Good Green Neighbors

This review is focused on Good Green Neighbors’ communication with me. I contacted Good Green Neighbors and had Rich come out to give me a quote. A few reviews on Unilocal complained about lack of communication or problems with appointments but I had no problems and my experience with Rich was very positive all around. He emailed me right away after filling out the form on his website and always responded in a timely manner. We scheduled a time for him to come out and give me a quote and I let him know I would be using my lunch break to meet with him. He was very punctual and respectful of my limited time. Despite the fact we decided (for reasons unrelated to Good Green Neighbors) to not move forward with the job, I thought his quote was very reasonable. Positive experience all around!

They started out just fine but got worse and worse. In terms of monthly maintenance they didn’t really seem to do much at all. I’m not even sure if they were still showing up at a point, but they were still charging. I tried communicating with them several times about doing certain tasks (that seemed obvious, that were part of their job, that they didn’t do) but they just never did them and were dismissive about it. They really didn’t seem to care about doing a proper, thorough job. I get the feeling that the employees were allotted a short amount of time per house; certainly not enough time to justify their prices! Huge waste of money for bad service!

The Good Green Neighbors crew did a massive clean up of our overgrown yard this past week, and we are very happy with the results. The yard looks great, and they did a really nice job pruning numerous mature bushes. The crew was friendly and worked quickly. Rich answered all of our inquiries promptly (within hours). I wish we’d taken pictures before the clean up so we could post before-​and-​after shots. The transformation is pretty amazing. I didn’t even want to go into my yard before the clean up, and now that it’s in nice shape, we spent the whole past weekend in the yard.

We signed up for monthly maintenance with Rich and his crew but were sorely disappointed this time around. For the price, they did an insufficient job, missing most weeds but pulling up a baby tree that we had intentionally planted. We contacted them to have things fixed and they came back two weeks later and things were still incomplete. When I told Rich about the tree and flowers that were pulled up, he didn’t offer to replace anything. We won’t be continuing to work with them. The work they did during our big clean up was fantastic but we’ve been underwhelmed since.

I tried to contact this business for some serious yard revamping and it took them 12 days to respond to my email requesting an estimate. DON“T contact them thru their website, the 1^st time I tried that I never heard back (why I tried a second time, I’ve no idea). They did give the name of another company… maybe they should update the scope of their work on their website. While waiting for their response, I did have 2500.00 worth of work done on my yard, so I guess they didn’t need it.

I contacted Rich at Good Green Neighbors after reading all of his great Unilocal reviews. My email to him requested two separate bids — one for monthly maintenance and another for a complete redesign of our front yard. He responded within about fifteen minutes of my email, suggesting we set up a time for a bid the following week. Sounds great, right?
Here’s how things went down hill. Verbatim, these are the emails that went back and forth as over the next week as I tried to arrange a time for a bid.
Me: I’m free Friday and Monday after 2:00, Tuesday after noon, and Wednesday after 10:00. What works for you? Thanks, Sam
Rich: Let’s do Monday
Me: Okay, what time works for you on Monday? Thanks, Sam
Rich: 10:30
Me: As I mentioned in my previous email, I’m available [times and days repeated]. Monday at 10:30 does not work for me. Thanks, Sam
Rich: Tuesday at 12:30
At this point I was a little annoyed by the unprofessional 1 – 3 word emails and lack of attention to what I was saying. Reflecting back on all the positive reviews from other Unilocalers, I decided that the guy must just be better in person and agreed to the appointment.
Fast forward to Tuesday. I came home early at 12:30 to meet him. When he wasn’t there by 12:35 I checked to be sure that I hadn’t missed any messages. What I found was an email sent six minutes before he was supposed to meet with me. It detailed his monthly rates for various services and said that it would cost more if my yard was bigger than average. There was no bid included for the redesign of the front yard, which wasn’t surprising considering that he’d never seen then it. So I emailed Rich again…
Me: I thought we had an appointment scheduled for 12:30? I came home to wait for you and now see this email instead. Are you sending me this message in lieu of the appointment I scheduled with you?
Rich: Weird. I thought I sent you a text this morning. Saying I couldn’t make it today. Sorry about that if it didn’t go through
SERIOUSLY??? There was never any text.
Maybe Rich is having an off couple of weeks, but after these interactions and his complete disrespect for my time I will give my business to another landscaper — one who is professional and doesn’t make me feel like I have to chase him down to hire him.

My experience with Good Green Neighbors was amazing. Rich was very quick to respond to my inquiry and the work was completed when promised (and earlier than I had imagined it could be done). The quality of work exceeded my expectations. Not only would I recommend Good Green Neighbors to others, I will be using this service again in the future. Rich was easy to communicate with and the billing process is efficient. Although I did not shop around a lot for price comparisons, I believe the cost is reasonable and certainly comparable to the few other «bids» I obtained.

