McLean Irrigation Inc

Chatted with receptionist on the phone to let her know that there were several broken heads to be repaired and wanted her to know in advance so we could handle that when they turned on the sprinklers in order to allow her to schedule add't time. She said that they'd only do that if they had enough time - which is why I was called her in advance to coordinate the visit.

Fast forward to when  the operator showed up to turn on the sprinklers, he stated that they didn't have any time to repair any of the heads and it would be 2-3 weeks before he could get back. I told him about my pre-coordination, but he was unimpressed.

Very disappointed, rec going with another organization.

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McLean Irrigation installed the original sprinkler system on our house.  When we bought the property in 2011, we continued to use McLean irrigation as the previous owners had paid in advance for Spring/Winter turn on/offs.  The service techs have always been hit or miss, and I am finally done using them. There was one tech who at least knew what he was doing, but was deathly afraid of dogs and would yell at me if they were nearby.  He also would not go into our crawl space to turn the sprinkler system off.  On at least two occasions in the last three years I have had to re-schedule a Spring start-up or winterization because they didn't send someone along with the tech to shut the valve off.  In addition, on one occasion, they had to come out on 3 separate times to fix a leaky valve - each time with a window of 4 hours (which was more like 8 because they are ALWAYS late).  Then, each time they would come out to fix something, they would charge me for the tech's time and the tech "assistant's" time, which lead to some very $$ bills.  Also, the assistants almost always smoked and left cigarette butts on my property (which my dogs chew and my kids find).  The last straw was when I called to have a leaky valve repaired a week ago, and they simply would NOT come out for 6 weeks because they said they wouldn't be in our area until late November 2013, and were too busy to send someone to check.
Needless to say, I finally checked Angie' List to find a different sprinkler service company (who has already come out and fixed the problem and did a winterization/shut-off for 1/2 of what I paid with McLean Irrigation).  I honestly don't know why it took me so long to find someone else. 
One reviewer noted that the company is probably going out of business, and I would not be surprised. 

The repairman worked hard to get it done in 3 hours, working carefully so that the repair did not take all day. 

Repaired system and within a couple weeks winterized the system.  At first the company seemed fine and the work was completed quickly.  This Spring the system did not work.  Called McLean they sent a tech in about two weeks, diagnosed a bad valve.  They were to busy, so the repair was not completed for about a six weeks after the first call.  Once the system was operational, I was very disappointed at the sytem design and coverage.  The irrigation for the 3 flower beds at the front of the house  and a bed along the driveway were never repaired.  The quality of their repairs were poor, with unbalanced numbers of heads on zones which would not work properly even with the added pressure pump.  Many heads were leaking, lines in the backyard were stil broken and leaking even thought they said everything was fine.
I called the company to ask them to not only repair the system but add on some additional  zones to correct the items they did not address in the fall of 2012.  I understood the add on items would be chargeable.  The company was unresponsive, uncaring and unprofessional.  The owner never returned my call, and the person that finally arrived to perform a repair and what I expected was the new zone installation.  The Tech said he was not informed of the additional work which I scheduled three weeks earlier with the McLean Irrigations office.  He performed a simple five minute dianoses and reviewed the work to be performed agreeing to give me a quote shortly.  I never received a written quote from McLean for the additional work but did receive a call from a McLean Irrigation employee offering to perform the needed work for another $6,000USD payable to the company he runs on the side.  
Dont use this company, or any the spin off companies unless you like being cheated.  Pay attention to Angie, she know her stuff.  We found another irrigation company in Vienna VA, thru Angie that performed the new work and repaired the problems created by McLean Irrigation's poor quality work.

I think that they are going out of business. Their Virginia Telephone number is disconnected, and today they were supposed to show at 8am to fix a problem with their April 17 start up. My system was set to only water every other day, but was watering at 5am every day. My water bill is over $600!  I called today at 9:30am to find out where they are, and the Maryland telephone number is now disconnected. 
I should have known that something was wrong when the technician who started my system in April asked me to make the check out to him personally!

