Fees and Quotes

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• Call-out  fee $280 (travel and organisation, per visit) 
• My labour: $280/hour
• Offsider's labour: $140/hour — charged only for time he is actively working
• Materials (prices based on Reece.com.au retail prices)

I carry a full range of gear and parts, so 99% of household repairs are fixed on the spot in a single visit.

Payment terms

- Payment is due within 7 days of issue of invoice.
- Payment methods: Bank transfer or PayID. Cheques not accepted.
- Overdue accounts may incur interest and the customer agrees to pay all
reasonable costs incurred in recovering unpaid amounts.

In general, it's not possible to provide fixed quotes for repairs. Most of the time, the bulk of the work lies in identifying the location and nature of the problem.  With older systems fixing one issue often reveals other problems.

If you're able to clearly explain and photograph a specific issue that needs fixing, I may be able to provide a cost estimate. However, please note that this estimate would only cover the issue you've identified.

I typically quote between $3,000 and $30,000 for new household irrigation systems (Think about how your place compares to the range of gardens around Canberra).  Key factors that increase the cost include: Barriers to laying pipes from the water source (e.g. a driveway), number of lawn areas, size of the lawn to be irrigated and low water pressure.  Small gardens with no obstacles and no lawns are the cheapest to irrigate.  For smaller jobs, I prefer to work on an hourly basis, as this is usually the most efficient and cost-effective option. You can use the cost range above to estimate your likely expenses, considering the diversity of gardens in Canberra—from townhouses to highly landscaped larger blocks.

Getting a fixed-price quote requires more work and shifts some of the risk from you to me. I factor this into my pricing, so you can expect a higher cost for fixed quotes. For larger jobs, this may still be worthwhile.

I quote from what you send me, so the quality of the quote depends on the quality of the information. If anything below is missing, I'll have to ask for it before I can quote — so it's quicker for both of us to send the lot first time.

Send all of it — plan, video, photos, and your answers — in one place:

• WhatsApp it to 0490 882 128 (tap here to open a chat), or

• Email quotes@canberrairrigation.com.au — if your phone offers to send the video "as a link" or via Mail Drop, say yes.

Please pick one channel and put everything in it. When a plan arrives by email, photos by text, and the flow rate over the phone, things get lost and your quote takes longer.

Please don't text videos or photos. Text messaging between iPhones and Android phones crushes image and video quality, and I can't quote from a blurry clip — WhatsApp sends the same content at full quality.

Send me these four things:

This is the most important item. The easiest way to make one:

1. Open Google Maps, switch to satellite view, and screenshot your property.

1. Using your phone's photo markup tool (or print it and draw on it), mark: 

• T — the tap you plan to use

• The areas to be watered, outlined, with rough dimensions written on (e.g. "lawn ~8m × 5m")

• Any concrete paths, driveways, or retaining walls that sit between the tap and the watered areas

• P — the powerpoint, if you want a mains-powered controller

A hand-drawn sketch on paper, photographed, works just as well. It doesn't need to be neat — it needs to show where everything is relative to everything else.

(Example image of a good annotated screenshot goes here — make one of your own block.)

Best option: a 60–90 second phone video. Start at the tap, then walk to each area to be watered, pointing out anything in the way (paths, driveways, walls, garden beds) as you go. Talk as you walk — "this is the tap, the lawn is around this corner, this concrete path is between them."

If you'd rather send photos: stand well back. Every photo should show an area and its surroundings — I need to see where things sit in the garden. A close-up of a tap or a wall on its own tells me nothing.

With the tap fully open, time how many seconds it takes to fill a bucket of known size. Then:

bucket litres ÷ seconds × 60 = litres per minute

Example: a 9 L bucket filling in 20 seconds = 9 ÷ 20 × 60 = 27 L/min. Send me the bucket size and the seconds if you'd rather I do the maths.

See  Choosing a controller . If you want mains power, mark the powerpoint on your aerial plan and mention any route issues for the wire between powerpoint and tap. If a powerpoint needs installing, I can connect you with an electrician.

If a site inspection is needed to quote, the fees above apply — charging for inspections reflects the time and travel involved, and rewards good electronic submissions, which most gardens can be quoted from.