Over the years, I have hired many contractors for a wide variety of projects both large and small. One simple thing I learned is that some contractors are very good, others, not so much. One thing that really helps is to read reviews from others. I couldn’t find any for Jefe’s Landscaping. I really don’t like giving bad reviews but when it comes to contractors, it might help someone to avoid the problems I encountered. Maybe he should stick to mow and blow. We hired Jefe’s Landscaping, owned by David Perez to construct an outdoor patio with a retaining wall and adjacent parking areas, and a little rockscaping. What went well: Once the project actually got started, the project turned out, for the most part, pretty well. There are issues, discussed below. What went wrong: COMMUNICATION: David Perez, the owner, is a good salesman but he is not proactive in his communication. I had to initiate all communication. While his response to questions was fairly quick, his answers were short and often did not answer the question. It was difficult to get a straight answer. This caused multiple problems. He never showed up at the construction site until the last day. It’s a good thing he has a good foreman. OVERCHARGING: The original quote included an $1800 drainage system (about 10% of the project cost). I canceled this part of the project, yet in the final bill I was still charged for it. When I pointed this out to David he tried to tell me that it was included in the retaining wall. When I pointed out in the contract that the retaining wall drainage was part of that portion of the project he began to get mad. I had also added a small rockscape phase outside of the original contract for which he charged me $1800. Considering the small scope and the fact that it was done in a day, and with the wrong material (see below), I felt that was pretty steep. However, I suggested we simply trade out the rockscape for the drainage. At this point the conversation went downhill very quickly. When I told him that if we could not come to a reasonable compromise I would have to write a negative review, he became irate and accused me of extortion. Call it what you will, I am an unhappy customer, and unhappy people write negative reviews. CONSTRUCTION: The workers made a significant error in their excavation. The bricks on one side of the patio actually overlap the wood siding on the house. This was not apparent until the last day when they laid the last course of bricks. When I pointed this out to David at the end of the project, I told him he needed to add flashing to protect the siding. He told me he doesn’t do flashing and gave me some half-baked answer about the fill material he uses. At this point the whole project would have to be torn out and redone. I knew that wasn’t going to happen so I dropped it. I’ll have to keep a close eye on it do determine whether moisture damage is occurring. Decidedly not happy about this. THE WORKERS: When the project started, maybe the workers would show up, maybe not. Several times they would show up and spend a good deal of time standing around on their phones, doing nothing. At one point I had to text David to ask why they weren't working? However, once the foreman was on the job (about a week after start), they did good work and made good progress. His foreman was a good guy and easy to work with. I hope he is paid well. Without him David’s company would be nothing. MATERIALS: I spec’d a type of rip rap for the above mentioned rockscape. Without informing me of the change, David had a round river rock delivered instead, not at all what I wanted. When I pointed this out, David gave me another BS answer about how no one wanted to deliver “way out here” (we live in Red Rock). The next day I went down to Reno Rock and they were more than happy to deliver the material I spec’d, even later that day. I hate how it looks but my wife likes it so there you go. So overall, the project looks good, but the process was painful. His crew is good; the problem is with el jefe. I give it 2 stars.