Sprinkler Repair in Kelowna & the Central Okanagan

It varies widely because the range of work does. Replacing a head or nozzle is a minor job; rebuilding valves, tracing a wiring fault or repairing a mainline break is progressively more involved. Most contractors charge a service call or diagnostic rate plus parts and labour. Because diagnosis drives everything, a quote given before anyone has seen the system is an estimate rather than a price.

Water dribbling from a head when the zone is off almost always means water is still in the lateral pipe and is draining out the lowest head on the line — a phenomenon called low-head drainage. On any sloped lot it happens whenever a cycle finishes, because the pipe empties toward the lowest point. It is not a broken sprinkler and it is not a mainline leak. The fix is a check-valve head at the low point, or an in-line check valve on the lateral, so water stays in the pipe between cycles. If the drip continues for more than a few minutes or the head keeps discharging hours later, the cause is a weeping valve upstream instead — the diaphragm is not sealing and the zone is being fed continuously at low volume.

Shut off the irrigation supply first — usually a dedicated isolation valve near the backflow assembly or where the irrigation branch leaves the main. Kill the controller too so no zone opens automatically. Then look at what is actually wet: water surfacing over a specific line points at a mainline or lateral break, water only during one zone points at a valve or a head on that zone, and continuous slow drip after everything is off is usually a weeping valve. Take note of when it started, which zone was running and whether anything upstream changed recently. Sending those observations with a repair request tightens the quote considerably.

Often yes, and it makes for a better quote. Run each zone one at a time and note exactly what happens: which heads spray, which do not, whether pressure looks low across a whole zone or just at one head, and whether anything runs when it should be off. Including those observations in a quote request lets contractors give you a far more accurate picture.

No, and this is the most common misdiagnosis. Persistent dry patches are frequently coverage or uniformity problems — heads not reaching each other, mismatched nozzles applying water at different rates, or pressure too low for the head's design range. Nothing is broken; the system was never delivering water evenly there. The fix is adjustment and nozzle matching rather than replacement.

Independent irrigation contractors work every part of Kelowna, West Kelowna, Lake Country and the surrounding communities. Kelowna Irrigation is a quote-request platform — describe what your system is doing on the request form and we route it to a contractor who works your neighbourhood and takes on that type of repair. There is no fee to request quotes, and comparing two or three keeps pricing honest on a service where diagnosis drives most of the cost.

It depends heavily on the season. Spring and early summer are the busiest period for repair work, and waits are longest then. Mid-season and early fall are usually quicker. If you have an active leak or water running continuously, say so in your request — most contractors triage genuine water loss ahead of routine work.