“Irrigation is used to maintain agriculture. For example, Rome usually has a sufficient amount of rain that comes seasonally. Also, because of the valley we are in, we also receive a ton of heat. It’s extremely humid and it can kill most vegetation. Our job is to water as necessary, not keeping your system on daily or for large amounts of time, but as necessary. Overwatering will kill the landscape. That is something people do not understand. People will go out, see brown grass and immediately think ‘I need to put more water on it.’ But a lot of times, it’s dying because it was overwatered. Yes, it’s true. You can and will kill your yard by overwatering it. Soil has perforation grades that change depending on what the composition of the soil is. If you can, visualize your soil as a flower vase, especially the soil in Rome. Now imagine you open up a fire hydrant to fill that vase. The vase will fall over, or it will fill up way too fast. Either way, it just can’t handle too much water. You can only fill that vase so much and all of the additional water is waste, and detrimental to the soil and what grows from it,” says Cooper. “We want our customers to know what’s going on. When you spend your hard-earned money on making your yard look great, you want it maintained properly. That is what we do.” Cooper further explains, “In a world where some contractors are out to rip you off in some form or
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fashion, we strive to be totally open and honest. We always provide estimates, including communication about what you are being charged for, broken down clearly. There’s no mystery in what we are doing. It’s very open and very honest. My goal was to offer a competitive alternative to businesses like mine in Rome. My goal is to really try to educate customers on what irrigation is and why it is so important. In order to do that, we had to learn to conduct ourselves with integrity, honesty and top-notch customer service. “Educating customers about irrigation is a goal we are still striving towards,” Cooper continues. “We also want to continue building relationships with landscapers. Combining a landscaper with our services will equate to happier customers and betterlooking landscaping because we know how to water it and install it properly. Also, a lot of landscapers will not provide a warranty on a landscape job without an irrigation system. There will be less frustration and less having to go back and fix things. Educating our customer base is definitely something we want to expand in the future. When we started the company again two years ago, we had three customers. Now we have 200-plus customers. It’s a big deal to have a large number of returning customers. It proves that we are totally customer oriented and everything that we do is about our customers. With us being on your property two to three times a year, we want
to maintain and take care of the system and build a relationship with our customers.” With technology advancing, education is of the utmost importance. Cooper speaks on one of the more elaborate systems Green South Irrigation offers. “One of our most elaborate systems involves the use of MPRs (Matched Precipitation Rotators); that’s the head that we install. It is a highly efficient head. It has calculated percentages for water distribution to the soil and plants. It has WiFi, so I, from my computer in the office, can adjust the customer’s systems, including powering zones up or down. The system alerts me of breaks in the line and other issues that help with diagnosing problems early on. Our products have greatly changed in the last five years. Managing systems from the office has gotten better and keeps getting better. As we grow, our guys are making huge strides to become more knowledgeable.” The Green South Irrigation team has many different service talents among the group. “We are constantly developing the character of our employees. There are consequences for being disrespectful to customers, and there is an expectation to carry forth the honor and integrity of Green South Irrigation. That is how we do business. Every member of the team carries a different type of care to customers, different relationships, different humor and integrity. What we do is hard work; our bodies are always sore.