Pebbles and Pots (Arcox Fencing & Gardening Services)

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	Arcox Fencing & Gardening Services
Date:	17/03/08 (435 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: clean and easy to maintain

Disadvantages: no grass

ARCOX

A few years ago, about 4-5 to be exact I had a wonderful colourful garden, I even remember getting the house valued and the estate agent put the value of the property up due to my care and attention to the garden. Wow, what a compliment that was, it made me feel really proud. I loved gardening so much I kept mine and my parents' garden going. I even looked after my nans' when I called to visit her.

Enough reminiscing, like I said that was 4-5 years ago now, and my health started to take a downward spiral, it was my garden I had to let go of first, I couldn't stop looking after my parents, so mine went, I carried on with my parents for about another year, but then that became too much for me to cope with as well, my back and legs just could not cope with the work any more.

So my garden became a jungle and then a canine toilet, literally as for the past year I have not been able to walk my dogs at all, so they used to go in the jungle. It sounds awful but it is true and it was now becoming a very big eyesore and an even bigger embarrassment for me.

I am not by any means well off, so it has taken me a lot of years to put a little bit away here and there to get my garden done and made pretty again, but mostly making it easy to look after, with a dog friendly part which is easier for me to clean up after them if I need to. So it is now the start of making one of my dreams come true.


~~ Decisions, Decisions. ~~

Once our savings had reached the desired amount, I got really excited and went through our local paper looking for landscape gardeners; we started ringing around mid January this year. We had four different companies call round to measure up and give us an estimate, we were very surprised at the range of costs for the work we required, also very surprised that they were all willing to take the job on, as our back garden was in such a state. I forgot to mention the one part of it was totally obscured by Russian Vine and under that was an arbour, water feature, various pots and a 6 x 4 metal shed which would all have to be removed.

We arranged for each one to visit us on a different day, so that there was no mix ups and no bumping into each other, we did not want any tit for tat arguments or anything similar from them.

The first one, looked ok, but sounded a bit of a 'Jack the lad', you know the type, he came up with all the hype and gave us a quote on the spot saying he could start virtually straight away, he even phoned up later that day and dropped the price by a further £300.00 if we accepted him straight away; we declined.

The second person to visit came round and he has been described to us as the Rolls Royce of the gardening fraternity, not only by himself, but by the lads that we finally employed to do our garden. He was very courteous and gave us some lovely ideas for what to do with the garden, some which we took on board and others we altered slightly to get what we wanted. He was very, very expensive.

Our third visitor, came measured, was very pleasant to talk to, but explained that he seemed to have a very busy life at the moment, so busy that he never came back to us with a quote.

Finally the last quote, a nice man called round and woke me up, oops I had forgot all about the appointment; he let himself in and took a look around the garden whilst I got dressed and came downstairs to meet up with and explained what we wanted. He listened intently and made some suggestions, then after taking some measurements he said he would be straight back in a few days with his quote. He was not pushy, he listened and he seemed to have a nice personality and he came across as honest and friendly.

Nearly a week later we had three quotes as the one never got back to us, and we made our decision; we did this not only on price, but on how the person made us feel that was giving us the quote, I won't say sales pitch as they were really asking us what we wanted and obliging, or offering an idea to help us visualise the garden; which to me is a god send as I am no good at visualising the finished result, I am the same with decorating, I always have to get help.

So we chose Arcox, a two man company that have a business premises at Trench Lock, Telford, they seemed friendly and they had the middle quote; we invited them round to discuss their quote as it was a little over our budget. I phoned them up and explained this and they came round to see us the same night to discuss the garden and to see what we could do on the quote by giving it a few nips and tucks here and there over a cup of tea. I was really pleased as they managed to get the price down to what we could afford without too much compromising on our part and still giving us a wonderful new garden to look at. The other bonus feature was they could start work in a couple of weeks so I would not have long to wait. They also only charged us for 5 days, which is all down in writing and if they went over that it would be at their cost, not ours. They originally thought it would take six days, but they worked longer hours to get it finished.

A little more about the company; Anthony and Andy started off around 10 years ago doing the odd job on a part time basis whilst they continued in their normal day jobs, then due to the work coming in more and there good reputation spreading they decided to go full time approx 5 years ago, they not only specialise in Landscaping they also doing fencing, any kind of garden work, decking and patios etc. As you can imagine a lot of this is season work, so when you are starting out and building a reputation it is good to have another speciality to fall back on, so they also specialise in Household Maintenance and Bathroom/Kitchen fitting.


