L3 Designs

I started working with L3 Designs to redesign my front and back yard landscaping in the summer of 2016. They have since designed and installed an entirely new area for my back yard, a refresh/upgrade of my front yard, backyard lighting, and continues to provide my monthly maintenance service for both areas. Lauren and Mike were both wonderful in all my dealings with them. Lauren provided a design that took my yard from a small unusable space, to an area that is peaceful, relaxing and able to serve all my needs, including an outdoor living area, dining area, and an artificial turf dog area. She worked to listen to all my needs that I wanted within my small (typical Houston Heights) backyard and stay within my budget, even utilizing some of my existing plants, including moving a fairly large tree! She was also able to provide estimates for phases of the work, just to ensure I was comfortable with what i was spending and when i was spending it as well as a detailed contract that she was happy to update as needed so I was comfortable that both of our obligations were clear. Mike installed the design and was communicative at every step of the process. He ensured I was aware of what was going to be completed each day and provided a status update to me so I would know next steps. When some companies may have just laid a new brick patio and moved on, Mike was so detailed, he highlighted where the last step down from the house would now be uneven with the others and corrected that as well! Additionally, Jeremiah? on their maintenance crew has also been detail oriented since the install always ensuring I am happy with the work they perform and all shrubs are trimmed as needed. I will continue to use L3 designs for all my outdoor needs due to their professionalism, friendliness, attention to detail, and most of all, the pure artistry of their designs! I love receiving compliments on my new spaces from visitors and more importantly, I love that I now have a serene area to relax with a glass of wine and perhaps a few friends...if they are lucky! :-) Thanks L3 Designs!

L3 Design designed and constructed an outdoor kitchen for us. Lauren and Mike were wonderful to work with. They were responsive to our requests and spent the time necessary to make sure we got the outdoor kitchen that best fit our space. They made changes during the project, and communicated with us each step of the way. They built us the perfect outdoor kitchen! We would highly recommend L3 for any design projects.

Had a very pleasant experience during our initial consultation, but have not been able to reach Lauren at L3 since. It has been over a month and this company has not provided any follow up. I have called and emailed dozens of times to no avail. Do not use this company, as they are impossible to reach.

Unfortunately, Lauren L3 designs was not forthcoming with her process for providing design consultation. She charged a $400 retainer for a "preliminary design" that was quoted to complete at over $25K. When I informed that I would not be able to move forward with the outrageous quote and simply asked for the design work completed for the $400 retainer, I was told I had to pay another fee for the design work. Essentially, the $400 was for L3 to prepare a quote. DON'T USE THIS COMPANY!!!!

Very Disappointing. They promised a lot and delivered nothing. We hired Lauren in March 2016. We wanted an overall design/plan for our backyard to be done over several years. We wanted the first installment to be changing the decking and landscaping around our existing pool. We budgeted $25,000 for this installment. Initially, Lauren met with us to discuss our needs. She assured us our budget was reasonable to accomplish what we wanted in this phase. After paying the $800 design retainer, we rarely heard from L3 again. We were told to a design typically takes a couple of weeks. We never saw a design. Unfortunately, no "promise" was ever kept - to follow up by a certain date, to send pictures, etc. Every couple of weeks, I would email L3 to check on the status. I only heard from L3 when I emailed them. Despite starting this process with the intent to be done by summer, in May (2 months later), after another email from me asking about an update, I received an email that L3 wasn't going to be able to do our project and would refund our retainer. In short, they were very nice people, but they promised a lot and delivered nothing. Truly wish it would have worked. Love their photos.

We recently hired L3 Garden Design to design and install all new landscaping, including lighting, for our front and side yards, and refresh existing landscape in the backyard. We are extremely pleased with the final results. Lauren designed a space that will be low maintenance for us but yet is beautiful and truly complements our home. Her office staff and crew are professional, courteous and conscientious. Due to the quality of their work, we are continuing to use L3 Design for our weekly yard maintenance.

We hired L3 at the end of 2015 to create a backyard living space and could not have been happier that we did so. Lauren, Mike and team are easily the best contractors we have worked with and we have worked with quite a few in updating our house. They are reliable, honest and respectful. What also makes them so great is that they genuinely care about providing long term, functional solutions. They aren't going to just take the quick or easy approach. Specifically, we had some drainage issues which L3 fixed even though it was not originally encompassed in our plan. Additionally, they always kept the backyard in a clean state and even fixed little things such as a leaky hose connector even though we never even told them we had a problem with it. One of the most appreciated things too was that we never went over budget. In fact, L3 even threw in some extras as a bonus (seasonal Christmas flowers in front yard, drainage solutions, constant maintenance of the yard during the project). This is the first time we have ever worked with a contractor who did not under bid the project. When we first met with Lauren, we were not sure what to expect. We discussed with her our general thoughts of our backyard space and requested some items to be included in her proposal (pergola, fountain, etc). But when she met with us the second time with her drawings and ideas, we were blown away.We had met with several other landscape developers but after seeing Lauren's drawings, it was a no brainer. Several of the other contractors could only give us vague renderings in our consultations unless we committed to use their services and paid a design fee. Lauren also came in at a lower price than others and was able to include much more in the project (grill area, fountain, fire pit, pergola).After selecting Lauren, her and Mike got the materials in place and started right away with breaking ground. We had a pretty rainy December which did put the project a little behind schedule but we appreciated Mike and Lauren's resolve to always keep us apprised of schedule changes. Additionally, Mike always reinforced the importance of making sure things were done right and not hastily. Obviously weather is something that is out of their control. And L3 did everything possible to make up that lost time by working extra Saturdays. I think Mike even came in the day of or day after his wedding which we said was completely unnecessary. However, it just gives you an idea of their commitment to the project. In the end, the weather issues didn't really even matter because we ended up not far off the schedule. More importantly though, we ended up with the best backyard possible. Almost every friend or family member who has been to our house is shocked with the transformation and all have wanted Lauren's contact info including neighbors. For the first time ever, there is zero hesitation on our part to refer a contractor to a friend or family member because there's nothing negative to say about their services. L3 is a class act company and awesome to work with. I highly recommend this company.

