Mckay Landscape Irrigation

Like many, I found Sherman via Unilocal and had a great experience. Sherman help me diagnose a general plumbing issue that was causing water to pool in my yard. He also provided valuable guidance regarding the best way to maintain my irrigation system. Will DEFINITELY use him again in the future.

I was referred to Sherman McKay from the Urban Farmer Store. Originally it was to install underground Netafim for our grass.
Sherman was prompt, polite, timely, and fair. Ultimately we decided not to go with the underground irrigation and did a full reinstall of above ground for our lawn (with more efficient sprayers) and realigned much of our drip.
Sherman had a phenomenal resource for a retaining wall and a small landscape redesign of the yard. Margarito was quick, clean, and just marvelous to work with.
I am confident that McKay Landscape Irrigation has earned every one of his 5 star reviews. I would not hesitate to use him again or recommend to friends and family. Great job!

I contacted Sherman through Unilocal,needing help maintaining my irrigation system. I had the system installed about 5 years ago, and there were the inevitable leaks, missing valves, and even a geyser erupting out of a hole in the tubing. With the drought, I didn’t want to delay the repairs any longer. Sherman came over on a Saturday, zipped around my garden with little yellow flags, planting them where the problems were, and cheerfully fixed them all within the hour. I’m very happy to have a functioning system again, and for a reasonable price. Sherman knows what he’s doing. He’s become my go-​to guy for all things irrigation.

8÷17÷15 — Just called and left a message this morning. Hoping he has time to do our
sprinkler system as it is in need of help. Will update as soon as I get in touch with him.

Sherman and his able assistant showed up as planned. Repaired a broken irrigation valve in record time and charge a very fair price. What more can one ask for.

Sherman was kind enough to give me some limited advice over the phone that turned out to make a HUGE difference in my drip irrigation problem, and offered to fix it for me and demonstrate how to fix it in the future! He is now my go-​to person for my gardening consultation. The reviews here are spot on, and I highly recommend him.

We’ve worked with Sherman for a year or so with our complicated irrigation system.
Sherman is knowledgeable in many areas and has re-​done parts of our system.
We’ve saved so much water, by having a system that is responsive to the climate.
And he’s always available for questions and a quick trip out to solve an issue.
I highly recommend him!

Sherman McKay and his helper Juan did a great job at my place in Oakland recently. I added two very difficult tasks to the job (going under two sidewalks to irrigate on the other side) so he charged me time and material for the extra work, which I appreciated. The quality of work was great and I really also appreciated that they cleaned up and were respectful of the special needs of a tenant (who works as an EMT and sleeps from 4 am to 11 am so needed not to much noise to sleep). They are really nice people too, which to me makes a real difference. Experienced, fair price, good work, respectful, nice people. .. What more can you ask for?

Sherman was recommended by a landscaper, whose work we respect, and we appreciate the tip. Sherman came by to look over our old and leaky irrigation system, and he used his expertise to make it much more efficient. Just today, Sherman came over to help us with a leaky hose connection. Within minutes, he found that the problem was just a clamp that he removed, and he didn’t even charge us. He also had some sound advice about how to use systems eligible for an East Bay MUD rebate.

I came across McKay Landscape like most of the other Unilocalers here. Let me tell you, these 5 star reviews are speaking the truth. Sherman is a must contact if you have any irrigation needs. He came out and completed a thorough investigation and provided a proposal. The previous home owner did a lot of DIY shoddy work so I knew their were going to be some challenges once he started replacing my valves and updating my drip. He did come across a few items of discussion but he was clear, precise and very confident in his capabilities to resolve the situation. Sherman went above and beyond my expectations. He stuck to the agreed budget and has followed up with an additional site visit and emails to make sure I am happy with the system.
Give him call. It will be the best decision you make all day.

I contracted with Sherman in November to install new efficient drip irrigation to my front and back yards. I was sick of issues of weak connections breaking and consistently faulty nozzles and sprayer heads. Regularly calling a handyman or fumbling with trying to replace nozzles/​sprayers myself was a constant theme. In my previous experience with other landscape professionals, irrigation seemed more of a peripheral or tertiary skill rather than a key element or concentration. Finding someone who made it their business to specialize and really understand the finer points of irrigation felt like its own project. I finally found Sherman using Unilocal.
Sherman came out for a thorough consultation and his passion about irrigation and gardening quickly became evident. He was knowledgeable on the current efficient systems and technology. Due to my budgetary limitations, he was willing to work with me on pricing to install a great new system. Upon completing the irrigation job, he took some spare time to show me the correct way to prune my grapevine, and proceeded to complete the pruning as we were talking.
What really stood out about Sherman was his attendance, availability in communication, personability, and his patience with my *slightly* compulsive need for constant educating on how things work. Another glowing note: Sherman provides an extinct form of old-​school customer service: a commitment to being a permanent resource in the interest of my system and my garden as a whole. He has made tweaks to the timer and system as needed, he offers his time and energy to answer irrigation and landscaping questions, and has said he would be there as things come up in the life cycle of my system.
Once I plant new sections in the front yard where the lawn used to live, he’s coming back to finish and customize the install of those lines as part of the original package. He’s even agreed to assist in helping me get started on a forthcoming landscaping project, working around his availability if I ply him with good tea and salad.
May you get lucky and find yourself partnered with Sherman on your irrigation enterprise. He’s a keeper.

