To be honest the last thing I want to do is write this review, but the reason I am doing it is so that others can hopefully learn from my mistakes and maybe have a chance at avoiding them. I contacted this business, among 4 others, to get a quote to install an irrigation system in my home (front & back yards). The quoted price was fair and although he wasn't the most expensive, he certainly wasn't the cheapest. I ended up going with him because the few initial interactions with him were quite pleasant and he told me he could do the job right away.
My problem with the job didn't start until the actual job was supposedly completed. It took an entire day just like I had been told. Initially I had been pleased to learn it would take only a full day to complete the job since I was anxious to get it done. In hindsight I should have been more focused on making sure it was done to my expectations, even if it meant taking a longer amount of time to complete it. When the job was done and before the team left my house, I spoke the team lead regarding the location of the main irrigation control box. This box is quite large and it had been installed in the exact center of my front yard. It wasn't to an edge of either side of my house or in a corner somewhere, it simply was in my opinion in the most inconvenient place they could have put it. Picture a square sized front grass area in front of the main window and door of a home and now picture a very large control box in the very center of it. Which is why, before the team left that day, I asked for it to be moved. The team lead looked me in the eye and told that it could not be move. They left quickly after that even though I was clearly not happy about the job. I figured I would get a chance to express my dissatisfaction with the owner when he would inevitably contact me to check on my satisfaction of the job that had just been completed. He never came to my house that night or call to talk to me about the job. Instead, I received a text with a web link to his Yelp business account for my review. I actually didn't write a review that night. Mostly because I didn't consider the job done, but also because I didn't want my emotions to be reflected in my review. I did however text him back two days later and asked him to contact me when he had a chance to discuss a concern I had about the job. He called me back a few minutes later and said he would let me know when could stop by my house.
It was over a week later when I met him at my house. I got right to the point, I wanted the main box to be moved to a different location, any location, in my yard that wasn't in the dead center. He said I should have said something the day the team was at the house doing the job, to which I replied I had and that his team lead had told me it couldn't be moved. He sounded incredulous at first, but then told me they probably just wanted to go home which is why the lead had lied. He said obviously the box can be moved, but then started to talk / think aloud for the next couple of minutes that it might not be easy and he wasn't sure how to do it yet, etc. It was at that exact point I mentioned I talked another irrigation licensed company in town and gotten a second opinion on the matter. I told him they had confirm to me that in fact the box can be moved. They had also explained it's common business practice to not place it in as obvious of a spot as mine had been. They asked me if he backed up his work, to which I replied he did. They recommended I try to fix it with him since the job had a warranty. At the end of the conversation, he finally agreed to fix it. However, he said his guys didn't work for free and that it would cost me additional money. Work for free ... those words stuck with me because I paid a significant amount of money to get the job done to my satisfaction. I certainly at no point asked for discounts or favors. I simply paid on time a very fair market value for the services I wanted done at my house. The main box was finally moved yesterday, and I seriously wish I could say my last exchange with him was pleasant for me, sadly it was not, but at least my interactions with this business are finally over.
All of this leads me to the main reason I am writing this review at all. If you, like me, are seriously considering the same kind of services for your home with this business, then listen up. Make sure you get everything in clear writing and both sides agree on what exactly will be done, down to the smallest detail. Do NOT assume, like I did, that it will be done right. Please use my naiveness and mistakes to avoid yourself some unwanted stress and save yourself some serious cash by having a clear contract. Or at the very least, a strong common verbal agreement on what you want done. But above all, if you want something to be done a certain way and you are willing to pay to do it, then don't let anyone try to convince you into accepting anything less than what you wanted.
