JLM Landscape Design

Sod cut the morning it went down rather than bought off a big-box pallet, and mulch samples brought over to pick from — that is what an April 2014 customer described after hiring Jimmy at JLM Landscape Design, along with a price that beat what they expected. JLM is a landscape design and construction company; its own site puts it in Newton and describes personalized, full-service outdoor design and build. The BBB profile lists it in Waltham under principal Ann M. Marcolina and says the business has run since 1995, while the Angi page names Jimmy (James) Marcolina as owner. The written accounts come from 2013 and 2014, and they turn on solving a problem in the yard. A homeowner preparing to sell hired JLM in May 2014 for extensive landscaping and a new walkway to deal with a grading and water drainage issue. In September 2013 a customer with a complicated retaining wall behind the house wrote that Jimmy came with ideas, priced the estimate reasonably and stayed on budget. A December 2013 job was a new set of front stairs: the crew worked all day to finish it, cleaned up, and charged what had been quoted. Earlier that year, in August 2013, seven overgrown bushes and a small tree came out after JLM beat three other bids for the work. The last account is the cautionary one. Writing in December 2014, after a year of having JLM handle all the exterior work, a customer said the mowing was regular and the snow removal was ok, but the crew tended to arrive late — often after the homeowner had started shoveling — and that fertilizer was never applied. One thing to check before calling: BuildZoom lists a Massachusetts home improvement contractor registration for the company, #206348, which it lists as inactive/expired 08-30-2024. If the job is a deck, a pool house or similar construction rather than planting and lawn care, ask where that registration stands now. For a design-and-build problem — a wall that needs rebuilding, water running the wrong way, stairs past their life — the customers who hired JLM for exactly that in 2013 and 2014 got what they were quoted. For a season-long maintenance contract, pin down the visit schedule and what each round includes before you sign.