I called Freddy after reading the reviews here. He was very prompt, coming out to my place within an hour. This was great, so I thought I was definitely on the right track.
I asked him to fix two leaks I had. I explained they were in my yard watering system and that I wanted both fixed and would require an estimate.
I had already dug the one out, which I explained I thought was a compression pipe cut, but I could only see one end of the pipe, since the hole was filled with muddy water. The other I dug down about halfway to, enough to determine exactly where the leak was and left it at that.
When he arrived, I took him to the first hole, explained that the hose looked like it had been cut, but I could not find the other end due to the muddy water. It was possible it was simply a termination point and may just need to be capped. He proceeded to ask if I had any tape or string or anything, which I did not. He eventually went to his truck, came back with some electrical tape, and proceeded to bend the compression pipe back onto itself and tape it off; presumably so the hole would drain and he could find the other end.
The other hole had a slow trickle of water bubbling up. He asked to borrow the shovel he saw sitting next to the other hole (he evidently carries no tools in his little yellow truck), dug about five shovelfuls of dirt out of the hole, and then asked for a small bucket to bail the water out with. I offered the only thing I had, which was a drinking cup and he used this to take enough water out that he could see the leak in a cap at the end of a PVC pipe.
He then had me shut the water off and explained the estimate would be $95.
I left him to run to Home Depot to get a cap for the PVC, which he did not have with him and when I came back, he was finishing up with the PVC, cutting the old cap off and putting on a new one.
I asked how much longer he thought he would be, and he said he was just finishing up! Fantastic!
I asked if he took a credit card, which his profile said he did, but he had not set that feature up on his new phone yet, so luckily, I had my checkbook with me. I wrote him the check and came back later that night to turn my water back on. The PVC was fixed properly. No issue there.
When I went to the compression pipe, I saw that the hole was still filled with water. I came back the next morning toting my shop-vac as I thought the hole should have drained by the previous night. The pipe he had taped back was leaking and after sucking the water out of the hole, I found the other end of the compression hose sitting there as prominent as can be. I texted Freddy again and asked if he would come back and fix what I had paid him $95 to fix and he said that was only for repairing the PVC pipe.
The bottom line: I had to supply most of the tools he used. I paid $95 for him to cut the cap off of a PVC pipe and glue on another cap, and wasted who knows how much water, assuming he had fixed my other leak when he actually had only slowed it. I even ended up unwrapping the compression pipe he taped back to "fix" it and found that bending it had cracked the old plastic and had to do even more work on it.
I have no doubt this man is competent due to all the reviews written here. I would simply say, make absolutely certain you know what needs to be done, review that with him, and make sure that is what is done in the end before you pay him, and most certainly make sure you are getting a discount if he must use all of your tools to do the job. read more
