Slippery When Wet: Irrigating Tricky Areas

Signs like these don’t crop up on properties, but their warnings all point to trouble during irrigation installation. Since technicians perform their work on "Private Property," they must install systems around a laundry list of obstructions, from steep slopes to peninsula-shaped planting beds. And after weaving wires around utility lines and picking appropriate sprayheads, they still must please their clients with the projects’ aesthetic results, reminded Rick Pate, president, Pate Landscape, Montgomery, Ala.

"You love when the turf looks like a soccer field," he commented. "But when you get behind the house and there’s a play set, a storage building, planters, the homeowner has a dog and there is an air conditioning pad on the side of the house – that’s when the job gets difficult."

This is where some contractors find a fork in the road. After stumbling across signs – potential problem spots – they must proceed with caution, choosing an installation path that won’t dead-end into a maintenance manhole.

ROAD MAP. A property’s physical challenges can prevent even water distribution, causing over-irrigated turf sections, under-watered plants or overspray on sidewalks, streets and buildings. Before breaking ground, designers should survey the area for obstructions, such as trees, plant beds, sharp angles, steep slopes and fences, advised Scott Fay, president, Treasure Coast Irrigation, Hobe Sound, Fla.

"You need to see the landscape plan," he stressed. "The most common things that block water are landscape material or landscape features. If you just walk off a piece of property with a plot or site plan and design a system without paying attention to the landscape you could end up blocking sprayheads.

"We can’t make water turn corners," he pointed out.

An effective installation plan, however, can manipulate the spray, even if it can’t make the water cut a 90-degree corner. Fay begins his installation journey on the rough road, determining how he will manage challenges before arranging the rest of the system. "If you can work your system in such a way where you are spraying away from the landscape feature, such as a statue or building, and not at it, that is the best," he noted, adding that often he suggests that clients install a mulch or stone bed around these areas to build in an overspray buffer.

Next, Fay works systems on their visible order of importance, fine-tuning focal points before backyard corners. "If the irrigation system is by the front door, then we’ll plan those areas first," he said.

Todd Ruggles, superintendent, Irrigation Specialists, Indianapolis, Ind., avoids overlooking complications with a checksheet that covers key installation considerations. While assessing the property, he reviews the ground condition, water source, bed lines, and backflow and box locations. Before beginning the project, he calls the utility company to verify line locales, which can get hairy on compact properties, he noted.

"Lot size is playing a large role in our planning because of all the utilities crammed on these ¼-acre lots," he said. "And it’s not really the lot size, but how it’s laid out utility-wise. You have gas, electric, phone, cable – all these different utilities going into a house, and they are all crammed into the same spot you need to go."

Many times, fences also border these lots, restricting installation methods, Fay added. Their openings are too small to squeeze in large, trenching equipment. "We end up doing a lot of hand digging," he explained. "You invest money in new machines and they become obsolete because you can’t utilize them as well as you used to because of lot size and fences."

So, while contractors plan how they can apply water evenly, work around utility lines and avoid wasting water by sprinkling sidewalks, they also must figure out how to execute the project – and often more challenges mean more man-hours.

"A lot of these jobs double our time," Ruggles figured. "When you see these difficult things, you have to figure out who on your staff will take these circumstances and get them done the best and the quickest."

TIGHT CORNERS. Most lawns don’t emulate Pate’s ideal soccer field property. The land can swoop and swell with slopes, and plant beds can divide it into sharp-cornered sections. Under these conditions, technicians can run into water requirement discrepancies, Pate noted.

"In the same plant bed you can have such dramatically different water requirements," he said. "Annual beds need more watering frequency – almost daily watering – whereas you can water your shrubs less."

Also, as plants grow and change, their water needs fluctuate or diminish, he pointed out. "Plant beds are a dynamic situation," he related. "Three years from now, they could need more adjustments because the plants are changing. Plus, people want to move plants around. You don’t see people changing their turf areas, but people might plant different varieties in their beds every year, so you get a different situation."

These varying water needs demand special zoning that separates plant species and creates different zones for full-circle and part-circle sprayheads, suggested John Ossa, business development, Jensen Landscape Services, Cupertino, Calif. "Hydrozones, defined as a plant grouping that has differing water requirements, are irrigated separately," he explained, adding that environmental conditions, such as sun exposure, also determine these parameters. "Ideally, you would like to separate the different conditions so that you can distribute the appropriate amount of water."

Some contractors turn to drip irrigation to manage high-maintenance situations, Ossa said. This sub-surface option is ideal in drought-ridden area as it does not produce overspray, conserves water and ensures proper dispersion. However, the method comes with constraints; it doesn’t offer turf coverage and can be difficult to monitor.

Besides beds, contractors tackle land grade issues, which also can affect zoning. Dramatic slopes cause water run-off, which could leave a hill with a dried-out top and an over-saturated bottom, Fay said. "If you have an aggressive slope and are getting run-off, you want to run the spray times much shorter but water more frequently," he suggested. "If you run the system too long, water will just run off the slope." Ideally, arrange elevated areas that require more frequent watering on different zones than their less-demanding low points.

