The homeowner in Bakersfield who asked me to pour concrete over a live sprinkler line

I was setting a new privacy fence in Bakersfield last month and the homeowner kept insisting I just pour the posts over his existing sprinkler line. I told him no way, we gotta mark and reroute it first. He got so mad he threatened to take the job elsewhere. I stood my ground, and 2 days later the line burst when he tested it himself. Has anyone else had clients fight you on basic prep work like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

terry_barnes8d ago

Was it really that big a deal to just let the guy learn the hard way?

craig.tessa8d ago

I saw on a home inspection forum that something like 60 percent of sprinkler system failures come from people trying to skip the simple prep work. That stat stuck with me because it matches what Ive seen around town. My neighbor tried to pour a patio slab right over his old pipes and ended up with a muddy mess in his backyard three weeks later. The homeowner in Bakersfield was lucky it burst when he was testing it and not when the fence was already set and full of wet concrete. Basic stuff like marking lines and rerouting isnt just busywork, its the difference between a job that lasts and a call back in the middle of summer.