Rated 4.07 / 5 from 15 reviews
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The Hilltop Creating a great landscape starts with a simple concept-listening to the client and analyzing the site. At the Hilltop we have been designing and building the perfect view since 1970. Founded by renowned landscape architect Jim DeFlon and Jim Forrester (who added crucial knowledge of landscape construction), the company is New Mexico's oldest and largest design-build firm.

The Hilltop has experts in residential and commercial design and construction, from intimate backyard living spaces to multi-acre commercial, industrial and recreational properties. The key to our success is the more than 200 landscape professionals who work at the Hilltop.
Business details
  • Year established: 1970
  • Licensed
Services
Xeriscape
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The xeriscape rebate program gives both resident homeowners and businesses a rebate on water bills for removing a minimum of 500 square feet of grass lawn and replacing it with a landscape that incorporates low and medium water use plants. See our Resources page for links to detailed information about Albuquerque's rebate program.
Tree Care
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Trees need proper, proactive care to remain healthy. Proactive care takes knowledge. The Hilltop can help with a consultation regarding your tree's needs. A consultation might result in advice for the day-to-day care of the trees, or recommendations such as trimming for aesthetic reasons or reducing the risk of falling branches.
Maintenance
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Keeping your landscape beautiful is what our maintenance services are all about. The Hilltop Landscape Maintenance Division offers quality services to its high end residential, commercial, homeowner association, and industrial customers. The needs of individual clients are far-ranging in their variety and The Hilltop crews are ready for the challenge of meeting those needs.
Commercial
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The Hilltop offers real benefits to the owner or architectural firm on a commercial project. One of our greatest strengths lies in the fact that most of our foreman and key personnel have worked with us for over 15 years. We hold five construction industries division licenses and have three licensed landscape architects on staff full time.
Residential
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From absolutely necessary changes to remedy a severe drainage issue, to creating a landscape for the newly built house that provides a shaded pavestone outdoor living space, or replacing a large lawn with low-water use plants to qualify for a City of Albuquerque Rebate, The Hilltop has the experience to tackle them all.
Reviews (15)
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Cynthia Ito
Oct 28, 2021
I hired Hilltop to design and install xeric yard. Design was ok but install has been a disaster. The drip system was installed, holes dug for plants in very sandy soil and a handful of compost thrown into each hole. It wasn't even mixed with existing soil. They dumped the plant in hole and backfilled. Then they covered the plants with too much crusher fines and suffocated the crown of plants. Plants immediately started to die.

I couldn't determine how much water they were getting because they buried the emitters. The workers doing job did not know what they were doing and had zero supervision. Once management gets your money they forget you exist. The pump on the water feature went out and it took weeks to replace. The second pump broke after a few days. It has been several days and they will not return calls to come fix it. We have given up on Hilltop and bought our own pump replacement. Bottom line, this company does not provide good service during and after project.
Johonniuss Chemweno
Jul 31, 2021
I have been waiting for Hilltop to return to finish their job and they have not returned phone calls and were handsomely paid but did not deliver all services promised.
Scott Hindman
Jul 22, 2021
Doug is a pleasure to work with, and his crew was professional, on-time and very detail oriented. He works hard to make sure that everything is right and looks good. I would 100% hire Doug again.
Kirsten Dick
May 24, 2021
Hilltop was supposed to fix our irrigation system so it could water our small orchard over the summer. It took them weeks to complete it, and as a result, we have lost 11 fruit trees. Some of the trees were at least 15 years old. We asked them to replace the trees, and they replaced a few with little saplings. Some of them have taken and some of them have not. Hilltop was also supposed to lay sod in our backyard, which they did, but then they stopped the sod short so that there are two rows of completed sod and then an abrupt end for the remaining rows.

It looks terrible. My husband and I should have been on top of these guys the whole time, but we were moving into the new house where the work was being done and weren't there for the landscaping portion. We trusted that they would complete the project to the highest standards. We were very wrong. As we prepare for the spring, we are reminded again how upset and disheartened we were with this service. I have never written a negative review before, but I feel I must in this case. I would not recommend Hilltop for your residential landscaping needs.
Joshua Coe
May 15, 2021
My wife and I bought a home that came with a small, xeriscaped front yard, but a large and unfinished back one. Wanting something pretty but too old and lazy to do it ourselves, we looked into landscapers. After encountering some difficulty in getting businesses to return our calls, a friend recommended Hilltop. The landscape architect (Aaron Forrester) came over and surveyed the terrain while we blathered our way through a basic sketch - rocks of a couple of different sizes, some flagstone steps, some flowering plants.

