Aquatech Sprinkler Repair

I’m not sure how to write this review — I feel bad writing a negative-​ish review for someone who did help save me in an emergency but who I also wouldn’t call back. Our irrigation system sprung a major leak while of course my husband was out of town. I had our garden service stop over (luckily they were in the neighborhood) but they were unable to figure it out — they did at least help me get the water shut off and called a buddy to try and come help. That guy was nice enough to stop by (within two hours instead of the one) but couldn’t quite figure out the problem either and only stopped by as a favor. I called Dave and he said he could be over in 5 – 10 minutes so I was very relieved and excited. When he arrived he took a look at the flooded irrigation box and said oh it’ll be $ 250 per valve (there are two in that box) to fix; okay and ouch, but from the other two people who were here this morning I’m pretty sure it’s not the valves leaking…
He started to poke around the yard and then asked if he could let his dog run around in the backyard while he worked. Um, I guess, I’ll have to keep MY dog inside though and torment her in the mean time. It was a small dog but he ran everywhere and of course crapped in the yard which I discovered later when I went to clean up my own dog’s doo-​doo. Really? Professionalism is not this guys’ thing.
So he locates the shut off valve to the Irrigation system (a huge THANK YOU!) so I can turn the water back on to the house and just leave that off for now. He’s playing with one of the knobs though and goes, oh, well that’s busted, I think I did that though so I’ll fix that for free. Then he says he can just cap it off but he recommends we put in a shut off valve for $ 150 to have additional control of the system. I don’t know what’s going on but it sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe he’s taking me for a ride (and my husband feels perhaps he did) but it seemed like a logical thing to do. So he pulls off the other valve and installs the new one and then says he’s going to go turn the water back and will I stand there and keep an eye on the new fixture. I confirmed that the shut off turns «this way» so I’m prepared and he says «Oh, I forgot you’re a girl, yes, turn it that way to turn it off.» Wow. Yes, I’m a girl, I also know my fair share of automotive fixes and household repairs but I’m sorry that I’m not fluent in irrigation. Deep breath.
So he goes and turns the water back on and the thing explodes with water, so after I let out my girlish scream I slammed the handle shut to turn off the flow. He comes back around and asks what happened as there’s water everywhere and I tell him well, you turned it on and water flew out the bottom of the new fixture you just added so I turned the handle to shut it off. He then proceeds to ask what position it was in and I said it was wide open so I closed it and he makes the comment that «he was going to blame me for just opening the valve all at once instead of slowly but he guesses that was his fault.» He re-​glues it and says «let’s just leave that off for tonight.»
Then he collects his check and leaves. I go back outside to look things over and the guy has left his soda can crumpled up next to the old pipe and other miscellaneous pieces laying on the ground. And of course his dog has been in all the planters and has crapped in our grass. I don’t care that there was already dog poop in my grass, maybe make a motion or at least offer to clean it up and say sorry?
So, I’m glad he came and saved me and was able to sort out the Irrigation water system and shut off from the main water system so I wasn’t without water for the 3 days till my husband returned, but honestly? I wouldn’t call him back (and we didn’t) to finish the job.

Well, Dave just came out to give me an estimate for my job I had (like I told you over the phone, Dave) after quoting me 65 to fix a little wiring (what!?) He proceeded to get to work. I then REMINDED him this is only a quote. He looked at me, and proceeded to walk to his truck while saying things like «you can do it yourself». I’m going up to shake his hand one more time and he just leaves.
Disrespectful and rude. Customer service is the name of the game, Dave. You were just fine untill I REMINDED you it was an estimate. I told you that over the phone from the beginning.

Aquatech came out and diagnosed the issue with my sprinkler system within minutes. This one man operation then replaced the pressure regulator in about two hours, and that includes all of the addtional PVC piping. My sprinklers now work GREAT, where as before I hadnt used them in more than a year, and was watering my lawn by hand; a tedious process to be sure.
Makes like easier for sure! If/​when I put it all on a timer, I wouldnt hesitate to call Aquatech back out.

Had Dave come out again to replace a large section of the main waterline to our house. The old PVC was starting to spring leaks. Dave showed up the morning after I talked to him on the phone, and recalled the work he’d done for me previously, using that info in helping to troubleshoot the current problem and plan the fix. We talked about a couple of options, and had good ideas for getting it done. He had his crew show up the next day. He had originally thought it might be a two-​day job (it’s a long stretch of 1−½″ PVC — more than a hundred yards), but managed to get it all done in a single day. He was good about keeping my wife informed about when he was shutting off the water and so forth. Now, a couple of weeks later, everything seems to be working fine. I’ll call him again.

Dave was contacted by the homeowner (I am the renter) because the homeowner has had Dave work on the property before. The job was simply to connect an irrigation valve to the irrigation controller for automatic operation. There are three irrigation valves in the back yard that were not connected to the controller. Valve #1 is for a working system, which is the one that was supposed to be connected. Valve #2 is for a system that has no reason to be used because the sprinklers have been covered by a wood deck for quite a few years. Valve #3 does nothing. It probably has a cap somewhere, because there are no sprinklers that come on anywhere on the property when the valve is turned on. The only work should have been to connect valve #1 to the controller, which was done. I arrived home from work after Dave had left on the day the work was performed.
Five issues: first, the gate that he used to access the back yard has to be locked because there is a swimming pool not to mention our personal belongings. The gate was left wide open. Second, valve #2 was now connected to the controller on the same channel as another working system on the property, which should have remained untouched. So whenever this working system is turned on, so is Valve #2, and who knows where that water goes. Third, valve #3 has a new solenoid installed, but is not hooked up to the new electronics. And the valve is slowly leaking water out of its sprinklers, which it never did before. Fourth, two of the systems that worked perfectly fine and had nothing to do with the work that was supposed to be performed, were now disconnected from the controller. Fifth, trash from the job was left behind.
I contacted Dave this morning and he confirmed that the job was «completed». If so, why was my gate left open? Why was an unused valve connected? Why was a new part installed on another unused valve and connected to a working system? Why were systems disconnected? Why was clean up not completed? A terrible job overall. Very shady work.
In the end, I fixed the issues myself. I want people to know that this business is capable of doing shotty work like anyone else. I feel like these problems were purposely left behind so that Dave could be contacted again to get more money for more work that «needs» to be done. Being an auto mechanic and avid DIY’er, I can tell you I have seen this happen way too many times and people unknowingly get screwed.
By the way, the 5-​star review by «Carrie W.» doesn’t seem legit. This person made a Unilocal account with ONLY the intent to praise this company. This person has absolutely no other activity on Unilocal.No other reviews, no check-in’s, no quick tips, no pictures, no profile info… nothing except this one great review.