Home Services reviews in Larchmont, New York

We loved working with Jess & Tony. They helped us redesign our backyard and front entry, which are now beautiful. They are responsive, knowledgeable and professional.

Jessica is a visionary and we knew we needed an update and we didn’t know where to start. She patiently walked us through the process and came up with a beautiful plan. Then she and Anthony helped us stay on schedule and executed flawlessly. We couldn’t be happier with how the project turned out.

I recommend Jess and Tony wholeheartedly. The design is beautiful, reflecting our wishes in a surprising and delightful way. The installation was smooth, careful and on time. Terrific to have designer and contractor on the same team. This is our first full spring with the garden and it is thriving. A terrific experience and execution.

Jess and Tony and their entire team and crew were a pleasure to work with! The quality of their design and implementation of their work is outstanding. Extremely knowledgeable and professional at all stages of work. Highly recommend for anyone considering custom landscape architecture and design!

Jess and Tony are consummate professionals. As an initial point, they recognize how daunting major renovations can be. Their methodical approach and attention to detail provide a great deal of comfort. In addition, they are meticulous about keeping you updated regarding the schedule. Finally, they are communicative and collaborative. They investigate your likes and dislikes, they work through them with you, and they help you make the project something personal and unique.

Jess and Tony are truly amazing to work with. They made our home feel complete with our backyard renovation. We highly recommend Zavaglia!! Thank you Jess and Tony!

We had an extensive project that involved grading, stone work and landscaping. The goal was to restore our home to its original style, that had been changed by prior owners over the years. Jess spent time understanding what we were trying to achieve and our goals for the outdoor renovation, did research with the historic society and proposed perfect designs to us. Once the work started, she and Tony kept us informed of progress, issues and suggestions. The result is absolutely stunning and the effort put into details such as matching the stonework to our original stone foundation was impeccable. Can’t recommend highly enough!

Jessica and Tony did an amazing job transforming my very basic patio into my own backyard oasis! Jess' vision was spot-on in capturing exactly what I was hoping for. it was very easy to work with Jess and Tony and all of their workers are not only talented, but friendly and professional too! I highly recommend Zavaglia Associates!

Our experience working with Jess and her team has been PERFECTION. Jess is responsive, flexible, patient, and delivers the most beautiful end result. Zavaglia Associates has been easy to work with and they really take the time to understand their clients' needs and budgets and find a solution that works. Jess is also easy to reach, super invested, and 100% professional. I would give 6 stars if I could.

Jess and her team were great to work with. The whole process was easy and fun from conceptualizing to planting. The landscaping they did around our house looks beautiful and is exactly what I had envisioned.

Ed and I couldn't be more pleased about the phenomenal job Zavaglia did at our home. Jess' vision transformed what was outdated and overgrown into a fresh and vibrant landscape. Anthony's crew is efficient, professional and meticulous. We highly recommend Zavaglia Associates.

We consulted with Jess and Tony to level our sloped backyard. Jess had creative solutions and designs that took the project to the next level and Tony and his team did a great job with the execution which involved removal of a large concrete slab and surprise giant tree stump underground. The stone work they did on the retaining walls and steps was immaculate. They guided us through every step of the process with permitting, planning, etc making the process as seamless as possible. Jess also completed the project with landscaping that elevated our yard, doing a great job working with our preferences while guiding us to plants that would thrive there. The new space allows us to use the yard to its maximum potential. We could not be more pleased with our experience and would use them again for any future needs!

I worked with Zavaglia Associates on our landscape design in Larchmont, and I am thrilled with my experience working with Jess and her team. Jess is so passionate about her work, with knowledge and solutions that built on our ideas and created solves for our design challenges. She even rearranged my furniture to be more functional and added a “bonus” pavers to relocate my grill for better spacing.

The design process with Zavaglia Associates was totally structured and organized. They outlined the process upfront, and approached our project with a clear, methodical plan that included live reviews over zoom and detailed plans/imagery for our yard. What truly stood out was their ability to blend aesthetics with practicality, and align their designs with our inspo/visions. Jess carefully selected plants and trees that are well-suited to our backyard (we live near water, often get puddles/flooding), and plants that provided atmosphere and privacy without imposing on the space. They also totally understood and welcomed a “phased approach” to the yard, investing in big ticket items in year 1 and then building on it each spring.

The team at Zavaglia Associates married functionality with design, and overall we are so happy with our yard and our plans to continue building it out over the years.

We hired Jess and Tony to design and construct an outdoor kitchen in a small, unique backyard spot. Our yard has a large rock structure with steps, and we wanted the kitchen built into the rock area, while respecting the uniqueness of the space. Jess read my mind on design, the kitchen looks incredible, and the construction is very high quality. We were so pleased with the kitchen design that we had Jess design and add in backyard lighting, which further transforms the space. Hope to have her back eventually to do some work on our front yard and porch. The process took time, which we expected. Jess and team were very communicative and professional throughout.

One of our biggest regrets is working with Zavaglia Associates. 1+ year 6 figure project involving retaining walls, patio and outdoor kitchen. Have done multiple projects before with various different contractors and Zavaglia was unfortunately the worst experience we’ve had.

Jess and Tony sell themselves as a design and build firm but they are FAR from that. They are in actuality 2 separate entities, ZA (Jess) that does design and AZI (Tony) that does landscape. Jessica was never involved or even came by our site for the last 7-8 months of our project. We felt lied to by the initial sell of a designer being part of the execution.

