I needed a water supply line run from the street to the house, about 140'. Changing from well to Kent city water. Helmling was one of the few excavators that said they could bore the line rather than trench it through my yard. I knew it could be done because the gas company had put in a new supply line the year before. Bored it, very accurate, pretty neat.
In April we agreed on the job and a price. One price for the outside portion, another price for the inside plumbing connection. Then, for six months, he kept putting me off, one reason after another. Could never come to do the job. I stayed with him cos he was going to bore it, not trench it. After many months though, I started looking around for another contractor, one who might actually show up. Still, I didn't want to deal with the aftermath of a trench from the road up to the house.
Finally, one day in October he calls and says he'll be out Monday morning to do the job. Great. Monday morning, before dawn, I see his truck out on the road briefly, then he calls me. He sounds a little panicked, or tense. Says he misquoted the job. He didn't realize something about where the water line was in the road (even though it had been thoroughly marked at least twice by Benchmark in this time) Now the job was going to cost more. He said he would do the outside portion, but it was going to cost the total of what we'd agreed on for the outside and inside. So the day of the job he raises the price 10%. I could afford it and wanted the job done, so I agreed.
The crew shows up. They're digging a hole through the asphalt in the road, and another foxhole in my yard. Then he comes up to me and says he can't bore it, he's going to have to trench it. 140' through my yard. At this point I'm kinda stuck. Wasn't sure what my options were so to get the job over with, I said to go ahead.
The line was installed. They did a hasty and sloppy job backfilling over it. Now, 5 months later, I'm looking at a mess in my yard that's going to take many hours of shovel and wheelbarrow work to repair. There are sections of the trench that have sunk well below ground level, other areas with mounds of dirt that will need to be moved.
I did get a functioning water line. But if you're thinking of using these guys, save yourself a headache. I think you can do better.
(If Helmling would like to come by and do the landscape repair, I'll happily edit this review to show that.) read more
