Business ProfileforTropical Outdoor Solutions, Inc.

Tropical Outdoor Solutions was recommended to us by our landscape architect, who had created a plan for a total renovation of the exterior of our property. Our project involved replacing nearly all plantings, laying new drainage pipes and installing entirely new irrigation and lighting systems. Tropical told us that the project would take about three weeks, but it took many more. Problem included: --Unauthorized removal of a small palm and an existing boulder --Inability to get some of the prescribed plantings --Installing some plantings too small to survive, including two very immature trees --Spacing plantings unevenly in many places --Failure to level the ground after excavation, creating uneven turf --Laying sod over two gutter drainage outlets --Unsatisfactory installation of edging, necessitating several revisions --Transporting heavy loads of stones across newly placed sod in wheelbarrows, ultimately leaving large bare areas that they refused to fix --Inadequate irrigation coverage in some areas --Failure to landscape a small atrium that was part of the original plan Equally distressing was the lack of professionalism of this company, including: --Lack of adequate supervision by senior personnel --Unprofessional behavior on the part of some crew --Leaving tools and empty water bottles around the property at the end of the workday --Ignoring or failing to carry out requested adjustments --Parking a truck known to be leaking oil in the driveway and leaving difficult to remove stains --Removing two trees without notice We entrusted a six-figure job to Tropical Outdoor Solutions but were left with an unsatisfactory result. It has taken several months and another five-figure outlay to correct these problems. We would not recommend Tropical Outdoor Solutions for sizable landscaping projects.

Tropical Outdoor Solutions truly strives to leave 100 percent of our customers pleased at the end of every installation. It is inevitable that the 1 percent in which we simply cannot provide enough over and above effort, return visit after return visit, will feel satisfied. In an attempt to not point the blame elsewhere we can only source materials that are available in the state of Florida. With that being said we fulfilled the plant size and caliper requested by the designer as to what was available to only meet opposition from the client on multiple items. Design adjustments days or weeks after sod, plants, rock and edging are installed will cause some disruption no doubt, but this portrayal is a bit excessive in our opinion. At the end of the job all parties involved were paid in full and the work was accepted and signed off. We have no idea why another five figures was required to remedy a few stressed areas of sod or plants that were destroyed by deer. It sounds as if this client may have been taken advantage of on the second installation and is now lashing out at us as this project was wrapped up on our end many months ago. Furthermore this client had zero issues calling us back out and hiring us to perform additional irrigation and lighting work once this job was initially completed. Why nine months later are we the bad guys?

For the record, the following point-by-point response: “…we can only source materials that are available in the state of Florida. With that being said we fulfilled the plant size and caliper requested by the designer as to what was available to only meet opposition from the client on multiple items.” Our subsequent landscape contractor had no trouble quickly obtaining much healthier replacement specimens within the state of Florida. “Design adjustments days or weeks after sod, plants, rock and edging are installed will cause some disruption no doubt, but this portrayal is a bit excessive in our opinion.” If the job had been right from the start, there would have been no need for disruption and damage, which in several instances Tropical Outdoor Solutions somehow could not or refused to repair. When asked about a warranty on plantings that had died, we were told that warranty was limited to 30-days. Our understanding, however, is that the industry standard warranty for trees and shrubs is usually one or two years. Tropical had apparently tired of the project and had decided to disengage as soon as possible regardless of the result. “At the end of the job all parties involved were paid in full and the work was accepted and signed off.” We have no record of having signed off on anything or considered the job complete or satisfactory. Our landscape architect had contracted the services with Tropical Outdoor Solutions for us, and we paid in full because there we had no intention of jeopardizing his included fee for participating in the project. “We have no idea why another five figures was required to remedy a few stressed areas of sod or plants that were destroyed by deer. It sounds as if this client may have been taken advantage of on the second installation.” We never expected Tropical Outdoor Solutions to take responsibility for damage from deer, but we certainly did expect them to do so for unsatisfactory work and damage they caused. The subsequent “second installation” was mainly required to remedy the problems that Tropical left behind. We would have preferred not to have incurred the additional inconvenience and expense. “Furthermore, this client had zero issues calling us back out and hiring us to perform additional irrigation and lighting work once this job was initially completed. Why nine months later are we the bad guys?” We called Tropical Outdoor Solutions back after the job “was initially completed” to provide irrigation for an area that they had neglected, even after having been told on three previous occasions that it would need coverage. They returned again to fix lighting cables that had been damaged by an edger. Their own technician admitted that the cables were vulnerable where installed and should have been protected by conduit. Moreover, we were additionally billed for the lighting repair. Given the unfortunate conduct and results of this job, we leave it to the owners and managers of Tropical Outdoor Solutions to consider how they could have ultimately made this right. As it stands, however, most conscientious business people in this situation would be embarrassed.