What an Irrigation and Sprinkler Company Website Needs

What the site is actually for

In April the phone rings with start-up requests, and in October with blow-outs. Both arrive when the crews are busiest, and both are booked weeks ahead.

Many irrigation companies answer those calls in the evening, from a truck or the kitchen table, and spend the season catching up.

The website's job is to take that load: let customers book the seasonal work themselves, answer the questions that come before a booking, and collect the details a technician needs.

New systems, repairs and commercial contracts depend on the same thing: a site that shows you know the work and makes the next step obvious.

What customers come looking for

• Spring start-up, turning the system on and checking every zone.
• Fall blow-out, clearing the lines with air before the freeze.
• Repairs, such as broken heads, leaks and failed valves.
• New systems and extensions to existing ones.
• Maintenance plans covering the whole season.
• Backflow testing, where the municipality requires it.

The second is the one with a hard deadline. Water left in the lines can freeze and crack pipes and valves, so late bookers are racing the forecast, and a site showing which weeks remain spares them guessing.

Seasonal booking by area

Irrigation work is routed by neighbourhood, since a crew doing six start-ups in one area gets more done than one crossing the city.

Publish the booking windows that way: which weeks each area is scheduled, and how to claim a slot. Customers book into the routes, and the schedule fills in an order the crews can actually drive.

Open spring bookings in February and fall bookings in late summer, and say so on the site, so repeat customers know when to come back.

When an area fills, say so, with the next available week. A clear notice is better than a form collecting bookings nobody can honour.

The area served

Name every municipality and neighbourhood you cover, on a dedicated page. A map helps, but names are what people search for and scan.

If you travel further for an extra charge, say where that starts and roughly what it adds.

A customer outside your area who can see that in ten seconds will not take ten minutes of your evening.

Maintenance plans

A maintenance plan turns one-off start-ups into a season of work and a customer who stays.

Set out what a plan includes, usually the start-up, a mid-season check and the blow-out, plus any extras such as priority booking or reduced rates on repairs.

Give the price or a starting price, say how renewal works, and say what happens if the customer moves house.

Existing customers can be reminded by email when booking opens. Under Canada's anti-spam law, a purchase within the past two years generally allows that, and plan customers will expect it.

Water-saving, explained plainly

Many homeowners assume irrigation wastes water. Explaining how a well-set system avoids that answers the worry and makes the case for the upgrades.

Say what a weather-based controller does: it adjusts watering to recent weather instead of running the same schedule through a wet week. Say what a rain sensor does, and why drip lines suit beds and hedges better than sprays.

Many municipalities limit lawn watering to certain days and hours in summer. A controller set to those rules keeps the customer within them without anyone remembering.

Keep claims honest and general. Specific promises about water or bill savings are hard to back up and easy to challenge.

The form that asks about the property

A start-up for a small front lawn and one for a large corner lot are different jobs, and the form should find out which before anyone drives over.

Ask for the street address, the approximate lot size, the number of zones if the customer knows it, and the make of the controller, or a photograph of it.

Ask where the controller and the shut-off valve are, and whether someone needs to be home to reach them. Ask about gates, locks and dogs.

A technician who arrives knowing the size, the controller and the access can do the job in one visit.

A worked example

A three-truck irrigation company in the suburbs ran a one-page site with a phone number and a line saying call for a quote.

Every spring the owner spent the evenings returning calls, many from repeat customers wanting the same start-up as last year, and some from addresses well outside the area.

The new site has a booking page for start-ups and blow-outs organised by area, showing which weeks each area is scheduled, and a service area page naming every municipality covered.

The booking form asks for the address, approximate lot size, number of zones and a photograph of the controller. The maintenance plan page sets out what is included and the yearly price.

The evening calls have changed character. Most now confirm bookings already made, and customers outside the area can see that before they phone.

Photographs and proof

Irrigation work disappears underground, so photograph it before it does: tidy trenching, the valve manifold, the controller on a garage wall.

Finished results matter too: an evenly green lawn in July, or beds watered by drip lines.

State any irrigation or backflow certifications your technicians hold, and your insurance. Property managers and strata councils will ask for both.

Strata and commercial accounts

Strata corporations, property managers and businesses buy irrigation differently from homeowners.

They want scheduled maintenance across a season, a short report after each visit, one invoice for several sites, and proof of insurance before anyone sets foot on the property.

A page addressed to them, saying what you provide and how to request a proposal, shows you understand that work.

The counter-case

Not every irrigation business needs all of this.

A one-truck operator with a full book of repeat customers may need only a clear service area, the seasonal booking windows and a phone number that gets answered.

A company doing mostly new installations for builders wins work through relationships, and its site is more about proof than booking.

But for any company whose spring and fall arrive as a flood of calls, a site that takes bookings by area is the first thing to build.

What to build first

1. List your service area by name.
2. Publish booking windows by area and week.
3. Build the booking form with property size and zones.
4. Describe the maintenance plan and its price.
5. Explain water-saving in plain words.
6. Photograph installations before they are buried.
7. Add a page for strata and commercial clients.

Step two is the one that changes the season. Customers who can see when their area is scheduled book into it, instead of phoning to ask and waiting for an evening callback.

Asking for the details up front follows the same logic as in what a foundation repair company website needs.

Frequently asked questions

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