Discount Sprinklers & Landscape

Mike was very good to come out and give us an estimate for laying a sprinkler system in our yard. Of the three bids we received, his was the middle bid. It took us about two weeks to come to a decision to use his services, and he was very prompt in coming back to the house in the evening and answering our questions. When he sent us the contract, via e-mail, we had asked for some references. He sent two brief letters from private parties, but they were from last summer and there was no address or phone number given on either letter. He also attached pictures of a job he was currently doing, but there was no mention of where this job was or how it proved he was reliable . The red flag for us was that he asked for 50% down before he started the job. We waited over a couple of days in order to mull this over--all of our other bids had asked for no money down, payment to be made on completion of the project. When we did get back to him, we expressed our concern about 50% being too much. We also asked for the name and number of someone we could contact as a reference. He politely replied that we should find another company to complete the project since we had doubts about his ability. Other contractors who have come out to bid this project have mentioned that this hypersensitive reaction would raise red-flags for them as well.