~~ Day One ~~

Before today started I had already booked this day off work, as I wanted to be here for day one in case of any unforeseen problems; plus I had also been around to my immediate neighbours to advise them of the noise and disruption that will be going on for the next week. Believe me it was very noisy and they took up the road with the Lorries and vans parked outside.

Anyway, bright and early Monday morning they showed up, bang went my lie in, but it was for a very good cause, our garden. There first problem it seemed was the digger they hired it was meant to be a small one to get up my drive and through my wrought iron gate to get to the garden, but the company had sent them the bigger one instead. Oops; amazingly this did not cause them too much concern, Anthony (he was the man who first came to see us) got out the tape measure, took off my gate and directed the man he had working for him through the gap making sure that it got through without causing any damage to property, it made it with millimetres to spare.

The digger started to churn up all the mess of a garden and knock down the small wall that was already there; meanwhile Andy (the other partner) arrives with a pick up truck and has to reverse this up my long drive which runs at the side of my house between the house wall and a low wall between our neighbours house and ours. Once again an extremely tight fit, so tight that once he had got it up there for the digger to fill with soil and rubble, he had to climb out of the window to get out of it as there was no other way.

With these problems overcome, without a moan I have to say; the lads made speedy progress and cleared the whole of the back garden, knocking down the fence panels at the top of the garden that had been crushed by the Russian Vine and clearing the whole garden of muck, weeds and plants, until all that was left was soil. They also put the dry mix down on the lower patio area ready for tomorrow.

I must mention that Anthony helped me on a personal matter today, totally out of his remit. A man said I had problems with my tiles on the roof and wanted me to have a look which I did, but I asked Anthony to look with me as well in case I made a mistake, we all saw the tiles that had moved in the winds we had recently so I had to pay to have them put back, £120.00 for 15 mins work what a rip off. Anyway I was not happy at being ripped off and asked Anthony his opinion, he then phoned them for me and got them to come back and cement them in like he should have done in the first place so that they would not move again. This done I felt a little better about being ripped off, as at least now I had a little more to show for it and they were made to finish the job.

That was the first day over; believe me they worked extremely hard that day, there was a lot to clear up to give them the blank canvas to start the next day.

~~ Day Two ~~

I should have been on late shift today and I would have been quite happy to leave the lads to do the work, they seemed very honest and very helpful. But I had that dreaded flu bug that is going around and it had left me with no voice and a lot of congestion which was not a good thing, so I was stuck at home watching them work and looking after my dogs, still no rest as all the work they are doing is noisy (but its worth it).

Day two is putting down the slabs for the patio area which has been levelled as my garden slopes upwards; and preparing the ground for the new wall for the bricky to build tomorrow. The lads are using this compacter thingy and compressing the mix down, the weather today for February is absolutely beautiful really sunny and warm, they are out there in their t-shirts working hard. It takes most of the day to get the patio done, one of the other problems they have it they have to move things down from other areas to get that part prepared as well, today our old shed has been bought down from the top of the garden to the middle level ready to go.

Today's problem was the Forsythia which I wanted to keep, apart from the fact that I love it; it was one of the first plants that I bought for the garden. When they came to dig around this it was discovered that the roots were two wide spread and would get damaged so they had to make the wall bigger and it had go around the tree rather than straight across as they first envisaged.

They have lifted the shed onto the front garden for me today, making my neighbours laugh and asking me how much do I charge per night to rent it out, lol. Hubby and my stepson have dismantled this and taken it to my sisters for them to use, as I no longer need it. The lads were really good as they had to carry this over the skip full of rubbish blocking my drive to get to the front garden, gosh I'm impressed.

Really pleased today as it is starting to take shape it is great watching it develop, starting taking daily photos now of the work they have done.

~~ Day Three ~~

I am still off work sick today, feeling very rough, but at least the noise outside is at a minimum, the man to do the wall is here and has made a start. Whilst he is doing that Andy and Anthony have got started putting the new fence at the top of the garden, it is really starting to look quite good and I can't wait for it to be finished as I am starting to get really excited.

Today's problem was my neighbour, sadly she has really disappointed me, the lads put the fence exactly where the old one was previously, (which my neighbour had pulled down because it was rotten). They had just completed it when she came up her garden pointing her finger and telling them they had to take the fence down and move it towards us by 4 inches as apparently it was her 4ins; the lads assured me that they had not moved it onto her land and that they had just put it where it was before, but they did not cause a fuss they just moved it. Which in all honesty I did not mind, as I know there are times in ones life when 4 inches can be very important, but to the size of the garden it won't make much difference, so let her have 4 inches if she wants it that badly. I am pleased with the lads, but extremely disappointed with my neighbour, she even laughed with me earlier that day and asked how it was going, but never once did she mention that she had a go at the lads and took 4 inches of my land. Never mind, there is nowt funnier than folk.

