Last week went pretty smoothly until the storm hit. That messed up our entire afternoon because we received emergency calls left and right. One where a tree fell over on an above-ground backflow preventer and busting it in half with water going everywhere. The tree itself not only blocked both the main & drain valves to shut off the water to the sprinkler system, but it also blocked the water meter access as well so we couldn’t shut the water off without removing part of the tree.
We did finish over 20 lawn aerations last week and currently have around 7-8 to go. We also took care of around 40 sprinkler start-ups, and currently have around 40 to go. We weren’t able to do any start-ups on Friday because we had already scheduled 8 backflow preventer replacements or raisings, and around 25 backflow tests. We usually get swamped with backflow tests especially in Meridian near the end of the month because the first batch of letters goes out to Meridian residents with a May 1 test deadline. That will happen again toward the end of May as well, and throughout the summer because some either forget about it or wait until the last minute to schedule.
This week we will be mingling start-ups and some major repairs along with backflow tests and lawn aerations. The big storm that came in will keep yards fresh this week as well as the small rainstorm we had Saturday night/Sunday morning. It looks like we have more rain coming in the middle of the week as well.
We aren’t taking on much in any work unrelated to sprinkler systems and backflow preventers for another week unless it is an emergency. We do have some fences we will need to work on after we catch up on the sprinkler startups. We get sprinkler related repairs all summer long, but they are a lot easier to work in with other jobs once the season beginning rush is over.
We are still hiring, but haven’t found anyone that either meets our qualifications or actually wants to show up for a personal interview. We have had several no-shows already. I guess they really don’t want to work after all.