Irrigation, a garden that looks after itself
It usually starts with brown patches in the same places every summer. The hard part is not the work - it is that every irrigation company sounds equally sure of itself, and you get one guess. We check licence and insurance before we introduce anyone, and we record the date we checked.
See who is actually qualified near you
- 26Sections published
- 1,305Pages planned
- FreeCost to homeowners
- $0Cost to homeowners
Irrigation in short
Irrigation companies do five distinct things: design and install new systems, audit and tune existing ones, repair broken heads, valves and wiring, install and program controllers, and open and close systems seasonally. Installation is priced by zone - LatestCost puts a typical zone at about $350, with a range of roughly $200 to $700 including heads, valve, wiring and basic trenching. An audit is the cheapest service and often the highest value, because EPA WaterSense estimates about 50 percent of the water used for residential outdoor irrigation is wasted through overwatering and inefficiency.
Irrigation is priced by zone. LatestCost puts a typical zone at about $350, ranging roughly $200 to $700 including heads, valve, wiring and basic trenching, with a five-zone suburban system commonly landing between $2,000 and $3,500. Homewyse's May 2026 calculator puts basic sprinkler installation at roughly $1.04 to $1.91 per square foot of covered area. Recurring costs are smaller but real: LawnStarter puts winterization at $59 to $144 and spring reactivation at $45 to $140, and backflow testing commonly runs about $75 to $150 where it's required.
Explore Irrigation
Everything we publish on irrigation, grouped the way homeowners actually search - not the way a company would organise it.
- Services 23 services - replacement, repair, and specialty work 23 pages
- Cost What irrigation actually costs in 2026, by type and by city 208 pages
- Problems Something wrong? Start here 12 pages
- Comparisons Option A vs. B, compared honestly 7 pages
- Guides In-depth guides on irrigation, written and reviewed by pros 16 pages
- Tools Estimate your project cost in under a minute 11 pages
- Materials 7 materials - cost, lifespan and where each one fits 7 pages
- Decision Guides Which option is actually right for your home 3 pages
- Checklists Step-by-step checklists before you hire 4 pages
- Emergency Something urgent? What to do in the next hour 1 page
- Maintenance Keep it working - schedules and upkeep 1 page
- Equipment Equipment guides and specifications 13 pages
- Seasonal When to book, and what each season changes 4 pages
- Permits Permit rules and what they cost 1 page
- Insurance What insurance covers, and what it does not 1 page
- Warranties What the warranty actually covers 1 page
- Safety Safety requirements and common hazards 4 pages
- Prevention Stop it happening again 5 pages
- Research The data behind our recommendations 8 pages
- FAQ Answers to the most common irrigation questions 1 page
- Glossary Irrigation terms explained in plain English 19 pages
- AI Tools Describe the problem, get a plain-English answer 2 pages
- Climate 4 pages 4 pages
- HOA 1 pages 1 page
How a pro gets in front of you
Most sites sell your number to whoever pays the most for it. We do not - your details reach only the irrigation companies matched to your job. We are building licence and insurance checks on top of that, and we will publish each one with the date it was performed rather than claim it in advance.
A few pros, never a list
Your details go to the small number of local companies matched to your job, and to nobody else. They are not sold on.
No paid placement
A company cannot buy a better position in a match or in our rankings. Where we rank, the method is published so you can re-score it yourself.
Check the licence yourself
Ask for the number and look it up on your state board’s public register. We are building this into the match; it is not running yet.
Ask the insurer, not the contractor
Get liability and workers’ compensation certificates sent to you by the insurance agency direct. A forwarded PDF proves nothing about today.
What irrigation usually costs
Ranges, with the source and the date underneath. Anyone quoting you a single national number is guessing, and you should know enough to notice.
No verified irrigation price ranges published yet.
We don’t publish a cost until we can show the data behind it. If you need a
number today, the quote form gives you real prices from local companies.
HomeMatchup vs. a lead site vs. doing it yourself
Three ways to get this work done. Here’s what each one actually gives you.
| HomeMatchup | Typical lead site | DIY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How many companies call you | A short, named shortlist you agreed to | Often 4-5+ at once, sold to whoever buys the lead | None - the work is on you |
| Licence & insurance | Self-reported today - we tell you how to check it and are building the check in | Usually self-reported by the contractor | Your own permits and liability |
| What it costs you | Free - pros pay us, and only for a real match | Free, but your number is resold | Materials plus your time |
| Price guidance before you talk | Published ranges with the data behind them | Rarely shown before you hand over details | You research it yourself |
| If it goes wrong | A named company, and a record of who received your job | Hard to trace which site sold the lead | No recourse |
Describes how HomeMatchup operates and the common lead-generation model. Not a claim about any named competitor.
What people say after they’ve hired
We’d rather show you nothing than show you someone else’s reviews.
Plenty of sites fill this space with reviews scraped from elsewhere, or written for them. We don’t. The first irrigation review on this page will come from a homeowner we matched, after their work was finished and paid for.
- Only from homeowners we actually matched
- Only after the job is complete
- Published unedited, including the bad ones
- 1You get matchedA few checked pros, free
- 2Work gets doneCheck their licence and insurance first
- 3We ask youOnce, after completion
- 4It appears hereExactly as you wrote it
Irrigation questions, answered
The questions homeowners ask us most about irrigation.
Irrigation materials
The materials you'll actually be choosing between.
The wrong irrigation hire costs more than the right one.
Irrigation is judged on coverage and paid for in water. Poor zoning waters the driveway on a timer for years. Getting matched takes about a minute, costs nothing, and you can walk away from every quote you receive.
Free · No obligation · Only your matched pros get your details