Property Managers: How Do You Know You Are Getting the Right Irrigation Advice?

Part 2 of 3: The Property Manager's Guide to Irrigation

Contractors recommend spending money here and there. Here is what a property manager can ask for to tell whether a recommendation fits the property.

By Jon Peters, Founder and General Manager, Irrigation Managers

In Part 1 we looked at the choice between repairing, upgrading and replacing an aging irrigation system, and one common thing most properties lack: a water-use target, the amount of water the landscape actually needs over the irrigation season, broken down by month. This part is about the advice you receive and how to test it.

Property managers and community association managers run the budget, the board and the vendors. Irrigation is one part of that job and a separate field with its own science, so nobody expects a manager to be an irrigation expert. Whoever runs the system day to day does need to be one.

Most managers rely on the landscape or irrigation contractor to diagnose the system, propose the fix and carry it out. That is a reasonable arrangement, and many contractors do excellent work. It does mean the company that diagnoses the problem often sells the fix, and the manager has few ways to test the recommendation or to compare one proposal with another.

What a proposal often leaves out

Start with the purpose. The only purpose of an irrigation system is to keep the plants healthy and the landscape vibrant and beautiful. Water spraying out of the ground does not mean the system is working. It is easy to get so wrapped up in pumps, pipes, heads, valves and wires that the plants drop out of the conversation.

A typical proposal lists equipment and labor: a controller, valves, heads, wire and a price. What the board needs, and what is often missing, is this.

How much water the site uses now, and how that was determined.
How much water the landscape actually needs over the season and by month, its water-use target.
What is failing, why it is failing, and whether how the system is run is part of the cause.
Which problem each line item fixes, and what happens if you wait.
What is urgent, what can wait, and what the long-term plan looks like.
The return the work should deliver, and how success will be measured once it is installed.

Three kinds of information to ask for

Water use data. Start with 12 months of water bills if the property buys its water. EPA describes a simple estimate: average the months when the system is off, then subtract that baseline from the irrigation season. A dedicated irrigation meter or submeter is better, and EPA strongly recommends one. It measures irrigation separately from the rest of the property, and it works for sites on wells or other sources too.

System condition. An irrigation zone assessment samples a representative set of the zones on the site. It measures how evenly the heads apply water (distribution uniformity) and how much they apply per hour (precipitation rate). Those two measurements are what the controller needs to be programmed correctly. Once they are reasonably close, the zones that are not up to par stand out: the dry spots and the wet areas, and the on-site maintenance team knows where to focus its attention and fix them.

Records on file. Ask for as-built drawings, a map of what is installed and where, and an irrigation maintenance specification that spells out the heads, valves, filters and connections to use, so that a new contractor matches what is already there. These documents often do not exist. If they don't, that is a gap to fill. The specification also lets a manager hold any contractor to the same standard, or get quotes from other contractors for the same service.

Operating evidence. A controller shows what is supposed to happen: the programming and the schedules. Flow data shows what actually happened, and with so many moving parts both are needed. Some controllers keep good records on their own. If the data can be reached remotely, someone still has to analyze it and confirm that things are getting done.

When the controller is part of the proposal, ask about flow monitoring and flow management

Flow monitoring and flow management are two different things, and not every controller can do either. Ask whether the controller supports flow monitoring, flow management and master valve control, and whether it can work with a flow meter at each point of connection. Some flow meters also have their own setup and monitoring logic, so ask what the meter can do as well as the controller.

Flow monitoring compares actual flow to the expected flow of each zone. A flow meter at each point of connection, paired with a master valve, protects against the big problems. If a mainline breaks, the master valve closes and an alert goes out. Zone valves matter too. If only one zone shows high or low flow, the controller can shut that valve and use the meter to confirm it closed. If it did not close, the master valve shuts. If it did, the rest of the site keeps irrigating, which matters when the watering window is tight. Flow while no zone is scheduled points to a leak or a stuck valve. The expected flow of each zone has to be benchmarked first, which is why setup matters.

Flow management is different. It is the controller's ability to run several zones at the same time without exceeding what the system can carry. It matters most on larger, more complex sites, where local rules limit the days and hours for watering and the window is short.

The value of monitoring is evidence. A property with flow monitoring can show the board, the utility and its own contractor what the system did and when, and can stop a break before it becomes a bigger repair or wastes a lot of water. Flow monitoring needs two-way communication and someone to receive the alerts.

If the property already has a controller with these features, the question changes. Is it programmed correctly, connected and managed to use them? Not every controller, new or old, is online, keeps history well or monitors flow, so features alone prove little. A controller is only as useful as the way it is set up and run, and in many cases the controller is not the problem.

Questions to ask your irrigation contractor

What is our current irrigation water use, and how did you determine it?
How much water does this landscape need over the season and by month?
What is failing, and why? Is how the system is run contributing?
Which problem does each line of this proposal fix, what result do you expect, and how will it be measured?
Which items can wait, what happens if they do, and which repairs have to be done before others?
Who will monitor the system and adjust the schedule through the season, and how will I see that it is being done?
After the work is done, what data will you give me to confirm the result?

A good contractor will welcome these questions. If the answers are vague, that tells you where the gap is. Ask every contractor the same questions and put the answers side by side, and two proposals become easy to compare. As the saying goes, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.

In Part 3: how to turn a proposal into a return on investment, starting from your own records.

Good information is the best protection for a board or owner approving an irrigation project. If you manage a large irrigated site, the question to ask is how much water your site actually needs. This is not a guess or an estimate based on how much water you used last season. It is based on data. If you don't know your number, chances are you are over-irrigating.

At Irrigation Managers we call our approach AIM: Analyze, Implement, Manage. We map the area that is irrigated and use historical weather data to build a monthly water-use target, then make real-time adjustments to match actual weather and manage the site to our full irrigation season water-use target. Give us a call or send a message. There is no obligation, and we are glad to walk you through it. IrrMgmt.com. 1.800.473.7673.

Common questions

Why tie a flow meter to your irrigation controller? A flow meter at each point of connection, with a master valve and a capable controller, supports two things. Flow monitoring compares actual flow to expected flow and can shut down a zone, or the whole system, when something breaks. Flow management lets the controller run several zones at once without exceeding what the system can carry, which helps on large sites with short watering windows.

Do property managers need irrigation training? No, but somebody does. The person who manages the system day to day needs to be an irrigation expert, able to assess water use and set a water-use target. If the current contractor cannot, the property needs an expert it can call. Beyond that, records of water use, a dedicated irrigation meter, a zone assessment and a clear water-use target give the manager the evidence to check a proposal.

What is the difference between an irrigation audit and a zone assessment? An audit is a very detailed measurement of every zone on a site. A zone assessment samples a representative set of zones to measure uniformity and precipitation rate, then uses the results to program the controller and show which zones need maintenance. In the real world it often delivers most of the useful results for much less cost.

Sources

U.S. EPA WaterSense, Water Efficiency Management Guide: Landscaping and Irrigation, EPA 832-F-17-016b (November 2017), epa.gov/watersense/commercial-buildings.
U.S. EPA WaterSense, WaterSense at Work: Best Management Practices for Commercial and Institutional Facilities, Section 5.1 Landscaping, EPA 832-F-23-003 (November 2023), epa.gov/watersense/best-management-practices. Supports knowing how much water is applied, dedicated irrigation meters, and writing performance targets into landscape service agreements.
Irrigation Managers LLC, An Irrigation System's Only Purpose, 2026 IRPA Conference, Twin Falls, Idaho, April 22, 2026.