There were numerous issues in every stage but we gave them the benefit of the doubt in every case until we just couldn’t. Honestly dont know where to begin but here are the highlights of problems:

1. Horrendous communication with constant contradictions
- During an in person meeting, specifically discussed there would NOT be a 3rd retaining wall built right over the 2nd. Come home from vacation a week later with 3rd wall built exactly where they said there would not be. No call, email, communication what so ever to discuss the change. I had to be the one to email asking what was going on only to hear back a week later!
- I questioned early on whether the retaining walls were level as they looked crooked. They assured me that it was the ground that was not level but the wall WAS level. End result: the wall is definitely sloped to the left. Their narrative changed to it was meant to follow the slope of the ground. Now we just look out the window everyday to walls that are not level.
- Sold us on gaining a LEVEL usable upper terrace where kids could run and play. ASSURED us time after time it was achievable. End result: at least a 10 degree sloped unusable space much smaller than expected which we further improved ourselves borrowing shovels and digging out more dirt to level as much as possible.

2. Execution
- Mismeasured width of grill and built stone cutout of kitchen 2 inches wider on each side. Mistakes happen but not only did I have to point it out twice, the fix was janky. When I told the crew it didn’t look good I got attitude and was told I needed to call Jessica. I call but only get voicemail. I leave both a voicemail and send an email. NEVER get a response.
- Outdoor kitchen wall initially built 2 ft wider than per plans closing off space too much. If we had not happened to be home, it would have been a much bigger issue to fix. Where is the oversight from Tony?
- Graded our backyard so that the lowest point of our yard was against our house. For months, every time it rained significant amounts of water sat right up against our foundation. We were told that was fine. Had to hire another company to fix.
- Built kitchen wall/cement abutting our home siding as well as raised the level of patio above grade, leaving home framing/rim joists below grade. We didn’t know at the time this voided hardiplank siding warrantee as well as make the wood framing of our home more vulnerable to water issues and rot. Should have had an architect draw up plans.

3. Lost our trust
- Quoted us for 2.5’ high by 72’ wide retaining walls. They said the quote was high building in their own contingency. Walls came out to be 3’ high by 49’ wide. Asked if our final cost is lower if the walls we end up building is smaller. They said no, went as far as to say even if they had to build a 90’ wall they would never charge us extra for that. Ok that’s fine but then turns around and invoices us a few thousand extra after a tiny wall 1’ by 15’ they added without discussion first of being an extra cost. Complete hypocrisy.
- Quoted us for one 5’ retaining wall which we later find out was never even in the plans submitted to the town. No wonder the final product never fully delivered on Jess’s initial design plan which we also paid several thousands for.
- Left us with an open permit with the village and still trying to close it with no help from ZA!

The one star is for the one positive that the stones look beautiful.

We had a great experience with Jess and Tony Zavaglia! They took the time to understand our needs, design aesthetic, and goals in order to help us take advantage of our outdoor space. Beautiful work done with our retaining wall, fire pit set-up, landscaping, and outdoor lighting! Everyone from Zavaglia Associates was extremely professional and courteous. Thank you!

Jess and Anthony gave us our dream backyard! They expanded our patio, built an outdoor kitchen, and did the landscaping around the new patio. The workmanship and end product are excellent. They deliver a very high quality product.

The Zavaglia Team made my backyard dreams come true!! Jess guided me along the process from early concept to final completion. The team provided inspirational vision, expert advice, and beautiful execution. Every time I walk through our new arbor entry to the backyard it brings me a smile. I am so grateful to have the Zavaglia's as our partners in renovating our home!! The team is top notch and they truly care about every detail!!

Wow -- we can't say enough good things about Zavaglia! They made the outside of our home truly beautiful and worked with us to do it in a way they knew we'd love. Jess and Tony are a delight. We'd recommend them to anyone and would never use anyone else.

Can’t say enough good things about working with Jess and Tony. They helped us every step of the way for our project from designing to executing, landscaping, furnishing and even the maintenance after. They were a pleasure to work with as were all of their subcontractors. Every interaction was professional and enjoyable, especially since we had no idea what we were getting into but they quickly understood our desires and visions. They were patient and helpful through it all, with plenty of humor which we appreciated! The best part is our project turned out amazing and we can’t wait to use our new, gorgeous spaces.

Jess and Tony were incredible! We brought them in for a major project - to completely redo our entire yard, building a fireplace, putting in a stone outdoor kitchen, adding privacy, putting in a hot tub, and re-landscaping the yard in one holistic design. Doing ANY large-scale project can tend to be nightmarish between inevitable delays, permit/town issues, bouncing between PMs and contractors when something goes wrong, etc. but this one was a super-pleasant surprise because Jess and Tony took total ownership of making sure everything turned out well. They were great at matching our wants and style asks, but also at bringing a style and perspective we needed, showing us things we hadn’t thought of (and talking us out of ideas when we were gonna be sad later). I felt like we had an advocate at every phase, from permitting challenges to finding the right furniture, to helping us think about the space practically.

The work was all amazing - the stone fireplace and kitchen fireplace they built look phenomenal, and our yard got transformed from somewhere we’d hang here and there to the main place we try to be for meals, remote work, or just hanging out with the kids.

And when challenges inevitably did come up (as with any project this size) it felt like Jess and Tony were actually MORE motivated to figure out a fix than we were. We had an amazing experience, and can’t recommend them enough. They did great work, made the space into a *living* space, and were also great humans to be working with over the course of a major project.