Wake the irrigation system up gently
Annual · typically April
Why it matters
Your irrigation system spent the winter empty (that was the fall blowout task — this card is its spring twin). Between then and now, heads got hit by plows and tires, seals dried out, and something in the yard shifted. First startup is when you find out — and how you start it determines whether you find problems or cause them. After a real your county winter, assume at least one casualty — a heaved head, a cracked fitting from the one hard freeze that beat the blowout. Finding it in April costs a nozzle; finding it in July costs a water bill.
What skipping it costs
$300–$2,000
A single cracked head or seeping zone valve runs invisibly — often underground or at 5 a.m. — and shows up only as a water bill $30–80 heavier every month all season. Add a controller still running the installer's default schedule and you're watering the street twice a day. The slow version of neglect here isn't a breakdown; it's a $500 season of paying for water nothing needed.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Flat screwdriver or the tiny tool your heads use, Flags or clothespins to mark problems, Replacement spray nozzles for the crushed ones (~$3–6 each).
- Fill the system SLOWLY. Open the main irrigation valve a quarter turn and let lines pressurize over several minutes. Slamming it open sends a water-hammer wave that blows fittings and manifolds — the classic self-inflicted spring repair.
- Run each zone from the controller, one at a time, and walk it while it runs. You're looking for: heads that don't pop up, geysers (cracked head), misting (pressure too high or worn nozzle), heads watering pavement, and soggy spots between heads (underground leak).
- Flag problems as you go; fix the easy ones — straightening tilted heads, swapping crushed nozzles, adjusting spray arcs — with a screwdriver and $10 of parts.
- Reset the controller for April, not August. Spring lawns need a fraction of peak-summer water. Two well-spaced deep waterings a week beats daily sprinkles everywhere except the water company's ledger.
- Check the backflow preventer for drips once pressurized — it protected your drinking water all winter; confirm it survived.
Hire it out
$75–$175National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A startup visit runs $75–$175 — activation, zone walk, head adjustments, controller programming. Fair value if the system's big or the controller predates you. Insist on walking the zones WITH the tech; every flagged repair should be something you watched fail.
The economics to know: heads are $3–20 parts with modest labor, valves run $150–300 installed, and none of it is urgent-today work except an actual gusher. "While we're here" is where irrigation bills grow — the walk-with-me rule keeps the visit honest.
Ask the tech
- Walk every zone with the water on and show me what you're flagging before you fix it.
- What's the per-head price for replacements beyond the visit fee?
- While you're here — does my controller schedule actually match what this yard needs, or is it still the installer's default?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A startup visit that 'finds' a bad valve or backflow preventer needing hundreds in same-day work, shown to no one. Real failures demonstrate on command — make them show you the leak or the zone that won't fire.
- Being sold a smart controller as a cure for a system with broken heads. Fix the hardware first; a smart schedule on a leaking system just leaks on schedule.
Second opinion time: Any repair quote over $500 from a startup visit.
The call
DIY the startup and the zone walk — it's an hour of watching sprinklers, which is honestly kind of pleasant. Hire only if a zone won't run or a valve is genuinely leaking.