Jack Hester Lowboy Service, Inc.

There were several major discrepancies in Jack Hester's responseKyle, of Hester Excavating, did warn us about settlement at the connection to the house, where they were connecting the new water line to the existing old plastic, brittle water lineKyle took great care to compact under that connection and support it and I was present when he did itThey did not warn of any settlement problems at the other new connections that were put in, and I was not present when the connection that broke was put inI was present when it was dug up this spring, though, and there were no rocks under the line supporting itIt was Justin, Hester’s main employee, who explained to us it should have been supported under the pipe that sheared offHe replaced the broken connection with a flexible connection, and said that was a much better way to do itHe further instructed us to place a sack of concrete under the connection and let it harden before it was back-filled to further protect the flexible joint.As for the winter moisture, the presence of a leak was discovered when our pressure tank started cycling constantly in early February - long before the ground or snow started to thaw, and before the rainI went into Hester’s in March and talked to them at the timeThey said they could do nothing in winter so I hand shoveled the snow off the buried line and found a wet bubbling "spring" at the tank connection.We were told by Hester Excavating that they worked together seamlessly with Sandpoint Pump & Power at the time of the original bid, so we would have assumed that if Sandpoint Pump and Power put in a hard connection, Hester’s would compact under it before backfilling(My wife is an engineer)We were at fault for assuming Hester’s and Sandpoint Pump & Power would stand behind their workWe would have hired a different company for the repair had we realized we would be paying a second time to get the job done rightAs for Jack’s guessing whose fault it was (Hester Excavating vsSandpoint Pump & Power vsMother Nature) the almost $bill came to us with no consideration of responsibility on them or SP&P, their co-contractor(We checked with other similar companies after the fact and they stated they guarantee their work for a year)

June 13,2017Hester ExcavatingP.OBox 557Sagle, ID ***Re: *** *** Complaint/ ID # ***April of 2016, we went to *** ***'s property *** *** *** to excavate for a water cistern and water linesThe site was over dug toallow the guys room to work.Hester
Excavating ran the water lines but did not hook up to the tankThefittings that went into the tank were installed by Sandpoint Pump and Power.Their employee did place rock and dirt under the fittings to help supportthem when it was backfilled*** was aware of possibly settling issues asthe ground was powder dry.Where do we go from here? The winter produced more snow and rain,which caused the ground to settle more than usualWe have worked withSandpoint Pump and Power for over years and never encountered thisproblem beforeThere was no sign of shoddy work where the fitting broke.So who is to blame? Hester Excavating, Sandpoint Pump and Power orMother Nature.JackH*** Hester Excavating