ABOUT THIS PAGE
Entering into a contract with a small business can be challenging. Contracts cover pretty much the bare minimum and much of the relationship is based on how highly rated they are and your personal comfort level with their representatives. In many ways, it's not much more than a handshake deal where you as the homeowner are at the mercy of the contractor's willingness, or unwillingness, to live up to their commitments.
On this page we'll examine the contract that I entered into with them and the mistakes I made along the way.
CONTRACT
Below is the contract that I agreed to. At first glance, it seems pretty reasonable. They're going to install a drainage system and an irrigation system. They quote the labor costs, outline the work in broad strokes, denote that the materials are supplied by the customer, identify that they'll need a trencher for two days, and they detail their terms and conditions.
1. Relying too heavily on reviews.
They have a 4.9 rating on Google Reviews, a 100% recommend on Facebook when I did my investigation, and were well liked on the Vero Beach Friendly Neighborhood Page. I looked through their Facebook page and observed that they had experience installing both drainage and irrigation systems. I'm not sure what more I could have done to learn about their shortcomings, but after hiring them it became apparent that they really didn't know what they were doing. There were simply too many instances where I had to instruct them on basic things such as water needing to flow downhill, how to connect dissimilar pipes, and catch basin installation.
2. Not getting multiple bids.
I'm not sure if this would have saved me or not. Price is not my first concern when hiring a contractor. I expect contractors to be cost competitive, but more importantly I look for people that are highly rated, are enthusiastic about the work, and who I feel I can work with. Kyle Story met all of these criteria. I felt his pricing was fair, he was enthusiastic about the project, and I felt that I could work with him.
What should have been a red flag was how "easy" he'd proclaim something to be when I pointed out what I saw as a challenge to the project. Dismissing everything as "easy" is not the sign of a good contractor. Someone worth their salt will look at the issue being presented and consider it thoughtfully. With Kyle, every answer was a quick "Oh that's easy".
3. Not verifying their pricing model.
When I spoke with Kyle Story, I thought I was clear that I wanted two systems installed - a drainage system and an irrigation system. Every drainage and irrigation contractor I've ever worked with in my life bid these projects as a project. When I looked at the quote, he entered his estimated hours into whatever system they're using, the cost per hour, and it calculated the price. Never did I believe that this was a time and materials project. If I had, I'd have asked for an all-inclusive bid, or I'd have hired someone else.
He never told me that he was bidding the project as time and materials, and he didn't call it out on the contract. However, when this became contentious, he claimed that the quote was for time and materials, that I had used up all of my allotted time (plus some), and he walked away from the project leaving it unfinished.
If you're going to engage them, or any other contractor for that matter, I'd suggest you get clarity on the pricing model.
4. Not asking them to reference the bill of materials and the design I sent them to detail the scope of the work.
Prior to entering into the contract, I sent them a bill of materials for the sprinkler system indicating what needed to be installed where, and the design for both the irrigation and drainage systems. They built their quote off of these two documents and I felt that their description of the work was sufficient to cover what was expected. When this became contentious, not having these two documents specified in the contract was a liability to me.
In addition to what I'm saying here, if you read Margaret T.'s review, attention to detail in their quotes doesn't appear to be something they do well.
5. Not getting their warranty policy in writing.
Nowhere on their website nor in their quotes do they indicate what their warranty policy is. I knew that they weren't going to warranty the products that I purchased, but when faced with an issue list outlining their failures, they refused to return and fix any of the problems with their work product. Not forcing them to provide this information lets them off the hook completely.
6. Negotiating a final payment schedule.
If you look at their terms and conditions above, it's pretty one-sided. They expect to be paid within 15 days before penalties take effect. But there are a couple of problems with this. When making significant modifications to an existing system, or installing a new system, issues are going to occur, and you're at the mercy of their willingness to warranty their work. I was still finding major issues more than 15 days after they departed and refused to come back. It seems pretty obvious from my experience, they're willing to walk away from a project without regard to poor work quality or impact to their reputation. If they'd do it to me, they'd do it to you. I should have withheld my final payment for the full 15 days. This would have given me time to shake out the system without penalty, and would have given me leverage to withhold payment should they choose not to return. The only other recourse would be to take them to court - which is both an expensive and uncertain proposition.
7. Not insisting on having permits pulled.
This was a big job, and it should have been inspected. As homeowners, we should expect that contractors adhere to the building codes. I can find few irrigation installers who indicate that they're licensed and I can't find a contractor's license for Limitless Irrigation at the state or local level. However, in Indian River County, Florida, Drainlaying and Irrigation Sprinklers are two of the Trades that Require a License in the county.
I've hired multiple drainage and irrigation specialists over the years and not one of them ever pulled a permit. If I'd have insisted on this we'd have had fewer problems. They'd have been forced to lay the pipes at least 6 inches deep instead of trying to pawn-off having them at grade as being sufficient.
Having the system inspected would have mitigated a lot of the issues I found after the fact. What they installed wouldn't have passed inspection, and Limitless Irrigation would have been forced to make the appropriate corrections. Accountability is a good thing and inspections are there to protect the homeowner.
8. Not forcing them to do proper project change control.
There's always some horse-trading on a project of this size. I asked for some minor changes and help running extra conduit in three places under the driveway to replace the Xfinity cable they cut. But they asked for some major changes to the design because Gryphon Todd didn't want to have to dig through some areas with lots of roots. All of this is documented in the complaints section of this website. Kyle Story didn't object to any of my requests, and I didn't object to theirs. After the relationship brokedown, there wasn't a paper trail documenting what was and wasn't agreed to.
9. Paying them half down up front.
If you're going let them supply the parts, this may be reasonable depending on the size of the job. In my case, I bought all of my own parts. I contemplated refusing to give them half the payment up front since they didn't have any out-of-pocket expenses, but I made the decision to try to buy some good will.
I will tell you here and now, nothing I did bought any good will, and I'd find it unlikely that you could either if the project goes awry.
10. Trusting Kyle Story's word and paying them before the project was complete.
I made the mistake of paying him in full before inspecting the system for myself. I took him at his word that the system would work and that he'd come back in two weeks as promised. Silly me.
In hindsight, I find Kyle Story to be someone who's quick to make commitments, without following through. Obviously this is not a good trait for a contractor to have. (For details see Item 20 on the complaints page.)
The only real leverage a homeowner has with a contractor is money. I know this and I should have withheld payment until after having inspected everything for myself. I won't make this mistake again.