# Cost of new irrigation system?



## NJ-lawn (Jun 25, 2018)

I'm doing a kbg Reno, going from mostly tttf with small % of kbg. I wish I had the funds to put in an irrigation system this year but that's not going to happen.

So it's 2,500 sqft. I called a couple companies to get estimates but I guess they are so busy, I can't get them out to give me a price.

Any idea how much it could cost? I'm thinking $3-4K ?


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Good chance of it being under $4,000...substantially...for 2.5K area.


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## Slim 1938 (Aug 24, 2019)

If you're a diy'er, do the research and do it yourself. I swear it's easy. Itll save you alot of cash. I had a guy do my front yard and he charged me 3500 and that was him giving me a deal because I bought trees and sod from him. I watched him do it and did backyard myself. It was so easy. It cost me about 350 bucks and my time. Probably 2 days worth of work. I think he bid me 3k.


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## NJ-lawn (Jun 25, 2018)

Slim 1938 said:


> If you're a diy'er, do the research and do it yourself. I swear it's easy. Itll save you alot of cash. I had a guy do my front yard and he charged me 3500 and that was him giving me a deal because I bought trees and sod from him. I watched him do it and did backyard myself. It was so easy. It cost me about 350 bucks and my time. Probably 2 days worth of work. I think he bid me 3k.


Yeah I thought of that.....the labor looks easy enough but proper layout and design seems like it could be a challenge.


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## MMoore (Aug 8, 2018)

NJ-lawn said:


> Slim 1938 said:
> 
> 
> > If you're a diy'er, do the research and do it yourself. I swear it's easy. Itll save you alot of cash. I had a guy do my front yard and he charged me 3500 and that was him giving me a deal because I bought trees and sod from him. I watched him do it and did backyard myself. It was so easy. It cost me about 350 bucks and my time. Probably 2 days worth of work. I think he bid me 3k.
> ...


get a large tape measure or learn your pace factor and do a quick layout of your property and send it to rainbird for their free design service. no guessing.


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## NJ-lawn (Jun 25, 2018)

Wow had no idea they provide that service. I'll def do that


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

NJ-lawn said:


> Wow had no idea they provide that service. I'll def do that


https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/

Best practices for designing/installing an irrigation system.


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## hsvtoolfool (Jul 23, 2018)

Estimates from irrigation companies are normally "per zone". Figure about $500 to $700 per zone depending on your region. But never assume a "pro" will know their stuff or use the best gear available. At least in my region, irrigation installer don't care about your water bill or even coverage without dry spots. They mostly worry about callbacks that hurt their profits.

From what I've seen in my area, installers have a rote "package" they do for every lawn: 4 to 6 big rotors around the periphery which hose down everything in site (street, driveway, sidewalk, shrubs, house, etc.). Head to head coverage? Forget about it! They can get away with that because 99% of their customers just don't know what to demand. Hey, it's better than nothing, right? That's why I always advise reading Mr Styker's web site linked about even if you don't plan for DIY.

Honestly, this isn't that hard, especially for a smaller yard. I did my front yard a couple years ago. I got the worst heat stroke of my life that Summer, but I don't regret it for for a second. Even if I had screwed it up (which I didn't) I still saved a TON of money and got MUCH better results. When the time comes, I'll do my back yard irrigation design and install and never look back.


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## Slim 1938 (Aug 24, 2019)

If you decide to hire it I suggest you get involved. Find out exactly what hes putting in from pvc size, valve size and brand, heads, back flow valve, nozzles, depth, ......... Also go out there and inspect, take pictures and write stuff down so you know where things are for future reference. I drew out a map and some rough measurements of where things are. I made note of what fittings were used so I could buy some extras to have for unexpected repairs. Just a little info to think about. Have fun!


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## Mdos (Jul 17, 2018)

I just had one installed... $2000 cash deal, 3 zones 17 or 18 heads back flow value and hunter control box... wish I would have upgraded there.

I had bought a lot of the stuff I thought I needed to do this myself but started to trench by hand made in about 15 feet in 2 hours and said nope I'm going to get a quote.

Much more reasonably priced than I thought.

I am up in central mass so I am sure our pricing will be different but I would assume fairly close?

Coverage is about 5000sf


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## dpainter68 (Apr 26, 2017)

For your size yard I say do it yourself. As mentioned above Rain Bird will do the design for you, however, I recommend reading up on the irrigation tutorials website so you know what you're doing. The only problem with the Rain Bird design is they do it with the "residential" level rotors/sprays that you pick up at Lowe's/Home Depot. If you have a local Site One they will also do the design for you. Going that route you get to choose exactly what you want. I did my own this summer and it sucked, but, it was worth it since I saved about $4k. Mine is 15 zones that covered about 46k sqft and most of the summer was upper 90's with a heat index of 105 or more. Luckily I didn't have a heat stroke like my fellow Huntsvillian above but if I had to do it over again I would've done it late winter early spring.


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