Make This Useful

Updated · Make This Useful

Sprinkler winterization price calculator

Pure Irrigation in Utah charges $125 a system with every zone included, and TriState Water Works in Cincinnati charges $125 for up to six zones plus $15 for each zone after that, checked October 15, 2026. Price the stop first. The drive, the compressor hookup and draining the backflow cost the same on four zones as on ten, so build your base price from those, then add per zone for the big systems.

Price a blowout

Extras, travel and minimum

Count the agreed zones and identify the system before quoting. State what winterization includes and list repairs or spring startup separately. Set a visit minimum to cover travel and equipment setup.

Job price before tax—

Enter number of irrigation zones.

Should you charge per zone or a flat price per system?

Flat is easier to sell and to run as a route; base-plus-zone protects you on big systems. Pure Irrigation charges $125 whatever the zone count. TriState charges the same $125 up to six zones, then $15 a zone, so a ten-zone yard is $185 ($125 + 4 × $15). A flat price up to a set zone count, then per zone, gives you both.

Customers rarely know their zone count, so ask them to read it off the controller: the number of stations in use is the number of zones. Ask about drip lines too. A flat price quoted to someone who said “a few zones” and turns out to have twelve plus drip is how a $125 stop becomes the longest job of your day.

Should spring startup and winterization be sold together?

Yes, if the pair saves you something. Booking the spring startup while you’re standing at the controller in fall fills next spring’s route before anyone else calls, and one customer record covers both visits. Take off only what you actually save on scheduling and billing; the second visit still costs you the drive and the time.

The mistake is pricing the pair as if spring were easy. A startup means turning the water back on slowly, running every zone, checking heads and finding what the winter broke, and it often runs longer than the blowout did. Price the startup on its own first, then decide what the bundle is worth to you.

What do you charge when a blowout turns up a repair?

Quote it separately, every time. A cracked head, a leaking valve or a broken lateral line is repair work at your repair rate, not part of a $125 shutdown. Note what you found on the completion record, give the customer a price, and let them choose between now and spring startup. Most fall repairs can wait, as long as the line has been blown dry.

What goes wrong is the free fix. A tech replaces three heads in the cold “since I’m here,” the stop runs long, the next customer waits, and the invoice still says $125. Quote the repair, get a yes or a no on the spot, and keep the route on time; the repair can be its own visit.

Example: an eight-zone blowout

An eight-zone system costs you $55 in labor and compressor time, plus $20 to get there: $75. At a 40% margin, $75 ÷ 0.60 = $125, the same as Pure Irrigation’s all-zones price in Utah and TriState’s six-zone base in Cincinnati. TriState would bill this yard $155, because zones seven and eight add $15 each.

Frequently asked questions

When should I schedule sprinkler winterizations?

Open booking early and route by neighborhood, so a street of customers is one morning instead of five separate drives. Everyone calls the week the first hard freeze is forecast, and nobody can blow out a whole town that fast. Say when your route closes, and price calls after that date as a separate rush visit.

Should I guarantee against freeze damage?

Guarantee what you control: every zone blown clear on the service date and the system shut off at its valve. Exclude damage from water turned back on, from parts you couldn’t reach and from the house plumbing. Write it on the completion record, so a cracked backflow in March isn’t an argument about whose fault it was.

What if the customer isn’t home?

Most blowouts can be done without them, as long as you know where the shutoff valve, the backflow and the controller are and can reach all three. Get those locations at booking, along with any gate code. If the only shutoff is in a locked basement, book a time with the customer and say on the confirmation that a wasted trip is billed.

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