I'm getting into the irrigation end of this business and I was wondering how you veterans handle the estimate. As an example, I went to a potential customer's house the other day, measured the property, took pressure and flow measurements, talked to the customer and then went home and designed the system to get an idea of how much to charge. At least a couple of hours invested at this point. I call the guy and give him the price and right away I know he had no idea how much something like this would cost. I'm guessing you guys have been doing this long enough to be able to give a pretty accurate estimate right then and there. Until I get that kind of experience under my belt, how can I avoid this next time? Are there any good computer programs out there that can design a system to cut down on design time?
Giving an accurate estimate has little to do with experience, it just takes a few hours of gathering information and pricing the materials ahead of time.
The system I use basically goes like this:
Tap = set price (depending on lenth, our average is 10ft. copper total)
spray = set price (depending on spacing, 10,12 and 15ft)
rotor = set price (depending on spacing 25,30ft)
valves = set price (including wire, manifold fittings and box)
take your spray heads for example:
spray head cost = One spray, one nozzle, two swing fittings, one foot swing pipe, two clamps, one poly fitting, 12 feet of poly pipe. And there you have it a set price for sprays, just multiply that by the required number and you have your material costs for the spray heads spaced at 12ft.
Draw and average system out on paper and list all of the materials so you make sure you figure for them and make yourself a cheat sheet to take with you on estimates cause believe me if you price a job on site you have a shot at getting a deposit and locking up that job right there.