Rick Carney Irrigation Inc

Do you Need an irrigation system? So did I. I had estimates from 5 companies while I shopped, not so much for price, as someone I could count on. Rick Carney Irrigation advertised 25+ years in business. The referrals/recommendations showed it was a good company. But, the company was sold a year ago. The growing pains will cost you a great deal of money. I live in Lake of the Woods. My neighbor and I both bought a system. Installation on April 17 started the problems. The system did not work correctly despite the various “rules” (every other day watering so that we didn’t take water pressure from each other). Resolution: We needed to buy a pump or our system wouldn’t work (PSI in Lake of the Woods is about 35-40, a known statistic that has not changed. After installation, Bob shared that the system wouldn’t work with less than 50-60PSI). Now, the price of our sprinkler system went up $425. We agreed and finally, the Simer pump was installed but after reading the owners manual, we discovered two things. First, the pump must be taken inside for the winter (pump was to have unions installed to allow this. They did not). Second, the pump could not get water on the motor. Our motor is installed outside and in direct aim of the sprinklers and they are wet! We contacted the manufacturer to make sure their directions were correct. They are. Our pump will fail. Bob Falconer promised the unions would be installed. They are not. He promised a “fake rock” to cover the pump to try to protect this (inside) pump. Now he says we can buy our own. Now, The price of our system went up another $250. 3 months later, our system is still not ok. The office staff is snarly. Bob seems overwhelmed. And we just wanted a sprinkler system. Keep looking. There are other companies out there. Make another choice while they figure out how to install sprinkler systems without changing pricing after installation, with proper equipment, and in an efficient way.

Thoroughly checked out system.

We were impressed with service and professional contractors.

unknown

.../sigh

It took several attempts to install the system initially in a correct way, and after a problem was identified, they never made it right but rather did a mediocre job in trying to get things working (nevermind get them working correctly). They ended up leaving my electrical system for the sprinkler as a major fire hazard. After giving them several attempts on this issue to correct things, I finally had to go spend money on an electrician to do it right. And when they came out to do de-winterization, they seemed to find all the excuses they could to charge me for additional things.

.They do all the service on my lawn irrigation system and in the fall they come out and water proof it for the winter and shut it down. Sometimes I forget to call on these seasonal services and they call me and ask me when I want them to come out and get the work done. I really like that . I would give them all A's.

The actual installation of the irrigation system went reasonably well. The necessary follow up was a challenge with the office staff. I must say, however, that after explaining the problem, I was called by the owner that evening and the problem was corrected the next day.

Overall it went good. The ground was hard so it took longer than planed. They did not get a chance to clean but when I brought it to their attention they had someone out to my home within the hour cleaning, replacing the top soil and seeding, which I thought was a GREAT display of customer !! I am very happy with their service and am not hesitant to contact them if I have questions or concerns. They even asked if it was alright if they could come back from time to time to make sure the lawn is tapped down to ensure it will regained it's flat appearance (with me mentioning it).

