Opulands Landscape Design & Construction

IMPORTANT SEE PHOTOS:
Hiring Opulence Landscaping was the biggest mistake of my life. Steven van Dongen is not only incompetent but extremely dishonest. His company is all smoke and mirrors. He’s a general contractor trying to pawn himself off as a design build company. He has NO employees and NO crew. All work is done by subcontractors. You have absolutely no idea who will do your work, basically playing roulette.
Our estimate with Steven was $145K. The last 3 weeks of the project he became so desperate for more money he suggested everything possible to increase costs, recommending a pergola for 20K, a fireplace for $18K, surround sound $10K. He went as far as forging our signatures on electronic documents to increase fees!!! When I told him to knock it off, he deleted them within a minute but I already saved electronic copies, hard copies, and photos. We have proof of EVERYTHING. Things got so downright creepy and disturbing the final week, we paid him off in advance to get him off our property. We ask for a final bill showing a zero balance and he sent us an email stating he wouldn’t give us one unless we promised to NOT leave reviews. Intimidating his clients, admitting his guilt, and totally illegal See photo.
Unlicensed Sub-Contractors: He used UNLICENSED subcontractors including an electrician to do work on our project. They have no contractor license, no liability insurance, and no workmen’s comp insurance!!! He has you pay them directly so you are the one to get sued. You could be jeopardizing the health, safety, and finances of your family if you hire Opulence Landscaping.
Leftover Materials: His incompetence cost us 10K in extra natural stone pavers and wall block. We were left with 4 full pallets of stone See photo. We increased the height of a retaining wall which only took 20 blocks and he ordered 45!!! This guy has ABSOLUTELY no idea what he is doing. He refused to return the material so we could get a refund. He gave the materials we paid for to other contractors.
Wood chips: 6 cubic yards were used at $76 per yard. 76x6=$456.00. Steven tried to charge us 7,600.00. Yes 7.6K. No that is NOT a misprint.
Plants Charges: 1 gallon(g) $39, 5g $95, 15g$395, 24-inch box tree $975, and $844 for 4 small flats of groundcover. No that’s not a misprint!! Within a month I have plants dying because the root balls are sticking out of the ground at least 4 inches See photo.
Lightening: 9K for lighting and 50% of lights are either crooked or so loose they are falling out of the ground.
Don’t jump on a sinking ship. This one is going down faster than the Titanic. Good luck if you hire Opulence Landscaping because you are going to need it.

We worked this Spring with Opulands Landscape to design and build our new backyard. Steven, the owner, was assigned to our account for the design and project management. Steven’s design consisted of a Belgard Paver Patio using the beautiful Catalina grana pavers, a spot-on Belgard Weston Seating Wall, beautiful FX Luminaire lighting, installation of a nearly real Global Syn Superscape XL Synthetic Lawn, a new landscape, a pergola, an incredible fountain from Giannini Garden Ornaments and finally a very elegant Basalite Grand fire pit.

We had invited a total of 5 landscape contractors and what we particularly liked about Opulands was that they listened carefully and every conversation with them was two-way. The design was in one-word ‘spot-on’ and we are over the moon with the outdoor room they created for us. If there is one regret I have it is that I waited so long to get this project started. I realize I have very high expectations of contractors and in retrospect I truly don’t believe any of the other contractors we spoke with had the intention of creating something so special and unique or anything even close to the high standards we were hoping would be met.

Some of the upgrades pushed our budget a bit beyond where I was hoping the project would land, yet, Steven is a very accountable person and the end result is one hundred percent worth it. We look forward to working with Steven again when we install our planned Belgard paver driveway and Summerset BBQ with outdoor kitchen over the next few years.

Thank you Opulands for a job incredibly well done!!