Bytendorp Enterprises Landscaping

I contracted this customer to fix his sprinkler system He just remodeled and added on to his home He nor his contractor that did the remodel located pipes or wiring So I told him from the very beginning I would not give him a flat bid to fix the problem There would be no
way of me knowing what was wrong or how much of the previous system was still in tact This is why I told him I would only do it on an hourly basis The contract was for hours to begin with, but called for more time on an hourly basis if it was needed Unfortunately it did need more time to get the job done.He mentioned that we came unannounced, for this I am truly sorry! We work on one job, finish it and then move on to the next job, rather than work a few hours at each job to try to keep everyone happy This never works out, so we try to stay on one job and progress thru it as much as possible before we move to the next That way when we do show up, we move right thru the job and get it done in as short of time as possible for each customer.He calls this a small job But none of the sprinklers in his front or back yard (1/3rd acre lot) were working at all before we got there So if this is a small job, I'm not sure what a big job in his mind would be It was totally justified to have six men there working We knew it would require some more trenching than we anticipated, so we went to get our trencher so it would be faster and save the customer some hours and money He accuses us of trying to rack up more hours If I were really doing this, would I send my men to get a trencher? No, I would have let them do it by hand and attribute more hours to the project But that's not what we did.He mentions that the men working had no sprinkler knowledge Three of the men have worked for me for over five years, One of those has worked for me for over ten years, and the last two have worked since spring doing sprinkler work.It was disputed that while my foreman was getting parts for this job and getting a trencher, that not all of them were completely busy So I have discounted time for this to appease the customer I also worked for a short time on the project and didn't bill him any of my time He also disputed the starting time on the first day My men meet at am and then go to the job for the day He lives minutes from where they meet, and somehow they didn't start until 8:am? At least that's what he has told me My employees all dispute this But to try to help him, I again discounted the hours.I sent him the invoice, tried to call him for over two weeks, and then I had to finally go to his home to get him to respond for payment His wife had no idea, we called him immediately She was very kind and said we would be paid She apologized about him not communicating with me He said he wanted to write me a letter/email to put in words what he wanted to say, but couldn't get it right so he sent nothingAfter finally speaking with him he promised he would send the email that very night of which I got three days later I asked him to be very specific about his concerns (i.e., what times they started, if they weren't working, etc.), as I was in the invoice on which days he disputed the men were not working hard or showed up at different times than I had claimed He has not given any of that.His only claim is that more work should have been done in the time my men were working.This kind of work is not easy We needed to find the main water supply line, find each pipe that was on a different valve, and then install new valves and connect it all up, as well as connect the wiring Note: there were no valves in the back yard that were still connected to the system We needed to find each line and install seven new valves Once we got the valves working we needed to make sure each valve/station had no breaks, and fix if needed, then add/fix or replace sprinklers heads for proper coverage on each valve.He mentions that we didn't add two valves for garden boxes, but I asked my men that were working about this and they said that my foreman sprayed a line across the yard using marking paint and said in front of the customer, "that we weren't to do any sprinklers in the area on the other side of the sprayed line" This was where the garden box valves were alluded to be placed there, and the customer didn't correct him So we all assumed that was correct This communication error I am sad took place, but he had every chance to correct my foreman, but didn't So we did what we were hired to do, which was get his sprinklers working.Unfortunately on jobs like this it's very hard to know before hand how much time will be needed to repair the whole sprinkler system, which is why I told him originally that I would only do his job on an hourly basis, plus parts Unfortunately it took more time than anticipated.I have tried to work with him on specifics, and have even discounted every specific time he has disputed If the customer would have been willing to communicate with me on specifics like I was trying to have happen, I think this all could have been resolved.I try to treat each job as if it were my own home We have honestly put in the time on this job and deserved to be paid for the time spent in his behalf.I wish him the best and hope all works out well for him in the future!Sincerely,Richard B***

I contracted this customer to fix his sprinkler system He just remodeled and added on to his home He nor his contractor that did the remodel located pipes or wiring So I told him from the very beginning I would not give him a flat bid to fix the problem There would be no
way of me knowing what was wrong or how much of the previous system was still in tact This is why I told him I would only do it on an hourly basis The contract was for hours to begin with, but called for more time on an hourly basis if it was needed Unfortunately it did need more time to get the job done.He mentioned that we came unannounced, for this I am truly sorry! We work on one job, finish it and then move on to the next job, rather than work a few hours at each job to try to keep everyone happy This never works out, so we try to stay on one job and progress thru it as much as possible before we move to the next That way when we do show up, we move right thru the job and get it done in as short of time as possible for each customer.He calls this a small job But none of the sprinklers in his front or back yard (1/3rd acre lot) were working at all before we got there So if this is a small job, I'm not sure what a big job in his mind would be It was totally justified to have six men there working We knew it would require some more trenching than we anticipated, so we went to get our trencher so it would be faster and save the customer some hours and money He accuses us of trying to rack up more hours If I were really doing this, would I send my men to get a trencher? No, I would have let them do it by hand and attribute more hours to the project But that's not what we did.He mentions that the men working had no sprinkler knowledge Three of the men have worked for me for over five years, One of those has worked for me for over ten years, and the last two have worked since spring doing sprinkler work.It was disputed that while my foreman was getting parts for this job and getting a trencher, that not all of them were completely busy So I have discounted time for this to appease the customer I also worked for a short time on the project and didn't bill him any of my time He also disputed the starting time on the first day My men meet at am and then go to the job for the day He lives minutes from where they meet, and somehow they didn't start until 8:am? At least that's what he has told me My employees all dispute this But to try to help him, I again discounted the hours.I sent him the invoice, tried to call him for over two weeks, and then I had to finally go to his home to get him to respond for payment His wife had no idea, we called him immediately She was very kind and said we would be paid She apologized about him not communicating with me He said he wanted to write me a letter/email to put in words what he wanted to say, but couldn't get it right so he sent nothingAfter finally speaking with him he promised he would send the email that very night of which I got three days later I asked him to be very specific about his concerns (i.e., what times they started, if they weren't working, etc.), as I was in the invoice on which days he disputed the men were not working hard or showed up at different times than I had claimed He has not given any of that.His only claim is that more work should have been done in the time my men were working.This kind of work is not easy We needed to find the main water supply line, find each pipe that was on a different valve, and then install new valves and connect it all up, as well as connect the wiring Note: there were no valves in the back yard that were still connected to the system We needed to find each line and install seven new valves Once we got the valves working we needed to make sure each valve/station had no breaks, and fix if needed, then add/fix or replace sprinklers heads for proper coverage on each valve.He mentions that we didn't add two valves for garden boxes, but I asked my men that were working about this and they said that my foreman sprayed a line across the yard using marking paint and said in front of the customer, "that we weren't to do any sprinklers in the area on the other side of the sprayed line" This was where the garden box valves were alluded to be placed there, and the customer didn't correct him So we all assumed that was correct This communication error I am sad took place, but he had every chance to correct my foreman, but didn't So we did what we were hired to do, which was get his sprinklers working.Unfortunately on jobs like this it's very hard to know before hand how much time will be needed to repair the whole sprinkler system, which is why I told him originally that I would only do his job on an hourly basis, plus parts Unfortunately it took more time than anticipated.I have tried to work with him on specifics, and have even discounted every specific time he has disputed If the customer would have been willing to communicate with me on specifics like I was trying to have happen, I think this all could have been resolved.I try to treat each job as if it were my own home We have honestly put in the time on this job and deserved to be paid for the time spent in his behalf.I wish him the best and hope all works out well for him in the future!Sincerely,Richard B***