Westturf Landscape

I'm a long time Vista resident and have watched how our city has improved. I've seen the Westturf guys around town and they're doing a fantastic job with our medians and parks! Kudos for doing all of this work in a heatwave too!

I am the owner of a home in a 32 unit community. We hired Westturf Landscape Service 2 months ago on a performance contract which stated: "each property is seperated into 4 weeks of service, ensuring that every section of the property is completely maintained in one month's time." It is now 2 months later, and our community has never looked worse. Our hedges need trimming, the shrubs need trimming, the weeds need to be pulled, and the irrigation, or lack thereof is killing our slopes and turf.

I reported my sprinklers continuously running, over 2 weeks ago. They are still running. They say they don't use hedge trimmer machines. For the few hedges that did get trimmed, it was with gas trimmers. They say they don't use chemicals, but they sprayed within 6 weeks of taking over the property, even on people's property who wrote and told them not to.

There is no managerial supervision, just two laborers who hardly speak english.

They show up for 4 to 6 hours, one day a week. It is impossible to maintain this community in that amount of time. We have always had 2 men, 2 days a week, for 8 hours a day, because that was the amount of man hours necessary to maintain a 32 unit subdivision.

This company was hired by 3 board members who don't want to admit what fools they were to hire them, and still don't. The entire community has to suffer and PAY (we are paying more than double for less than half the work) because these 3 people don't want to admit they were wrong in hiring this inept and incompetent company.

I hope all community members remember these three board members when they come up for reelection next year.

Dear Westturf Landscape Management,
I am a homeowner in the Terrace Downs Community and am writing to express my serious concerns regarding Westturf Landscape Management's performance under its landscape maintenance agreement with our homeowners association.

Approximately two months ago, Westturf was engaged to provide landscape maintenance services for our 32-unit community. As I understand it, the agreement specifically provided that the community would be brought to an acceptable maintenance standard within one month of the commencement of services. Two months have now elapsed, yet the condition of the property demonstrates that this contractual obligation has not been fulfilled.

The attached photographs illustrate only a portion of the deficiencies. My hedges have grown as much as four feet above their historically maintained height. Despite repeated requests to trim them, no corrective action has been taken. Grass has not been properly edged and is encroaching into the ice plant on the slopes. These are basic maintenance responsibilities that should have been addressed long ago.

The deficiencies extend throughout the entire community. Hedges remain overgrown, irrigation controllers appear to be improperly programmed, resulting in extensive areas of stressed and dying vegetation, weeds are prevalent, and numerous plants have already deteriorated or died due to inadequate maintenance. A simple inspection of the property makes it readily apparent that the community has not received the level of care promised under your agreement.

I am also concerned by the inconsistency between your company's public representations and its actual practices. Westturf promotes its limited use of chemical applications, yet residents received notice that herbicides would be applied throughout the community. Prior to the application, both my neighbor and I notified your office that we did not consent to spraying in our respective areas. We received no acknowledgment or response to those requests, and the spraying proceeded regardless. This disregard for homeowner communications reflects a lack of professionalism and responsiveness.

In addition, based upon repeated observations over the past two months, your crews appear to be on-site only one day per week for approximately four to six hours, including lunch. It is difficult to conclude that a property consisting of 32 residential units can be maintained in accordance with the contractual scope of work under such limited staffing and hours.

Taken together, these deficiencies appear to constitute a material failure to perform the services required under your maintenance agreement. Rather than improving the appearance and condition of the community during the promised one-month transition period, the landscaping has continued to deteriorate.

Given the extent of the nonperformance and the lack of meaningful progress after two months, I do not believe the confidence necessary for a successful working relationship exists. Accordingly, I respectfully urge Westturf Landscape Management to acknowledge that it has been unable to meet its contractual obligations and voluntarily terminate its agreement with Terrace Downs HOA. Doing so would allow the Association to retain a contractor capable of providing the level of maintenance our community was promised and deserves, while allowing Westturf to avoid further disputes regarding its performance.

This letter is intended to document the conditions that currently exist and to encourage a professional resolution before additional damage occurs to the community landscaping or further contractual issues arise.

Sincerely,

Howard A Townsend
Homeowner, Terrace Downs Community