A non-recommendation for Kate Eyre Garden Design

[Tom1964]

I'm afraid this is a rather comprehensive review: I can only speak from our perspective and I'd simply provide the caveat that our experience might have just been an unlucky one-off. However, I thought it might be a useful primer for anyone thinking of using Kate Eyre themselves.

We first approached Kate Eyre in August 2014 with a view to soft-landscaping our small-ish 60ft London back garden. If I'm being honest, we'd seen her brightly-coloured vans (a genuine triumph of marketing) around South East London and the few reviews we could find online didn't set alarm bells ringing. The hard landscaping had already been done some time ago and the ground double-dug by us in preparation. It was really a question of designing the new garden and fulfilling that design as promised.

It was clear from the off that Kate was incredibly busy. Meetings were continually interrupted by phone calls, which gave the impression of a successful business. We found Kate quite an eccentric character from the beginning ('I don't do yellow flowers'), but again this wasn't a problem and we were happy to press ahead. A word of warning though: others might not warm to a designer making rather direct comments about their home on a first visit!

Kate took various pictures of the plot and then left to draw up a design, with my wife making clear certain types of plants she would like to see in the finished garden. This plan, with no commitment to any future work, cost circa ?200.

In September 2014, the first design draft was sent to us on email by a junior Kate Eyre employee. There were a few misunderstandings on both sides, and we asked for the plan to be clarified.

By early October, the second draft was received. Unfortunately a number of plants my wife had specifically requested did not feature again and we asked for them to be included. We made some specific requests for other plants and awaited a third draft. We also asked for a quote for the entire work and for the cost to be clearly broken down into labour and plants.

A couple of weeks passed, and a third draft was received. Again, there were a number of errors, which struck us as a little inefficient, but nothing serious enough to raise great doubts. We asked if the cost of the turf was included in the price (by now stretching into several thousands of pounds) and were told it was extra.

My wife, heavily pregnant at this stage, then phoned Kate Eyre to see if there was any room for negotiation on price. By now the total was at the very top of our budget, but we remained keen to go ahead - not least with the arrival of a baby meaning an almost certain freeze on anything getting done for months afterwards. There is a genuine dispute over the content of that call, but my wife emerged with a clear idea that we had agreed a marginally lower flat fee for the whole job (this time crucially including the turfing) inclusive of VAT.

However, it was really after we agreed to go ahead with the work that problems began in earnest. We had signed off on a final list of plants to be planted and a 2D plan for the garden and waited for a call or email to let us know a date when work could start. Then, with no warning at all, and at 7.45am on Saturday November 10, two labourers rang our doorbell and told us they were here to start on our garden. When we said, a little bemusedly, that we knew nothing about it, they told us there was huge articulated lorry coming up the road in ten minutes with all of our plants on board. A call to Kate Eyre herself followed, and it transpired that we had been booked in for that day, but no one had thought to phone, text, or email us to let us know.

Unfortunately, we were going to see friends in Manchester that weekend and, rightly or wrongly, weren't prepared to allow the work to go ahead in our absence. We asked them to reschedule. Interestingly, one of the two labourers told us this was not the first time this had happened to clients.

An apology followed, but the chaos ensued for another week as the company desperately tried to rearrange other clients to fit us in before the plants (already bought by the firm) gave up the ghost. Fortunately, a new date was fixed for that Friday, November 14. We hoped all would be well.

The Friday came, and with it terrible weather. The team arrived promptly at 8am-ish - but then the plants did not. Eventually, they arrived, at around lunchtime, meaning the small team of labourers had around four hours to plant the garden before the light disappeared. On top of this, one worker let slip that the turf would not be arriving with the plants - and would have to be laid the following week. We were, perhaps unsurprisingly, far from happy at the theme emerging of chaotic organisation and an overwhelming lack of communication with us. More labourers arrived to try and finish the job, and they did the best they could in the conditions. Our patio was left awash with mud, plastic and other detritus for the weekend as the team left without clearing up.

The next day I asked the firm to clarify when they intended to come and lay the turf (so one of us could be there to let them in) and clear up properly. In the meantime, we'd also noticed a rather large discrepancy between the planting plan we'd signed off on (and paid for), and the list of ordered plants left with us the previous day. We'd been told we were missing two varieties as they were unable to be ordered, but on closer inspection we found a total of 22 missing plants. I raised this discrepancy in the same email.

A reply followed from a more senior member of Kate's team, assuring me that we would 'never' be billed for plants that hadn't arrived and that any missing ones could be replanted the following year. Again, the lack of communication was striking: we'd signed off on - and paid for - a plan that it transpired now couldn't be fulfilled for several months at least. In the same reply, an apology was made for the state of the paths and patio. I was told, 'We always leave the garden looking fabulous' and a clean-up would follow quickly.

The lawn was finally laid successfully a few days later, and the clean-up went ahead. However, we arrived home to find roll after roll of spare turf stacked next to our neighbour's bins, alongside several large containers full of debris and a soil bag half full of earth. When we rang, we were told it was because a labourer had been forced to leave to pick his kids up from school early: again something we weren't told about in advance. It was all a bit unprofessional for the significant cost we were paying.

