Symbiosis LLC

Therese Schwenkler _{on Google}

Feb 10th, 2024

Michael, Justin and team were invaluable to the design and execution of our permaculture project. Professional, knowledgeable, emotionally intelligent, and a delight to interact with. They made sure our vision and goals were clear from the get-go and helped us bring our dreams to life! We couldn't have done it without them!

Niti M _{on Google}

Jul 6th, 2023

Mike and his team came up with a very creative design plan for our small homestead. They completed the first phase of the install this spring and it was beautifully done. We can see our land has so much more biodiversity and unbelievable number of pollinators. Mike, Chris, and Ryan were wonderful to work with and learn from. You could see how much they care about nature and bring so much passion into what they do. Ryan taught me a lot about Central Texas gardening and continues to support us with maintenance. I highly recommend them.

Aditya Prasad _{on Google}

Jun 12th, 2023

Edit: Michael, I'm sorry you didn't feel comfortable telling me what a nuisance you felt I was. As for "renegotiation," that is usually bilateral. What happened was "oops, sorry we couldn't honor the promise that was at the crux of your whole decision, but we don't like you, so bye."
I've debated whether to leave this review for a long time. I hate speaking poorly of others, but I also feel that people should be warned.
I feel that Michael is not a man of integrity, and you should be careful hiring him -- though there is a lot of good to say about the rest of his team.
We hired Symbiosis in 2021 to design and install a large garden. We immediately hit it off with them and felt great about the company. They installed 300 perennials and 25 fruit trees in May 2021, and guaranteed survival of the plants on a $350/month maintenance program.
The first few months' bills were nearly double that. Despite that, the team members who performed the maintenance could not identify their plants, let alone what they needed. I still do not know why they "guaranteed" survival of plants that they self-admittedly could not locate.
I learned to identify the plants myself, and after a few months, pointed out some of the deaths. They replanted with new plants, and charged us for it. To their credit, they reversed the charge when I gently inquired about the guarantee.
At various times, we requested that Michael come out, as he was the only one who could readily identify all plants, and held the overall vision for the garden. He was always busy with other projects, and assured us that Adam (his second-in-command) had it under control, so we didn't press the issue.
Around January, we decided to part ways with Symbiosis because we could not afford their maintenance plan at its true price. We hired one of their former staff (call her "Z") to take over. There was a cordial handoff, during which Adam went out of his way to share his knowledge with Z (for which we are deeply grateful).
Unfortunately, they had not told us to turn off the irrigation in the winter, which in part contributed to hundreds of deaths. Again to their credit, they accepted partial responsibility for this, and helped us purchase replacements (though not nearly enough to cover the deaths).
Over the next few months, the garden floundered badly. This can't be entirely put at their feet, since they were no longer maintaining it, and it was a particularly harsh winter. But they also admitted that they *couldn't* maintain the garden at anything close to the price they had originally quoted -- a price which convinced us to invest in the first place. They told us they had learned from their mistake -- which is great, but didn't help our dying garden. Z expressed that she would also feel very disappointed in our shoes.
We felt that a fair compromise was to pay Michael to come out and advise us on how to save the garden. The garden was his original vision, and he had by far the most expertise. We pleaded with him to come out at his convenience. Instead, he told us that he was busy, that he wasn't obligated to work with us, and good luck.
If there is a silver lining, it is that I put in Herculean effort from that point onward to salvage our garden. As a result, I have discovered a passion for gardening that I never knew was in me.
The vast majority of plants have been replaced. In the process, we've discovered sun-loving plants planted in the shade and vice versa, irrigation heads inserted backwards, and other fun "easter eggs" from the original installation. Their crew were clearly not gardening experts, though I don't fault Symbiosis for providing jobs and experience to people who surely needed it.
I don't know if this garden will survive, but it's basically a full time job now to try, and I'm giving it everything I have. I only wish that Michael had lived up to the impression we originally had of him and the expectations that his company had initially set.

Kristen Biggs _{on Google}

Apr 15th, 2021

You could not find someone more hard working than Justin. While our project was complex and did not perform as originally designed, Justin came back to fix it, so they stand behind their work. We are happy with the final results, and are grateful to them for working with us.