This is the number the rest of the freeze section is about. Nothing else in routine residential irrigation repair sits in this bracket — a head is a few dollars, a solenoid is a low three-figure visit, and a backflow assembly replacement is several times either. Knowing the figure is what makes the ten-minute November job worth doing.
| Work | Typical range | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Rebuild kit on an existing assembly | $125 – $300 | Internals only. Available for the common residential assemblies; the casting has to be sound. |
| Pressure vacuum breaker replacement, ¾″ or 1″ | $350 – $900 | The standard residential case. Assembly, fittings, labour, and whether the riser and pipe below it also need remaking. |
| Double check valve assembly replacement | $450 – $1,100 | Less common residentially; more assembly cost and often a more awkward position. |
| Reduced pressure zone assembly replacement | $900 – $2,500+ | Highest protection class. Commercial and chemical-injection systems, larger sizes, and often a required test on completion. |
| Exposed riser and supply pipe remake | $100 – $350 | Frequently damaged in the same freeze and frequently missed in the first quote. |
| Certified backflow test, where required | $50 – $125 | Set by the water provider. A tester holding the right Texas licence, and a report filed with the provider. |
Not “backflow preventer” but the type, the make and the size. It is the largest line on the invoice and it is the one that determines whether a rebuild kit will be available in eight years.
A split assembly and a split riser pipe are often the same freeze. If the quote covers only the assembly, ask explicitly — discovering it on the day turns a fixed price into a variable one.
Depends entirely on the water provider named on the bill, and the requirement is not uniform across this metro. Ask whether the provider requires a test on a new assembly, and whether the person doing the work also holds the tester licence. Doing both in one visit saves a second call-out.
Texas licenses irrigators individually, and the licence number is meant to appear on the estimate and the invoice. A quote for irrigation work with no licence number anywhere on it is worth a question — not because the work will necessarily be bad, but because it is the cheapest possible check and there is no good reason for it to be absent.
Wrapping an assembly costs roughly what a pizza costs, once, and can be reused for several winters with a purpose-made pouch. Replacing one sits in the mid-hundreds for the common residential case. That is a ratio in the region of thirty or fifty to one, on an event that this metro has produced four times in five winters.
There is a second cost that rarely gets counted: the water. An assembly that splits at two in the morning and is not discovered until someone leaves for work has run at street pressure for six hours. On a rising block rate that is not a rounding error, and unlike the assembly it is not something a repair can undo.
Because it is a tested, certified, life-safety device rather than a plumbing fitting. It is a machined bronze or brass body with check valves, springs and seats, built to an approval standard and listed for use on potable supplies. Everything else on a residential irrigation system is moulded plastic made in enormous volumes. The price gap is a manufacturing gap, not a markup.
Sometimes it is the identical listed product and sometimes it is not, and the difference to look for is whether the specific model is approved for the application by the water provider. The other consideration is availability of rebuild kits: a well-known make bought once is repairable for a decade, and an unfamiliar one may not be repairable at all.
Not necessarily — some assemblies have replaceable bonnets and some do not, and it depends on the make and the age. It is worth asking directly rather than accepting a full replacement as automatic, because when a bonnet is available it is a substantially smaller job.
The parts generally are not, but availability collapses and lead times stretch, and scarcity has its own effects. This is the practical argument for closing the isolation valve and waiting a fortnight rather than accepting the first slot offered: with the water off, nothing is deteriorating and there is no January irrigation to miss.
The full price table, repair by repair, across the system.
The ten-minute job this whole page is arguing for.
When a rebuild kit is the right answer and replacement is not.
The first ten minutes, and the queue that follows.
If a quote is outside these ranges there may be a good reason for it — a difficult position, a larger assembly, a riser that also failed. Say what the quote covers and where the property is.
Call (346) 605-8787 Describe the Problem
Houston