The final straw came at 11pm that night when we heard water running down our side passageway and out into the road. I went out in darkness into our back garden and found that, to our horror, the workers had left a hose heaped up and turned on. Debris including mud, plant labels and cable ties had washed into our main drain, blocking it completely, and the side of our house was now knee-deep in water. I spent 30 minutes unblocking it armed with a torch and my bare hands, and fired off another testy email to Kate Eyre's team.

Another apology arrived, this time saying sorry for 'causing so much chaos' and, almost unbelievably, describing the drains incident as, 'I think an oversight but nonetheless inconvenient'. A further clean-up was organised, and in fairness, was this time carried out properly.

By now we were just glad that the garden had been finished - and were ready to pay the previously agreed price and just move on. But then the final invoice arrived...

This billed us separately for turf, on top - I should emphasise we believed - of the flat fee we thought we'd agreed. Perhaps we were wrong, perhaps there had been a genuine misunderstanding on price at the negotiation phase: perhaps Kate Eyre was wrong and we were right - but ultimately I didn't care. My wife's tears at what was supposed to be her dream garden were frankly not worth the hassle in the end.

I realise there will be many here who wouldn't countenance paying for a garden designer in the first place, and I of course understand that. This review is simply meant to be a bit of a health warning to those who might be tempted to use Kate Eyre in the future. Others, of course might have used her and be enthralled. Or then again, they might not.

Our garden - minus the 22 plants we thought we'd signed off on - looks lovely, but our experience in getting there was so grim and disappointing that I would warn (and have already warned) anyone away from getting involved with Kate Eyre Garden Design. Unless of course, you are prepared to micro-manage everything and keep a constant watch on their work. A willingness and energy to go to the small claims court if necessary might also be handy.

Otherwise, they were great to work with.

Hope that helps.

[Beaky]

We used Kate Eyre 3 years ago and were very disappointed with the results. We had a small section of our garden re done. The first area of turf that was laid was half dead as had been sat around and the second section that was laid is still uneven and patchy to this day. Plants that we had asked for again like above were replaced with others.

Again like above the end price had increased and we didn't know what for seemed to be for extra labour, other plants, deliveries etc. We were just glad to get the job finished and move on.

[AnnaAV]

We too had a similar experience to the posts above. Massive communication problems, job not done properly, wrong plants bought or those requested/on plan not ordered. Kate herself was quite difficult latterly. Price seemed to increase at end with no real reason. Disorganised staff. Just wanted them out. Got another gardener in afterwards to properly finish the job and hard landscaping. Seemed to be very much style over substance.

[red devil]

Tom1964 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My wife, heavily pregnant at this stage, then

> phoned Kate Eyre to see if there was any room for

> negotiation on price. By now the total was at the

> very top of our budget, but we remained keen to go

> ahead - not least with the arrival of a baby

> meaning an almost certain freeze on anything

> getting done for months afterwards. There is a

> genuine dispute over the content of that call, but

> my wife emerged with a clear idea that we had

> agreed a marginally lower flat fee for the whole

> job (this time crucially including the turfing)

> inclusive of VAT.

Did you get this confirmed in writing?...

[DUPONT-LIOT]

The quality of the work produced by this company is terrible and my entire garden is going to have to be redone after not even one year (and having paid a fortune). Kate Eyre pitched the project (saying that only her dedicated "team" would be used) and then disappeared; there was absolutely NO quality control regarding the construction of the garden/works and Kate failed to properly think about all the issues required to be addressed before construction began. Once the damage was done, Kate refused to accept full responsibility for the mistakes and re-do the work she was solely responsible for. A few examples: (1) she failed to recommend the need to install an irrigation mechanism - which given the nature of the works (total removal of what was there before), would have been easy and inexpensive. It turns out the plants and tree also need constant irrigation. She never mentioned this to be the case; (2) she failed to take proper measurements of the bin cage, which meant the plant behind it had to be cut because it was in the way of the opening the top of the bin cage, resulting in an asymetrical design (two plants of different sizes by the front door) which looks awful. Kate refused to re-do the cage and instead cut the plant! (3) she failed to account for the need to install hydraulic arms to open both tops of the bin cage and prevent the tops of the cage (which are very heavy and dangerous) from crashing down; when she finally acknowledged this was needed, the installation was done so poorly that the entire bin cage was damaged; (4) the people she employs, supervision and the materials used are sub-standard: her painter smoked inside our paint-can filled garage whilst painting (a hazard) and also painted in the rain. When Kate was challenged on the the impact this would have on the quality of the paint job, she tried to argue that because the paint was "water proof", it was totally acceptable to paint in the rain and that no harm would result... unsuprisingly, within two weeks the paint was already peeling off the bin cage! (5) the walls that were built were falling apart within 6 weeks of having been completed. Despite having been redone on two occasions, the walls are crumbling one year after having been built. I understand from others that the the wrong (cheap) materials were used; ('6) the metal fence that was installed required multiple requests to be installed properly, as they refused to insert all the necessary screws to hold the fence in place; (7) primers were also not used, and as a result, the fence is rusting and will need to be redone; (8) we also requested a flowering Magnolia tree; Kate instead provided us with an immature (cheaper) tree that she says will "eventually" flower. Kate barely showed up on site to check the work her crew was doing, and despite the visibly shoddy and inadequate work, she refused to accept responsibility for her work / damage. Avoid at all costs.