Affordable Landscapers by J & R is a Quincy, MA outfit that owner Jean Karger has run since 2006, and the reviews keep coming back to two names: Jean and Raul, the crew that actually shows up to do the work. The company's own site lists snow removal, spring and fall cleanups, irrigation, masonry, fencing and general maintenance across South Shore towns like Hingham, Braintree, Milton and Cohasset.
When that crew gets to a property, the story is specific and repeats itself: a same-day lawn mowing rushed through before an open house, a snapped snow-blower auger cable fixed within 24 hours during a 30-inch storm, walkways cleared and salted for an elderly couple mid-blizzard, an overgrown front yard cut back to neat and tidy. Google shows a 4.7-star average from 73 ratings, and the detailed reviews keep naming Jean and Raul directly rather than praising the company as an abstraction.
There is a sharper, second pattern worth knowing before calling, though. A cluster of one-star reviews from 2022 and 2023 describe the company simply not showing up for scheduled quote appointments, with no callback after repeated texts and calls; one reviewer called it outright rude, another warned 'do not pay up front.' A 2021 Houzz review is the most serious complaint on file: a customer says the crew canceled four separate times, left grass that grew in as weeds, never painted a contracted deck, and charged a high price for work that wasn't finished. The company also carries a D- grade from the Better Business Bureau, where it is not accredited and has two complaints on file it hasn't answered.
The split is worth naming plainly: people who actually got Jean and Raul on their property describe careful, above-and-beyond work, with one reviewer saying it's the only landscaping company they'd pay double for. People trying to book that work in the first place, or the one customer whose contracted scope went unfinished, describe a very different company.
Before hiring, get a written scope and payment schedule, and avoid paying a large sum up front given the BBB complaints and that one report of undelivered work. If Jean and Raul make it to the job, the reviews say it's worth the wait.