Outstanding results after a complete yard clean up, trimming, pruning, mowing, edging… a total yard make-​over. The workers were efficient and took care of the fine details to make my yard look great again!!! I am so pleased with the results, and so are my neighbors.

Five stars all the way. Rich and crew took my overgrown and utterly ignored yard and transformed it into a presentable property again! I mean there was years worth of ivy and tangled weeds, branches, and mess. When I got home I couldn’t believe it. I would highly recommend Rich. I’m going to have him come back at least annually. My neighbors are happy, too…

Contacted Good Green Neighbors twice and never heard back from him. Disappointing, because they’ve such great reviews. Guess I’ll move on.

They did fantastic work cleaning up our front/​back yard, trimming down trees and hedges in a short period of time. I had a bit of miscommunication for the dates but it was a minor one, and I would like to ask for their services again. Thanks, Good Green Neighbors!

I had a great experience with Good Green Neighbors and hope to use them again. Rich came out and gave me a quote on an extensive garden To Do list I needed help with. They did a great job and I felt like I got my money’s worth.

Rich and his team were fantastic! We have a very established yard surrounded by giant boxwood hedges. For years, I have been asking my husband to find someone to give them a long overdue trim. Finally, he found Rich. Not only do the hedges look great, but we also had him prune several tree, remove some butterfly bushes, and clean up an entire block of weeds. I truly couldn’t be more pleased with the work they did. And, what was super impressive is that in typical Portland fashion they worked all day in a total downpour. I don’t think in the nine hours they were here that it let up once. Through it all, they worked diligently and left the yard looking amazing. And! Their clean-​up was spot on! I didn’t even see any mud on the sidewalk!

I actually found this business through Unilocal.I needed my yard thoroughly cleaned out, weeded, and mulched before my upcoming backyard wedding. I’ve been trying to find a «lawn guy» for months but haven’t found anybody who answers email — until now. I got a prompt response, a bid the next day, and we scheduled the work for the week before the wedding.
Rich came out and gave a bid for his crew of six to spend a day hand-​weeding, mowing, and putting down bark dust under a bunch of trees. He also suggested adding gravel around some planter boxes, so we threw that in too.
The crew did the job today, and it’s awesome. Rich and crew are friendly and don’t need to be told what to do. They made good calls on what’s a weed versus a flower (which was honestly tough given the overgrowth here). The place looks great, and now we’re considering hiring these guys to do ongoing maintenance.

Rich is great, and laid back, but attentive and knowledgeable. I love that he responds via email immediately. He came out to my house and made an assessment and price quote, well in line with what I expected for a forested front yard. He also gave me a quote for monthly maintenance that one can enact seasonally since we all know we all know the grass grows like weeds here in the spring and summer. He also helped out by patching the fence with chicken wire where my Siberian husky had been escaping on a regular basis. He was very knowledgeable altogether — removing bushes «that were not supposed to be there», pruning trees in addition to the lawn, raking up the fall leaves I left well into winter and de-​ivying my big oak tree. I definitely recommend them.
PS Gutter cleaning was included.
PPS I actually used him thanks to the Unilocal reviews!

I’ve worked with Good Green Neighbors since 2005, and recommend them without reservation for lawn & garden maintenance, gutter cleaning, and backyard landscaping projects.
Rich and his crew are always a pleasure to work with. Easy to contact by email, phone or text, and show real care for your property. Rich has had the same core employees for the entire time we’ve worked together, and I think that really says something about how he runs his business.
I’ve used them for:
— lawn mowing, edge trim, weeding, upkeep
— lawn renovation /​leveling and re-​seeding
— tree/​shrub removal
— backyard landscape and hardscape planning and execution
— vegetable box installation
For our hardscape project, Rich selected the most amazing battleship blue slate pieces. We eventually re-​painted the house using those tones as our inspiration.
I’ve always loved to work in the garden, but once I had kids I just couldn’t prioritize it like I used to. Hiring GGN periodically for a seasonal clean-​up or a small project has helped me focus where I need to while keeping my own gardening a pleasurable, escapist experience. I also love that Rich and his team use eco-​friendly gardening practices — they are the fastest hand-​weeders you will ever meet, so save your back and hire GGN!

