Water and Earth Landscape Design - San Jose, California

Rachel Lin

My husband & I hired Matt to design our Eichler Atrium. He was originally excited and told us our project would cost "way less" than our $20k budget. He also told us it could easily be done before our desired completion date.

He became very unresponsive shortly after we signed the contract.

Our project came out to $20k, but without several items we asked for multiple times, like tall plants, lighting and a vertical succulent wall. Our stepping stone walkway was poorly designed and does not accommodate a normal human stride. He tried to charge us for an irrigation timer we already owned. He argued with us in e-mails & accused me of lying. He wasn't here to make sure the project was being executed properly. He did not come after it was completed to make sure it was done correctly.

He tried to push our project date back despite the fact that we were responsive & he sometimes took as long as a week to answer us, and then tried to blame the landscaping company.

His excuse for being unresponsive was that he had a big, important client (implying we were not important).

We would not hire Matt again and we would not recommend him.

Tim McCanna

We've had an exceptional experience with Matt at Water and Earth Landscape Design. He brought his expertise and a great sense of quality and design to our back yard renovation. Easy to work with and was very patient with our questions and requests. We love Matt's solutions for our mid-sized space in Willow Glen, which included pergola, deck, stone patio, lawn, lighting, irrigation, and landscaping. The carpenters and landscaping company he brought on for the job were excellent and hit their deadlines. Highly recommended.

Alix McLaughlin

Matt provided design consultation for our backyard improvement project. Matt’s advice and expertise was always well-thought and valuable - he is a great partner in the project and aligns his goals with his clients’. We regularly recommend Matt to neighbors considering landscape improvements.

Amanda Alonzo

We interviewed Matt in August to help us get a landscape design for our new being-built home. Matt met us on site and was friendly and forthcoming about what services he provides and doesn't. He was knowledgeable and seemed well connected in the industry. Most importantly to my partner and I - his design aesthetic was modern with a flair for unique.

We spent about a month and a half in design development to find the balance of design and function. Matt was always open to our ideas and pushed back when he thought an idea might compromise the design more than we thought it would. He always had real pictures to show of what things would look like and had cool new ideas to propose.

Once we finalized the plans, Matt sent the design out to get bids. He doesn't work with only a single contractor so was able to talk to us about the cost and benefit from his experience about working with different ones. When a bid came back in higher than our current (now lower budget), Matt was very helpful in helping us figure out what our priorities were and re-working the design to help us make it happen. We didn't expect Matt would so hands-on and supportive after the "final designs" were given to us, but he's still here and we are grateful! Photos to come soon!

Justin and Eden Tong

We did a 60min virtual design consultation with Matt as we are in planning stages of our backyard renovation project. He offered very useful pieces of information and tips to help us clearly envision what we wanted. Using a satellite image of our yard, he did a rough 2d framework of the renovation while we talked. He was able to talk about the range of costs we can expect. Overall, the meeting gave us a good base on how to approach our project. Based on this meeting, we are strongly considering to work with Matt throughout the different phases of our backyard renovation.

Rich Cayetano

My family recently purchased a brand new home, and the front and back yards were nothing but dirt. One of the first things we did before we even moved into the house was try to find someone to design our landscape. After reading his reviews and looking over his portfolio, Matt was the first person I reached out. Within 10 minutes I already had a phone call back from him! We immediately scheduled an appointment, and on the day of, we walked through the yard and discussed ideas and what my family wanted out of the space. Matt was incredibly knowledgeable about different materials, trees/plants, and even specific tastes/trends within the area. Not to mention, he's just a friendly and easy-going guy. It didn't take long to decide we wanted Matt to be our designer.

The design process itself was really straight-forward. Matt does an initial draft, gets your feedback, and then iterates a couple more times until it is exactly what you want. Matt is super responsive and will answer any questions you have a long the way whether it's by phone, email, or text.
That was really important to us given we're busy ourselves with the move, work, and our family.

Now, as we move into the stage of actually building out our yard, we have a clear design we can show to builders that captures exactly what we want. I would highly recommend Matt to anyone looking to have their outdoor spaces done.

Wei Xia

We were looking for a landscape/exterior designer for our newly remodeled Eichler home in Palo Alto. We found Water & Earth Landscape Design through Yelp. Through browsing the portfolios and philosophy on their website, and yelp reviews, I immediately felt connections. I contacted and Matt responded very quickly to my request. I really enjoyed working with Matt:

1. He is always super responsive (through email or phone)
2. I like his modern and simple design philosophy for Eichler home. He can always give us a lot of options to support our exploratory ideas, and he also help us make decisions when he sees us struggle with too many options. Instead of me and my husband debating over some details, at the end we both trust Matt for decision making. 🙂
3. Matt is also super knowledgeable with plants, materials, and costs. He is very cautious with staying within budget when designing. He has his own construction partner and can provide overall costs on the design plan, but no matter who we engage with, Matt will still provide consultation until the project is finally completed.

Thank you very much Matt, for your consultation and design. And thanks for staying patient with us.

Pauline Mak

When we were planning to build a pool and outdoor kitchen in our backyard last year, we reached out to Matt as I saw his work online and instantly fell in love with his work. Unfortunately, he was very busy with other projects and we didn’t want to wait too long (in hindsight, we should’ve waited given our project is still ongoing). We went on and did our own research, engaged a pool company, landscaping company and came up with our own design. We have had great experience with the landscape company but the pool company was a nightmare for us. Lots of broken promises and nothing was done after they dug a giant hole in our backyard. We have been staring at the giant hole with dirty ground water building up and nothing gets done even after numerous follow-ups. The worst part is that the rest of our project can’t start until the pool is completed so we have a lot of work we weren’t able to do. The whole experience was very stressful for our family. Finally, I reached out to Matt again asking if he might have any suggestions for our situation. Even though we are not his client, Matt got back to me right away, listened to our situation and provided another pool company for us to look into. That one recommendation Matt gave us completely changed our life. The pool company, as Matt stated, is very professional and complete tasks just as they lay out in the agreed timeline. Our pool project is now back on track and hopefully in time for the holiday get together with friends and family. Matt is not only professional, but he is also a great guy who loves to help people. I would not hesitate to reach out to Matt if you ever need a company that is trustworthy. Take my advice, the wait is worth it. Don’t make the same mistake we did ?