Michael Durham Landscaping

What an absolute disaster of a company. Michael Durham Service is hands-down one of the most unprofessional, careless, and downright frustrating services I’ve ever dealt with. From start to finish, it was a circus — except no one was laughing. The attached pictures clearly show the poor quality of his services; evidence has been provided. They sent over a crew that looked like they were doing me a favor just by showing up. One of them — a large guy — spent more time rolling his eyes and burping than actually working. When I politely asked him to put down some salt on the steps, he acted like I’d asked him to move a mountain. The damage they left behind was unbelievable — broken fence, torn-up grass, even parts of the building were affected. I called, emailed, and even got a promise from the owner that he’d “take a look.” Of course, he never did. The so-called “service” was so pathetic that even my tenants — who rarely complain — were furious and threatening to move out. And the owner’s response? “If they leave, find someone else.” Really? That’s his idea of customer service? This man couldn’t run a lemonade stand, let alone a property maintenance business. He was often nowhere to be found, even during major snowstorms, and the times he did show up, the job was either half done or not done at all. They charged for salt that was never used, left the sidewalks and driveways buried in snow, and when I confronted them with photos, they claimed they’d “be back.” They only returned after the snow melted — talk about convenient timing. Michael Durham Service is a textbook example of how not to run a business. Lazy workers, careless damage, zero accountability, and an owner who clearly doesn’t care about his clients or his reputation. If you value your sanity, your property, and your money, stay far away from this company.

The job was done excell the backyard, the water runaway from the house. What I wanted you did a good job, the patio, and the grass stark coming up and the garden looked good, tomato, raspberry, cucumber, radishes, salad, yellow, bean and green bean and carrots.ent. No complain.

Couldn't be happier!! We reached out to Michael to continue work an other landscaper had started, we previous had a landscaper repave our backyard, but were weary of using them to complete the paver & driveway project in the front. From the start, Michael was knowledgeable and truly listened to what our vision was, and was able to quote a completive price to our original vendor. After reading many reviews of Michael's team, I couldn't be happier with our decision to use Michael & his team. Will be reaching out for an other project this spring, thank you Michael!

Micheal is very knowledgeable and very pleasant to deal with. He and his crew go above and beyond to help their clients as well as other contractors in the industry. I broke down and they helped me plow some places while i was getting repaired, was a huge help. Highly recommended for any landscaping needs.

Originally was supposed to meet and discuss the project, however we ended up discussing it over the phone. What I had wanted was an interlocked walkway, then a step that led to a platform which would then lead to my front door. What I ended up getting, was a platform with a step at the same level (first picture) of the platform. Not sure how that made sense. I called and complained, and was told that if I wanted it corrected then it would be extra. I had felt as if my hands were tied and I had no other option as I did not want it to be left the way it was. They refused to even discuss negotiating the price to fix what I feel was their misunderstanding. Even after the "step" was removed, the final work seemed rushed. The line of stones right before the platform was not level/graded properly. I even had to go and buy a bag of polysand to fill in the gaps between the stones they missed filling.

I had a GREAT experience working with this team!! Quick, professional & friendly service right from my initial contact with Brianna, Andrew's amazing and thorough on-site visit and Michael's impressive follow-up to confirm satisfaction. Thanks again!!

