Opinions on Sprinklers and Foundation Work Please

[latrenda and puddin]

Thank you adriver
Good ideas. I will check

Originally Posted by adriver

The only thing I can think of is to go out to the water meter at the corner of the property, and check the reading. Make sure you aren't using any water in the house. You should have a counter that you can see if it is running. You should be able to tell right away, but can always check back after a few minutes. Other than that, you should be able to see what direction the pipe is going towards your house. Follow it, and make sure there aren't any shut off valves. Hopefully they didn't break a line, and all that water hasn't pooled up enough yet to notice. Double check any valves or connections that would be visible near the house.

[latrenda and puddin]

Last night I checked.
First I checked the meter to make sure it wasn't moving. Then I turned on the sprinklers and observed a circle thing on top of the meter spinning rapidly. Turned sprinklers off again - no spinning.
I searched the ground around the PVC pipe that come from the box to outside my house. Didn't see any dampness.
One of the holes they dug (17 total) is about 2 to 3 feet from that PVC pipe.

Actually, as I type this, I remember seeing a pool of water in that hole before the filled it in. We did get some rain (some heavy at times). But I covered up all the holes pretty good. Especially the ones that were under a gutter downspout (like that one).
The covered the holes but quite haphazardly. I went behind them, added extra covers, extra weight and plastic. And I used an extender on my down spout to direct rain water far away from the area that was dug.

Originally Posted by adriver

The only thing I can think of is to go out to the water meter at the corner of the property, and check the reading. Make sure you aren't using any water in the house. You should have a counter that you can see if it is running. You should be able to tell right away, but can always check back after a few minutes. Other than that, you should be able to see what direction the pipe is going towards your house. Follow it, and make sure there aren't any shut off valves. Hopefully they didn't break a line, and all that water hasn't pooled up enough yet to notice. Double check any valves or connections that would be visible near the house.

[TexasRedneck]

Well, if you have water running with the system "on", but nothing coming out of the sprinkler heads, you've now proven they managed to sever a line.

[latrenda and puddin]

Thank you TexasRedneck

When I first contracted with the sales person, I said, "I have sprinklers. Will that been an issue? He said "Oh no, we deal with sprinklers all the time."
When the crew showed up to work, before they started digging, the guy asked me if I had sprinklers. I said "yes".
The same guy who was sent back only to tell me he didn't know about sprinklers.

Working a letter to the owner.

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

Well, if you have water running with the system "on", but nothing coming out of the sprinkler heads, you've now proven they managed to sever a line.

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by latrenda and puddin

Working a letter to the owner.

THAT right there is where I start seeing red as a businessman. Why ANY business owner would allow things to get to the point where a customer feels they have to write a letter rather than call is beyond my comprehension. Experience has long taught me - a small problem is THE opportunity to shine above all competition - or fall to the bottom of the stack.

We're all human - we ALL make mistakes. When we cheerfully (and with apologies) accept ownership of our mistakes, we reaffirm to our customers that they DID make the right choice. Had they sent someone out to correct the problem with your first call, you'd have been well satisfied with their performance. Now, pretty much anything they do is going to (at best) get your grudging acceptance.

[adriver]

Yeah not a good situation for any of you now. I don't see how they could not take responsibility for this. If this was my business, and you told me you had sprinklers, I would have checked them to see if they were working prior to starting, and after work was completed, (but I'm not in business, speaking in hindsight, and could just be talkin out of my rear without trying to).

If they completely destroyed a pipe during there work, this can be fixed. There shouldn't be anything difficult about the work, its just laborious. They will have to dig it up from the visible pipe/where they started working, and find the damage. and replace those pipes. Otherwise dig a new trench, and run new piping to the heads in a different location.


If you saw a pool of water in one of the holes, they could start there. If they, or you know how the pipes are run, you could try going right to the possible problem. My only problem with that is, if its an employee who knows where to dig, my guess would be they were the one that screwed it up.


Interested to hear about a response and outcome from the owner. I would look at it as; if you are willing to write a letter to the owner, you are willing to write a review for everyone else.

[latrenda and puddin]

Thanks TexasRedneck and adriver

TexasRedneck, I agree. There were a few smaller issues in the beginning that I was going to overlook, now it's all going in the letter - like how they didn't cover chest deep holes when they knocked off for the day and how I had to keep reminding them to not smoke on property, etc..

adriver. I will let y'all know what happens after I send the letter. It might be a while though. I plan to wait at least a week before I send the letter. For two reasons
1. I want the letter to be clear, factual and coherent. I don't want it to just be a long angry rant.
2. A few more days of walking around my property might yield other issues that need to go into the letter.
Like the Sprinkler issue was found a few days after they were done (the first time I tried the sprinklers)
And so far, I've found 1 cigarette butt in my back yard, one in my front yard, one in the driveway, and 3 on the sidewalk in front of my house. I didn't find all of them at once.

Ironically, if I had working sprinklers, I wouldn't be walking around hand-watering and finding more things that make me mad

[latrenda and puddin]

@adriver
I'm sorry. I thought I responded to this a while back. But now I don't see where I did. I did as you suggested (great idea!) and yes, my meter runs when my sprinklers are turned on.

Update
I sent a UPS, signature-required letter on May 28. I addressed it to the company owners. On May 29th, the package was for by someone other than one of the owners. As of today, June 10th, I have not heard anything at all.
The letter requested action by June 28th.
I don't know if they are ignoring me or if the letter just never made it to the owners.

I guess I'll try to find an alternate address for the owners (maybe I'll check linkedin or something). I'll also follow up with an email.

Thanks

Originally Posted by adriver

The only thing I can think of is to go out to the water meter at the corner of the property, and check the reading. Make sure you aren't using any water in the house. You should have a counter that you can see if it is running. You should be able to tell right away, but can always check back after a few minutes. Other than that, you should be able to see what direction the pipe is going towards your house. Follow it, and make sure there aren't any shut off valves. Hopefully they didn't break a line, and all that water hasn't pooled up enough yet to notice. Double check any valves or connections that would be visible near the house.