We've all seen it: a geyser shooting up from a broken sprinkler head, water gushing down the street to the nearest drain.
It's bad enough for homeowners when it happens during landscapers' working hours. When it happens overnight or on weekends,
homeowners don't know whom to call, says Mike Underwood, of Underwood Landscape in Agoura Hills, in Southern California.
If, like Underwood, you don't mind going out in the middle of the night and walking around on muddy ground, adding 24-hour
emergency sprinkler repair could be a good addition to your landscaping business.
Word gets around
"We always did it for our customers; then others called." Underwood says. His company, which has been in business for 14 years,
also does landscape design, sprinkler repair and installation, residential and commercial grounds maintenance, brush clearance,
erosion control and hardscaping. People do call 24 hours a day, but often Underwood can work out the problem over the phone. Sometimes it's a job for a plumber,
he says. Plumbers, it turns out, are his main competition.
If it is an irrigation problem, most of the time, he can help homeowners figure out how to turn the sprinkler off without
him needing to be onsite.
"If it's a real emergency, I'll go," he says. "If I can't make it, the foreman does. At night, you want to turn off the sprinkler
and keep the water on in the house. You go back and fix it in the morning." The problems are usually broken valves, pipes,
pumps or controllers.
All shook up
Usually emergencies happen because the system is aging or tree roots are pinching the main line going to the house, Underwood
says. But sometimes they're triggered by an event. In 1994, an earthquake struck the nearby San Fernando Valley and people
called the company from all over.
This past winter most of his emergency calls came after a week of highly unusual, freezing temperatures in mid-January. He
got calls for weeks afterward.
Underwood hasn't had to change any of his business practices for this add-on. "If you're a landscaper, you already have all
the parts," he says. The company didn't even advertise the service until a few years ago. Now people find them online or in
the Yellow Book. Some have seen the sign on the side of one of the company's trucks.
Underwood charges a premium for the service, but the profitability depends on the job, he says.
"I like making money, but I also like the work. It's troubleshooting; it's not part of a normal job. You have to figure out
why something's leaking or why it burst, and where the shut off is. I also like educating customers by telling them how to
shut the water off themselves." And, he adds, "If it's for our own clientele, they love us."
— The author is a freelance writer in Altadena, CA. Contact her at janet.aird@earthlink.net