I have to share the experience that me and my wife had by hiring Michael Durham Landscaping. We just moved to Oshawa end of June 2024 and my wife Narima began looking for a landscaping company to replace what was a dump in our backyard. All weeds and a little grass patch here and there. Narima selected Michael Durham Landscaping and Michael responded immediately. He was cordial and very professional. He explained in detail what needed to happen to fix the issue. He listened to Narima and noted every concern she had and took his time to checkout the environment and took measurements of the area. Michael said they typically finish a job in two days. He promised to send a quote and left. Within no time we had a quote for the work. The next day I called in to put the deposit so we could get on their schedule of work. Immediately after I paid the deposit I got a call from Brianna (sorry if I misspelled) who schedule the work for the 23rd June. We were very excited. On 17th as I was driving to work, I got a call from Brianna that they had a cancellation for Thursday 18th June and if we were prepared to get the job started earlier. I immediately said Yes. Brianna listened to a few concerns I had, like the garbage from the cleanup would be inconvenient as our garbage day was the following Friday. Brianna reassured me that she will make sure that the crew do not leave even a single piece of garbage behind. I called up Narima and told her the landscaping crew were starting on Thursday instead of the coming Tuesday. The crew came in the afternoon of Thursday and began clearing the land of everything from old stones, plastic debris, old wood, shrubs, and most importantly they scraped almost 4 inches of soil with all its growth of weeds and grass. The crew was amazing in terms of work. They were the most respectful people and the most hardworking people I have met in a long time. The work was more than what we had imagined and more thorough than we could have expected. The crew were a happy bunch, talking and laughing as they talked of everyday family life and how much they miss them and how long it’s been since they saw some members of their families. I realized we as humans share so many of the same concerns. By late evening the land was barren and ready for a new outlook. I am still at awe, where they get the energy to do such a demanding project, professionally and yet with a thorough understanding of the process and the energy required to sweat out the task. This was a lesson to learn for us that people with so much integrity and respect still exist. Now we have witnessed a miracle literally. Friday came and the crew transformed our landscape. They worked as hard and with as much enthusiasm as they did on Thursday. In fact with even more energy this time. The whole day was a spectacular event for us. We have never witnessed such dedication to work. Late Friday the crew cleared any and every piece of garbage after they completed the sodding. We were advised to water the complete sodded area for at least 20 minutes early morning and late evening. We have been doing this. The crew returned on Monday to complete a patch when they ran out of sod on Friday and fixed a chipmunk damage done to the sod. We have a 2 week guarantee on the sod in case it dies. The crew will be coming to do that soon. We are eternally grateful to Michael and his amazing crew for the wonderful service they provided and to the two ladies on the phone including Brianna. I was pleasantly surprised to hear an Indian man answering my phone call on Saturday because he had such a strong accent and made me smile. Believe me when I say, I am at loss for words. What I have written here does not do justice to the amazing work that Michael and his crew did for us. Feel free to visit under Michael’s company to see what they have created for us. One neighbor came and told Narima, you make the place look like heaven. I can’t top that. My only regret is we could not get someone to clear under our deck. That is a second project for me and Narima. Thank you again

Our project was done in a professional, timely fashion. Staff were polite and respectful of our property and that of our neighbours. Work was neatly done and cleanup very thorough. We highly recommend Michael Durham Landscaping.

MDL took on the project of getting our backyard re-soded, add stone patio and address standing water issues and clogged window wells. They did an amazing job and we are very happy with the result. The crew was always on time, courteous and friendly, they always cleaned up at the end of the day. Michael was great to work with, from the initial quote to many conversation regarding our project, he was always there to answer all questions. We are already looking to get MDL take on our next project – the front yard.

Run don’t walk away from this company! We hired Michael Durham Landscaping to do some resodding and to fix our 12x12 deck. He seemed knowledgeable and friendly when they came to give me the quote. The initial timeline was for the end of July. End of July rolls around and I contacted Michael about further projects including a fence that needed to be replaced and inquired about a start date for the initial project. Next Thursday was the response. Thursday comes, we put our dogs in daycare to avoid the barking and general craziness that renovations cause. No one shows up. So I call and am told that the job has been moved to Thursday. No warning. No phone call to let me know. Nothing. They finally show up on the Thursday and start work. They finish on the Friday, pack up their stuff and take off. No final walk through, no explanation of what was done. No lawn care advice for the fresh sod. Just no customer service what so ever. The railing that was installed looked ok, but it was an injury waiting to happen. Our renovations continued with a different contractor that we trust. We wanted him to sand the rest of the deck because we were told by Michael that the rest of the wood was fine and do some flooring. He took one look at the deck and said the wood needed to be replaced, the stairs that were an extra charge to install weren’t done properly, the railing was coming apart where a post should have been installed and that if anyone was to lean on it, they would have fallen. I asked him to take pictures and videos of the mistakes. I sent these to Michael and asked him to come and fix the mistakes. Apparently, there is only one foreman trusted enough to do this job and they were on vacation. Gotta wait another week. Thursday it rains so they can’t come in. So now it’s Friday. We spent the morning waiting around for them to show up, they finally did at 11:00 am. The crew that came today left with only securing 1 out of 4 posts and actually had the nerve to tell me that there could be additional costs to mix their mistakes. The railing is still flimsy and no one can lean on it. They said that I would have to email the owner (Michael) to discuss further action. I would call him but they are not answering my phone calls and he hung up on me the last time we spoke. We now have to wait for a 3rd appointment to get this railing finished. After paying $5k to fix our deck the issues and treatment that we’ve received is unacceptable even to the most forgiving person. It’s my humble opinion that there are much better, cheaper and more reliable companies to choose from in the Durham area. You’ve been warned.