Finally reliable irrigation support at a reasonable price! We had a terrible screeching with our front yard irrigation once the water turned on, since it was hooked up to a home depot timer and we needed it fixed. He did a fantastic job, and it wasn’t easy since he needed to get to an access point in the street to turn the water off. He came in a little under budget, which was also very nice. I would definitely recommend Sherman!

I’m an Architect and my brother is a General Contractor who’s been working in the east bay for the past 12 years. We live in a duplex and recently landscaped our property. We’ve built a good network of trades such as concrete, electrical, framing, etc., that we brought in as subcontractors, but didn’t have an irrigation company. We bid the work competitively and Mckay Landscape submitted a responsive and competitive proposal. The scope included wiring, programming, and installing a 4-​zone irrigation system across several flower beds, vegetable garden, bamboo planters, and a sprinkler system for a lawn. Sherman did a great job on design consultation, installation, and maintenance, and we will be using him when a client needs irrigation as part of their project in the future.

If you want good food, do you go to an empty restaurant or one that people are lining up for?
I live in the Forest Hill area of San Francisco and have met quite a few gardening professionals. I have to say, Sherman is the best I’ve met — ever. He is courteous, straightforward, knows exactly what he is doing, tells you what to expect and delivers quickly at a reasonable price. What else could you want?
I called Sherman because our sprinkler system wasn’t working. It took a few days for him to come by because — well he’s taking care if his clients. In the meantime I had a couple other guys who were available right away come by and look at my system. None of them offered any solutions.
Sherman came by later in the week (at 6am so I could get to work), diagnosed the problem, fixed the valve that fed the zone that wasn’t getting any water, capped off some sprinklers I didn’t need, installed a ton of new drip lines, and basically took care of business really efficiently and right away. It was worth the few extra days of waiting.
I am definitely going to have him come back and fix my lighting system in the garden.
I would highly recommend Sherman.

Good job

My Fraternal Organization, Sigma Phi, decided to contract Sherman Mckay’s services to install a lawn in our frontyard. It bears mentioning that our residence is the Thorsen House, a Greene and Greene original bungalow that is listed on the national register of historical places.
Mr. Mckay got to work right away, taking time to assess the current irrigation system. After many hours of analysis, he presented an honest, succinct plan to our organization for an installation of sod and a new sprinkler system with renovated valve manifolds.
During the installation, some wiring was cut. Mr. Mckay decided to hire an electrician on the project budget (i.e. cutting into his margins) to fix the issue. This small issue and its fix highlight his commitment to doing his work the right way.
All in all, the lawn has been laid down, and it looks great. Mr. Mckay has pledged to come by weekly to make sure that his system is running effectively, a bonus that I did not expect, and was not stipulated in the contract. I look forward to working with him again to continually improve our garden.

I am the president of a condominium homeowner’s association of ten homeowners in Albany, California. Our association hired McKay Landscape Irrigation to install a new irrigation system on a steep hillside with major erosion problems. This was a complex project which required collaboration among multiple contractors, including a landscape architect, a horticultural crew, a structural engineer, a drainage contractor, and a foundation footing contractor. I heartily recommend McKay Landscape Irrigation for the following reasons:
1. Knowledge of state-​of-​the-​art irrigation systems, including environmentally sensitive weather monitoring to save water whenever possible. (The project was completed at the height of the 2013 – 2014 winter drought.)
2. Demonstrated ability to work in a professional and courteous manner with multiple parties as described about, also including several Homeowner Association board members and homeowners.
3. Excellent networking with affordable, competent, and available contractors to assist with rapid completion of the entire project. Without the recommendations from McKay Landscape Irrigation, the project might still be uncompleted.
To recap, I endorse McKay Landscape Irrigation without reservation.

This is an easy one. Sherman knows what he is doing, is an easy guy to work with, excellent customer service, and leaves you with a sense that everything is gonna be just fine.
I had a four-​zone system that a slightly shady landscaping crew installed last summer; as you might expect, it functioned … shadily. When one of he valves wouldn’t turn off, I knew it was time to bring in a professional.
Sherman showed up with a great attitude and completely rewired my system, adding a much better control and weather station — all in just a few hours, and for a totally reasonable price. And he’s going to help me figure out my grey water system ta boot.
Yep, I’ll be calling him again.

Several years ago, we had some palm trees removed from our yard and the removal guys accidentally damaged the irrigation system (it was kind of unavoidable as the trees had grown so much they were right on top of the tubes). Well, the awesome dude who had installed it for us had left the country and we were in a panic. Enter Sherman McKay.
Speaking of awesome dudes. Sherman is pretty awesome. He is super responsive, friendly, knowledgeable, FAST, reasonable… basically, he works miracles. He fixed up the damaged sections, no muss, no fuss!
I just had him back out the last couple days because the irrigation system’s timer was no longer turning on one of the zones… he quickly identified the issue, bought the part, installed, tested, and we’re back in business. He even came out in the rain! And hosed off the mud!
I’m impressed. If you need anything done with your irrigation system, Sherman is the dude you should hire. A+++

My irrigation system in my back-​yard in San Francisco had stopped working (continually dripping in one zone), so after trying a couple of other people who weren’t very responsive, I found Sherman (McKay Landscape Irrigation) who was excellent.
He responded really quickly to my message and came out the next day. He was very communicative about his arrival time and set my expectations well about how much it would cost and how long it would take.
He found the problem quickly, picked up the required parts and had my system fixed up and tested in little over an hour.
He was responsive, professional and a good price. I’ll definitely keep using him to do a regular service and would recommend him to anyone in San Francisco.
He’s also a really nice guy, which helps!