Sprinklers & drip
Irrigation Repair & Sprinkler Adjustment
Heads, nozzles, zones and coverage sorted out on an existing system — plus an honest read on when it's a controller problem and when it needs a licensed irrigator.
The honest version
What this actually involves
Most irrigation complaints are not system failures. They are coverage problems that developed slowly: a head knocked out of alignment by a mower, a nozzle that has worn and now throws twelve feet instead of fifteen, a shrub that has grown into the spray pattern, or a head that has settled below grade so it waters the turf immediately around it and nothing else. The dry patch that appears in July is usually the visible symptom of something that has been drifting for two seasons.
The second category is scheduling rather than hardware. A system watering three times a week for ten minutes produces shallow roots and a lawn that cannot survive August. The same total water delivered in fewer, longer cycles drives roots down and the lawn gets noticeably tougher. That costs nothing to change and is frequently the single most useful adjustment on the property.
There is a firm line in this category and we hold it. Backflow prevention devices protect the drinking water supply and their testing, repair and certification is licensed work in North Carolina, with certification requirements that exist for good reason. We do not touch backflow assemblies, we do not connect new systems to a water supply, and we do not do electrical work on controllers beyond plugging one in.
Send us these photos and we can usually answer without a visit
- A short video of each problem zone actually running
- The dry or over-watered area, wide enough to show its shape
- The controller, with the display readable
- Any visible heads that are broken, sunken or tilted
- Where the valve boxes are, if you know
A head and nozzle tune across a typical system is a half day. Line repairs depend entirely on how quickly the break is located. Spring startups are quicker but book out fast.
In scope
What's included
Specific enough that you can check your own list against it before you send anything.
- Head replacement and alignmentBroken, sunken, tilted and mower-damaged heads replaced and reset to grade, with the arc and radius adjusted back to the coverage the zone was designed for.
- Nozzle correction and matched precipitationWorn and mismatched nozzles replaced so heads in a zone deliver water at comparable rates. Mixing nozzle types within a zone is a common cause of patchy results.
- Coverage diagnosisRunning each zone, watching it, and identifying where the dry patch actually comes from — which is often two zones away from where the symptom appears.
- Lateral line repairRepairing breaks in poly and PVC lateral lines from root intrusion, freeze damage, aeration equipment or a shovel. Excavation by hand at reasonable depth.
- Valve box access and cleanupLocating buried boxes, clearing them out, and making them accessible so the next repair is not an excavation project.
- Drip and micro-irrigation additionsExtending or adding drip lines to beds and containers on an existing zone, which is a far more efficient way to water planting beds than spray heads.
- Controller programmingSetting realistic schedules by zone, season and soil, including cycle-and-soak scheduling on slopes and clay where a single long run just produces runoff.
- Seasonal startup and shutdownSpring startup with a full zone-by-zone walk, and fall shutdown including draining where the system is configured for it.
Out of scope
What we won’t do, and why we say it up front.
Every list has at least one item that belongs to somebody else. Naming it early costs you nothing. Finding out after the work has started costs you a second contractor, a second schedule and sometimes a second repair to undo the first one.
There is also an insurance dimension people underestimate. Unlicensed work in a licensed category can give a carrier grounds to deny a claim later. That risk is yours, not ours, which is exactly why we will not quietly take the job.
- Backflow preventer testing, repair, replacement or certification — licensed work in North Carolina, no exceptions
- Connecting an irrigation system to a potable water supply
- New irrigation system design or installation
- Electrical work on controllers, transformers or wiring beyond plugging in an existing unit
- Well pump, pressure tank or pump control work
- Main line repairs under pressure, or anything upstream of the backflow assembly
- Trenching requiring machine excavation or utility locates beyond standard hand depth
- Municipal water connection, metering or tap work
How it runs
From your photos to a finished job
You should know where you stand by step two, before any money is involved.
Send video, not photos
Run each problem zone and film it for thirty seconds. Moving water tells us in one clip what a still photo cannot show at all.
We separate coverage from pressure from scheduling
A dry patch, a zone that will not come on and a lawn that browns in August are three different problems with three different fixes, and they get confused constantly.
Repair, then re-aim, then re-run
Heads replaced and set, arcs and radii adjusted, then the whole zone run again and watched. Adjusting without watching the result is guessing.
Reset the schedule to match
Once coverage is right, the controller gets programmed to suit it — fewer, longer cycles rather than daily shallow watering.
What drives cost
We can't quote a number here. We can tell you what moves it.
Anyone publishing a flat price for this category is either padding it heavily or about to revise it on site. Here is what actually changes the figure.
