Dave's Sprinkler Repair

"The first thing that should be said is that the customer paid 0.00 dollars after I spent a couple hours of hard work trying to repair this, but there was just too many variables stacked against me. How could he give me a B for price when he paid nothing is just par for the course on a job like this. Here's my side of the story. After arriving at my scheduled time, I could see the leak was coming from the driveway line. Before even digging it up, I could see it would be tough because there was a giant bush planted right on top of where the sleeve under the driveway was. When I got it dug up, there was a PVC line, landscape lighting wire, and the main drip line, all running through the sleeve, along with roots from the large bush planted on top of the sleeve. When starting these jobs there is no way of knowing if it is even possible or not until the job is done. I have done several hundred of these and every one is different. When the customer showed up, I was already at the point where I had slid the new line through but still had a couple more feet to go, but it was not budging. There was just too much stuff wrapped around the line, preventing it from being pulled through. this system had not been used for a considerable period of time because of all the problems and was only now trying to be fixed because he was selling the house. I told him it could be repaired but would be extensive because you would have to remove the stuff running through the sleeve and replace it all, as well as probably remove the bush to have enough room to even be able to attempt it. Since he was selling the house he did not want to do anything extensive, so I told him we could cap the line before it runs under the driveway, which would still allow all the front and back yard plants to get water, but would eliminate the leak. This is what we did. Now, at this point the leak is gone and the system is back to full pressure again. As soon as we turned it on, it broke again in a different spot out in the yard. This is fairly normal especially in a system that has not been used. The main line is brittle from not having any water in it. At this point I had already been there for a couple hours after only having one hour scheduled as most of the time I could do this repair in about a half hour or so. I told him I was behind and had other jobs scheduled that I was already late to. It's been my experience with leaks in systems like this that had I stayed and repaired this leak, it more than likely would have broke again somewhere else when we turn it on again. This is when he told me he wasn't going to pay so I just chalked up my losses and left. There is no way to know if these kinds of jobs can be repaired until you try. At the point you realize it can't be fixed is after you've spent considerable time and effort trying to repair it. Just a life in the day of the sprinkler repair guy."

"Thank you, sir."

"I told the customer up front before I even started this job, the price and that what he had was a set of Home Depot valves that come in a kit for building the manifold. I've never come across a set of these valves that didn't leak. The valves were not functioning normally and I told him I could make them go back to functioning normally by rebuilding the existing valves, and try to fix the leaks by just tightening all the threaded connections. This is what we agreed to do. He did not want to dig up the entire set of valves and manifold and rebuild correctly with PVC and new valves as this would be considerably more expensive and I would have had to reschedule to come back because I did not have enough time scheduled on this visit. What I did fixed the initial functionality issue, but one valve is apparently still leaking which I told him ahead was totally possible. Can't change inferior equipment installed incorrectly."

"This customer says what I did is unnecessary. The fact is the way that I repaired this leak was the ONLY way this could be repaired without actually cutting out the valves and manifold and replacing everything. I did not plan on getting there early but had a cancellation of the job before his. I can assure you I have been doing this a long time and it makes no difference to me if if you are not home or standing there watching over my shoulder, it will get repaired the exact same way, which is exactly how I would do it on my own house, as was the case here. The leak was repaired in the only way possible, and was done correctly."

"Thanks [Member name removed], glad I could help."

"When the customer told me what she wanted done, I told her that what she wanted is a remodel job, which I do not do. I told her that after locating the main drip line, if it was ran to all of the areas that she wanted water to, then I could add lines accordingly. I told her I would do my best, but I could clearly see that the original install would not get water to 100% of the areas she needs water to. I got sufficient water to approximately 70% of the area. She was unhappy, but I did tell her up front that this would be the case."

"This job on average would take about an hour of time on any given day. You could have had someone come and tell you that you need to dig the entire box up, cut everything out , and replace it with a valve that would only last about 50% of the lifespan of the valve you have. You wouldn't know the difference. The value in what you paid is the experience I have to give you the best value, along with a good warranty. This valve will last as long as it did the first time. After the other guys spend half a day in your yard, cutting everything, giving you a new crappy valve, and most likely installing incorrectly or left with leaks, and then can't get a hold of them when you call them back. I stand by this job 100%"

"I think sometimes I can be kind of short with people but it's because I'm in an extreme hurry. I guess if I get there on a day when it's really hot after working all day, yeah, I can look and smell a little rough . I have some pretty tough days I can assure you."

"I actually give everyone a two hour window, and I generally make it to 95% , maybe more than that, on time. If I can't get it fixed in 2 hrs, then it's probably in pretty tough shape"