Garrick-Santo Landscape Co.

Garrick-Santo Landscape Co. has been cutting lawns and building patios around Wilmington since 1981, when founder Richard Gottschalk Jr. started with a mower and a station wagon. The company says it merged with Santo Landscape Services in 2000, and it's still run by the same family today — Rick and Anita Gottschalk alongside Rob and Stephen Santo — serving towns across Northeast Massachusetts and North Metro Boston, from Malden and Medford to Woburn and Andover. On Google, where it has picked up 65 ratings averaging 4.7 stars, the two most recent reviews — from March and June of 2026 — both describe the same thing: a company that responds promptly and follows through on what it commits to. One recent reviewer noted the crew reached out on its own to help get a yard ready when the house went on the market, before anyone even asked. Houzz shows a smaller but consistent picture — 4.2 stars across five ratings, with perfect marks for work quality, communication, and value — and the Better Business Bureau has kept it accredited at an A+ rating since 2011. Its credentials point toward hardscape work specifically: it's a certified Unilock installer, worth knowing if pavers or retaining walls are part of the job, and it has held National Association of Landscape Professionals accreditation since 2018. One thing worth flagging before booking is that the Houzz number rests on a much thinner sample — five ratings against Google's 65 — so it's best read as a smaller data point rather than an equal counterweight. For a homeowner weighing a long-tenured, family-run outfit that handles both routine lawn care and bigger design-and-build projects under one roof, this is a company with a long paper trail behind it. Worth confirming current scheduling lead times and whether the job fits better with their residential or commercial crews before signing on.