Lone Star Land Design

I have read the various reviews of Trey Jones company on various sites and after personally getting a $ 70K quote for what was ultimately the worst possible outcome of a landscaping project, I have to laugh… and laugh heartily at all the positive reviews. These glowing reports are obviously plants by Trey and his friends or they are examples of simple projects he contracted for which didn’t require much of an overhaul of the individual’s properties. Trey is impossible to communicate with, outsources almost all of the actual work with little accountability or management of these outsourced partners and really the only involvement I can see that he has is drawing pretty CAD drawings at the beginning to get you excited about what’s allegedly possible… it’s all down hill from there. He doesn’t really design anything other than a concept drawing… doesn’t actively manage the incremental work… doesn’t want to hear about any problems and certainly doesn’t fix them… either during the project or afterward. If you value your money, don’t contract with Trey Jones. There are many other competent, «hands on» landscaping firms that charge MUCH less than Trey does… also, he promotes himself as a licensed landscape architect. I encourage you to go to either the Texas Board of Architects (
) or the American Society of Landscape Architects (
)…he isn’t listed by either organization. Why? Well… I’ll let you do the research on his academic milestones. Suffice it to say Trey doesn’t deliver all the landscaping magic that his website presents. This is definitely a case of caveat emptor… buyer beware!!!

I was very pleased with the project from start to finish. I met with the owner (Trey Jones) of the company and one of his designers. Right away I new the guys were very talented and had a lot of creative solutions to my small backyard. My husband and I wanted a pool/​spa, outdoor kitchen, landscaping, lighting, and so on. On top of the huge wish list, we had major drainage issues. We agreed to a retainer to get going on a master plan. Within two weeks we met to review the design. My husband and I fell in love with the design. We did not have the funds to do the entire project right away. They worked with us and our budget. We started with the front/​back landscape, outdoor kitchen, lighting, and outdoor kitchen. All the crew and foremen did a great job and were very helpful along the way. We plan to have the rest of the work done next year. We loved the entire staff, and can’t wait to get started with the rest. We would highly recommend Lone Star Land Design to anyone.

TERRIBLE! DON’T BE FOOLED BY THE SLICK WEBSITE!
We used Trey for an extensive outdoor addition, kitchen and fireplace to our hill country home. What a nightmare! His lack of experience, inattention to detail, and complete disregard for our project became increasingly apparent as the project evolved. He appeared to be working in a «robbing Peter to pay Paul» sort of fashion as multiple subcontractors were not being paid. We had several lien threats from subcontractors who we had specifically paid Trey for their work in a timely manner. When we tried to call about these issues, Trey would not answer his phone or return phone calls or emails! He had a condescending attitude and was hardly ever out to oversee the workers. Many structural and aesthetic mistakes were made during production that would clearly have been avoided with proper oversight.
Overall, this project caused so much stress, frustration, and anger we can hardly enjoy the finished product. I just don’t even have words for how terrible this experience was!

We contacted Trey because of the professionalism of his web site, and his qualifications and background. Before we closed on our house, we had him draw up a landscape design, and paid $ 725 for that design — applicable to any future work. There was the understanding that we already had a pool designer/​builder, and what we wanted Lone Star for was the «stuff» our pool guy didn’t do, and wasn’t built into the bid we already had accepted. We got our design and a quote, and told him that this was going to be done in phases. OK – call us when you are ready.
So, fast forward six weeks after close, and nearing the completion of the pool. We need to get the landscape in around the pool, including landscape lights and irrigation. Can’t raise them for the world — four phone calls go unanswered, along with numerous e-​mails — crickets. So, we’ve had to find someone else, because it is obvious, if he isn’t building the pool, Trey just isn’ t that into us. We poured $ 725 down the drain for a pretty generic design that has almost no use.
Buyer beware.