Has anybody had a sprinkler system put in? (XP from D&R)

SharonWantsABaby

Outside, that is.

What kind? Is it a really big deal to have them installed (I assume so)? Do they have to dig up the whole yard, etc.?

Do you mind sharing how much you paid? 

Thanks!

+j+k+

We had one put in about ten years ago. They don't dig up the whole yard, they have a trencher that digs a trench just big enough to lay the piping and then they cover it back up. We lay sod in the entire yard after, and had a bare slate to work with, but if you have grass, you'll want to make sure the contract states that they will re-sod or lay the sod back over the trenching. 

I can not remember how much we paid - I want to say somewhere in range of $3000, but I could be wrong. That was also ten years ago. Pricing could be very different now. Obviously pricing differs between size of yards as well.  Ours was a nice size yard in suburbia, not monstrous and not tiny. 

You don't have to spend a ton, but you shouldn't go cheap either.  Request several itemized quotes from various reputable companies for the best price possible.

SharonWantsABaby

+j+k+:

I can not remember how much we paid - I want to say somewhere in range of $3000, but I could be wrong. That was also ten years ago. Pricing could be very different now. Obviously pricing differs between size of yards as well.  Ours was a nice size yard in suburbia, not monstrous and not tiny.

This sounds about right for us, I was thinking in the area of $3K. 

I'll get several quotes, thanks for the insight!

steenbean18

We recently had combination drip/sprinkler irrigation installed. Ours may be a little different because it's for a desert landscape with no grass, but for about 1/3 acre trenched, pvc piping (we have burrowing rodents here), complete installation, and a timer included, we paid $2500.  We only had 2 pop-up heads and the rest were drip emitters with spaghetti tubing so it may be more $$ for more pop-ups.

ArcticFox

We are more or less doing our own.

FIrst, we were going to rent a trencher.  But then I heard it makes a huge mess - we would have spent a lot of time repairing our yard, and we had just done a lot of work (topsoil, seeding, fertilizing, etc).

So then we hired someone to come in with a Ditch Witch, because we couldn't find one for rent. 

But a good point too is - we called the "DIGG" hotline for 'call before you dig" and they came and marked up the lawn.  All the lines are underground (no utility poles) and it made me nervous to be digging around gas lines etc.  So by hiring someone to come in with a Ditch Witch, THEY are licensed/insured... if anything bad happened, they would be accountable.

We ordered all our own supplies.  The guys came in with the Ditch Witch, my husband had marked the lawn where he wanted the lines put in.  They attach the main line to the Ditch Witch and it puts the line in the lawn so nicely.  There was barely a seam where the Ditch Witch had put the line in.  In fact, it was so barely visible that my hsuband ended up spray painting the lawn because he couldn't tell where the lines had gone in.

Now he's doing everything by hand - all the sprinkler heads, the control boxes, the wiring.

I forget how much we paid for the Ditch Witch work - and I have no idea how much my DH spent on supplies.. but obviously cheaper than having someone come in.  But we have a small yard, I think like 1/3 acre, and we need 26 sprinkler heads - it is a lot of work.  Also I think you can send in a 'map' of your yard to like rainbird or other companies and they tell you where to put the sprinkler parts.