Whos at fault?

[touhey33]

I did a mulch and edging job for a customer last week, Everything went good and I left and invoiced him. I got a call later that night that his irrigation wasn't working and He asked if I'd hit anything when edging. I had not that I knew of and told him this. Before the job I asked him to make sure all the sprinkler heads and such were marked along the edges, and he said there should be nothing there. Then I get an email today that his irrigation company came out and repaired a cut electrical line for the irrigation and the bill was $70 dollars. He thinks the fair thing is that I pay the $70 dollars for the repair. My feeling is I would be at fault if It was a line I could have had marked and hit or a line that was marked and I hit, but how am I suppose to know where an electrical irrigation line is. I only edged the beds at a depth of 2", shouldn't the line be buried deeper then that?

[SC Irrigator]

well if you told the customer to have everything marked i would explain that to them......2 in deep u should never hit the irrigation wires....

[JNyz]

NO!! It is not your fault. How are you suppose to know where the wires are?

[chrisoswald]

its not your fault but how long do you want to keep the client? offer a discount on a job that has lots of margin so you dont take a hit and he feels good about your service level..he will be a customer for a long time is my bet. If you dont make good you run the risk of losing the account...and it cost more than 70 bucks to land a new one in many cases...not to mention he will most likely tell anyone that will listen that you messed up his irrigation..on the other hand, you do right by him and he will tell everyone what a stand up guy you are...70 bucks is very cheap advertising my friend.

[DuallyVette]

well if you told the customer to have everything marked i would explain that to them......2 in deep u should never hit the irrigation wires....

We Have A Winner !!!

its not your fault but how long do you want to keep the client? offer a discount on a job that has lots of margin so you dont take a hit and he feels good about your service level..he will be a customer for a long time is my bet. If you dont make good you run the risk of losing the account...and it cost more than 70 bucks to land a new one in many cases...not to mention he will most likely tell anyone that will listen that you messed up his irrigation..on the other hand, you do right by him and he will tell everyone what a stand up guy you are...70 bucks is very cheap advertising my friend.

I don't want a customer that thinks I'm his Bi*ch....unless it's a big $$ account.

[alteeter]

was mowing a commercial acct. today, and behid the building was a sink hole the size of a 55 gallon drum only taller (5 ft) with a sprinkling system supply line running directly in the middle of it.........I dont monkey w/spriklers but.....wtf......talked with property manager i work for and supposedly no one has messed with/turned on/off the system this year.......its nuts, will post pics soon
just thought i'd share.

[S.I.]

Tough decision.... I like to tell customers before hand that I'm not responsible for unmarked hidden items in the yard, especially if I'm doing something like edging or aerating. Too many people shortcut jobs to save time/money and I don't want to pay for it. I would probably explain to the customer that the control wires were not marked, and were not installed at the proper depth. Hopefully they would understand that you are not at fault, but I would not pay for the repairs.

[touhey33]

What is the proper depth for the control wires to be hidden, I thought I read somwhere that its 18 inches.

[MurrayFromOz]

Tell them to get stuffed!

P.S. Not an issue down here. Illegal to water lawns!

[Think Green]

33,
The thing to understand, is that liability is everywhere in this business, and even if the customer had marked the lateral lines and feed lines, the issue of how deep the wires are is obsurd. Erosion and other factors will pose risk for exposed wires in a system. I have 8 systems that we maintain, and the customers lawns are eroding away and the wires are becoming more and more shallower each year. Some areas have more sandy material in the soil, and some have more clay.........obviously!! No 2 lawns are alike in structure and depth of system installation............!!
Telling a customer to locate all of his heads, lines, and wires is kind of crazy to me.......because we are the professionals and this line of work has challenges that are charged for. We don't leave this responsiblity to the customer because they are most times not educated on what is what and where!! I can understand marking the edge heads but, around here, the lines and wires are shallow in shrubbery beds. I tell our hired help to go slow in the beds and if in doubt, check it out.!! We have cut several wires, and the customer usually calls us on the problem. We tell the customer up front that if we cut something, we will fix it at our cost not someone else's.....point blank!! If we don't get the job, then let some other poor fool do the work. Lowe's--Home Depot--or any accredited sprinkler system supplier handles repair kits for split wires. We take a splice cap and fill it with silicon--twist the wires and twist the cap on the splice. Done!!
Check the irrigation system after you finish up to see if it is working. I know that not all customers are home when we do the work, so if they call with a problem,, we are ready to return. If you were the last person to do any type of work in the bed, then you are responsible. Make the customer happy and offer them a credit on their bill or something to appease their frustration. It is not a total loss......when you make them happy.

[JDiepstra]

The customer or the original installer should eat this one.

[Isobel]

Who's at fault? good question. find out where this cut wire was, and was it near the edging--and look at it to see if it was indeed cut and repaired. If it is, then you may have cut it. But since it wasn't marked, I'd maybe pay for half of it.

If the short wasn't near the edging, then its not your fault, and you'll have to explain that to the client.

[castle555]

Hey, Chrisoswald had the idea that first came to mind for me when I thought what is it really worth in the long run? Keep the customer -other work will ensue iif you are perceived as reasonable.
In CA, it may be 18" for commercial wire, and 24" for main irrigation water line (1-1/2" 1-1/4"), for residential it is 12" deep for main water line and 8" for lateral pipes (amnd that's not always the) case. Why? people don't follow the code.
I mention the depth of the water line -Because that's where to bury the wire if its not placed in Sch 40 PVC conduit. The zone control wire should be placed beneath the PVC pipe for protection from excavation with hand tools - and two inches deep? - that's just bush-league installation.
Similar thing happened to me, I just spliced them with waterproof connectors, but your customer did not bury the wire, or somebody else did, and he's trying to pass on their shoddy workmanship and (cheap method) onto you -compromise is best -even though your are right - offer him something explain a code quote, and offer like 1/2 at $35.00, or gift card to a retailer. and move on. :drinkup: