How to price irrigation and sprinkler jobs zone by zone

Irrigation work comes in three kinds, and each is priced differently. Seasonal visits (spring startups, midseason checks and, in freeze climates, fall blowouts) are repeatable and scale with the number of zones. Repairs start with a diagnosis nobody can time in advance. Installs are small construction projects with a material takeoff. Pricing all three from one hourly rate and a guess is where irrigation margins leak. Using the loaded wage and overhead rate from how to price service jobs, this guide prices each kind of work from your own logs, with the seasonal visits worked through in full.

What do you count when pricing irrigation work?

• Zones. Each valve or controller station is a zone. Startups, checks and blowouts all scale with zone count, so it is the unit customers understand and the one your time logs should use.
• Heads and nozzles. Counted per zone for repairs, retrofits and audits.
• Drip lines. Footage and emitter count for drip zones in beds.
• Controller. Replacement, smart controller installs and programming, priced per controller.
• Valves and wire. Repairs priced by task where the time is predictable and by the hour where it is not.
• Backflow assembly. Testing, repair and winterizing, priced per assembly.
• Installs. Zones, heads, pipe footage, trench length, controller, backflow assembly and permit, built from a takeoff.

How do you estimate time on seasonal visits?

Split every seasonal visit into base time and zone time. Base time happens once per property: arriving, finding the shutoff and controller, checking the backflow device, walking the yard, writing notes and closing out the invoice. Zone time is what you spend running and adjusting each zone. Log both on every visit, separately for startups, checks and blowouts.

A startup's zone time includes running each zone, raising sunken heads, clearing and replacing clogged nozzles, straightening spray patterns off the pavement and setting the controller. A midseason check is shorter per zone. Large zones with many heads take longer than small ones, so note head counts in the property record and adjust the time on systems that run well above your average.

Blowouts scale with zones in a specific way. Rain Bird's 2005 homeowner's guide to winterization says to use a pressure regulating valve and keep air pressure at or below 50 psi, to blow no circuit for more than 2 minutes at a time because sustained heat from the compressed air may damage pipe and other components, and to repeat the cycle through every zone two or more times until nothing more than a fine mist comes from the heads. Every added zone adds those timed bursts and repeat cycles. The guide calls for a compressor that supplies 10 to 25 cubic feet per minute and warns that some small shop compressors may not be adequate, so the compressor you own or rent sets your pace. A bigger tow-behind unit costs more to buy or rent and can move through zones faster, and both effects belong in the numbers.

Access adds time that zone counts hide: a controller inside a locked garage, a shutoff buried in mulch, a gate code nobody sent. Ask for access details when the visit is booked, and put them in the record so next season's visit starts faster.

Worked example: an annual plan for an eight-zone system

Every figure below is hypothetical, used only to make the arithmetic visible. None of the times, rates, allowances or the margin describe what irrigation companies charge or earn anywhere. Swap in your own logs and books.

The last two rows are how a published "base plus per zone" price is built. Work out the base from the fixed time on each visit, the zone charge from logged zone time, and the plan becomes one formula your office or website can quote for any system. Price each visit on its own the same way, then check that the plan total is not above what the three single visits would cost, or the plan gives customers no reason to sign up. The job price calculator handles any one visit, your labor and overhead rates come from the hourly rate calculator, and the maintenance plan calculator tests the plan as a yearly product.

How should you price repairs and service calls?

A repair begins with finding the problem: a zone that won't come on, a line that won't shut off, a wet spot with no visible break. Diagnosis can be quick or can mean tracing wire across a yard. The service call fee pays for the trip and a typical diagnosis, at your labor and overhead rates plus margin. It has to stand on its own, because some customers will decline the repair. Decide whether it is credited toward the repair, and if it is, make sure your repair prices still cover the diagnostic time.

Common repairs with predictable times (a broken head, a nozzle swap, a valve diaphragm or solenoid, a controller replacement) can carry flat prices: logged task time at your rates, plus the part, plus margin. Open-ended work (wire faults, lost valves, main line leaks under hardscape) is fairer by the hour, with the rate and the first-hour expectation stated before you start. A line that will not shut off is an urgent call. If you answer those after hours, give them their own fee.

Digging adds locating time. Utilities mark their own lines, and the sprinkler system belongs to the owner. Sprinkler systems appear on the list of private lines in Virginia 811's explainer on public and private utilities, meaning the utilities it notifies leave them unmarked. Each state's one-call center sets its own rules, so check yours. The 811 program asks for a call a few business days before the shovel goes in, which affects scheduling on installs and larger repairs. Your crew finds the existing pipe and wire by hand, so put that time in the estimate.

