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Full services directory How it worksFor prosAbout Get matched Call (866) 582-8523An audit puts numbers on how evenly your system actually waters. It is the cheapest way to find out whether you need a new system, a few adjustments, or just a better schedule.
An irrigation audit measures how much water each part of your landscape actually receives, rather than how much the controller says it applied. The core test is simple and physical: catch cans are laid out across a zone, the zone runs for a set time, and the volume in each can is compared. Wide variation between cans means the whole zone must be over-run to keep its driest spot alive — which is where most residential water waste comes from.
Site walk-through and inventory
The auditor records what is actually installed: zone count, head types and nozzles per zone, controller model, sensors, and the plant material each zone serves. On older systems this frequently differs from any drawing that exists.
Watch for: Mixed head types found on one zone. It is extremely common on systems that have been repaired over many years, and it means that zone can never water evenly no matter what schedule you set.
Pressure readings at the heads
Pressure is measured at the nozzle, not at the valve — including at the furthest head on each zone. Pressure above design causes misting; below design causes short throw and dry gaps.
Watch for: Pressure taken only at the hose bib. That number tells you about your supply, not about what the last head on a long lateral is experiencing.
The catch-can test
Identical containers are placed in a grid across a zone, the zone runs, and the volume in each is measured. The results give both an application rate — how fast the zone applies water — and a uniformity figure describing how evenly it lands.
Watch for: Too few cans, or cans placed only in the middle of the zone. Uniformity problems live at the edges and between heads; a grid that avoids those places produces a flattering and useless result.
Interpret uniformity against what it costs you
Poor uniformity has a specific financial consequence: to keep the driest area acceptable, the whole zone must run long enough for that spot, and everywhere else is overwatered by the difference. Improving uniformity reduces the run time the zone needs.
Watch for: A uniformity number quoted without a recommendation attached. The figure is only useful if it comes with what to change and what that change would achieve.
Check soil and infiltration
How fast the soil can absorb water determines whether a zone should run once or in several shorter cycles. Clay and compacted soil accept water far more slowly than the rate most spray zones apply it, which produces runoff long before the root zone is wet.
Watch for: A recommendation to increase run times on clay soil without cycle-and-soak. Longer single runs on slow soil produce more runoff, not more moisture.
Build a schedule from the measured numbers
With an application rate per zone and local seasonal demand, run times stop being guesses. Each zone gets a time derived from what it measurably applies and what its plants measurably need.
Watch for: A schedule handed over as a single sheet with no explanation of how to change it later. You need to understand the logic, because next season's weather will not match this one's.
Prioritised recommendations, cheapest first
A good audit report is ordered by return: schedule changes first because they are free, then nozzle and arc corrections, then pressure regulation, then zone splits, then equipment. Replacement should be at the bottom, if it appears at all.
Watch for: A report whose first recommendation is a new system from the company that wrote the report. That is a sales visit with catch cans.
An audit is usually a flat diagnostic fee scaled by zone count and property size — a fraction of what a system replacement costs. Some water utilities offer subsidised or free audits; it is worth asking yours. Full ranges in the Cost Guide.
See the full irrigation audit cost guide — by material, size and region →
Everyone else ranking for this is paid when you say yes. Here's when you shouldn't.
What audits most often recommend: pressure regulation, matched-rate nozzles, and drip conversion for beds.
Restrictions change what an efficient schedule even looks like — check your utility's current stage.
The upgrade an audit most often justifies — and occasionally rules out.
Where the audit finds the zoning itself is the constraint.
Are you a Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor?
The Irrigation Association runs a Certified Landscape Irrigation Auditor (CLIA) programme specifically for this work. Auditing is not licensed anywhere in the way plumbing is, so a voluntary credential is a genuine signal rather than a formality.
Do you run a catch-can test, and on how many zones?
Without measurement it is an inspection, not an audit. Ask whether every zone is tested or a representative sample, and how the sample was chosen.
Will I get the raw measurements, not just conclusions?
Catch-can volumes, pressure readings and application rates are your data. They let you get a second opinion and let you re-check after changes.
Are your recommendations ordered by cost and by expected effect?
This is what separates a diagnostic report from a quotation. You should be able to do the free things first and measure whether they worked.
Do you sell the work you recommend?
Not disqualifying, but you should know. If they do, ask whether you can take the report elsewhere without penalty.
Will you set the controller schedule from the measured application rates?
The schedule is where the audit turns into a saving, and it is often the only recommendation that costs nothing to implement.
Does my water utility subsidise this?
Some utilities fund landscape water audits or offer them directly. Worth a phone call before paying full price — but confirm it with the utility, not with the contractor.
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