garden design - Kate Eyre

[KristinH]

a friend needs a good garden designer for her front garden. Kate Eyre has been recommended so impartial feedback about her work would be useful and she'd also like to contact a couple of others who come recommended. Please PM me with any info to I can pass on to her as she's not on the forum.

Thanks

[enjoy]

It has been discussed here:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1508703,1509743#msg-1509743

[bodger]

Avoid at all costs, Kristin.

Her work on our garden was appalling and cost us a fortune to repair. The latest discovery is that she used indoor render on the walls so, over the winter, they've all cracked and fallen apart so that needs redoing now as well.

She comes across as very professional when you first meet her but the people that work for her don't know what they're doing.

[Rosetta]

Sounds like she needs to be reported to Trading Standards.

[bodger]

Already done.

[gardengirl]

Bodger ( from this name it isn't apparent who you are). If you have used us for your garden design and we have carried out the work and there was a problem with the garden or the rendering, it surely would have been better for you to make us aware of this, so we could have returned to see what the issue was and repair it. We have not been called back to any jobs in East Dulwich or Neighbouring, nor have we ever used internal render for an external wall. I would be very grateful if you could have the decency to make contact with us and explain what the problem is, so we have the opportunity to correct it.

We have contacted Trading Standards, but they have no record of any claims or correspondence regarding us. If we do not hear from you we can only assume that these are Libellous accusations in an attempt to destroy our good reputation and harm a growing business. We can't help but wonder why?

I look foward to hearing from you.

[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 on the fence, 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.

[Am happy]

Holy moses..thanks for the warning guys x

[bodger]

Interesting - I have some very similar photos...

[Beaky]

We too asked for a flowering Magnolia and guess what it never flowered - not impressed with other works either.