Get Gephardt: Utah landscaper loses license for taking money then ‘abandoning’ jobs

WEST JORDAN, Utah — Last August, Brandee Lim hired Transform Landscaping and Concrete to do a bunch of work in the backyard of her West Jordan home. She paid $13,800 for trees, sprinklers, pavers, some fake grass and a fence. According to the contract, the work would be completed in four and a half weeks.

Some work was done but most of it was not.

Lim says the landscaper missed appointments and offered excuses for why work needed to be delayed.

After multiple deadlines went by and little work was done, Lim asked for a refund and the landscaper agreed.

Just like with the work, the landscaper broke promises providing a refund. Lim showed Get Gephardt text messages from the landscaper with delay excuses and even once promising he’d be out the next day with the money only to no show.

“With all the complaints that we’ve seen online, we know that there’s a lot more people out there,” Lim said. “A lot more.”

Indeed, Lim is not alone in her frustrations. According to court records, three other homeowners have sued Transform Landscaping and its owner, Efrain Rodriguez, saying they paid money and little or no work was done.

Complaints against Transform Landscaping have also resulted in action being taken against the company by the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. Last week, the licensing board revoked Rodriguez’s license for “job abandonment” after first issuing two citations against his company.

A spokesperson for DOPL said Rodriguez did not respond to the citation.

He did respond to KSL.

By email, Rodriguez wrote that jobs were never abandoned, rather homeowners canceled projects because the timeline for materials was too long and they didn’t want to wait.

Rodriguez said he is working to get multiple Transform Landscaping customers refunded.

Lim says she is still waiting for her promised refund and has now filed a police report accusing Rodriguez of theft by deception.