What does a sprinkler spring start-up cost in Franklin?

The start-up has a service fee that covers a basic diagnostic and the adjustments to your system; the office will give you this season's rate when you call. Repairs are extra and billed on time and materials. If you're on one of our annual maintenance agreements, the start-up is already part of the plan.

Can winter damage to my sprinklers be fixed during the start-up visit?

Normally, yes. When a system comes out of winter with a cracked fitting, a broken head or a leaking backflow device, our technician can usually repair it the same day, during the start-up itself. That work is charged on time and materials, on top of the fee for the start-up visit.

What watering schedule does Metro Water ask Nashville sprinkler systems to follow?

Three days a week, overnight. In August 2024 Metro Water Services asked automatic systems at odd-numbered addresses to run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and even-numbered addresses Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. We can set your controller to that schedule at the spring start-up.

Do you check the backflow preventer during a spring start-up?

Yes, every time. The backflow device is checked for leaks at the start-up and at every other service visit we make, winterization included. A backflow that cracked or started leaking over the winter is one of the problems our technician can normally repair on the same visit, billed on time and materials.

Is it okay to turn my sprinkler system back on myself in the spring?

You can open the water, but that skips most of what a start-up does. The controller still holds last year's program, the backflow hasn't been checked for leaks, and no one has watched each head run. Those are the checks a technician makes, zone by zone, before the system waters on its own.

Spring Sprinkler Start-Up in Franklin, TN

Free written estimate

Tell us what the yard needs. The office calls back to set up a visit.

A spring start-up brings your sprinkler system back online after winter and tunes it to water efficiently. A Green Scene technician reviews and adjusts the controller, checks the backflow device for leaks, and runs the valves and heads zone by zone, adjusting as he goes. It doesn't matter whether we installed the system or someone else did.

The start-up fee covers a basic diagnostic and those adjustments. Anything that needs repairing is billed on time and materials, and we can normally take care of it the same day.

What does a spring start-up include?

Four things, done on every system:

The controller is reviewed and reset, Wi-Fi or standard.
The backflow device is checked for leaks, as it is at every service we do.
The valves are opened zone by zone to confirm each one works.
The heads are watched while they run and adjusted so the water lands on lawn and beds, not the drive.

The heads get the most attention. One aimed at the pavement waters the pavement all summer, and the patch of lawn it was meant for goes brown.

A rotor head spraying during a zone test on the front lawn of a large brick house — Each zone runs while the technician watches where the water lands.

We check every zone...every head...every time!
Teresa & Jose Garcia

What if something broke over the winter?

Then the start-up is where it shows. Cracked fittings, a split head or a leaking backflow come to light the moment the water goes back on, and in most cases our technician can repair it before he leaves. Those repairs are charged on time and materials, separate from the start-up fee.

If the system wasn't blown out last fall, expect more of this. Water left in the lines over a cold snap is what breaks them, which is why we pair this visit with fall winterization. A larger failure, such as a dead zone or a controller that won't hold a program, becomes a repair visit with its own estimate.

Can’t I turn the water back on myself?

Because opening the valve is the easy part. The controller still holds last year's program, the backflow hasn't been looked at since fall, and nobody has watched the heads run. A start-up is the visit where all of that gets checked at once.

Nashville customers have one more reason. In August 2024, Metro Water Services asked automatic systems to water three days a week: odd-numbered addresses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, even-numbered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, between 7 p.m. and 4 a.m. Setting a controller to a schedule like that is part of the review.

What does a start-up look like?

Green Scene posted this spring start-up video on its own YouTube channel. Watch it before the visit if you'd like a sense of what the technician will be doing in your yard.

Can the start-up be on autopilot next year?

Yes. On an annual maintenance agreement, the spring start-up and the late-fall winterization are booked for you, with the GSTN WiFi plan for smart controllers and GSTN Maintenance for standard ones. You stop having to remember when to turn the system on.

Spring start-up, every zone and every head