This is going to be a long review, because I have a lot to say about this company. If you don’t want to read all this, the short version is — Great company! Hire them!
I have a big dense yard with lots of unusual established plants, including a 100 year old flowering cherry, 10 fruit trees (some profoundly neglected) and plenty of ornamentals. Things had gotten severely out of hand, everything was badly overgrown, plus there was grass invading everything, weeds everywhere and assorted invasive species running rampant. We joked that the «Godzilla» hedge (25 feet tall) was locked in mortal combat with the overgrown «Mothra» apple tree.
I knew the job was too big for two earnest people with good intentions and artistic vision (besides, I have that), but I really didn’t want to go to some big corporate company that blindly churns through jobs, diesel fuel, plants and workers. Good Green Neighbors proved to be that elusive independent mid sized company I have been searching for. They were the best possible fit for my job, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
Rich got back to me promptly and was on time for our first meeting. He is friendly and personable, plus observant enough to immediately instill confidence. His bid was completely reasonable for what seemed to me a massive job.
His crew of five arrived on time (and not at the crack of dawn) and worked amazingly well and fast, during a heat wave no less. Every guy working on my property knew enough to be the foreman of his own crew. Turns out these guys have worked together with Rich for years. Within 20 minutes I knew I could completely relax, no one was going to pull up some prized plant out of ignorance, and everyone was enjoying themselves and truly invested in doing the best possible job.
I could not believe how much they got done in the first day! The monster hedge was cut back enough to regain 7 feet of width all across the length of my back yard, and it was also beautifully shaped. All the unwanted grass was gone, roots and all. All the weeds, including the invasive comfrey was gone. Over a dozen large plants I wanted removed but planned to give to friends were carefully dug and placed in a protected spot. One of the crew even offered a home to a fruit tree I needed to take out. When they left for the day everything was tidy and broom clean… Amazing.
By the end of day two, all my pathways were restored with weed barrier and mulch, 2 ridiculously twisted young fruit trees were pruned, staked and looking, well, like trees again, and everything in the garden, even the things I hadn’t mentioned, were gently tweaked and improved. Everyone just did what needed doing, and did it quickly and well and ecologically, with a minimum of noisy fume spewing equipment… No default blower use, no chemicals, just great attitudes, energy and mindfulness. A complete transformation in just 2 days.

I’ve had several gardeners, but had trouble with them pulling volunteers or starts which was discouraging. The last company was great when the owner was with the crew, but when on their own it was about $ 90 for a mow & blow.
I contacted Rich who was prompt and professional. I have been very pleased. The price is good and they know what they are doing. The yard is trimmed, they take the initiative and pick up debris as well as weeding the beds. They don’t use chemicals and are sensitive to my wild garden and creek. I will be recommending them.

I have hired Rich and his team for the past 3 years to help me with some landscaping and gutter cleaning for my condo complex, with which I am an officer.
Good Green Neighbors is efficient and effective and responsive. I have asked for a bunch of small projects maintaining our property and they are always fast and exceed my expectations.
They are also very environmentally conscious and listen attentively to my concerns when I explain that I’m working on Backyard Habitat certification, and using Permaculture methods, and using mostly native plants.
The last landscaping company basically refused to change his ways to follow my requests, saying it wasn’t cost effective for him. All he wanted to do was turn all the shrubs into cubes, spray lots of weed killer, and blow debris around. Well, that’s why I no longer use him and have turned to Rich and Good Green Neighbors.

We were looking for an environmentally-​friendly, affordable lawn care service, and we found it at Good Green Neighbors. Owner, Rich, emailed me 10 minutes after I sent an inquiry! We scheduled a viewing of the lawn for the following day (so easy!).
Being a new homeowner, I was worried about how to care for my lawn. Rich reassured me that the lawn’s color had little to with my lack of skill, and more to do with our Portland summer AND the type of native grasses. He explained that we should water our lawn 10 minutes a day, (especially in the morning and after mowing, since the grass is more vulnerable after being cut: understandable!). He encouraged watering the plants, and, he was able to give me tips on my lawn care, things that as a new homeowner, I just didn’t know.
Rich was interested, friendly, and honest. When I suggested fertilization, he encouraged my waiting until the fall, rather than waste money on fertilizer that would just get burned out in the heat.
Rich hires people full-​time, and really takes care of his employees (something I really appreciate). He also uses eco-​friendly products, all green fertilizers, and bio diesel and propane equipment, as Unilocaler, Jacques V. wrote about.
Lastly, his crew of one, J.R. is fabulous! After only meeting me once, he remembered my name, how I liked our plants to look (drapey as opposed to perfectly cut), and does a stellar job!
Our lawn looks beautiful!
For just $ 150/​month, they also do tree and plant trimming, and in the fall, will do leaf collection for just a bit more given the heaviness of the bags. Incidentally, it’s check or cash.
I highly, highly recommend Good Green Neighbors for beautiful, adept, professional, AND eco-​friendly lawn care!
Tip: If you pay for the full year, you get a free gutter cleaning.