a few new zones to my sprinkler system but when they put the box into the front yard, they pushed it too far down which flattened out the PVC pipes and caused a crack in the pipe by the solenoid, which I didn't find until months later.

Glen Jones

Great experience working with Ms Jennifer and Southern Scape this summer in a total landscaping job including design, removal of existing plants, bed prep and conditioning, planting, installation of new beds, and mulching. Team was prompt and through all the way thru the job. Communication was excellent and cleanup through.
Great looking job. We are glad to have had them help us renew the look of our home.

Tracy Davis

This is my two-year review on a retaining wall that I had installed by Southern Scapes. Originally, I had planned on posting after the wall had been completed, but I had my reservations about the construction of the wall to begin with and thought I would wait to see if their engineering would stand up against the test of time. When properly built, a retaining wall should be able to go decades (or longer) before any noticeable distortion of the of the block placement.
In July 2019, I contacted Southern Scapes to have a retaining wall built across the entire length of my property in my backyard. I met with Greg who came out and took several measurements. Greg assured me that they had experience building retaining walls and indeed their website shows numerous retaining wall projects. Greg recommended all of the materials for the retaining wall and the columns as well as the construction technique. Bearing this in mind I received approval from my HOA to have the work completed and I paid the large deposit and entered into a contract with them to have the wall built later in the Fall when there was an opening for the work to be completed.
Work commenced on October 16, 2019. Since I work full-time, I was unable to monitor the work in progress, however, my wife is retired and was able to watch their comings and goings. She called me to say that they were gone by early afternoon. When I got home, I would peer out at their progress, however, I could not see what was below the surface. I did have to make comments to Luke the project manager, about things I could see. It had appeared to me that corners were being cut to reduce the quantity of materials (namely disregarding a solid footer and not going far enough into the slope), Luke reluctantly made a few changes to the plan to add height to the wall as well as cutting more into the slope. Since it was still below our agreed height, Greg offered to add an additional row on top at an additional cost of $6K. Unfortunately, I had to be out of town on business during the final days so I did not get to see the last of the construction.
In March 2020, only three months later, I contacted Greg about several issues I saw developing in the wall that I needed address as I thought they posed a concern to the structural integrity of the wall itself (Photos Posted). The first issue was several blocks were disintegrating as water pushing its way through the blocks. Greg passed me to Luke who responded after a discussion from their supplier, that basically, it’s a flaw in manufacturing. They had a fix but it was never applied. Additionally, I included photos of the wall with numerous gaps between the blocks. By mid-summer, I realized that I was not going to get a response.
This brings me to today’s review. Over the course of the past two years, I have concluded that: 1) there was not a sufficient base for the wall to be placed on. I am sure that they never checked the density of the ground to determine a proper load. 2) they did not put any Geo Fabric to aid in the structural integrity of the block, instead relying on the rocks in the block and the glue on the top caps to keep them from shifting, 3) they did not install proper drainage for the water buildup behind the wall to be released which created a back pressure on the wall. This is evident as none of the drainage behind the wall protrudes from the wall (not even from around either end). And 4) they did not consider that the columns would apply additional weight on each end of the wall forcing the wall to lean in the direction of least resistance. Since all of these should have been basic planning principles, it leads me to believe that their experience in building retaining walls was non-existent with the crew that was sent out to actually build the wall, coupled with the non-existent presence of any project/company management. Imagine building a house without any home inspections and a builder who cuts corners. That’s what you’ll get with Southern Scapes should you choose to do a project of this magnitude.

Lyn Knox

After having a pool installed, I had several contractors come out to assess how I should place coping and concrete around the pool. Every contractor that came out noticed that the pool company had installed the pool lower than it needed to be. But Southern Scapes proposed a cool design that provided a short retaining wall/seating around 3 sides of the pool. Yes, weather is always getting in the way of construction, so of course it didnt go as fast as I had hoped, but the crew was very talented (bricks, cement, pavers, stone and sod) and got the work done. I had a few changes along the way, but they were accommodating and helpful. Sloan was the project manager and he came out himself on the last day to ensure the final details were completed to my satisfaction. Now....I just need warm weather!
These pictures taken prior to cleaning the pool or concrete!

Diana LaChance

Southern Scape turned our boring backyard into a cozy oasis! Micah listened carefully to what we wanted from day one, working hard to create a design that would turn our vision into reality. And Luke and his team could not have been more professional or responsive. They left everything neat and tidy, allowing us to enjoy our new backyard immediately. We love it so much and can't wait to spend the summer grilling and sitting by our fire pit!