The weather stayed good for them today and they achieved a lot, it is a time stacking job and a lot of heavy and hard work, but they just get down to it, only stopping briefly to have a light lunch and a cuppa.

There was one little disappointment for me, but this is not a major one; we are having wrought iron work done to go on top of the new wall, this is being made to match my fencing on the wall of the drive. There is going to be a delay of approx 2 weeks so when they finish on Friday they will have to put up a temporary one to stop my doggies going on the dog free zone. Its not the guys fault they could not order it before the wall was build as it has to be made to measure, I'm only disappointed because I was thinking it would be all finished on Friday, and I now have to wait a little longer, oh well never mind, all good things come to those that wait and I have been waiting for a few years to get this done, a little longer won't hurt.

~~ Day Four ~~

It is a lot colder today, the wall set overnight so they have now finished the patio area taking it right up to the wall, they are laying the steps today as well, so I will be able to walk up there soon and take a closer look, I can't wait.

I found my outside lamp out of the garage and they have kindly cemented it into place so that it won't get knocked over by the wind again, they are also securing my arbour so that does not get blown over as well, previously that fell over breaking my stone sundial which I will need to get another of when I have saved up again.

I used to have a stone circle before and they found it under all the undergrowth of the top section of the garden, they have cleaned that up and relayed it properly for me. It appears today are all the little fiddly jobs are being done, the stepping stones have been laid and they have put down the really thick membrane for the top two sections of the garden, getting ready to put the golden chippings down and the stepping stones.

They also put the main gate back up and cemented a little ridge taking you onto the patio off the drive, which tonight my two dogs who must have thought they were stars and in Hollywood put there paw prints in, for us to keep for prosperity. It was not planned they just got out, but now it's done, I don't mind it will be there long after they have gone.

The chippings will be going down tomorrow and they will be cleaning up and making every look brilliant I can't wait.

~~ The Final Day ~~

D-Day is here and the lads arrived around 1000hrs, there was not a lot left to do, just tidying up and putting all the chippings down. All in all it only took them a few hours to finish up. We were so confident in their work and honesty we settled the bill before they finished as we had to go out and on our return we saw the finished result and was over the moon; it is now a lovely blank canvas for us to add our own personality too and place our mark on it. I need to say here that they still have to come back for the wrought iron fencing which at their suggestion we kept some money back to cover the cost of it.

~~ The Fence ~~

It was only a week later to the day that the lads returned to complete the job and fix the iron fencing and the small gate. They spent the morning fitting this and when it was completed I have to say at first I was a tiny bit disappointed as it did not match the one we already have along the driveway; but then my hubby explained that they did say that they would not be able to get an exact match without going over our agreed budget, I was obviously so excited about getting the garden done that it had slipped my mind completely.

That initial disappointment did not last long through as we placed ornaments, pots and plants around the garden it soon took on its own personality and really started to look beautiful and more importantly easy to manage and the fence along with the little gate became a lot more acceptable and actually quite nice. We did have to call the lads back after a couple of days as one of the posts failed to set properly and was a little loose. I was extremely impressed with their professionalism they came back to us within a couple of days at their first opportunity to sort the problem out and reset the post, it has not moved since, and they guarantee their work for 12 months.


~~ Conclusion ~~

Anthony and Andy are a good team, they are both lovely lads and I have probably not done there work load justice on here, they have done more than I have mentioned. They are honest and hardworking; at the moment I cannot fault their work and dedication. Oh and thankfully I have not seen one builder's cleavage all week, lol.

As I mentioned when we were choosing a landscaper to do this work, how you feel about the person giving you the quote goes a long way to helping you pick the right man for the job. There is only once previously that I have not followed my gut instinct and that was when we had the kitchen done many years ago and he ended up being a cowboy and doing an awful job, and I had to get someone else in to put things right.

Anyway, back to my garden, it has been a few weeks since they finished now and we have bought planters etc and got it how we want it to look, with spring flowers at the moment; I can't wait until the summer when I can spend more time in it. I am really very pleased with the work that has been done, any small problem was quickly rectified, and my hubby is so pleased he has been doing a little bit to it as well, which is totally unheard of previously. I would highly recommend these two and they inform me that they will travel across the country, but please note if they have to stay away from home in accommodation then this will possibly be reflected in their price, but they are worth every penny.

~~ How to get in touch with them~~

Arcox

Anthony

Phone: 01952 414596 mobile: 07970597674

Andy

Phone: 01952 279116 mobile: 07966911383

Summary: A wonderful new garden which I can now appreciate and look after