Save On Sprinklers

Not pleased. Tried their service due to LivingSocial coupon. I had to turn my sprinklers on myself ahead of time as the grass was turning brown and I waited too long. Glad I did!!! Everything worked fine before they arrived. But, I expected them to do what other providers do; cut around the sprinkler heads so they are clear and aim them to where they should point.
All they did was tell me the manual control outside was leaking. It was $ 90 to replace part and $ 120 to replace all of the piece. I thought, ODD, everything works. How does something magically break?
They had me in the basement turning on and off the water, so I couldn’t see what was going on outside but something didn’t seem right. They replaced part of it and told me, good news, it’s just $ 90. They said it wasn’t holding. It was leaking. They tried everything.
I asked for the broken piece, undid the one they just put in (water spraying up in the my face so I had to run back down and shut off the water), put in the old on and turned the water back on. I said, good news, it works just fine, you can have your piece back.
Now I could be wrong, and I will give the benefit of the doubt, but it all seemed a bit shady to me. Almost like an easy money maker if one doesn’t know what they are doing or aren’t curious enough to ask questions, push back and try things.
Next, I asked them to replace or cap a sprinkler head. He said it was up to me, same price. Though, a professional probably would have given me their advice to cap or fix. I said, ok, like’s replace it. It’s a $ 4 part from Home Depot, …they charged me $ 40 for the part and the few right turns it takes to attach it. I paid them $ 45 and took the expensive lesson.
By the way, when they left I tested the sprinklers, the one they put on shot straight at the wall, not hitting anything in the garden. I corrected it. The other in the garden (worked fine prior) had split for some reason and was spewing water everywhere.
I went to Home Depot, paid for the $ 4 part, screwed it on and I was done. Plus, I turned all the sprinklers in the yard (5 zones) to hit the brown spots, …then adjusted the timer and such.
Wouldn’t use again.

Priced out a few outfits to install sprinklers at my place. I’m on a 50′ by 100′ lot, not a big piece of property. My Dad always tells me, never go with the cheapest, or with the most expensive, but try to find someone in the middle, they’re usually the fairest. Perhaps he was on to something.
These guys were tied at the bottom in terms of price with another outfit, $ 250 lower than the most expensive. Not a big difference, but when you have multiple things getting done at the same time, it adds up. Plus, honestly folks, I felt adding sprinklers was pretty basic.
Well, I was in the process last year of adding and removing some pavers, so a contractor had to move some of the piping and sprinkler heads around. And that’s when a few things came to light.
1) The brand of sprinkler heads they claimed to use was not technically the brand that was used, it was a spin on the brand. The «brand» makes the heads for them, but the quality is not the same quality as the «brand» you can purchase on your own at say Home Depot. So they didn’t lie, but it wasn’t what a purchaser would expect.
2) I have a cape on a slab (no basement), with a detached garage in the backyard. When they originally wanted to install the unit the 6″ x 8″ panel that controls the sprinklers, they said they wanted to do it in my den. So they thought it was a great idea to install this device my 14×15 den, I guess they felt it would blend in nicely with the TV, surround sound, couches? Felt I should give the room a less homey feel and more industrial? Just dumb, and taking the easy way out.
Their next brilliant idea was to install it in the bathroom. Folks, my bathroom is 6′ x 9′ with a narrow opening. Not a big bathroom, and they thought this was a good place to put it? How awful would that look? My house is going to going to go on the market in a month or so, how ridiculous would it look with that device in the den or in the bathroom? Again, just dumb, and lazy.
Luckily my Dad, who was there to let them in, was smart enough to call me and explain what was happening. I had him explain to them that there was a 1.5 car garage out back that seemed like the perfect, and only place, it needed to be installed in.
3) I think most of us at this point have connected a couple wires together right? Or at least seen it? Well you know how you take the two wires, twist them together and then either cap them or wrap them with electrical wire and then cap them? All they did was wrap them in electrical wire. And poorly at that. When I was about 10 to 15 years old we used to install speaker systems in cars (it was the late 80’s folks) and have to connect a couple wires here and there, we would always cap them. So as a 12 year old punk, even I knew this.
4) My lot size did not need a fifth zone. I have some pavers leading out from the back of my house, then another set of pavers with a covered overhang, a 1.5 garage in the back of the house with a blacktop leading up to it. This was easily a 4 zone installation. Doesn’t hurt to have another zone, no big deal, but my grass would be just as green and my pup would be just as confused with 4 zones. But there was an upcharge for the extra zone, so that explains why I ended up with 5.
At the end of the day, if you want to save on sprinklers you should go with these guys, if you want to save on the headache try someone else.