With the drought we have been facing, I am seriously considering a sprinkler system..

I wanted to get the board's thoughts on sprinkler prices per zone nowadays. I was quoted $500 per zone by a gentlemen who I've worked with in the past. He does good work. I'm curious if the price is fair in the Houston area nowadays?

Nonetheless here is what we are looking to do
-Irrigate 8 trees
-Irrigate a little over an acre of grass
-~22 zones to accomplish all this
-All Rainbird heads, valves, etc
-Make two crossings under driveway.
-Closed loop main line around the house.

We used applied sprinkler solutions, pretty happy with our system. 22 zones is a whole different ballpark from us, we have 7 and paid less than $500/zone

How big of a lot are you irrigating? 22 zones seems excessive imo unless you are sprinkling in a bunch of zones for planters on top of the trees.

Per zone pricing is a stupid way to bid. I know a ton of contractors do it, but it's lazy and in no one's best interest.
What kind of zone? Drip, spray, mp rotator or rotor?
What size meter? What pressure?

All these have impact on overall pricing that a blanket "per zone" price won't accurately reflect. It's like getting a bid for windows on a house per window regardless of size or type of glass.

Apache said:

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Per zone pricing is a stupid way to bid. I know a ton of contractors do it, but it's lazy and in no one's best interest.
What kind of zone? Drip, spray, mp rotator or rotor?
What size meter? What pressure?

All these have impact on overall pricing that a blanket "per zone" price won't accurately reflect. It's like getting a bid for windows on a house per window regardless of size or type of glass.

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TexDill15 said:

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How big of a lot are you irrigating? 22 zones seems excessive imo unless you are sprinkling in a bunch of zones for planters on top of the trees.

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The lot is a total of 2 acres. Most of the zones would be for grass. The property is on a well that flows ~18-20 GPM. If flow were higher I'm sure I could run fewer zones.

Apache said:

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Per zone pricing is a stupid way to bid. I know a ton of contractors do it, but it's lazy and in no one's best interest.
What kind of zone? Drip, spray, mp rotator or rotor?
What size meter? What pressure?

All these have impact on overall pricing that a blanket "per zone" price won't accurately reflect. It's like getting a bid for windows on a house per window regardless of size or type of glass.

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Agreed on bidding per zone..

Rotor sprinklers for the grass and bubblers for the trees. Actually I'm probably going to nix the bubblers. My trees were planted 2.5 years ago. They're about 4-4.5" caliper now. Bubbler irrigation might do more harm than good for the roots of the trees.

I'm on a well, and it is flowing ~18-20 GPM. Cut in/out pressure is 40/60. 1-1/4" PVC coming into the house.

Quote:

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Bubbler irrigation WILL do more harm than good for the roots of the trees.

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FIFY.

11K for nearly two acres honestly sounds cheap.
If I were you:
*Make sure the guy is licensed. You can check the TCEQ website to be sure.
*Send your irrigator a site plan of the yard & get him to dot out where the heads are going in the lawn areas. You want head to head coverage - the rotors should be around 30' apart. (He should have done this already to know how many zones/heads he would need. If he didn't do this ask him how he came up with 22 zones!)
*Ask what happens if you need more zones... does the price go up? (Note: This is a trick lots of irrigators use: give a cheap price per zone & then raise it by declaring more zones were needed. They simply size the zones smaller & demand more $$. This raises water pressure causing fogging heads & causing poor coverage.
*Make sure you're getting an as-built.
*Make sure the irrigator is putting in a master valve, backflow device, isolation valve, rain sensor & a good controller.
*Have them run some extra wires to the farthest zones in case you may want to add trees/shrubs somewhere. Little cost up-front & will save headaches in the future.
*Get the warranty info.
*Does your irrigator guarantee 100% coverage? What if there are dry spots?

NOTE: It is a TCEQ requirement that an irrigation system have a plan designed & stamped by a licensed irrigator showing all components with hydraulic calculations prior to installation. If your guy is going to wing it proceed with caution.

Apache said:

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Quote:

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Bubbler irrigation WILL do more harm than good for the roots of the trees.

---

FIFY.

11K for nearly two acres honestly sounds cheap.
If I were you:
*Make sure the guy is licensed. You can check the TCEQ website to be sure.
*Send your irrigator a site plan of the yard & get him to dot out where the heads are going in the lawn areas. You want head to head coverage - the rotors should be around 30' apart. (He should have done this already to know how many zones/heads he would need. If he didn't do this ask him how he came up with 22 zones!)
*Ask what happens if you need more zones... does the price go up? (Note: This is a trick lots of irrigators use: give a cheap price per zone & then raise it by declaring more zones were needed. They simply size the zones smaller & demand more $$. This raises water pressure causing fogging heads & causing poor coverage.
*Make sure you're getting an as-built.
*Make sure the irrigator is putting in a master valve, backflow device, isolation valve, rain sensor & a good controller.
*Have them run some extra wires to the farthest zones in case you may want to add trees/shrubs somewhere. Little cost up-front & will save headaches in the future.
*Get the warranty info.
*Does your irrigator guarantee 100% coverage? What if there are dry spots?

NOTE: It is a TCEQ requirement that an irrigation system have a plan designed & stamped by a licensed irrigator showing all components with hydraulic calculations prior to installation. If your guy is going to wing it proceed with caution.

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Great post. This is why I love Texags.

-He is licensed.
https://www2.tceq.texas.gov/lic_dpa/index.cfm?fuseaction=licall.showdetail&rid=237437742010007
-1 year warranty
-There will be a main valve, backflow device, etc. He did a system for my father. Everything looked proper.

-Good idea, I'm going to send him a site plan. I will have him dot out the sprinkler heads. I will also ask about coverage. I'm going make sure there is actual irrigation plan before I proceeed.

Thanks again!

Quote:

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-He is licensed.

https://www2.tceq.texas.gov/lic_dpa/index.cfm?fuseaction=licall.showdetail&rid=237437742010007

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He is licensed, but only as a technician. This qualifies him as an installer which is good.
Now the bad:
He can't design a system or pull a permit without a licensed irrigator doing it for him & he must work under their supervision according to the letter of the law.

Also, by state law, the system needs an irrigation design prior to installation and an "as built" set of plans upon completion. They also need to provide a seasonal watering schedule with the design. The 1 year warranty is also state law. If they don't know your static and working pressure and flow rates, they won't be able to design a very good system. Irrigation is one of those things that you get what you pay for, cheap systems will cost more $$ over the long run.

Quote:

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-He is licensed.
https://www2.tceq.texas.gov/lic_dpa/index.cfm?fuseaction=licall.showdetail&rid=237437742010007
-1 year warranty
-There will be a main valve, backflow device, etc. He did a system for my father. Everything looked proper.

-Good idea, I'm going to send him a site plan. I will have him dot out the sprinkler heads. I will also ask about coverage. I'm going make sure there is actual irrigation plan before I proceeed.

Thanks again!

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This guy isn't a Licensed Irrigator and will screw your system up and likely won't be there for any warranty repairs. Hard pass. Let me know if you need the name if a reputable irrigator, but they won't be cheap. Wait until Oct / Nov and you may get better rates.

One other thing I would ask about is a smart controller. I'm pretty sure some of the controllers out now can change how much you water based on weather. You compare this June in TX to last June and it's night and day. A typical (non-smart) system would be based on schedule with monthly adjustments and would have watered the same both months.