SMART IRRIGATION SECTION: The Trickle-Down Effect

There’s smart irrigation, and then there’s smart irrigation.
 
First, there’s the general practice of responsible, efficient, cost-effective water application. The second “smart” refers to the products: the technology-enabled irrigation components that help conserve water without user intervention.

These systems use environmental information – soil moisture, rain, wind, the plants’ evapotranspiration (ET) rates, etc. – about a site’s microclimate to decide for themselves when to irrigate and when not to, all the time providing the proper amount of water to maintain healthy growing conditions.
 
Such precise irrigation cultivates lush landscapes and, in turn, satisfied customers. Just ask Lalo Mora, president of Enviroscaping in Santa Barbara, Calif.
 
Mora “got smart” five years ago when he began installing ET-based irrigation controllers as part of a study conducted by the Santa Barbara Water District to collect hard data about the budding technology. Mora started selling these units on the open market two years ago, and he hasn’t sold one “dumb” system since.
 
He estimates self-adjusting controller sales added 10 percent to his $1.2 million in revenue last year – that’s not including the savings he incurred by reducing the labor and fuel necessary to adjust timers and service accounts.
 
“It’s saved me a lot of time in my business – I probably save more than the homeowner,” Mora says, explaining that the self-adjusting systems allow him to save 3 percent per year in labor, liability, wear and tear on trucks and fuel costs because he and his employees do not have to make repeat trips to and from job sites. He estimates the ET controllers allow his customers to accrue water bill savings of about 25 percent.
 
“If everybody had a smart timer and saved 25 percent – that’s an incredible amount of savings,” Mora says. “Not just in terms of money, but in terms of water for the future.”
 
Water conservation has been a hot topic for years, but as the population rises and the demand for natural resources increases, experts say policymakers will do more to regulate all water consumption, which could create obstacles for the green industry.
 
“If contractors can be more proactive in installing smart products and smarter systems and educate their customers and employees about smart practices, that is a much better alternative to facing legislation that regulates irrigation,” says Jeff Carowitz, chairman of the IA’s communications committee and a green industry consultant with Strategic Force Marketing, San Diego, Calif.
 
“The quote-unquote ‘stupid’ controller is on its way out,” adds Steve Springer vice president of business development for Rainmaster, Simi Valley, Calif. “Landscape contractors should increase their knowledge of smart controllers as soon as possible and position their businesses as water-management smart, not just landscape smart.”

CONTRACTORS ADAPT. The label of  “smart irrigation,” typically refers to controller technology, like the kind that boosted Mora’s business.
 
“People try to pigeonhole smart irrigation in terms of a self-adjusting controller or the electronics of it, but it’s really more than that,” says Dave Johnson, director of corporate marketing for Glendora, Calif.-based Rain Bird. “You don’t necessarily need an ET controller to enjoy the benefits of smart irrigation.”
 
Other “smart” items have been on the market for decades. “Everyone’s looking to the new technology on controllers as the solution,” says Kevin Gordon, senior product development manager for Hunter Industries, San Marcos, Calif. “That’s very intimidating.” He suggests contractors turned off by technology enter the “smart” market with lower priced items like rain shut-off devices, pressure-regulating sprinkler heads and check valves (for more information on the pricing of these options, see “Efficient Equipment” on page 96).
 
“Little things like rain sensors are less intrusive to the contractor, the cost difference is minimal on a per-job basis, and they can get a lot of water savings benefits without a lot of the fear of the technology,” Gordon says.
 
Many contractors are catching on. One popular policy is to include rain shut-off devices as a standard on all installation packages. “There’s nothing worse than driving down the street and seeing other people’s sprinkler systems going in the rain,” says John Newlin of Quality Sprinkling Systems, North Ridgeville, Ohio. “Ours don’t do that.”
 
For contractors who are interested in high-tech options, ET controllers, which can be retrofitted to older irrigation systems, create an opportunity for contractors to revisit existing customers with an upgrade.
 
“The neat thing about smart irrigation products is that they’re ahead of the curve,” Carowitz says, noting that this is especially true in areas that haven’t yet seen regulation. “Now is the time to educate yourself about these products and tips,” he says. It’s important to do so before your competitors do or before customer requests start rolling in, experts say.
 
Smart irrigation experts suggest contractors visit trade shows, research  products and quiz the manufacturers about ET technology to get a better understanding of how it works and what products to choose. Carowitz says one important question to ask them is, “How do I see this through to my customer and convince him that it will be valuable?” A manufacturer should have the answer as well as provide specific data about cost recovery and water savings expectancies.
 
