Reliable Rain

I hate contractors. There, I said it.
We’ve employed many over the course of our nine years as home-​owners and have found again and again that they have a long-​established, terribly frustrating culture: it’s all about «Hey, I’ll be there on Monday.», and then they show up on Wednesday. You call them on Thursday and have to ring them up the following Tuesday because they never bothered to return your call. It’s frustrating as hell, and it’s disrespectful. If I were running such a service-​based business, I’d call someone back the same day, particularly in this economy.
Ryan, Reliable Rain’s owner — and my fellow ginger — showed us that contractors can in fact be good guys. He called me back. He showed up when he said he would. He stayed in communication. What an incredible relief.
It ain’t cheap to get an irrigation system installed. We waited for several years and finally did it last summer. We got two quotes lower than theirs, which I was frankly suspicious of, assuming they’d come in much higher when the bill came. We received one at twice the price of the less expensive ones. No. Reliable Rain came in right in the middle of the pack, and because I got a good feeling with him, we went with this one.
Ryan has a strong commitment to installing irrigation systems that have a much less harmful ecological impact. I’m no expert here, but it’s clear he’s made the effort to use pipes & adhesives that are less damaging and sprayer heads that maximize watering while minimizing water loss. Again, I don’t know much about this, but it gives a liberal a warm little place in his heart.
After everything was installed, he came back three or four times to check on coverage and make sure everything would run perfectly to take care of our garden. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that kind of follow-​up.
In the end, I think we got a fair deal in hiring Reliable Rain. In truth, I’d have paid more just to have someone to call me back.