Bob Faulconer did the estimate. He seemed knowledgeable and was willing to install a system that would use soaker hoses in the garden beds to conserve water. Another company I spoke to said it was not possible to incorporate soaker hoses in an irrigation system. Initially Bob said he could install all types of controllers, but highly recommended one brand – a common brand found at major home improvement stores. I asked him about another controller that adjusts itself depending on the weather (smart controller) and he reported he’d had nothing but problems with that brand. The manufacturer of the smart controller said it was specifically designed for east coast gardens and they’d not had problems. I don’t know who was right, but chose the controller Bob recommended. Bob also assured me I could have as many watering programs as I wanted, but after it was installed I learned I was limited to only 4 watering programs although they could be customized. Bob seemed very thorough and we discussed how the system was to be laid out. He had me mark areas with flags that had items that could be damaged e.g. drainage exits. I asked for appropriate permits and they provided it at no additional cost, but if I had not asked or if I had relented to proceed without a permit as he suggested, they would not have obtained a permit. After the job was done I noticed that the permit listed a plumbing company that I’d never heard of and never saw on my property. However, everything passed city inspection. On the day of installation, a 3 man crew came to do the work. Morgan was in charge, Eli and another guy who did not speak English completed the crew. I tried to watch them, but with 3 men working in different areas I was only able to periodically check progress. Morgan was polite and attentive and connected the system to my plumbing. He mostly cleaned up, but left some pieces of mortar, broken brick, and dust lying around; and my boiler (heating system) developed a leak due to the install. The leak was not part of the area that Morgan had worked on so I initially didn’t know the cause. I later contacted a plumber and 2 HVAC companies to fix the leak. The plumber couldn’t fix it because he was not licensed to work on heating systems, an HVAC company sent someone who didn’t know what he was doing, caused a second leak and told me if the leaks persisted it would be an expensive repair. A third company explained over the phone that sometimes debris from the irrigation install can block a valve and explained how to gently tap the system to try to dislodge the debris. I did as he instructed and it solved my problem. I felt Eli was easily irritated and argued about the location of irrigation connections when it required him to do more than just pull the trenching machine. But when I did not relent to his suggestions that required less work, e.g. placing connections in inappropriate areas, he did the job and did a good job. When I insisted on checking the work before signing off that the work had been satisfactorily completed Eli did a lot of eye rolling and tossed the clip board with the form on the ground. Morgan took over from there and was courteous. Although my contract specified that the pipe be laid along the side of a pathway and as close to the plants as possible, the pipe was laid down the middle of the pathway. I had planned to install underground drainage along the middle of the pathway. Unfortunately, I did not find out what they did until most of the pipe had been installed and connected. There were other minor things that were not installed according to the contract. I had mistakenly thought that they would follow the written instructions on the contract but in practice it seems they don’t read it. I felt their suggestions for the soaker hoses were impractical though I am glad they consulted with me before proceeding. They suggested that the threaded pipe connections for the soaker hoses be installed so they pointed straight up from the ground. This would have required the soaker hoses be bent 90 degrees to connect to the irrigation pipe; causing a kink in the rubber hose and blocking water flow (see drawing fig. 1). Instead I had them attach a threaded elbow to the pipe that came out of the ground so the attachment was parallel to the ground (see drawing fig. 2). They readily agreed to my suggestion. Bob and Eli argued that I could install the connections for the soaker hoses at the base of my hill and run the soaker hoses up hill. They insisted there was adequate pressure to reach the top of the hill. However, I told them I knew from experience of attaching a system of hoses directly to my hose bib with soaker hoses on only a partial uphill grade that gravity would prevent the water from getting to the end of the system. I insisted that the connections be installed at the higher elevation of the watering area so that the water in the soaker hoses ran down hill. Bob argued the number of holes per inch of hose and the amount of water that came out per hole was adequate for the pressure available. I corrected him and pointed out it was a rubber soaker hose that seeped at several areas and was different from a drip line that had a number of specified holes punched in the plastic tubing. In response, Bob abruptly left and drove off. He did not return until the end of the day. They did install the soaker hose connections as I specified. When Bob and the crew arrived that morning they warned me that with the ground was still wet enough that the heavy equipment would create ruts in the ground and destroy my existing grass. But they also assured me they could run a roller over the area to eliminated the ruts and reseed so the area would be restored to the original condition. When they were done with the irrigation installation, Eli & Morgan insisted they could not roll the ground that day because they did not have the roller on their truck. They had me call the office to schedule the rolling at a later date. They hand seeded most of the damaged areas. They didn’t have seed in their trucks so Bob purchase a bag of seed from the local large home improvement store. It was the cheapest brand the store carried. They ran out of seed so some areas did not get reseeded. The women in the office were very pleasant and readily agreed to have someone come out to roll out the ruts caused by their equipment. But when someone came out with the roller he insisted that the ground needed more time to settle and that I would end up with large sunken trenches if he rolled the ground. There seems to be a lot of contradiction as to what needs to be done. One person said it could be roll it right away, another said he needed to wait 2-3 months for the ground to settle before rolling, a third person insisted I needed to wait until next year. Twice they came out to roll and each time the person insisted I needed to wait longer. Each time the person that came said the rolling would cause more damage. Although they did not roll the ground they tried to insist I sign the form saying the rolling had been completed and to my satisfaction. Against their wishes, I changed the wording to truthfully state the ground had not been rolled and they advised to roll at a later time. Currently I’m waiting to see if the ruts go away on their own. In the middle of the installation, Morgan and Eli left the property while the third man continued to fill in the trenches. I later learned they had left for lunch. They were gone for an hour or more. When they came back, Morgan informed me he was short on parts and needed to run to the office to pick up what he needed and would be back soon. I didn’t see him leave, but later realized both he and Eli had left. They were gone over 2 hours. At the end of the day they were rushing to finish the job and wanted me to sign the check-off sheet saying everything had been completed and to my satisfaction without actually checking the items on the list. Though prior to installation and at the start of installation everyone assured me if they didn’t get done, they would be back the next day to complete the job, at the end of the day they said they couldn’t come back and everything had to be done that day. There were some things that had not been properly completed and though Eli was abrupt and seemed irritated they did complete them as required. I rated a B on professionalism, but I felt some individuals rated a B and others a C on professionalism. The system works fine and I especially love the rain sensor which halts all watering after a rain and resumes watering when conditions get dry enough.