My crappy yard has finally wore me down and I think it's time to invest in a sprinkler system. I'll also need to get the front yard re-sodded. Do most landscape companies do both? I'm only going to get the sprinkler for the front yard and it's not very big. Any idea what kind of costs I'll be looking at? Any recommendations in the Fort Bend/Katy area?
I would talk to several and go with one you think will do a good job. The last thing you want is one that will be breaking and not giving you good coverage. I live in Katy and just used Five Star Sprinklers ((713) 857-8188 ) and he did a great job.
Along with a family friend I installed my system myself over a period of 3 days. It's a 6-zone system and cost me about $1200 in parts. I think it would have cost about $2000-2200 if I got someone to do it for me. So I saved a few hundred bucks. The grass in my backyard was really dry and nearly dead. Totally crispy yellow. Now it's beautiful. You might not need to re-sod your front unless you just want to change grass type.
As a rule of thumb, typically it should cost you about 300-320 bucks a zone installed. If you just want it in your small front yard only it should be 2-3 zones the most so it should cost less than 1000 bucks. And for st augustine grass, 100-120 bucks per pallet installed & delivered is a good rule of thumb. A typical backyard is probably about 2 1/2 to 3 pallets. I'm northwest side and I used the company "Platinum Grass" up here.
I did about 10,000 sq. ft of grass and have an 8 zone sprinkler. I think I paid $3500-$3700 for everything. That included parts, labor and leveling out my yard before they installed everything.
I paid $1100 for a four zone sprinkler system 5 years ago. The best home improvement investment I ever made!!
Thanks for the suggestions. The dimensions of the part I want the sprinkler system is approx 29x19. Not a very big area at all. The part of that near the house includes a raised plant bed with your basic hedges. I think I could get by without doing the sides of my yard because they tend to get enough overflow from the neighbors systems on both side. I'm not going to do the back yard because that grows great as is for whatever reason over the past 6 years. I'm pretty sure I'll need to re-sod because of some bad damage done to the yard that started with cinch bugs. Bermuda grass has found it's way in and I've also had some root rot on the St. Augustine. It looks really bad. I recently got a letter from the HOA so that was what helped push me into a decision I should have made a long time ago.
I used servicemagic.com I think they are nationwide. They match up contractors w/ jobs you may want to see if they are in your neighborhood. I listed the job I want done and bids poured in. I can read reviews from previous customers and that was very helpful in deciding on a landscaper.
I'd assume your root rot is caused by standing water then due to the uneven grass...you will continue to have these problems with or without a sprinkler system. Your problem is not your grass lacking water, it's a standing water problem. You'd probably have to buy a lot of top soil to fill it up to allow the water to flow out on the streets.
I tried servicemagic and only had one bid to come in. The bid was for $600 for one zone since there's only one area I want the system for. He said that the timer would be battery operated and at the meter, NOT in the garage. Does that make a difference? He's supposed to email me a complete breakdown of the quote soon.
Here's the proposal I received from one of the bidders. How does this sound? **** Lawn Service propose to install a fully automatic irrigation system in the turf and flower beds areas of your home consisting of the following materials: A) 1 - 1” PVB (backflow device) B) 1 - 1 Station Automatic Controller (Hunter Exterior) C) 1 - 1” Electric Valves : Hunter D) 4” Pop Up sprayers The system will furnish 100 % coverage to all irrigated areas. You system will have 1 zones. All workmanship, materials, and coverage will have a 2 year warranty below surface damage (i.e. pipe, stuck valves, malfunctioning heads). This warranty does not coverage damage from vandalism, heavy objects crossing over heads or reprogramming timer. The cost for this system will be $600.00, this includes taxes and fees.
How big of an area is this one zone covering? I have 6 zones in my house but that's for front and back and separate areas for the garden beds. I think mine covers about 4000-5000 sq ft. Also, all my heads are the mist-type. What I see from professional installers is they use the long rang squirting ones, which cover more distance but not sure if they cover as well. At least that is what my friend told me when he helped me design/install mine.
A 29x19 area in my front yard, including the shrubs. This may be put on hold as my air conditioner crapped out today and was told it would cost approx $2500 to replace. A freon leak caused some damage to the coil system in the attic. They filled the freon and it's running fine now, but could go bad again in days or months according to the repairman.
