Fast turnaround — cleared trees touching a house within two days
Careful crews — protected homes, pools, and fences while working close by
Landscape design work — one client praised the quality of a stonework project
Property damage — damaged a gate and fence with a tree trunk
Deposit cashed early
What does landscaping cost in Greater Boston?
Typical Greater Boston range for this kind of work, from regional averages — not a quote from Carpenter Costin Tree and Landscape. Use it to sanity-check bids, then get the real number in writing.
Unresolved fix — promised a tree-protection repair for two months, never delivered
Carpenter Costin Tree and Landscape's Better Business Bureau profile — where it holds an A+ grade — lists tree services, pruning and removal, turf and plant care, and grounds management, and the written reviews back that up: most of what customers describe hiring them for is taking down or trimming trees, often near a house, fence, or pool.
The recurring theme across a written record running 2011 to 2021 is speed and care around the property. In a 2020 HomeAdvisor review, a homeowner said Carpenter Costin removed trees touching the house within two days, faster than other companies quoting a month out. Reviewers from 2018 and 2015 described crews that avoided damaging a home and pool while working close by and were careful with a fence while climbing tall trees. A 2014 review credited landscape architect Shane Mahoney's crew with a stonework project whose quality the client called impressive, with problems corrected at no extra charge.
That same written record also holds two detailed complaints worth weighing seriously. A 2020 Angi review (2.5 stars) described a worker using a cut tree trunk as a battering ram against a gate and fence rather than guiding it through with help, damaging both. A 2017 review (0.5 stars) said the company cashed a deposit check three weeks into a job, then left half the wood and stump grinding undone for another week until repeated calls got it finished. A separate 2018 review said a tree-protection fix was promised for over two months and never completed.
Angi and HomeAdvisor both show the company at 4.4 stars across 28 ratings apiece — noticeably higher than the two detailed negative accounts above would suggest on their own, which is worth keeping in mind alongside them rather than in place of them.
Before booking anything beyond routine tree work, it's worth asking how they protect fences, gates, and other structures during removal, and getting a clear payment schedule and completion date in writing — the kind of detail that was missing in the two jobs that went sideways. For straightforward tree removal or trimming, the written record is mostly a good one.
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Most recent comments
5.0May 1, 2021
Excellent job and done at a very reasonable price.
Had trees that were touching house removed within two days. I was told someone from the office would call me to schedule a time but they just showed up and took down the trees. Other companies were a month out.
This company did an excellent job removing a large tree from my yard, as well as, trimming back large bushes. All workers were very professional. I would hire them again!
I hired them to cut down three trees and trim several large branches from two others. The cutting went well enough until one of their guys used the last 9 ft. section of the trunk as a battering ram on my gate and fence because he was too lazy to have a colleague guide the trunk through. (I watched this from a window and took pictures of the damage). I had to replace a piece of trim and one of the post caps. I still need to use filler on the gouges in the wood. Cleanup was OK for the front yard trees but in the back yard they made no attempt to clean the numerous pieces of wood under two inches in diameter and several branches until I went out with a rake and shamed them into it, and they still left quite a bit. I contacted their supervisor by email and he promised to send a couple of guys to clean up, which never materialized.