We hired Lauren and her team to help us transform our small, underutilized front yard into a modern and private entertaining space. We could not be happier with the results. Equally impressive was how L3 Designs achieved the results. All of our interactions with Lauren and her team exceeded expectations. She was polite, punctual and took the time to listen to our thoughts and ideas. After our first meeting, Lauren drafted up a colored rendering of what our yard could become - it reflected everything we were looking for and more. Lauren met with us for a follow-up discussion to help us understand each aspect of the design, its intended function and its cost. When we were comfortable we commissioned the team to get started. The L3 Design team takes great pride in their work. Each day Lauren made efforts to ensure the design was being followed, the work was being done correctly and that the worksite itself was clean and tidy. It is rare to find a team that takes such clear ownership of their work and the end product. The final result is a space that we can proudly use for entertaining and relaxing. L3 Designs exceeded our expectations and I recommend them to anyone looking to transform an ordinary space into a truly unique one.

We hired L3 to create a plan for our front and side yard. Lauren created a beautiful design and executed it perfectly. I highly recommend the for initial designs and also weekly yard maintenance. Great crews and awesome execution !!

My husband and I have owned a number of houses in Houston over the past 30 years, but we have never really spent any money on landscaping until these past 6 months. I started jogging and realizing that the weather here actually is fairly nice most days, at least for SOME part of the day. That kind of got us started on focusing on our backyard for the first time EVER, and through Houzz we found L3 Designs, and discussed w/Lauren our thoughts about what we might do to make our yard a place where we would enjoy hanging out. The yard was atrocious. The former owners had planted a lot of trees and bushes w/seemingly no thought to where they put them. We essentially started from scratch. We, before we got w/L3 Designs, removed every tree, and L3 removed the grass and all the bushes in the backyard. We truly did start from scratch. What we ended up w/is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. The focal point of the yard is a wood burning ("pizza") oven, which we used frequently. Before that was installed, we have drainage done, a new stone patio, a pergola added, and the entire back yard, which is good-sized was redone. It looked like a war zone in my back yard and they did some heavy duty excavation to get all the drainage working properly, then put it all back together, but better than we could have ever imagined. L3 was easy to work with. Lauren listened to our ideas and had suggestions of ideas that we might like to incorporate, and came back to us quickly w/several different renderings for the backyard, both we liked and settled on one of them, which has turned out lovely and very functional. Lauren has a really good eye, a good aesthetic, and although I have a lot of ideas about design and finishes, Lauren was super helpful in making decisions and suggestions on style and function. Along those lines, when we were trying to figure out what kind of door to put in the back wall of our house, Lauren suggested we consider glass "California bifold" doors to connect the eating area with the patio and wood burning oven and to make the kitchen/breakfast area/patio seem like one continuous space. Our kitchen opens seamlessly now to the patio and WBO, which without a doubt have become the focal point of our home. We have spent more time outside in the last 6 months than we have in the 30 years prior to that. We use the patio every day and the WBO, the receipt and installation of which L3 very ably oversaw, every weekend. We could not be happier w/L3 Designs or recommend this company more highly! PS - I must not fail to mention the very important fact that since L3 re landscaped our backyard, the drainage is greatly improved. We used to have several areas where there was lots of standing water after a rain. The crazy storms and flooding of the past few weeks were truly the ultimate test of whether the backyard installation was done properly, and it definitely was!!!

I am writing this review because I hired L3 based on the reviews published here. I hired and paid L3 in November to design and landscape my yard. While they are very nice people, once I'd paid, I was constantly chasing them for a design...revisions to the design (the first reflected none of my requests) and now 6 months later, I still don't have a budget. At this point I've given up. I think if you want a big outdoor kitchen installation, this might be a good choice. It wasn't for my small project.

Lauren listened to what we wanted, and then added some very creative ideas. Her proposal was detailed, and written in such a way that we could pick and choose. Peggy, in the office, was responsive and very courteous. The people who did the work were also courteous, and very respectful of the neighborhood and our need to get in and out of the single lane driveway. They were efficient, and once the work started the job was completely quickly. I recommend L3 without reservation.