Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Quote this job at
$3,389
Price per head
$121.04
Your total cost
$2,568
Gross profit
$822
Gross margin
24.2%
Material (incl. waste)
$1,235
Labour cost
$1,333
Crew hours
23.8
Crew days (8h)
3.0
Break-even per head
$91.70
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Got your number — what next?
Pick one, it takes 20 secondsHow to use this
- 1Enter job size (sprinkler heads) (head).
- 2Enter material cost per head ($).
- 3Enter waste / overage (%).
- 4Enter crew hours per head (hrs).
- 5Enter burdened crew rate ($/hr).
- 6Enter overhead allocated to this job ($).
- 7Enter markup on total cost (%).
- 8Read your quote this job at on the right — it updates as you type.
- 9Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Irrigation System Install is priced per sprinkler head, and the number that actually decides whether the job is profitable is the fully-loaded cost per head — material plus waste, plus crew hours at your real burdened labour rate, plus the overhead every job has to carry. This calculator builds that number from the ground up rather than reverse-engineering it from a competitor's price. At the defaults here, material runs about $42.00 per head and labour runs roughly 0.85 crew-hours per head, which at a $56/hr burdened crew rate is about $47.60 per head in labour alone. Zone valves, backflow prevention and controller wiring are per-zone costs that scale differently to head count. Residential irrigation runs roughly $2,500–$6,000 for a typical suburban lot. Change the crew rate to your real burdened cost — wages plus payroll tax, workers' comp, vehicle, insurance and non-billable time — because using a bare wage rate is the single most common reason a busy irrigation system install business still ends the year with no profit. The markup field is a markup on total cost, not a margin: a 35% markup on cost is a 25.9% gross margin, and confusing the two is worth thousands a year on a full schedule.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Job size (sprinkler heads): 28 head
- Material cost per head: 42 $
- Waste / overage: 5 %
- Crew hours per head: 0.85 hrs
- Burdened crew rate: 56 $/hr
- Overhead allocated to this job: 0 $
- Markup on total cost: 32 %
Results
- Quote this job at: $3,389
- Price per head: $121.04
- Your total cost: $2,568
- Gross profit: $822
- Gross margin: 24.2%
- Material (incl. waste): $1,235
- Labour cost: $1,333
- Crew hours: 23.8
- Crew days (8h): 3
- Break-even per head: $91.70
What each field means
Inputs
- Job size (sprinkler heads) (head)
- The job size (sprinkler heads) used in the calculation, measured in head. Starts at 28 head so you have a working example on load.
- Material cost per head ($)
- The material cost per head used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 42 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Waste / overage (%)
- The waste / overage used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 5 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–60 %.
- Crew hours per head (hrs)
- The crew hours per head used in the calculation, measured in hrs. Starts at 0.85 hrs so you have a working example on load.
- Burdened crew rate ($/hr)
- The burdened crew rate used in the calculation, measured in $/hr. Starts at 56 $/hr so you have a working example on load.
- Overhead allocated to this job ($)
- The overhead allocated to this job used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 0 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Markup on total cost (%)
- The markup on total cost used in the calculation, measured in %. Starts at 32 % so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0–200 %.
Results
- Quote this job at
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Price per head
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Your total cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Gross profit
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Gross margin
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Material (incl. waste)
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Labour cost
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Crew hours
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Crew days (8h)
- Returned as a decimal number. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Break-even per head
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
How much should I charge per head for irrigation system install?
Work from cost, not from the market. Residential irrigation runs roughly $2,500–$6,000 for a typical suburban lot. Take your material cost per head, add your waste factor, add crew hours times your burdened hourly cost, add your overhead allocation, then apply your markup. If that number lands well above local pricing, the problem is usually productivity or overhead, not greed.
What is a burdened labour rate and why does it matter here?
Burdened rate is what an hour of crew time truly costs you: wages, payroll taxes, workers' compensation, vehicle and fuel, tools, insurance, and the unbillable hours between jobs. It is commonly 1.4x to 1.8x the bare wage. Quoting off bare wages is the fastest way to run a busy, unprofitable business.
Is markup the same as profit margin?
No, and the gap is bigger than people expect. Markup is added to cost; margin is a share of the price. A 35% markup gives a 25.9% margin, and a 50% markup gives a 33.3% margin. If you need a 40% margin you must mark up by 66.7%.
How should I handle the waste factor on irrigation system install?
The default here is 5%, which is a reasonable starting point for straightforward work. Complex layouts, cuts, patterns and awkward access all push it higher. Track your actual waste for a few jobs and replace the default with your own number — it is one of the easiest measurable wins in estimating.
Should overhead be a percentage or a fixed amount per job?
Both work if you are consistent. Percentage-of-cost is simpler and self-scaling; a fixed per-day allocation is more accurate when your jobs vary wildly in size. What fails is having no overhead line at all and hoping the markup covers it.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Irrigation System Install Cost Calculator (2026 Pricing). Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/irrigation-system-cost-calculator
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/irrigation-system-cost-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Irrigation System Install Cost Calculator (2026 Pricing) — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Irrigation System Install Cost Calculator (2026 Pricing) — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/irrigation-system-cost-calculator) (2026).