Desantis Landscapes is One of My Best Vendors in Any Field.

I am pleased to share my experience with DeSantis Landscapes at the Meriwether Condo Association in the South Waterfront. Since mid-2008, before CMI was retained as the management company, the HOA was having frustrations with the service they were receiving from their landscaping company. When CMI took over, we began to challenge the landscaper with little or no results, and the Board asked us to put the landscaping out to bid with five different contractors. The top three were interviewed intensively and ultimately DeSantis Landscapes was awarded the contract. What stood them apart was their familiarity with LEED buildings, salmon safe practices, willingness to provide whatever level of service the customer desired, passion for the unique urban landscaping in the South Waterfront and, best of all, their value. Their bid worked out to be even less than the previous landscaper had been charging, and quite a bit cheaper than the competitors, but they offered extra "goodies" like compost tea applications, soil testing, zero herbicide treatment, etc. They really are pioneers of the ?green landscaping? movement, and have been practicing this long before it was popular. One of the things I?m impressed with is how they are working proactively (at no charge) with CMI to inform residents of the ecologically friendly practices at the property that most residents are not even aware of (such as how a bio swale works, the benefits of an eco-roof, etc.). It is my job to oversee the maintenance contracts for the Meriwether and I'm not going to say that DeSantis has been perfect, but the difference in the plants has been night and day. Additionally, their crew boss who is present weekly is a wizard and their managerial staff are extremely attentive and responsive, they remain one of my best vendors in any field. As a final commendation, we?ve been struggling with several of the eco roofs, and DeSantis has come up with some very innovative ideas that they put into practice last year in some test plots, and they?ve proven to be very successful; the HOA is now looking at implementing their recommendation on a larger scale.