Missing a leak during your spring irrigation startups is not how you want to start off the year. However, with the right strategies and processes in place, you can enhance your routing efficiency and avoid costly mistakes.
“Springtime scheduling can be tricky, especially for those companies that exist in winter climates,” says Tim Malooly, owner of Irrigation By Design, Inc., based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. “Wherever possible, attempt to proactively schedule your work instead of waiting for customers to call you.”
Tips for Success
Malooly recommends scheduling your startups in advance so you can efficiently route your appointments.
Chase Coates, owner of Outback Landscape, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, says utilizing routing software can help maximize your technicians’ stops and minimize drive time. He advises tackling startups neighborhood by neighborhood to increase efficiency. Coates also recommends prioritizing your existing maintenance clients.
“At Outback Landscape, we do not take on spring turn-ons or winterizations for accounts outside of our own,” Coates says. “We service only our regular maintenance clients to ensure they receive the best possible care. Our priority is always those who have put their trust in us, so they are never left waiting while we handle work for non-regular customers.”
Malooly adds that before conducting an irrigation startup, check in with your client or client rep. He advises letting the client know what day and time range you plan to come.
“In our industry, especially in our segment of the industry, there’s oftentimes this feeling of we can come and go as we please, and that can create trouble,” Malooly says.
Coates says they approach spring startups with an all-hands-on-deck approach. He says it’s not just about turning on the water. They use this time to walk the property and find upsell opportunities as well as ensure the system is functioning properly.
“Many of our managers assist in this process to maximize efficiency and identify potential improvements,” Coates says.
Coates says this allows their irrigation technicians to focus on larger repairs and more labor-intensive work while their managers and other team members conduct system checks for sites with minimal issues, allowing them to get all clients up and running as quickly as possible.
Another tool for increased efficiency is smart controllers. Coates says their remote capabilities can make the startup process much simpler.
“Unlike traditional systems — where the controller is often screwed to a wall behind a winter’s worth of storage — smart systems allow technicians to activate and test zones remotely, typically from their phone,” Coates says. “This saves a significant amount of manpower and labor hours.”
Pitfalls to Avoid
There are numerous mistakes technicians can make during spring startups, but many can be easily avoided. For instance, make sure you’re giving your team members enough time to conduct the startup properly. If they are rushing, it is more likely they’ll miss warning signs of leaks or fail to replace broken equipment.
Malooly says technicians should replace failed components with the same brand/model family whenever possible, instead of with random or convenient parts. Other mistakes include ignoring sensor maintenance, settings, and functionality, ignoring backflow assembly testing, repairing, tagging, and reporting, and setting the irrigation system to run regardless of current conditions.
Irrigation technicians should also investigate zones that don’t activate properly. If nothing appears to be running after turning on a station, they should check for major underground leaks instead of assuming it is a wiring issue.
“Too often, technicians will skip to the next zone without verifying why no water is coming out,” Coates says. “This can be dangerous if a major leak is flooding an area near a home or basement. Always verify that water is not running elsewhere on the property before moving on.”
Malooly says another mistake with spring startups is relying on an inexperienced or unqualified person to get the irrigation systems up and running.
“Wherever possible, don’t train technical personnel during the spring start season,” Malooly says. “At least don’t send new personnel to client locations on their own. Team up new personnel with experienced irrigation technicians during the spring start season.”
Train your irrigation technicians to communicate with the client as well as your office when arriving at a location and when leaving. Malooly says they should also make sure to enter detailed information when summarizing work. Failing to do so often results in missed billable items and/or non-payment by owners, wasted administrative time and strained client relationships.
From a business perspective, Malooly recommends setting up your irrigation division as a separate profit center with its own P&L, budgets, tools, career path and staffing.
“Don’t try to saddle your plant and hardscape staff with the duties of what is essentially a completely different business and skillset from other landscape-related skills and duties,” Malooly says.
