Sprinkler Quote - is this good?

Question

I would like your input on if this is a good quote. I'm in Southern CA, so prices might be higher than other parts of the country.

I had a leaking sprinkler valve in my 90 year old house and the guy came over and basically fixed the leak for free. But our whole valve setup is a mess. There are wires everywhere and four different brands of valves along with corrosion.

He said the sprinklers work good now, but it's just a matter of time before something else happens. He quoted $330 (which includes the valves) to redesign our whole valve system so the wires are cleaned up, most of the PVC is underground (to avoid breaking), and installation of the new valves.

This sounds like a fair estimate to me, but I'm new to this. The four valves by themselves cost $140 at Home Depot.

What do you think?

Aaron Mazzrillo · Answer

I'm in socal and when we bring a new rental house online, new front lawn sprinklers with timer, valves, digging, etc. start at about $1,000. I think you are getting a pretty decent price.

Will Barnard · Answer

Ok, so he changes 4 valves and some minor PVC piping for $180. I am sure my guy here in CA would do that for less labor costs, so with that said, NEGOTIATE!

Scott J. · Answer

Will: they will only be replacing the immediate piping around the valves, which is about 6 separate pieces of PVC.

Will Barnard · Answer

Your original post is unclear, for the bid, will he be replacing all the piping too? If so, you have your self a steal of a deal. If not and just the valves, he should be able to go lower.

Scott J. · Answer

That's awesome Troy, thanks for the insight. I'm going to call my guy right now and request that brand/model.

Troy Woodbury · Answer

Steve

RainBird is the brand I would recommend, specifically the DV-100. I've installed hundres of them with very few problems, and the problems I did have were easy to resolve. At least in my area four valves would be around $60 from my supplier.

For some reason the HD in my area quit carrying them a couple of years ago, I'm not sure about Lowe's, they still might.

I'm sure there is an irrigation supply store in your area that would retail you a few valves. I would seriously question a professional sprinkler guy that purchases a majority of his materials from HD.

I'm sure that most of the valves a the big boxes will be fine for a while but I have never had to replace a RainBird valve.  Not saying it doesn't happen, but I've never had to do it

Scott J. · Answer

Troy - Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, he IS getting his parts from Home Depot. That being said, are there certain brands you recommend, or ones I should stay away from altogether? I haven't accepted the bid yet and would like to make it clear what I expect before I do.

Troy Woodbury · Answer

I've done quite a bit of sprinkler work over the years and it sounds like you are getting a pretty good price for a new manifold setup. Hopefully your guy is not getting his parts at Home Depot, they sell junk when it comes to irrigation parts.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Nathan Emmert · Answer

So basically you know he's in $140 for materials (minimum) meaning he's charging you $190 for labor... what's that, 3 or 4 hours?  Best case scenario you maybe find someone to do it in 2 hours and save $100?  How much of your time is it worth calling other people for quotes, haggling, etc for $100??

Sounds like he was fair and honest with you up front, that should also count for something.  You may just want to check a few references though, make sure you're going to get what you pay for in terms of the clean up.