Island Irrigation

Not good. I broke my own rules and accepted Mr. Sander's grandfatherly demeanor as honesty despite the fact he refused to give a fixed bid. I was told that ?things change? during the install and he could only quote me a price for the system and that it would definitely not be any more than 10-15% over budget (as he had a lot of experience with costing jobs and never ran over more than 15%). The total cost of the system was quoted at 30 - 32K with a 10K deposit required for materials which I was told verbally "were ordered and in the warehouse". I could have saved myself a lot of grief by insisting that I pay for all the sprinkler heads, valve boxes (etc) directly and at the least should have asked to see his purchase invoice. Our general contractor repeatedly complained about the quality of his work but having gotten into it I was only trying to get out the other side. In four months time I realized that Mr. Sanders had blown through the entire irrigation budget and that there was only a small amount of money remaining to be paid out (and a lot of unfinished work). Realizing this, I politely asked him to explain and hard bid the rest of the installation and that I would be happy to pay as long as the remaining funds were paid out based upon completion of work and not on ?time and materials?. There was no attempt to address my concerns, get the remaining work done or reassure me that he wasn't planning on gouging me for tens of thousands of dollars more than he had originally agreed to for completion of the work. At a loss for what to do I felt I had no choice until I got some answers and withheld a $4,200 payment. I made it clear that I would be happy to pay provided that he give me written assurances in writing that the project would be completed for the amount originally agreed upon. There was no response to my pleas...only a million fabricated excuses for why he could not honor the bid amount. Our general contractor and other workers on site went out of their way to help him bury lines and do what they could to make his job easier so everyone has been shocked by his behavior. When push came to shove and I asked him to deliver the materials paid for and not on site he quickly changed his tune and insisted that there was never any 10K deposit for materials (see email below). In the email below he answers my question about why we were being billed off the bat for 10K: "The supplies have been purchased with the 10K, even though they are not all in the ground yet." I'm embarrassed to say that during this ordeal I even went so far as to tell him I might be willing to pay a little more but that he really needed to make me comfortable and put in writing the agreement, abandon "time and materials" and get the work done as agreed for the price agreed. The crowning blow came the night before last when our general contractor called me to tell me that Mr. Sanders had come onto the building site and pretended to be checking out the system. When he left it was discovered that he took our irrigation control box...unscrewed it right off the wall?thereby disabling what little works of the system we have paid 28K to date for. I still remember our GC swearing and saying "there are just a bunch of wires hanging out of the wall!" I immediately wrote Mr. Sanders and told him he had 24 hours to return the stolen irrigation box or I would call the Sheriff. The reply by email this: ?I have not stolen anything. I removed the timer as I was having troubles with it and needed to work on it in a well lighted shop. I also removed a valve solenoid that was troublesome. You should not activate the water until it is replaced. As this is an ongoing project I have an obligation to bring and remove any part that is necessary for the system to function properly. To say I have stolen something is a slanderous accusation. I will not return to the job site nor will any representative of mine until I have been paid. The timer and solenoid will remain in my possession until that time. I can return it to you ?as is? or you can pay me to fix the problem. You may call the Sherriff if you want but I recommend you do not, as you will just be exacerbating an already volatile relationship, and nothing will come of it as you have not made payment for all parts.? Receiving this response we immediately terminated our relationship with Island Irrigation and Mr. Sanders. It is my I hope others will not make the same mistake I did. We have hired an "off island" irrigation company and I suggest if you have irrigation needs in the San Juan Islands you do the same. Sincerely, Jeff Cline Email Addendum: Jeff, As I stated before we began the project you would be receiving progress billings. The supplies have been purchased with the 10K, even though they are not all in the ground yet. I still have operational costs that must be met, so each invoice is payable upon receipt. After the first invoice you will begin seeing credits for money already paid for supplies toward the supply line. By completion of the project there will be approximately 10% of the total due. Craig From: Jeff Cline [mailto:kagedo@kagedo.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2013 8:23 AM To: 'Craig A Sanders' Subject: RE: Progress Billing invoice 2716 Hi Craig, Thanks for your note. Not quite sure if this is just for accounting purposes or not. Obviously the system is far from complete so imagine it is just for accounting purposes and that you are deducting this amount from the total on the 30-32K cost estimate of the full system. We obviously want to pay for work that has been completed and since my guess is only 20% is complete (if that) it should be covered by the 10K deposit we made. Let me know if there are any issues as obviously we want to be on the same page. As I recall you estimated the system at 30-32K including all exterior work including the greenhouse watering system. We understand that figure was not a fixed bid but that your estimates never are off by more than 10% or possibly a small amount more. Just want to be sure that you understand that was our agreement. Supposed to be 81 on Sunday so am pushing Denny to get the filtration and cistern done as soon as possible so we can get the system in and fully operational. Thanks for all your hard work! Best, Jeff