2 June Update ---- the "professional gardener / irrigation system installer" has cocked up big time , told us he was finished Monday evening , was too dark and cold to go outside and check.
BUT when the tap timers came on at 4:20pm ( 4 parallel beds in NE corner ) we discovered no water going to the natives in the 6m x 1.5m and only water going to the UNPLANTED 3m x 1.5m beds.
What I told him to install
He told me he had completed the 4 outlet manifold and everything running off the North tap and timer was working properly .
This is not what he installed
Discovered my 4 parallel beds are set up not on a 20mm PVC manifold , in parallel with isolation globe valves at each , but instead he run 19mm poly pipe from the first 3m x 1.5m to the 6m x 1.5m with all in series instead of being in parallel. NOT IMPRESSED , NOT HAPPY.
Only 20mm PVC pipe from tap & timer to the FIRST bed ,from there the wheels fell off and totally ignored my design and detailed instructions.
Not 30cm from fence , but 1m from fence , again ignored my instructions entirely
So no space to install a 20mm PVC Tee , the 20mm globe (isolation) valve , the pressure regulator and 20mm Poly filter between manifold and end of beds , as per my specifications and design .
Bottom small bed
Only one 19mm PP branch not fixed to long inside walls of EACH bed , NOT as specified (they are all 4 like this)
At 6m bed
Inbetween PARALLEL beds , he's installed a SERIES set of inline taps
==> impossible to run these beds all in PARALLEL or for me to isolate one of more them when not needing watering .
BLIND FREDDY surely knows the difference and you'd expect an "expert" gardener to know this stuff .
When the L shaped bed's timer came on at 4:40pm we discovered half the berries in pots were going no or very little water and shock horror ?!?! the strawberries were being flooded with huge volumes of water from the emitters which were blasting the plants and soil , water overflowing everywhere ( drainage hole in lower end plates WAY TOO SMALL and WAY TOO HIGH ).
And noticed he left the driveway looking like a pig sty as well , and we discovered one of the blueberry plants laying on the ground still in its tube . Not impressed , again totally ignored my design and specifications and job rough as guts.
And before the timer came on , discovered no where near the amount of citrus potting and no sign of the Lucerne mulch at all in the strawberry gutter beds
when I spoke to him last night he swore he had fulled them with citrus mix and added Lucerne mulch - he's a liar as shown in the photo.
What we saw happening to the strawberries when watering was ON.
No sign of the specified WEEPER tube or DRIP-EZE tube , he installed emitters instead --- grrrr !!!
Told him clean up before leaving , left a pigsty , never even bothered putting OUR rake back under cover.
and is all over the driveway
dirt came out of the driveway grill covered gutter. Ignored my instructions AGAIN.
One word describes the irrigation systems he's installed , its an ABORTION , not even attempted to follow my layouts, designs, or my explicit in detail instructions on what I required set up . Not even close.
Hopeless job installing pots' irrigation - YES that is one of BLUEBERRY plants , was not planted .
And where the hell is the mulch I told him put on the berry plants to protect the soil from drying out ?
I saw red and rang him to complain after dinner last night , and demanded he come here today fix 14 issues we discovered and do what I have paid him do PROPERLY.
List I SMSed and emailed to him LAST NIGHT
1) TWO raspberry plants SHOULD BE IN ONE 40cm pot WITH sugercane mulch on that pot ( not done )
2) STRAWBERRY PROBLEM NOT FILLED gutter beds with citrus potting mix (told you to fill the gutters with citrus potting mix , not half fill it or less , WITH lucerne mulch around the strawberries COVERING SOIL ( not done )
3) one blueberry per 40cm pot in citrus potting mix , lucerne mulch on the THREE separate blueberry pots ( never even planted the MISTY Blueberry ).
4) wheels of square box out of gutter. ( not done)
5) finger limes & natal berrys both should have lucerne mulch on their pots ( not done )
6) the two native voilet plants in separate 40cm pots brought up to front patio ( so Sue can enjoy them ) asked , not done yet.
7) In the 3 small beds , told you 2 parallel 19mm polypipes 3m long fixed to inside of sleepers NOT one just pipe dropped in the middle .
8 ) clean up around L shaped bed not done satisfactorily (left like a pig stye) NOT SATISFACTORY)
9) left over bails of mulch should be under car port out of sun
10) asked you put the monster tub behind back steps ( behind the other tub ) to keep it out of sight and out of direct sun
11) STILL no ISOLATION tap on each 3m bed AS SPECIFIED . (NOT HARD TO SET UP - you need to add a 19mm inline tap ABOUT WHERE the 19mm pipe goes inside followed INSIDE EACH OF THE FOUR BEDS WITH A 19mm TEE connected to 2 x 3m 19mm polypipes FIXED to long sides of these beds
AS I CLEARLY TOLD YOU TO DO.)
12) 6m x 1.5m bed IS NOT GETTING ANY WATER AT ALL.
13) STRAWBERRIES AGAIN = THEY ARE BEING DROWNED == drain holes are WAY TOO HIGH in END PLATES & WAY TOO SMALL ( need to be at least 1" in diameter to allow proper fast draining ) &
NOZZLES FOR EACH STRAWBERRY NEED TO BE JUST DRIPPING OR DRIBBLING SLOWLY
14) some berry plants not getting water and nozzles not directed into the pots properly
You also left tools here.
My wife and I are angry and not happy campers .
So since the two irrigation systems are not doing what I need , we've turned off the south and north taps , just wasting water , and strawberries have been drowned , but fortunately are still alive and now need the soil to dry out, the nursery where I bought the strawberries says no more water till the soil and the strawberrys have dried else they will be killed by drowning.
Gave him a deadline of by sunset today to come back and sort this to OUR satisfaction.
In the meantime I've had another local gardening company (who I know are more than just a one man band and have been around for years) come out and assess the work he's done , they told me nothing in the backyard's irrigation has been installed correctly or competently , all got be replaced and redone .
And nothing wrong at all with my designs for the manifold , the irrigation in the 4 parallel north beds, the L shaped bed , the pots on a branch from L bed and the gutter strawberry garden. They can fix the lot in under a day and even put the manifold in a shallow trench in under 30mins.
So I've told then I want a quote and they will get the job.
Gardener guy has not even remotely done the job I paid for , and again he's a no show ( 3.15pm and only 2 hours of light left , his promise to come back and fix things hasn't eventuated , true to form , unreliable , unprofessional ) , but this time I'm not chasing him with sms and emails and phone calls .
I'm done dealing with him and have no more patience and his lame excuses wont wash anymore.
I'll be putting the 2 days work I paid for as services via PayPal in dispute tonight at 6pm and asking PayPal to recover the money in my last two service transactions in full.
This way he'll eventually be paying for redoing of my back yard's two irrigation systems by way PayPal transaction reversals back into my account.
UPDATE , disputes started on PAYPAL on the last 2 payments for services to him. I have til 9 June to Escalate both claims.