VIP Landscaping

VIP Landscaping is a Worcester company founded in 2009 by Brett Bartelson, offering lawn maintenance, mulch and hardscape installation, site work and trucking, and snow and ice removal — the last backed by Snow and Ice Management Association certifications, alongside a Unilock certified-installer credential for pavers. The company's own site states it is licensed, though that claim hasn't been verified against a registry. The written record is genuinely split. On one side, a core of long-tenured customers describes a decade or more of reliable service: one reviewer has used VIP since 2014, another for over ten years across two different homes, and several describe Brett and crew member Jeremy by name for spring cleanups, mulch spreading, and drainage work done on schedule and at the price quoted. A 2026 review described the crew responding within an hour to a burst water main. A 2023 review described the owner accommodating a customer's timeline for a sand delivery for an above-ground pool. On the other side, three separate one-star reviews raise real, specific problems. A 2025 review from an HOA client described minimal summer maintenance — blowing and mowing only — and a snowplow that tore out the client's front yard bushes. Another 2025 review described unmaintained equipment on the road throwing rocks and gravel at following cars. A 2024 review described the crew parking in a way that blocked a neighbor's access. A separate 2024 review, styled as customer praise, responded to a complaint from someone named "Patti" about a bottle cap left on a property in a notably dismissive tone — an unusual pattern worth being aware of when weighing how the company handles criticism. Given how far apart these accounts sit — a decade-plus of loyal customers on one hand, genuine damage and safety complaints on the other — anyone considering VIP for landscaping or snow removal in the Worcester area should ask current references about which crew and route they'd be assigned, since the experience described varies a good deal depending on the account.