I’m wondering if anyone has feedback from contractors who install Rachio. I recommended Rachio to an old fraternity buddy. It will be interesting to see if there is pushback from his contractor who only installs Rain Bird dumb controllers.
@robertokc I recommended it to a friend who just had a home built. He ended up blindly going with the junk that the neighborhood landscaper installed. Honestly I get the feeling that only the quality contractors will go the extra mile to first, understand it and second, deal with customers who will surely ask questions about it. I’m guessing that there are a a bunch of guys out there that will just put in a cheap, turn dial unit so they can make their margin and walk away.
Gentleman, we have been working closely with contractors to educate them about what makes our controller so special. It has taken some time, which was not unexpected. Our competitors have been around for a long time and have a lot of goodwill built up in the industry. However, we are making believers out of a lot of these contractors.
It’s due in part because of our product but also because of great users like yourselves. You guys keep recommending us to friends and family, which creates enough noise and interest which the contractors can no longer ignore. Thank you for your support!
3 Likes
Good deal. I talked with the largest irrigation contractor in Oklahoma City. He installs a competitive WiFi smart controller because he says the lack of simple button interface at the controller is a deal breaker. Here is an idea that might not cost that much. Place a sticker on the underside of the Rachio faceplate with manual instructions. I still am not able to figure out setup without WIFi. The contractors buy their parts at distributors, and I know they freak out when they cannot install their normal junk controllers.
1 Like
Thank you for the insight, and I like the idea of the sticker! I’ll pass that along to our design team.
1 Like
I’m still looking for instructions for manual setup without wifi. In new construction, irrigation goes in before the home network. Right now, I’m faced with having to purchase/use a temporary controller. Any pointers here? I can’t even find them…
Thanks. I found the same link after 20 mins of searching. It’s helpful, but it’s missing a simple “run now” with say 2-5 minute interval for testing. Still trying to figure out how do do that… Rachio really suffers right now because it’s designed to be a replacement controller and not your initial controller, else these offline scenarios would be easier.
No button interface at the controller is Rachio’s biggest challenge to get in the new home install market. For the most part, the workers installing sprinkler systems do not have a clue about smart controllers and how to set them up. I know a redesign would be expensive, but programming on the face plate should be on the long-term to do list.