Nature's Realm Landscaping, Design, Construction And Maintainance

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Thomas T.

Joined 1 year ago

Made our vision come true. We had a vision of a patio with a seat and natural gas fire-pit all made from natural stone. Kevin and his team at Nature's Realm built it and it came out even better then we had imagined. Kevin is a great guy to work with. There is no hard sale, he's upfront with the costs, offers his expert opinion and most of all makes sure the customer is completely happy. Caesar, his stone mason does extraordinary work with natural stone and is meticulous about cleaning up every day and especially at the end of the job.

We could not be happier with the work and the finished product and would not hesitate to use his services again.

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Wattssid

Joined 2 years ago

Great All-Around Contractor. Kevin was very up front and direct about what he was going to do and about the costs. His follow up and finishing was especially impressive, and our project ended very well and exceeded our expectations. Kevin emailed and called whenever there were issues or questions.

He even caught our escaped dog and brought him home.

Thanks Kevin!

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dlars

Joined 2 years ago

Talented Landscaping Professionals. We read Kevin's reviews prior to calling him. He soon came by and we laid out what we wanted:

1. A large fruit and vegetable garden, expanded patio space for our family, grass spaces and landscape beds designed for color year round.

2. Pergola patio cover with climbing roses

3. Outdoor firepit area & sitting wall

4. Arbor accents for climbing roses over our living room window

5. Large grape arbor

6. Espaliered pomegranates on fences

7. Full irrigation system that incorporated an existing irrigation system and added micro-spray stations and drip irrigation.

8. Exotic mix of productive and colorful plants

Kevin and his team delivered on every count.

He doesn't sub out the work so you know you're working with him through the entire project as single point of contact.

Kevin is upfront on costs. He'll let you know how much something will cost before he does the work and will deliver within a few percent of the estimate.

He has tremendous technical knowledge from plants and planting to all types of construction throughout all phases of the project.

My wife and I tend to be quite detail oriented. If there was something that did not seem right, Kevin was always willing to look at it, and fix it if necessary.

He has followed up faithfully, providing input on watering schedules / strategies, and checking in with us on how things were doing. He has offered to replace any plant casualties we had during the initial shock period after planting. Very good service overall.

Kevin is an artist - not just a landscaper. As such you have to get used to his style which can be brash at times when it comes to differences of opinion. He'll argue with you if he thinks something won't look good. It took us a little while to understand that he really wanted us to be happy with the result. Once we understood this we were able to work very well with him.

In summary, Kevin exceeded our expectations. We're very happy with our landscape. We have my own "victory garden" now.

Given him a call - you won't be disappointed!

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DavidFinan

Joined 2 years ago

Great garden. We recommend Kevin for a thoughtful and thorough approach to landscaping. It took time, more than you may think, but we love our backyard. We'd like to highlight the following:

1. Great design that met your our for a play area for small children and an adult zone with limited backyard space.

2. Thoughtfully designed patio with a water fountain and a pergola that fit and enhanced our home perfectly.

3. Rebuilt existing irrigation system, to meet the actual needs of the yard.

4. Worked within our budget. We set our budget early and tweaked the design and plan to fit.

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Kris OConner74

Joined 2 years ago

I Love My Yard. I wanted a lot done and I wanted it done my way. I'm semi-anal by nature, so when Kevin couldn't begin work when I originally wanted I shopped around. Admittedly I only had one other landscaper come out and give me an estimate of what I wanted (a fairly big job, so I felt I had every right to be picky), but I just didn't feel like he cared enough about the work and I was just another job, a completely different vibe than I got from Kevin, so I called him back and we were able to arrange another day for him to come out and for us to figure things out.

I mentioned I wanted a big job and was hoping he would be up to it, but also not bs me on what could and couldn't be done and then make a compromise in the 11th hour and upset me and the wife. We talked again about what I wanted and what I was hoping to keep my budget at. After drawing up some plans and an estimate I was eager to see if he could walk the walk as well as he talked the talk. We're talking a complete renovation of my yard and this living space here so I was a bit skeptical, just by nature.

He asked that when we were done to write an honest review for him on the site, because word of mouth is where a lot of his business comes from. He didn't ask me to fluff it for him, nor would I have. I rely on yelp and citysearch for a lot of my choices now (it's how I found Nature's Realm), so being fair was all I was interested in.

