FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
People don't realize, that in irrigation, paying a professional more is less expensive than paying someone with minimal experience less. Please allow me to explain one more scenario, The less experienced person ( I don't want to call them a tech) is called to a customer's home because every time the controller goes to zone 3 the reset in the timer trips, so zone #3 is being skipped by the timer and it went unnoticed until the turf started to dry out. Every time the controller goes to zone 3 it trips the relay so the timer must be bad. He or she replaces the controller but even with the new controller, it trips on zone 3. It must be a wiring problem so he digs holes all over the lawn and finally finds the valve. the valve looked old so he replaced it and much to his dismay, that fixed the problem with the controller. Now he has to backfill all the holes that he dug and those couple of extra days in the Florida sun killed the St. Augustine grass where that zone should have been watering. he or she charges no service call, that's great, only 55 an hour excellent, one four zone timer, 175,00, 5 hours labor= 225.00, replace valve=75.00, total = 475.00 plus replace the sod. I or any experienced tech is called with the same scenario. It costs quite a bit more per hour and there is a service charge, oh, expensive is the first line of thought. we show up, use our wire tracker to quickly locate the valve, change the solenoid, and check the rest of the system while we are there, 1 service call = 75.00, one solenoid = 50.00, one track fee = 75.00, half-hour labor = 32.50, total = 232.50 and the sod is fine. this is the truest most realistic way to explain Irrigation and pump service and repair pricing, Don't let them fool you or make you buy components that you don't need, call a professional. We are a Registered Limited Liability Company that carries, $2,000,000.00 Liability Insurance, worker's comp, and we are filed with the state of Florida/ and our FEIN number is legit, so it is very difficult to keep our prices competitive with the other choices of "companies" but we do our best. We offer discounts for seniors, veterans, and first responders for 15% off. For Service calls, we charge a service call charge of $75.00. Then each repair that we make once on the job is an extra, separate charge and is priced individually for that specific repair. Our Prices are at the industry standard keeping in mind that we carry workers comp and liability insurance so our customers can be stress free, if any mishaps were to happen we are fully covered. A price list is available that covers the most common Irrigation and Pump repairs and some not-so-common. Installation estimates are free, I ask, please Only serious customers seek installation estimates, please. We have to pay for the lead plus spend our time and gas. I design the systems as architectural drawings and use that for my take-off to do the estimate. When I say custom I mean each system is designed for that unique landscape. This way the homeowner/HOA/ Contractor can see exactly what they are getting with the system. I show these system design drawings as a presentation but I do not give them to anyone until a contract agreement is signed, I learned that the hard way. For those who are just curious, I can tell you that an average home in Florida is generally four zones and are priced around 2500 to 3000 if the lot is graded dirt. If the lot has existing sod then around 2750 to 3250.00 because there is more time involved.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
First, for service calls, through e-mail, phone, or text I gather any information available such as, what the system is or isn't doing and the age of the system, what brand of components were used in the irrigation or pumping system. This helps to get an idea of what the malfunction is, and more importantly, is something else creating the obvious malfunction, if so, what is the cause, and what is the solution? This allows me to pick up any items I don't ordinarily keep in stock on the truck. For installation estimates, I first get the address. I then look up the property on Google Earth. Usually, from this, along with a little information from the customer, I can design a system and draw up a fairly accurate estimate. I can take this design and number when meeting with the customer. The detailed drawing allows the customer to see exactly what they are purchasing. If there are any changes or differences from my design I can exact the design and correct the estimate. Once the price is approved we call in for utility locates. while waiting for the locates I check the pressure and volume of the water source. Once the utilities have been marked, we can begin installing the system.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
30 years experience Hunter University Certifications; ACC and two wire controllers tech Battery powered controllers specialist Irrigation Design Specialist I-core and decoder specialist Drip and Micro-irrigation tech Product tech Valve tech Core Product Specialist Dual decoder system specialist Acc controller specialist Rainbird certified two-wire decoder system designer Rainbird two-wire decoder system troubleshooting and repair tech Ugmo underground moisture control systems tech Vista Lighting, Lighting design and estimating cert. there are others...............