Three things you can hold us to
The parts of this that are promises.
We do not quote from photos
Or from the driveway. The price is set after we have walked the property, and it is on paper before a tool comes off the truck.
02You leave with the written account
What is broken, what is working badly, what is fine, and what each item costs. The document is yours whatever you decide.
03Our work carries thirty days
If a repair we made fails within thirty days, we come back and make it right at no charge. Parts carry the maker’s warranty.
Irrigation repair · What it includes, what it costs
Three options. Three different endings.
Good-better-best usually means the same visit sold three lengths. Ours do not work that way — each option leaves your property in a materially different condition.
Fix It
One price, in writing,before work starts
One problem, identified and resolved. You called about a specific thing; we deal with that specific thing and leave.
- The reported fault diagnosed and repaired
- That zone tested before we go
- Written note of what it was
Choose this when you know exactly what is wrong and the rest of the system is genuinely fine.
Book this visitRecommendedOption 02Fix It & Check the Rest
One price, in writing,before work starts
Every zone, one visit. We run the whole system while we watch it and hand you the written record.
- Every zone run and observed
- Fixed on the spot where we can; the rest priced in writing
- Controller set to your agency’s schedule
- Written recap: found, fixed, deferred
Choose this when the second problem is cheaper to meet now than in July. Most people should.
Book this visitOption 03Fix It & Use Less
One price, in writing,before work starts
Everything in Option 02, plus the work that changes what the system costs to run rather than only whether it works.
- Pressure tested at the source
- Nozzles matched by zone
- Smart controller installed and programmed
- Rebate documentation prepared for you to submit
Choose this when the summer bill is the actual complaint. Strongest in Folsom and West Sacramento. A smart controller is the part most likely to push a job past our $1,000 limit — if it does, we say so before anything is agreed.
Book this visitNothing on this page is a quote. The price for your property is set after we have walked it and confirmed in writing before work starts. Every HOS project is under $1,000 all-in — see the licensing note below.
Why Option 02 is the default
Because the second problem is the one that costs you.
When we run every zone on a system that had one obvious fault, we find something else more often than we do not. Usually it is small — a tilted head watering the fence, a zone running twice as long as the one next to it, a controller still on a schedule set by a previous owner.
None of those generate a phone call. All of them generate a bill, every month, quietly. Option 02 exists because finding them costs almost nothing once we are already standing there with the system running.
The written recap lists what we deliberately did not fix, and why. That list is the useful part. It is what lets you plan, get a second opinion, or hand the property to somebody else with the history intact.
What sets your price inside the range
Factors that move the number.
| Factor | Effect |
|---|---|
| Access | How far the truck is from the work, gates, terraces, whether it is wheelbarrow-only or hand-carry |
| Soil | Loam digs quickly; bone-dry summer clay, hardpan, cobble and heavy roots do not |
| Surface | Bare dirt costs nothing to restore; established lawn, gravel and DG take time to put back right. Concrete and pavers are priced separately |
| Condition of the system | Well kept, neglected, overgrown, or a mix of brands with no as-built to work from |
| What is known | A visible, confirmed fault is priced. A suspected one carries a margin. Nothing visible is a diagnostic first — never a fixed price |
| Timing | A stop on a day we are already in your area shares the trip; a rush or a 100° day costs more |
| Zone | Trip cost only — the zone is the only thing distance changes |
What does not affect your price: the value of your home, the make of your car, or the neighborhood you live in. Complexity and access set the number. Nothing else does.
What Option 03 actually buys
Drip goes in before anything that looks like landscaping.
This is the layout under a front bed we rebuilt in August: six laterals off one header, with emitter spacing set by where the plants were going rather than by what was convenient to run. Every planting hole was opened at an emitter, not near one.
An hour after the mulch went down none of it was visible, and it is the only reason the planting has a chance in a Sacramento August. Converting overhead spray to drip is the same argument in an existing bed — water arriving at roots instead of at fence boards, leaves and concrete.
In West Sacramento it is also a compliance change: low-volume irrigation is exempt from the assigned watering days and hours entirely.
Six laterals off one header, emitters spaced to the planting plan rather than the other way round. This is the part nobody sees again.
The System Check and the two diagnostics
What each one includes, and what none of them is.