Now (11/21/2012) after waiting for four weeks for an appontment - I came in from taking papers and recycling to the curb and said hello to neighbor walking her dog.  Came in and was doing some computer work - to see that I had missed a call at 9.03.
Admittedly, I did not have my cell phone on.  I called back at about 10 to say that I was at my home.  I was told that the crew was no longer in my area and would have to reschedule for the next week, Wednesday 28 - I have an appointment - no other available until December.
Back to the beginning - I had to call them to schedule a winterization - not so much as a post card email or phone call to set up schedules earlier in the Fall.  I don't not think they can manage their business. I am tryi8ng on of the firm with an A rating
There is an middle aged to older gentleman -"Technician" - who really knows his stuff.  The rest of the crews seem to be unskilled.

Estimate was prompt and was honored later when I finally got the money together to do the job.  Crew installed a 7-zone system in less than a day, with minimal disruption to lawn or garden.  Technicians returned to adjust heads and teach me how.

Got bids from 3 companies and from what I can tell McLean Irrigation did a fantastic job - from start to finish. Here are some helpful hints to look for when making comparisons between your proposals. On the lights - are they doing LED lights? Most bids did not use LED lighting, which are much more expensive, but McLean Irrigation automatically recommended them, and did the lighting for the same price as other companies that didn't use the LEDs. Also installed a cool Astronomical Timer for the lights - automatically comes on at dusk and off at dawn. On the irrigation system - how many zones are they installing? McLean Irrigation did 8 zones, versus 6 or 7 for the other companies and were competitively priced. Are they using copper or PVC piping? Can they give you a removable backflow preventer? (something you want to have so it gets removed in the winter and doesn't freeze.) Do they sub out their internal plumbing work, or do it in house? McLean Irrigation is also a "master plumber" so it was smooth and easy  - and very fast with the WSSC inspection and approval. (One company required us to choose from several plumbers to do the internal plumbing, but in my mind that was just one more headache.)  We gave the go ahead on a Tuesday, they did the install of everything (plumbing, irrigation, lighting) the next Tuesday and Wednesday, and WSSC was at our house Friday doing the inspection and sub-meter. I'd say that was pretty fast! I'm glad I spent the time carefully reviewing the proposals, but trying to make an apples to apples comparison is tricky. Geary Powell was our sales guy, and was great to work with and patient in explaining everything. I definitely would recommend him to friends and neighbors!

we have been using Mc lean irrigation for 3y for our irrigation maintenance. it has been up and down in the quality of the service but roughly ok . the operator is always tough to talk to and not very friendly.
we had 3 zones on 7 that suddenly didn't work . the team who shut the system down for winter let us know and that they will take care of it in the spring.when spring come i always have to call them as they never call us even when we are under a maintenance contract.
the team came with out knowing the issue and left saying that they can not take care of this as they do not have the right tool.they send me another team and block my full day at home to wait for them. at he end of the day I called them back saying that they never came.the answer was they did came and left with out bothering ringing at the door or performing any work .
i would not recommand this company as they are not professional at all.

We have an irrigation system in our front and back yard.  We have had this system a number of years.  They install irrigation systems and maintain them.  They know what they are doing. 

The intial installation went well, but they had to come back several times to repair the lawn (seeding) and irrigation system. The backflow preventer leaked on several occations before the unit was replaced. The company had to come out two times for the 2012 Spring maintenance and still did not properly adjust all the spray heads. Many of their emplyees seem to not care about doing the job properly. I would NOT reccomend this company to family and friends.

The salesperson was very courteous and professional. I compared prices with 4 other firms and they were competitive. The crew that installed my system was also very courteous, and when they were finished installing the system, I could hardly tell they had worked in my yard. They have since performed the seasonal services for the system and each time they have done a wonderful job. I have already recommended them to several people.

Very professional and competitive pricing.  Compared material and price against two other reputable competitors and they were far superior..  No issues or problems since installed in 2010.  All services were done on time and without any issues..

The woman that answers the phone is incredibly unprofessional.  It was very difficult to make an appointment.  You get put on hold for long periods of time and once you do make an appointment they either fail to show up or destroy your lawn if they do show up.  The guy that comes to the house is not a bad person, but he does not seem to be trained well.  It is not worth it to have a contract with them because they do not fulfill their end of the bargain.