We noticed our grass was very wet around our mains box and the sprinkler box, which was right next to it. It was a $@!#% shoot as to whether it was the mains or the sprinkler system. We would have to dig to find out. I opted for calling a plumber rather than the sprinkler company in case it was a water main leak.

After contacting many plumbers for this job, I settled on the last one, Kramer and Sons. While the other plumber reps were all very nice, Kramer and Sons were the only ones to really promote the idea of “let’s take a look to see where your leak is coming from and if we can fix it before we charge you an arm and a leg for a new water main.” (I also liked the fact that the whole 4-man crew who would do the job showed up to give the estimate.) All the other companies seemed to want to replace our water line right off the bat for anywhere up to $5,400! Kramer and Sons quoted 3 ways: for excavating 6 feet and fixing the leak if possible and fixing it; replacing the water line if necessary with copper; or replacing with 250psi poly. They didn’t try to push one material over the other, like the other plumbers who had a preference. They were in fact surprised that the poly had gone bad after only 9 years. They said it should last a lot longer. They felt pretty sure it was the sprinkler system.We ended up choosing poly again
with the idea that they would carry the poly on the truck if they needed it. I found this approach very reassuring.

During the entire process, the Office Manager, Sadat, was incredible! He was so responsive and answered every one of my many, many questions with patience and politeness. I can’t sing his praises highly enough. Kramer and Sons have a gem there.

On the day, the 4-man crew showed up bright and early and started digging. They used a big plastic sheet to put the dirt on so they would not mess up the grass. They were here for a total of about 6 hours, with about 4 hours of digging, and some down time waiting for glue to dry and to fetch parts. When they got down to the level of the join between the sprinkler and mains, they could see a leak. They also saw a leak coming out the top of the blow off valve. Two of them went off to get the piping they needed as they are not sprinkler techs. They fixed it and did however, do what the sprinkler company normally does each season after winterizing, which is to put tape round the pipe to give the cap something to bite on. They pressure tested the system and we tested the sprinkler. Everything was fine.

At the end of the work, they put all the dirt back, overseeded, and lay straw on top of everything. They spent some time hosing down the sidewalk and road and left nothing out of place.

As a side note, unfortunately the sprinkler blow off valve cap blew off during the night and water was coming out fast. We shut off the main sprinkler valve and called them first thing and the same 4-man crew showed up immediately. They were very surprised that the cap blew off as it had been on so loosely when they found it and they had tightened it. They wanted to shut off the blow off valve so that we could still use the sprinkler until our irrigation company came out to winterize the system and fix it. It involved breaking off the lock on the valve shut off. Unfortunately, it was rusted on so they weren’t able to do that. They did not want to break anything so advised that it would be best for the sprinkler company to come out and replace the lock and cap, and I agreed. We have them scheduled soon.

Digging in the ground is not a cheap affair and it did cost $1,050 but that was the very lowest price as others had quoted much higher prices to just fix the leak. If I had not continued to talk to plumber after plumber and found Kramer and Sons, we would have ended up paying up to $5400 for a new water line for no reason at all! I have learned a lot from this experience. Be careful and do lots of research before you spend your hard-earned money!

I felt the entire experience was very positive and recommend the company very highly.