Pairing zones entails calculation, Pate said, noting that volume and pressure are water’s two major variables. "If you have 10 feet of elevation change, you could have as much as 5 pounds of pressure difference, so that could make a difference in your system’s performance," he explained. "You need to consider in your calculations that the higher elevation has a lower pressure because you lose pressure as you water the hill."

While adjusting the system to accommodate land characteristics, contractors also should take into account the height of the spray stream, Pate added. "Sometimes you need the water to throw under things and sometimes you need it to throw over," he said, listing barriers like shrubs and trees. Sprayhead streams that hit certain tree species can damage the bark and disturb the tree. "If the trunk of a tree is wide, we’ll plan the system to throw water past it," he said.

WATCH FOR UNDERPASS. Contractors can consult a site map or scan a property for stand-out signs, but some quandaries lie beneath the surface. For example, clients might choose appearance over convenience and prefer hidden valve boxes, Ruggles said.

"We’ve gone through hard times getting boxes in little areas where if you could set them in the yard, it would be more simple," he commented. "If you have to stick it in a corner and run over 10 pipes to get to it, it will be 10 times as hard."

While looping through webs of electrical lines, tip-toeing around delicate plants and working around cumbersome tool sheds and swing sets, contractors must evaluate the soil. Rocky terrain or clay soil can inhibit the installation process, Ruggles said. "Installing sprinkler heads can be a feat," he said. "We have conditions where we are trying to put in a 12-inch head and you can’t dig 4 to 5 inches. When you are expected to put a head in every 10 to 15 minutes, it can definitely slow you down."

Ruggles also compensates for his region’s contrasting soil types, as properties in one area of Indianapolis primarily are composed of clay, while the downtown area generally requires ripping up roads to install a system. "We go from digging through rock and pavement to clay," he said. "What ends up happening is we resort back to trenching, which takes us twice as long. When you have to trench and backfill as opposed to pulling pipe, it costs more and takes time." Also, when Ruggles digs rugged terrain, he is left with rocks to backfill the area.

Then, there are outside considerations that affect installation – uncontrollable construction implications. These incidences are Ruggles’ pet peeve, or his "biggest beef." Since irrigation is the final touch on a construction project, following the pavement, the lighting and the landscape, he often waits on others to begin installation or to deal with last-minute changes that can alter the scope of the project.

"You are competing with all these other people," he described. "The general contractor gets down to the last week and they want you to hurry up and get everything in to finish the project."

To avoid a rush job or conflicting schedules with subcontractors, Ruggles suggested obtaining a master schedule from the general contractor and reviewing the timeframe of the project when assessing a job. "Figure out when everyone else is going to be out of the way and when the landscape contractor is coming in," he advised. "That way, if you put in a system, you won’t have to rip it back out if they rearrange a plant bed or move back the sidewalk."

Also, Ruggles checks up on new construction projects several times before designing a schedule for his crew. He notes the progress on the site so he doesn’t arrive too early or too late. "We never send our crew out blind," he said. "It’s a lot of planning, and I run to the jobs asking clients how they are doing and when they want us on the job."

PRICING POTHOLES. Extra care takes extra time and creates extra costs. Pricing difficult irrigation jobs is a Catch 22 for many contractors. They realize the importance of compensation for man-hours and additional parts, however, they also know that upcharging every challenge can result in a sky-high estimate.

"We charge extra, but when you look at these things you kind of think, ‘What is the minimum we can charge to cover our costs?’" Ruggles said. "You have to stay competitive."

He uses a base price that covers the cost to install a 4- or 5-valve assembly and then figures the time involved in hand-digging the system. He tacks on the man-hours for this labor to the base price.

Pate estimates cost based on the number of parts he uses, which each have assigned labor costs. "Smaller, tighter, irregular areas require more heads," he said. "It’s a by-product of figuring more pipe and more heads, and it will generate a higher price. Each item has a labor cost associated with it on our spreadsheet, so it automatically generates a higher bid."

Most clients want an explanation for a higher bid, however. Fay discusses his pricing with each client, noting a bare-minimum installation, which would not effectively irrigate some of the tricky areas, he said. He offers the client upgrades, giving them the decision to go with a less expensive bill or install a quality, full-coverage system.

Ossa also uses communication as a vehicle for pricing a project so it will match the clients’ budgets. For example, if they do not have the budget to separate the zones to adequately irrigate the lawn he offers customers the option of installing the system on one valve, warning them of possible effects. "You inform your client of the benefits and the efficacy of the trade-off," he noted.

Education is a key to customer communication – the more they understand their system, the better choices they will make to irrigate areas without wasting water.

"No matter where you are, water resources are becoming more precious and it is up to the landscape industry as the most visible user of water in an urban setting to be the most conscientious about its use," Ossa stressed. "In simple terms, it is putting down what the plant needs – no more, no less."