You've seen the 5 stars and I've given enough of the situation now, so let me start gushing about the work. The first we fell in love with was the fantastic patio cover for having a comfortable family area. This summer has been unbearable, so this was an absolute must for us. To have this patio cover is a game changer for our backyard, despite how minor it might seem. We also had outdoor lighting and a fountain installed as a centerpiece of our yard, just as the early design plans that he showed us indicated. Lights and a patio cover hardly seem like something to swoon over, but when you add them to your yard, you'll understand.

The entire design was just absolutely incredible. It met our needs for a large patio to entertain and a spa with easy to care for our beds and plants. I'm not young, but I'm hardly old, though I still wanted some guidance on how to work everything after it was installed, before I even began to ask Kevin was ready to show me how to work everything and made it simple to understand for me and my wife, so either of us can work it now. It was clear that Kevin had the technical knowledge for all the plants and planting to all types of construction throughout all phases of our project. I never felt like he was learning things on the fly, I really felt at ease once I started seeing everything start to come together, and that's such a rare thing for me to experience. He even came back out for a follow up, after completion, to make sure everything was as it should be and that we didn't have any further questions.

Should we decide to add more to our yard (I'm thinking outdoor firepit!) then Kevin is definitely the landscaper I'm going to call. He's truly transformed our yard for us, which we liked spending time in before, but now we just adore it. I recommend him to anyone who even mentions redoing their yard now and was actually eager to write this review.

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john elzner

Joined 2 years ago

Landscape Makeover Artist. Prior to choosing Nature?s Realm I had met with a couple of other landscaping companies that were unable to help me understand how they were going to allocate the money that they were suggesting I spend on my backyard. In the meantime, I was able to observe a backyard transformation that was going on at my next door neighbors that was being done my Nature?s Realm.

I met with Kevin who explained his company?s philosophy: listen to his client?s objectives, design a plan that incorporates them, take a hands on approach, be flexible, stay small and appreciate the outcome. Kevin was honest about when he could start and how long the project would take and pretty blunt about how much it was going to cost (as a result, no surprises).

I met with him and described what I was looking for. I wanted an area that could serve and entertain a large number of guests (20-30) in a small backyard in the Heights with an outdoor kitchen to boot; not just any kitchen, but a complete kitchen that I could use anytime of the year, rain or shine.

Kevin brought in his architect and his first drawing absolutely blew me away. It was beyond my expectations (and beyond what I initially wanted to spend). I know that I could have asked that the plan be modified to suit my original thoughts of price, but the vision was so exciting that I signed him up immediately.

The project was slow, but methodical and well thought out. Kevin?s crew is small, but very skilled and thoughtful. The end result was absolutely spectacular and beyond my original expectations. My friends and family have been absolutely blown away with the transformation.

Thank you Kevin. I will take care of your baby.

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JosephReynolds

Joined 2 years ago

Skeptical No More. I contacted Nature's Realm to renovate our backyard after reading the reviews here as they seemed to have far and away the best feedback in my neck of the woods.

Now when I originally called Kevin informed me that he would be busy this week with the jobs he had already taken and would not be able to see me until next week. I'm not exactly known for my patience but I decided I could give him a full week and if I didn't hear back I would move on and find someone else.

Kevin ended up calling me back the following Monday (I had called him Wednesday morning) and I explained to him what I was wanted to do, we then bounced some ideas off each other and I had an immediate good vibe about the project. He offered suggestions, but wasn't pushy, and helped me understand what would work best for each area of my property, as I'm located in the Heights so my landscape options may be more tricky than others since my property is probably smaller than someone in the Memorial area.

Once he showed us his previous designs ideas I was excited, though still skeptical, because when it's your stuff things never seem to go as well as they do for everyone else, or so was my previous outlook on this type of thing. I have to say that Kevin's designs were much more original and beautiful than many of our friends. I couldn't wait to see if he could deliver the same results to us.

We ended up having a flagstone patio built with a covered roof and ceiling fans installed and now we spend so much more time in our backyard. We also had Kevin and his team build us a raised vegetable and herb garden that all of our friends are just stunned by when they come over. They installed a micro irrigations system that makes it very easy for us to keep it beautiful and put in drip irrigation lines in our shrub beds to assist in watering our landscape. Everything is growing so much better now. This might all sound intimidating if you aren't familiar with it, but I assure you it isn't. Kevin is able to answer your questions without giving you double talk and you know exactly what is what.

