We just had the most wonderful experience with a local landscaping design and installation company -- Sasak Landscaping, Inc. based in Richfield, Ohio and serving the Greater Cleveland and Akron Ohio residential and commercial areas.
Ken Sasak has provided complete landscaping and design services since 1976. I have seen Ken's advertisement in the local magazine for a while now. I recently(as in less than a month ago) ran across a sign of his while out walking my dogs through the neighborhood and I liked the end result of the work I saw in two front yards where he did work in my neighborhood. So, I pulled out my cell phone and left a message on the phone # on his sign. I spoke with Ken shortly thereafter and told him the challenge I currently faced -- not your typical project and I had a few things I had no clue on how to approach.
We have a level backyard that had about a dozen, small caliper trees that were either scraggily, homely and just otherwise just in the way of being able to use our backyard for anything at all, as they were spread all throughout the backyard. Moreover, we live on a corner lot on the busiest intersection in our neighborhood. Our son really wanted to play basketball on our driveway but our driveway is on an incline that would not support throwing a basketball hoop up on the side of the driveway, so we decided to evaluate putting a small basketball court in our backyard. I found a great tree removal company to remove the trees. I found a great concrete company to install a 25'x30' pad. I was then left with total exposure to the street and essentially no privacy, a 12 inch drop off from the concrete pad on one side which created a huge safety issue -- we knew there was a slight drop in elevation and some grading would have to be done.
I was totally clueless on whether we should put small stones around the basketball court and gradually taper it off, put mulch right up to the edge and create some landscape beds around it or what should be done.
Ken came out and asked me what my goals were, what I wanted and listened and never once interrupted -- listening skills are so rare today and it's great when you find someone who actually listens. My wife also wanted a firepit so we had three goals: safety around the court, privacy on the one side and a firepit.
A week later, Ken came back with a detailed proposal and a huge schematic showing the general shape of landscape beds, what landscaping plants would go where, the shape, location and materials for the firepit, and how grass going right up to the court would be the safest and the best material to use and would also provide the best aesthetic. My wife and I looked at his plans, he placed the fire pit in a location differently from where she thought she wanted it, and we both looked at each other and knew instantly that the design Ken came up with was beyond our expectations. Kens sense of design, shape, form, color and other elements was simply incredible -- and we were just looking at a two-dimensional drawing.
Needless to say, when Ken and his crew took our project from having huge dirt mounds, a raw concrete slab with, for the most part, a hideous backyard, in seven working days, he took it from start to finish, ahead of schedule and on budget. But, the main point is, the actual finished product just blew us away. His idea on how to capture a sloping topography away from the home and build in a barn stone sitting wall around the fire pit with a small landscape bed behind it, to the shape of the beds, to his tying even the perimeter trees into a huge mulched area for continuity, to the selection and placement of plant materials, and re-using and moving some existing landscaping into other areas that worked better (to help keep costs down as well) was, in the end, visually stunning.
Ken unilaterally took our general desires and transformed them into a stunning landscape. We are generally pretty tough on contractors as it is hard to find good and reliable contractors who not only have exceptional professional capabilities, but solid customer service, communication and follow-through. We literally could not find one thing that we weren't thrilled with. Moreover, Ken was so easy to talk to, offering pros and cons and practical advice and gave us additional food for thought regarding some low-voltage lighting options we may pursue when our budget allows.
Ken was very flexible when we requested a little extra work done and totally accommodated us. While we sole sourced this project, I know from many other landscape projects and also hiring landscape companies in the past to perform transformation of homes we transform for sellers, that Ken's pricing was fair, given the capabilities he possesses.
This photo doesn't begin to do it justice as compared to when you are standing in person marveling at his design.
Now, if we could only get Lebron and Shaq to stop over and shoot some hoops!
Sasak Landscaping, Inc.
Ken Sasak
www.sasaklandscape.com
330-659-3396
ps. This photo was taken at the end of hte project. It's been one week since Ken left and the grass is coming in nicely around the court.
