I contacted Exceptional Landscape Lighting & Irrigation (ELL&I) to have an in-ground sprinkler system installed in my lawn. Immediately, I was impressed by how responsive the company was to my email messages and phone calls. When Bladen came to give me a quote, he exuded confidence about the company's ability to provide the service I was looking for, and I just got a very positive and honest vibe from him right away. I had also contacted three other companies for quotes, but none of the others were as reassuring as Bladen. After weighing all my options, it was an easy choice to hire ELL&I for this project.
Everyone who worked on the project was friendly, professional, and extremely hardworking. The project was completed in about 2 days, and there were no surprise fees for unforeseen issues or change orders. After it was installed, they helped me learn how to use the control panel and set up the app for it. My system even works with Alexa--although setting that up was a little tricky. (Hint: You have to set up the Hydrawise skill from the Amazon web site. It doesn't work properly if you set it up directly in the Alexa app.)
Once everything was set up and the installers left, I discovered that some of the sprinkler heads needed to be adjusted, but I didn't know how to do it myself. I called ELL&I, and Bladen came back the next day to adjust them and to teach me how to make future adjustments myself. I had one more issue adjusting a different type of sprinkler head, and another team member (Carlos, I think) came back to my home the next day to help me with that.
This system is as amazing as the service has been. Using the app, you can control things manually when needed, but the real standout is the scheduling feature. Each watering zone (I have four of them) can be programmed for different durations and start times. You can water daily or in intervals (such as every other day, every third day, etc.). The system connects to local weather services via WiFi and will adjust the watering (e.g., skip a day, water more, or water less) based on the high and low temperature or the expected rainfall. A rain meter also adjusts the watering schedule based on actual rainfall. If a watering time is rescheduled, all subsequent watering events are rescheduled automatically to keep the watering interval intact. You could literally set it and forget, and it would monitor itself and stay on schedule all season long.
The biggest worry for many people who are thinking about getting an irrigation system installed is probably the impact that it will have on their turf. The installation procedure is minimally invasive. I was told that there would be some faintly visible lines in the grass for about two weeks. That was mostly true. Unfortunately for me, there was so much rain prior to my installation that the thinner grass in my back yard basically turned to mud. The good news is that I spread grass seed, and with the help of the sprinkler, most of it has regrown in only a week. I expect it to look amazing in about one more week. Prior to having the in-ground sprinkler, it was much more difficult to keep the grass seed moist enough to thrive. I believe that the impact on my lawn would've been much less noticeable had it been installed during a time with less rain. I didn't want to wait though, so that's really on me.
In summary, this project went very smoothly, and I couldn't be more impressed by the team at ELL&I who made it all happen. I highly recommend them to anyone interested in having an irrigation system installed. I've been so pleased with the system's ease of use, and I don't miss the old days when I had to drag hoses all over the lawn and then put them away. The watering is much more even and consistent with the irrigation system, and it actually saves water. The system also has a seven-year warranty and comes with one free winterization service. I'm extremely glad that I had it done and that I hired ELL&I to do the work. Thank you, team! True to your name, you did EXCEPTIONAL work!
