Questions You Should Ask When Taking Bids

Let's face it, contractors generally and home contractors in particular have not garnered the best of reputations through the years. No one ever seems to mention tolerable, much less satisfying ventures into home improvement.

Unfortunately, landscape sprinkler installation, foundation watering and landscape drainage are typically seen as so "simple" to do that anybody who can dig a trench and glue pipe can do it. Although the hydraulic engineering involved is basic, proper operation and design is not as simple as it looks. Licensing, required by law, involves an eight-hour exam in Austin to insure that the licensee is (1) qualified to tap into the public water system without contaminating it, (2) prepared to deliver what has been promised to the customer.

The calibre of the crews doing the work is critical. The most well-designed system is worthless if not installed properly by the team who knows their work will be covered up–their integrity to do the job right must be trusted.

In an effort to help you avoid having a regretable experience with your irrigation contractor, we have compiled a list of questions that should be asked of–and answered by–any irrigation contractor from which you request a proposal.

1. How long has the company been in business?

The longer the company has been in business, the more assurance you have that the company knows HOW to run a business. There are many "hidden" costs associated with running an operation that must be included. You don't want your deposit being used to pay off costs on a prior job instead of paying for the materials needed on YOUR home. And how good is a guarantee if the company is not there to honor it?

Blue Water Irrigation Systems has been in business since 1981. At startup, we invested in a "Green Industry" expert to help us anticipate the "hidden costs" so that we could accurately cost work and have confidence in our fair profit margin. That allows us to give you our best price right up front. We don't need room for oversights and underestimates. When we prepare your proposal, our experience with 5000+ Blue Water customers is factored in, and you can trust that (1) we know what we're doing and (2) we'll be around to honor your guarantee! [ back ]

2. Does the company carry complete insurance?

In these challenging economic times, many contractors have chosen to drastically reduce or drop their liability and/or workman's compensation insurance in order to reduce costs. Not only is this unfair to their employees, it means they are willing to "roll the dice" on every job.

Blue Water has always carried full liability coverage and workman's compensation coverage. We have qualified for "bonded" jobs–a true testament to our experience, solid business history and "low-risk" rating in the industry. [ back ]

3. Does the company offer references? In YOUR area?

A sure sign that a company is confident in their past performance is their willingness to give you names and phone numbers of prior customers, and neighbors in your own area give you the best idea of what to expect. If there are no other customers in your area, will service of your system down the road be neglectful because your are "too far out of the way"?. Be sure and get some names of OLD customers; they can give you information not only about the quality of the initial installation, but also their experience with the company's ongoing service.

Blue Water has over 5000 customers, and we are happy to give names and numbers for reference. Although most of our residential customers are in central and west Houston, we have customers in Galveston, Clear Lake, the Woodlands and Sugar Land. If we can't easily service your system, we would prefer not to even give you a proposal, or we will arrange up-front for on-going care. [ back ]

4. Is the system guaranteed? What about ongoing service?

As with any item with moving parts, your sprinkler system will require a "tune up" now and then. Installation by any contractor should include a period of time that the system will be "tuned" at no charge to you. Be cautious if there's no such allowance! Beyond the warranty period, how will your service be handled? Are there separate crews to handle service, or is it handled by the same crew (only one?) that installed the system? Can service be scheduled or is it on an "as can do" basis? Is service an after-thought by the company, or is it considered a priority, just as important as the installation of new systems?

At Blue Water, we consider service the life blood of our business. If we can't handle the ongoing care of our existing 5000 customers, there's no reason to continue installing new systems. Our priority is the customer to whom we have already made a commitment. We currently have three full-time service vehicles as well as a Service Supervisor to insure timely, quality service for all Blue Water systems. We can schedule your service call if necessary, and we call the day prior to confirm that we are coming the day of service. We have a 24 hour answering service and on-call vehicles for emergency needs. Yes, occasionally we must make middle-of- the-night repairs! We are quite selective when hiring service technicians. It's one thing to install a system; it's quite another to service one, or "troubleshoot" malfunctions in a system we did not install. Qualified people are hard to find, but we are determined to only have the best, so that we can trust your system is serviced properly... the first time we come. [ back ]

5. Is "water work" the company's primary focus?

Some companies have begun offering irrigation system installation as a sideline to their primary work; they either "sub-out" the work to a small contractor who is working for them (not you!), or they "run a crew" to put in their systems while they focus on their other work (usually landscaping). These companies are usually not in a position to service their systems, and expect you to call someone else for repairs — someone who has to spend time (and your money) figuring out where everything underground is, what materials were used, and what went wrong. Too many times, there's no one to stand by the work that was done when you need a responsible party.

Blue Water's commitment is to professionalism in an industry that too often lacks it. Our owner Neel Bonner extends his commitment beyond just his company: he has taught an irrigation course for exam preparation and he spent several years as a Director for the Texas Turf Irrigation Association. Within our company, our expertise is WATER: how to get it and how to move it properly. It's a narrow focus we know, but working with one thing so closely for so many years means we plan, execute and service our work expertly; our customers trust our expertise. [ back ]

6. What about price?

Hopefully, if you get more than one proposal, all of them will be within the same dollar range, which will reflect that the companies are all aware of the work that's called for and are skilled in how to do it. The cost of materials and labor for qualified companies should be relatively similar, and a fair profit margin is all that should be added. When this is the case, answers to these questions we've asked above might help you decide. Widely varied prices are a sign that something is wrong — start asking questions (particularly if one price is dramatically lower)!

We hope addressing these questions will help you in the process of selecting an irrigation contractor to provide you with a sprinkler system that properly waters your yard for the fairest price and the promise of future service that can he trusted. That's our commitment to you at Blue Water... don't settle for less! [ back ]