- Head and nozzle work is inexpensive per unit and adds up by count. A walk of the whole system usually finds more than the one head you noticed.
- Line repairs vary enormously depending on how hard the break is to locate. A visible geyser is quick; an intermittent wet spot can take real time to find.
- Zone count drives a full-system tune. Twelve zones is not the same job as four.
- If the problem turns out to be backflow, main line or electrical, we stop and refer. You are not charged for work we cannot do.
- Spring is the busy season for this. A startup booked in March schedules more easily than one booked in the first hot week of May.
Travel and setup are charged once whether we do one item or nine. If there is anything else on your mind, add it to the list — the marginal cost of item two is a fraction of item one.
We stop and tell you before doing anything else, and you decide. We do not expand a job on the fly and hand you a revised invoice at the end.
Field notes
Four ways this gets done wrong
Mostly these are things we get called out to repair after somebody else — or a well-meaning weekend — got there first.
Watering daily for a short period
The most common and most damaging setting. Frequent shallow watering keeps roots near the surface, which is exactly where the soil dries out first. Fewer, longer cycles push roots down and the lawn gets dramatically more drought tolerant for no extra water.
Mixing nozzle types within a zone
Rotor and spray heads apply water at very different rates. Put both on one zone and either the spray areas flood or the rotor areas stay dry. The zone can only be scheduled for one of them.
Raising a sunken head with soil instead of resetting it
Packing soil around a low head buries the nozzle and blocks the near portion of the spray. The head needs to come up on a riser or be reset to grade properly.
Ignoring the backflow device
It is the one component protecting the drinking water supply from what is in the irrigation lines. Testing and certification requirements exist for real reasons, and it is a licensed trade. If yours is leaking or has failed, that call goes to a certified backflow tester today.
Questions
Irrigation Help — common questions
Can you test or replace my backflow preventer?
Can you install a new irrigation system?
One zone won't turn on at all. What is that?
How often should I be watering?
There's a wet spot in my lawn that never dries. Is that a leak?
Can you add drip to my flower beds?
Where we do this
Irrigation Help across the Lake Norman region
Each of these pages covers what's different about this work in that specific town — housing eras, permitting authority, and what we actually see there.
Irrigation Help in Statesville
Home base. Same-week scheduling is usually realistic here.
Irrigation Help in Mooresville
Core service area. We are in Mooresville most weeks.
Irrigation Help in Denver
Core service area across east Lincoln County.
Irrigation Help in Troutman
Core service area, minutes from home base.
Irrigation Help in Lake Norman
All four shoreline counties. Waterfront access details matter — tell us up front.
- Irrigation Help in Cornelius, NC
- Irrigation Help in Davidson, NC
- Irrigation Help in Huntersville, NC
- Irrigation Help in Sherrills Ford, NC
- Irrigation Help in Terrell, NC
- Irrigation Help in Mount Mourne, NC
- Irrigation Help in Lincolnton, NC
- Irrigation Help in Hickory, NC
- Irrigation Help in Newton, NC
- Irrigation Help in Conover, NC
- Irrigation Help in Catawba, NC
- Irrigation Help in Claremont, NC
- Irrigation Help in Maiden, NC
- Irrigation Help in Iron Station, NC
- Irrigation Help in Stanley, NC
- Irrigation Help in Harmony, NC
- Irrigation Help in Union Grove, NC
- Irrigation Help in Olin, NC
- Irrigation Help in Cleveland, NC
- Irrigation Help in Barium Springs, NC
- Irrigation Help in Stony Point, NC
- Irrigation Help in Taylorsville, NC
- Irrigation Help in Kannapolis, NC
- Irrigation Help in Concord, NC
- Irrigation Help in Salisbury, NC
- Irrigation Help in China Grove, NC
Usually sent together
Related work people add to the same list
Mulch & Bed Cleanup
Beds cleaned out, edged and mulched at the right depth — the highest-impact curb appeal work per dollar, and the easiest to do badly.
Yard Cleanup
Leaves, limbs, storm debris, overgrowth and years of accumulation cleared and hauled — including the parts of the property nobody has walked in a while.
Handyman Repairs
General handyman repair for the accumulated list — hardware, trim, mounting, adjustments and the small fixes that make a house feel unfinished.
Fence & Gate Repair
Sagging gates, loose boards, failed latches, leaning sections and the exterior hardware that has stopped doing its job.
Next step
Have irrigation help on your list? Send it with everything else.
Photos, notes, an inspection report, a screenshot of your notes app — whatever you have. We read every one and reply with a straight answer, including the parts we're not the right fit for.