A System Check is the front door: one visit, every zone, a written report. A diagnostic is different work — finding a buried leak or tracing a broken wire is skilled work whether or not you hire us for the repair afterward, so it is sold on its own terms.
| What it includes | System Check $185 · $235 · $285 by zone | Leak location diagnostic | Wire fault trace diagnostic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every zone run while we watch | Yes | No | No |
| Written report of the whole system | Yes | No | No |
| The first small fix, on the visit | Yes | No | No |
| Fixed price by zone | Yes | No | No |
| Credited against a larger repair | Yes | No | No |
| Finds a buried leak | No | Yes | No |
| Traces a broken valve wire | No | No | Yes |
| Priced after we have seen it | No | Yes | Yes |
| The repair itself | No | No | No |
The last row is the point. None of these is the repair. The repair is always a separate decision, priced in writing once we know what is wrong. A diagnostic is priced on its own because the answer is the product; the check is credited because the report leads into a repair.
Zones
Three prices. The difference is the drive.
- Zone A · within about ten miles of baseSacramento, West Sacramento, Rancho Cordova$185
- Zone B · ten to twenty miles outRoseville, Folsom, Elk Grove, Davis, Rocklin$235
- Zone C · twenty miles and moreGranite Bay, Woodland, Rancho Murieta, El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Shingle Springs, Lincoln, Loomis$285
The zone changes the drive charge and nothing else; the work is the same in all three. Your ZIP decides your zone — the tile on the service areas page will tell you. Neighbours who book the same day share one trip.
What this actually looks like
Pipe in the ground, line in the bed.
How the number is set
One price, after we have walked it, in writing before work starts.
We do not quote from the driveway and we do not quote from a photo. The price for your property is set after we have seen the access, the soil, the surface the work has to go back into, and the condition of the system — and it is confirmed in writing before a tool comes off the truck. It does not change on arrival, other than the site conditions named in your written price.
If the honest price for your job is over $1,000, we will say so and refer you to a licensed contractor. We do not shrink the job to fit the limit, and we do not split one job into two to get under it. That is the line the exemption draws, and we stay on the right side of it.
Old pipe can break when it is disturbed. PVC and poly go brittle with age, and a repair in one place can open a second break nearby. That is the condition of the pipe, not the work; extra breaks are priced per occurrence, and the terms are in your written price before we start.
A leak nobody can see is a diagnostic first, never a fixed price. Finding it is the deliverable; the repair is a separate decision once it is found.
Our work carries thirty days. If a repair we made fails within thirty days, we come back and make it right at no charge. Parts carry the maker’s warranty. Conditions of the site — old pipe, roots, gophers, drainage — are not covered, and the terms say so.
Plain words
What the terms on this page mean.
- System Check
- One visit. Every zone runs while we watch it, you get the written report, and the first small fix is done on the spot. Fixed price by zone. Credited in full against a larger repair agreed on the visit.
- Diagnostic
- Work whose product is an answer rather than a repair: finding a buried leak, tracing a broken valve wire. Priced on its own and not credited, because the answer is the thing you bought. The repair, once the answer is known, is a separate decision in writing.
- Zone A, B, C
- The three price bands, by drive from base. A is close, B is a route day, C is the far ring. The zone changes the trip and nothing else; the work is the same in all three.
- Credited
- If a larger repair is agreed on the same visit, the price of the check comes off it in full. You do not pay for the check and then pay for the repair on top.
- In writing
- The price is on paper before work starts, and it does not change on arrival other than the site conditions named on that paper.
- Deferred
- Found, written down and priced, but not done today. It is on the report so you can decide later with the facts in hand.
- The first small fix
- A stuck head, a nozzle, a solenoid — done on the check visit if the part is on the truck. Anything larger is priced in writing and is your call.
- Workmanship
- Thirty days. If a repair we made fails within thirty days, we come back and make it right at no charge. Parts carry the maker’s warranty.
- Site conditions
- Things that belong to the property, not the work: old pipe that breaks when disturbed, weeds that spread by root, gophers, drainage. Named in the terms; not covered.
- The limit
- Every HLS project is under $1,000 all-in — labour, materials, everything — and needs no permit. That is the line the licensing exemption draws. Over it, we say so and refer you to a licensed contractor.
Every term we use, in one place: the glossary.