Downer Brothers Landscaping, Inc.

Downer Brothers Landscaping is a North Andover design-and-build outfit that Chris Downer started while a student at Babson College and came home to run full-time; Nicole Downer, a Master Gardener, is president and heads the design side. The crew list reads like a résumé: Arlene Marston carries Ecological Horticulture and Native Plant Design certifications and is a Pollinator Steward, and Joe Spaulding is a certified equipment operator and ICPI/NCMA-certified paver installer. Houzz named the company Best of the North Shore for landscape design back in 2012. The 2026 reviews describe genuinely varied, substantial work. One customer had a two-day pet-safe artificial turf installation with daily cleanup and a project manager who answered every question; another had a "large, unattractive" backyard turned into what they called a show piece, working through the design with Nicole directly; a third had a full-property job in Methuen that included patio and walkway stonework by the company's mason, plus front and side yard work. A different 2026 review credited the design team with finally solving a front-corner planting layout the homeowner had struggled with on their own. On the maintenance side, reviewers describe fast turnarounds — a graduation-party cleanup done the next day — and repeat weekly lawn care and mulching relationships that keep coming back year after year. There's one real complaint on record, dated February 2026: a customer said a supervisor overseeing a snow-lot clearing job refused to clear already-vacated parking spots so they could move their car, even after being told the family had two kids sick with the flu and nowhere else to park — the reviewer called him inflexible in a situation that called for some accommodation. Worth knowing: a cluster of November 2025 reviews consists of little more than a crew member's name (a handful literally read just "Delmin" or "Edvin"), which reads like customers were asked to credit a specific worker rather than write a full account — a few of them do include real detail about price and attentiveness, but several carry no information beyond the name itself. The company carries an A+ Better Business Bureau grade, though it isn't BBB accredited. For hardscape and design-build work, the written record here is deep and specific; for the maintenance side, it's worth asking who's supervising a job if scheduling flexibility matters to you.