Please be very very careful of this self-proclaimed "rural well expert".
We are new rural homeowners on a well. We lost water in our house and Darryl told us we needed a new pump. When Darryl opened the well cap he saw galvanized steel and assumed there was 80 feet of steel going down to the well. He created a huge amount of drama and fear when he escalated the job to a "serious problem", one requiring heavy equipment be brought in, excavation of our front yard, all new PVC piping, new wires, and a new pump. He said we should have "demanded that $10,000 be taken off the purchase price of the house just because of the size and complication of this issue". Darryl told us that "most plumbers won't even do the job because of the complexity and risk". He even he is an expert and specializes in wells. He told us that he "really didn't want to do the job because of the risk and complications, but if we did it today, like right now, he would do it for us". For the low price of $5000. (Prior to the discovery of the supposed 80 feet of galvanized steel the quote for a new pump was $2800).
The excavator arrives, and guess what? The galvanized pipe he saw WAS SIMPLY A SIX-FOOT DROP DOWN BAR, to which the PVC pipe was connected!!!!!
He told me he was generously taking $1000 off the price because the galvanized steel "only went down the well HALF WAY - not the entire 80 feet". I went outside to look and there was a six foot T-shaped "down bar" to which the PVC was connected. NO GALVANIZED PIPES AT ALL! NOT 80 FEET, NOT 40 FEET - NO FEET. ONLY THE DROP DOWN BAR.
A plan-faced lie to justify his overreaction and fictitious complexity of the work. Wouldn't an "expert in rural wells" have known this?
And then why LIE about it by telling me the steel piping only went down half way? There was NO galvanized pipe beside the 6 foot drop down bar. Very unethical and very, very sneaky.
So, for $3950 - I got one hour of labour and $1000 in materials (pump and PVC/wires for 65 feet). Darryl charges $2950 for an hour for his labour.
Just to be sure, I called EIGHT industry professionals (plumbers and Well-licenced technicians - every single one of them stated that he ought to have reasonably known that there was a drop down bar and no need for all the drama he created. He ought to have known he could pull out a 65 foot PVC pipe by hand. His actions were unethical and he severely inflated the extent of the work. He worked on the job for less than one hour. He did a lot of lying and conniving and scheming, but he actually worked for an hour. He pulled the PVC pipe out of the well - hand-over-hand - in less then five minutes. The excavator sat at the end of my driveway for four hours.
Jeeze were we fools to have believed this expert. That's on us I guess, but I really hope others do not fall prey to this guy.
Before beginning a formal complaint process, I actually gave him the opportunity to make it right. He quickly "threw in" a $700 tank. But when I disputed the price he actually called me "by poller" (to which I replied that "bi polar" is a serious mental health issue and not a word that a licenced professional working under a major governing association should be calling his clients out of anger). He also told me that if I write a review that is not true that he would "Do what I do, and you won't like it".
To that end, everything in this review is unequivocally true and in the interest of transparency I have advised the plumber that I would be sharing his language with the public, the Association of Plumbers, The College of Trades, and the Better Business Bureau.
Please get a second opinion. It won't hurt to just get a second opinion. read more