Sprinkler Repair FAQ: Spring Hill and Hernando County

A service call is $75 to $150, covering travel and diagnosis. Most single-head or single-valve repairs total $100 to $350 including the part and labor. Full ranges for every job are on the pricing page.

Hernando County is under a Southwest Florida Water Management District Modified Phase III water shortage order, extended through March 31, 2027. Your watering day is set by the last digit of your street address: 0 or 1 is Monday, 2 or 3 is Tuesday, 4 or 5 is Wednesday, 6 or 7 is Thursday, 8 or 9 is Friday. No property waters Saturday or Sunday, and the only allowed hours are 12:01 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. or 8:00 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. on your one day.

Yes. Hand watering, micro-irrigation, and drip irrigation are exempt from the one-day-a-week schedule and can run any day, as long as it is before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

Usually a five-minute reprogram, not a repair, unless the controller itself has failed. It commonly happens when the county's watering schedule changes and nobody updates the program, or after a power outage resets a controller with a dead backup battery. See the wrong-day problem page for the walkthrough.

Yes. Florida Statute 373.62 requires anyone installing an automatic landscape irrigation system to install and maintain technology that shuts the system down during rain, and requires any licensed contractor working on a system to test that device and fix or install one if it is missing before finishing other work. The statute also directs local governments to adopt penalties for non-compliant contractors (a model ordinance with minimums of $50 to $250); check with Hernando County for whether and how it is currently enforced locally.

Almost always a cracked riser or a head that lost its top, usually from a mower, edger, or age and UV breakdown. It is one of the cheapest repairs there is, typically $15 to $50 per head installed, because the valve and wiring behind the head are usually undamaged.

Most often a stuck or debris-fouled valve, a failed solenoid, or a break in the wire between the controller and the valve box, not a controller failure and not every valve failing at once. That runs $150 to $350 to diagnose and repair.

It is worth calling about the same day. A valve that will not close is usually a torn diaphragm or debris stuck in the valve seat, and it wastes real water and money for every hour it keeps running, on top of violating the county's one-day-a-week schedule.

Yes, and it is one of the more common causes we find. A cracked lateral line or a valve that will not fully close can run for weeks underground without ever showing a visible wet spot, especially in Hernando County's fast-draining sandy soil. Check the water bill spike problem page for how to confirm it before calling.

Check your last water bill or ask a technician to look at your meter setup. Hernando County Utilities has prohibited new residential irrigation-only meters since February 17, 2004, so a lot of homes, especially newer ones, irrigate from a private well instead of a county meter. If your problem turns out to be the well pump rather than the sprinkler system, that is a different trade and we will tell you so.

Two different things cause this and they are worth telling apart before spending money. An irrigation gap (a head that does not reach, a clogged nozzle, a stuck valve) produces a patch tied to coverage, usually near a corner, a slope, or a spot one head cannot reach on its own. Chinch bugs produce an irregular, spreading patch, and UF/IFAS Extension's own guidance says to look for tiny black-and-white or orange bugs right at the border between healthy and damaged grass. Watering helps a drought-stressed patch; it will not stop an active chinch bug population.

$90 to $200 for a zone-by-zone run-through, valve box check, and controller review. It is worth it on any system nobody has walked with a technician in a few years, because catching a slow leak or a coverage gap during an inspection is far cheaper than the water bill or the dead lawn that follows if it runs unnoticed.

Yes. Flower beds, foundation plantings, and vegetable gardens convert well, typically $250 to $800 per zone depending on size and existing plumbing, and drip is exempt from the county's one-day-a-week spray restriction since it can run any day before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

Yes. Have your gate code or your name on the visitor list ready when you book, and the visit runs the same as anywhere else in our service area.

Ask directly. Florida has a voluntary state Certified Irrigation Contractor license through the DBPR, and a technician without it should instead hold Hernando County's local specialty certification through the county's Contractor Licensing Division. Ask which one applies and ask to see proof of insurance before work starts; we do not claim either credential on this site's behalf.

Most calls schedule within days. A zone that will not shut off, a mainline break, or standing water at the valve box gets priority over a cosmetic head fix or a routine inspection.

This is a repair-focused service. A property with no system at all, or one needing a full redesign rather than a patch, is a bigger job than a standard repair visit, and we will say so honestly rather than quote it as a repair.

Your address (so we know your watering day and can quote the service call), what the system is doing, and whether you know your zone count or have a zone map. If the issue is a water bill spike, have a recent bill on hand; the tiered rate is part of how we help you judge whether it is worth an emergency visit or can wait for a scheduled one.