Sierrascape

Things started out fine with Sierrascape … Randy was knowledgeable, bidding seemed professional and thorough and pricing was in the middle of the 4 vendors I considered. Work also started on time and progressed quickly. Even though there were lots of little fixes required after my inspection, I was comfortable they’d be taken care of. When I asked how actual expenses compared to the bid price, Randy suggested they were a bit higher than expected.
I thought expenses might be 5−10% over estimate, so imagine my surprise when I got a request for 50% more than bid. And the explanation was that material prices had gone up from the prior year, but he hadn’t checked that out before bidding. At lease he admitted to poor estimating. After lots of back and forth we agreed on a settlement which put the cost of the irrigation system above my highest bidder and well above my budget.
I could have lived with all that if the system was well done and worked consistently to save me time. However, the nature of our well water is such that the system fails every week and requires dis-​assembly and cleaning of the vales. I had to bring in my plumber to add an extra filter and I’ll probably have to move the system to behind my water softener, which will add several thousand to the cost. In addition, I just spent 8 hours repairing leaks after the first winter due to tubing too close to the surface, poorly done connections and materials that just don’t work in our environment. And the constant cleaning of the valves has damaged some of the rubber gaskets, so I’ll have to replace those this year as well. A very unpleasant experience to say the least.