When it comes to controller selection, Eric Anderson, president of ValleySoil, a Temecula, Calif.-based water conservation, erosion control and landscape consulting firm, says contractors should be choosy. ValleySoil has been testing, experimenting with and installing ET-based irrigation controllers for more than four years. One important point to consider is how a controller receives its information, Anderson says. Some systems have soil sensors, some require mounting, some operate with external wires or by way of radio systems, phone or cable lines, which Anderson says can be susceptible to erosion, weathering and vandalism. He prefers controllers that receive information directly from weather stations via satellite transmission. 
 
Anderson also suggests a contractor ask if the manufacturer is ISO-9000 certified, which ensures the controller is manufactured under rigid standards. Why is this important? “Because the contractor’s name is going to be on the line if the controller fails for any type of product malfunction,” he says.
 
Another concern before a smart upgrade is auditing, experts agree. If a problem arises, customers always blame the controller, although it’s likely  system design contributed to the problem. “You have to be able to audit the system first to get the best results,” says Newlin, who is IA-certified in installation and auditing.
 
“All of the wonderful controller technology in the world cannot fix a bad system,” Gordon agrees.
 
Also, pricing can be a challenge for contractors touting new technology. Rain Bird’s Johnson says smart systems may cost more than standard ones, but a contractor shouldn’t feel pressure to offer the lowest quote. He says contractors should emphasize long-term savings and remember, “A lot of the population understands the age-old saying, ‘You get what you pay for.’”
 
Mora instituted an unusual pricing model for ET controllers: He installs them for free. They save him so much time as a landscape and irrigation contractor that he’s willing to eat the standard $150 installation fee if a customer with a maintenance account opts for an ET unit instead of a timer-based controller.
 
“If you price any of the dumb timers, they’re very close in price, the only difference with the smart timer is customers pay a $4 per month fee for the signal,” Mora says, noting the hardware for his company’s smart systems starts at $379. That $4 signal fee (billed directly to the customer by the controller manufacturer) is pocket change to homeowners who realize they can save up to 25 percent a month on their water bills.
 
Is absorbing installation costs worth it? Mora estimates this policy has helped create an estimated $40,000 per year in savings from reduced labor, liability, equipment and fuel costs.

BOTTOM LINE. So far, systems with advanced ET controllers have permeated the markets that are bombarded with water conservation messages and will see the quickest return on investment, namely commercial accounts nationwide and high-end residences in the South and West.
 
In conservation-savvy California, for example, ET-based systems are becoming the standard. “It really doesn’t make sense for a contractor nowadays to allow a non-ET-based controller to be installed, because he’s not really benefiting his clients,” Anderson says. “It’s not beneficial for contractors, designers or anyone else to consider installing anything else, because there will be a time they have to replace that system with a smart one, so they might as well do it now,” he says, referring to a bill that’s in the works in the California legislature that would mandate all irrigation systems to be “smart” by 2010 or sooner.
 
In other parts of the country, smart systems haven’t been as quick to catch on. Jerry Goodwin, president of SSI Sprinklers in Wichita, Kan., is testing an ET-based unit before he promotes it to customers, but anticipates these sophisticated systems to be easy sells. “I see an opportunity to sell up and show them the cost savings,” he says.
 
Rainmaster’s Springer says that’s the right idea. “That’s the way to present these control systems,” he says. “Not as, ‘Here, just buy another controller,’ but that water savings alone could pay for the smart controller in less than a year.”
 
Newlin knows the importance of translating water conservation into cost savings for his customers. He began selling ET-based systems on commercial accounts in April and his company already is seeing a growing demand for them.
 
For residential accounts outside of California and arid states, selling ET-based systems can be more challenging because homeowners don’t recoup installation costs as quickly as commercial property owners do because of economies of scale. Water bill savings will take longer to offset the initial cost of equipment and installation for a residential account than it will with a commercial account.
 
Newlin, who has success selling to commercial accounts, added an ET controller option to his residential packages as an upgrade. He’s had some interest, but has not yet sold one to this market.
 
“For the small to medium-sized residential customer, the economics of their water bills are just not that big in most parts of the country – they may not recognize the payback for several years,” Gordon says. “But in commercial, the return on invest is really quick – so much so that it’s a no-brainer.
  
“A contractor selling residential probably needs other arguments than ROI,” Gordon suggests. “The one thing that I like to tell contractors is you can sell the beauty of the landscape – the health of the plant material.”
 
Mora can attest to this tactic. His customers like the water and cost savings, but are most delighted in the increased plant health. “Money is important, but most of my clients are concerned about how their plants look,” he says. “Because of the way the smart system waters, it tends to increase deep root growth instead of shallow root growth, so the plants look better than ever.”