The wife and I are already discussing what we want to have done next and we will without hesitation call Nature's Realm up again to do the work.

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Averill C

Joined 2 years ago

Creative, Fun Landscaper. Kevin Boyd is a wonderful landscape designer who is full of creativity and energy. My husband and I were looking for a landscaper who would make our very ordinary yard into something extraordinary. With only limited knowledge of plants (or even what we really wanted), my husband and I relied heavily on Kevin's expertise and advice -- and he didn't steer us wrong. From the layout and hardscaping to specific plant selection and installation, Kevin guided us through one good decision after another. And just as important, Kevin always came in on budget and kept us abreast of the costs and expenses along the way so there were no surprises when the work was done and the bill submitted. The end result speaks for itself; our yard is exactly what we were hoping for (even if we weren't able to articulate it in the first place!). Moreover, once the job was finished, Kevin still kept tabs on our yard, making sure we were aware of upcoming inclement weather and even replacing the few plants we lost last winter at cost. All in all, working with Kevin was a wonderful experience and we would recommend him to anyone looking to make his or her yard something special. Yes, you'll pay a little more than many fly-by-night landscape outfits charge, but you'll get your money's worth.

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knightusmc

Joined 2 years ago

Worth Every Penny-"A Natural". Our experience with Natures Realm, led by Kevin Boyd, was in short extraordinary.

From initial contact and meeting to future follow-up and advice, Kevin and his team were fantastic. He talked us through every phase, performed on time. Kept us involved and humorously guided to the right decisions. Our only regret was when they pulled out of the driveway for the next job.

With Kevin, you get what you pay for and more. His services billed met his estimates almost to the penny and yet the product we got was more than bargained for in many ways. If you want to be involved in your project this is the guy. It felt like I was working with a close friend and neighbor rather than an arm's length business transaction. We can't wait for the funds to begin "Phase 2" in our plan, and Kevin is our pick to do it.

We pretty much started with a Tabla Rosa. 5 Flat acres of prairie land and two small oaks.What we got was:

1. Out of this world Architect that designed a 3 sheet plan for 5 acres with orchards, spa, pond, Pergola, deck and outdoor kitchen area, veggie beds, scenic landscape etc.

2. 3 "Bullet proof" raised Vegetable beds of CMU construction.

3 The start of a fruit orchard designed to provide shade and act as part of a privacy screen.

4. An enormous wind screen to protect our vegetable beds and future row crop gardening area.



5. A high tech drip and spray irrigation system that works with our water well.

6. A well thought out, phased, future expansion plan.

7. Plenty of technical knowledge - off-the-grid projects to plants and planting and all types of ingenious even earth-friendly construction and gardening. (Don't worry, there were no tree-hugging ceremonies required.)

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sahusse

Joined 2 years ago

Best Contractor We've Found to Date. Kevin recently designed and executed a large landscaping job at our lakeside Sugar Land house, and we're quite pleased with the process and the results.

Scope of the Job:

(1) It was over $100,000 and took several months to complete.

(2) It involved.....Removal of several dumptruck loads of dirt along the lake, over 350 sq. ft. of 3' high serpentine reinforced rock wall, over 1000 sq. ft. of hardscape patio at the lake and house, construction of a second story cedar deck and two pergolas, installation of a large three-pot water fountain, construction of three raised veneered stone beds, planting of over a dozen trees, plus planting beds and a garden, a custom serpentine iron fence, complete re-work of our irrigation and drainage, all electric work for high-end lighting and the fountain, etc.

Pros: Just about everything. We got our homeowner's "YARD OF THE MONTH" award, and we were told that our back yard is now known as the Temple of Delphi (for good reasons). The best thing about Kevin (in addition to the excellent work overall) is how straightforward and honest he is. He's good for his word more so than any interior or exterior contractor we've ever hired or interviewed.

Cons: Just a couple. Like any contractor, you still need to monitor thing closely. Kevin's quite an opinionated person, and he'll steamroll you if you're not careful. So, one word of advice: If you truly believe in your design or your way of doing things, stick to your guns. He's a gifted landscape architect, but nobody's thought about the job more than you. So, trust yourself.

Frankly, we thought about giving him four stars (in case there is even better our there), but we ultimately decided on five because (1) he deserves it, and (2) we may never find any better. Hopefully you can tell (and he'll probably tell you) that we're hard people to please. Five stars (which we've never given before) is a big deal coming from us.