Parts, controllers and margin on materials

A part's price covers more than the supplier invoice. It covers the truck stock you bought ahead, the run to the supply house when the right valve is not on the truck, parts that break in handling, and the time to return warranty failures. Pick a parts margin policy and apply it the same way on every repair. If you think in markup, convert it to margin before you decide it is enough, because a markup on cost always produces a smaller margin on price.

Controllers are a common upgrade. The EPA's WaterSense program labels irrigation controllers that are weather-based or soil moisture-based, and notes that some utilities offer rebates. Quote the full price, count the programming time and the walk-through with the customer, and treat any rebate as the customer's to apply for. Don't build an approval you cannot promise into your price.

Installs are priced from a takeoff: pipe, fittings, heads, valves, wire, controller, backflow assembly, and a waste allowance from your own past jobs. Add trencher or plow rental, permit fees where they apply, and the extra trip if an inspection is required.

Should backflow testing be priced separately?

Yes, where your area requires it. An irrigation system tied to the house supply is a cross-connection. A 2003 EPA manual on cross-connection control puts lawn sprinkler systems on its partial list of plumbing hazards, among fixtures with submerged inlets. The model ordinance provisions in that manual call for reduced pressure backflow devices to be tested at least twice a year by the water department's certified tester or a delegated representative, at the owner's expense. Your state and local water utility set the actual rules: which assembly is required, how often it must be tested and who may test it. None of this is legal advice; get the current requirements from your water utility in writing.

If you test, price it per assembly per test from its own costs: tester certification and renewals, the test kit and its calibration, the time to file results with the utility, and a retest after any repair. Pairing the test with the spring startup saves a trip, and you can pass part of that saving to plan customers on purpose.

Annual plans and route density

An annual plan bundles the seasonal visits into one yearly price, with priority scheduling and set repair rates, collected up front or spread over the season. The worked example shows how to price it. Plan customers are booked first when the spring rush hits, which is a benefit you can name in the sale. Card on file and autopay keep collection simple; see recurring service billing.

In freeze climates, startup requests arrive in the same few spring weeks and blowout requests in the same few fall weeks. A route that zigzags across the service area in those weeks burns the billable hours your overhead rate was built on, and the plan price stops holding up. Book startups and blowouts by neighborhood, open your online booking by area and day, and fill each day around plan customers. Sell next year's plan at winterization, while the customer is watching you work, so spring's route is half built before the first warm week.

HOAs and commercial properties have many controllers and zones on one site. Price them from a site walk with the same base-plus-zone method, add any reporting the property manager expects, and bill monthly or per visit under a written agreement.

When can you quote without a site visit?

Seasonal visits for systems you have serviced are quoted from the record. For new customers, ask for a photo of the controller (the stations in use tell you the zone count) and the backflow device, quote base plus zones, and confirm on the first visit. Repairs are site visits by nature, which is what the service call fee is for. Installs need a walk with measurements, a look at water pressure and supply, and locates before a final price.

Callbacks after startup and freeze claims

Some problems only show up after a startup: a head that cracks the next week, a valve that weeps, a controller schedule the customer changed. A return trip means base time and a drive for what is often a quick fix. Log each one, add up the yearly cost, and carry it as a reserve per plan or per visit, as the example does. Write the policy down: what you redo at no charge, and for how long.

Winterization brings a different risk: a customer who finds a cracked fitting in spring and believes the blowout missed it. Record each blowout in the job notes, with the zones done, the cycles run and the pressure setting, and photograph the controller and backflow device. A clear record makes those disputes far easier to resolve. Our guide to warranty policies covers how to word the promise.

Irrigation pricing mistakes

• One price for every system. A small front-yard system and a large corner lot with drip beds are not the same visit.
• A service call fee that covers only the drive. Finding the fault takes skill and can take longer than the fix.
• Parts sold at cost. Handling, truck stock and warranty returns are real costs.
• Scattered spring bookings. First-come scheduling across the whole service area eats the rush in drive time.
• Locating time left out. Private lines are not marked, so finding them is labor.
• Plans with no reserve. Return trips after startup happen every season.

Seasonal pricing like this depends on a record for every property: zone count, controller model, valve locations, backflow type and test dates. We keep those records for our own service companies in a custom CRM we built for that purpose. Our irrigation industry page covers booking and phones for this trade, and how to start an irrigation business covers licensing, backflow rules and equipment. If you also run mowing routes, how to price lawn mowing jobs applies the same route math to weekly stops.

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