A few days later, he emailed us a drawing that put flesh on those bones. While even that first pass was nice, there were a few things we'd envisioned differently. We brought those to Aaron, who then returned with a plan that we really couldn't improve upon. The time between our substantial deposit and the start of actual work was a little longer than we'd hoped (just over three months), but this wasn't terribly surprising (at least they returned our calls!).

The workers were diligent and polite, and the work was completed in a timely fashion. Being a horticultural neophyte, I promptly complained that some of the plantings looked a little anemic (it was January). Aaron sent someone to look at them, and he patiently assured us that all would be well when spring came. He was right. Armed with a full inventory of our backyard, we became more curious as to what was planted in the front.

After some inquiries, we discovered that Hilltop had installed it as well. So I contacted Aaron again (who by this point was probably sick of me, and with justification), and he sent a helpful young man named Tom to identify the plants. When it was clear that a couple were dead and no longer under warranty, he even volunteered to come help plant new ones if I decided to replace them. So now we have two yards that are beautiful and whose plants we've identified, and Hilltop to thank for it. Bueno.
Shashi Mendis
Apr 17, 2021
Hilltop landscaping did a great job n our yard, they were really patient and professional with us! Big thank you for all the guys!
Tamera Kester
Apr 15, 2021
They are awesome! Jim the owner is amazing, kind, honest and wonderful.the guys are so great.they do a fantastic job! Super blessed to know them and thankful to have them doing my yard!
Matt Lamb
Apr 05, 2021
We worked Aaron Forrester and his team. They were amazing in helping us design and plant our yard. He was patient with us as we figured out what was important to us in our design and shared his professional insights to help us finalize a beautiful yard. We could not be happier!
Shane Kuszmaul
Feb 17, 2021
Great ideas and colorful plants in the desert, with water features and zero scape ideas.
Mary Whitlock
Sep 18, 2020
Jim from The Hilltop Landscape came to our home on May 16, 2020 to provide an estimate to do some very basic work on our backyard. He was pushy & wanted us to add features that we didn't want. He didn't listen to what we wanted. It was about what HE wanted us to do. Jim told us he would get back to us with an estimate of what we requested in a week or so.

He never got back to us at all. I believe that if this company didn't want the job, they could have told us that instead of saying they'd get back to us & then never following up. Very unprofessional thing to do. I do not recommend this compay. This company lacks ethics and are not professional.
Linda Waters
Feb 03, 2019
I highly recommend The Hilltop. Jim was excellent to do business with. I felt confident in him and his workers. They were prompt, respectful, and hard working. They did a beautiful job replacing a patio and adding redwood pilars to inhance the patio structure. Again, I would recommend this company. Thank you Hilltop for my beautiful patio!
Patrick Brenner
Mar 24, 2018
I worked with Doug on a landscaping project. We had a blank canvas to work with (all dust). They provided the entire design of the yard using Google maps aerial images and measurements after they were able to get out to the site. The whole team was stupendous and easy to work with. Doug was responsive by email. They seem really busy, so expect a several week process from initial call to final product.

Once they come out, their staff is only on site for a few days at most. They worked very quickly. Quality, price, communication and professionalism are great. Good things are worth waiting for, you can't rush perfection, etc. Only the highest praise.
Masood Suliman
Feb 13, 2016
We live on a corner lot and in very high profile, high traffic location. We were never happy with the look of our front yard. We wanted a front yard that we could sit out with our kids and enjoy, while offering a beautiful curb appeal for those passing by. After searching, we learned Hilltop had been around for a long time with an outstanding reputation in the community.

They were also familiar with our neighborhood's restrictions on landscape renovations and could navigate the system with ease. The owner met with us to hear our opinions on things we liked and disliked. After a couple of weeks he gave us a professional blue print of the changes he envisioned at no cost, no obligation. We made some minor adjustments and hired them for the job.

Their crew always showed up before 8am and put in a full day of hard work. Our project took several weeks because they had to completely tear out our existing yard and build a moss rock wall, a beautiful new patio, a xeriscape area with new plants, and new sod was also added. It was worth every penny! The entire staff was easy to work with and very friendly.

They were also accommodating when we made a couple of changes during the project. We enjoyed working with the owner; he is a man of integrity and sticks to his word. We highly recommend Hilltop for any landscaping need! We plan on using them again in the future.
Anne J.
Nov 08, 2015
High quality landscaping and tree trimming from trained professionals. We have used them for regular maintenance but they also took great care of us when we had an emergency when a large tree limb fell on our house and a crew worked on a weekend to remove it.
Ethan Rogers
Jun 05, 2013
I have been using The Hilltop for more than years than I care to admit to. I have used them to install new irrigation systems as well as repair and maintain existing systems. I have always received high quality products and services.