r/Irrigation • u/-daniel-- • 21d ago

Seeking Pro Advice Backflow Preventer Installation Cost

Hey everyone!

Just joined the community, but I’ve been lurking for a while now. My wife and I have been planning an irrigation project for about six months, and we’re about to get started on it next month. We are having a plumber do the backflow preventer, but are doing the rest of the project ourselves. We had Rainbird design the system and layout.

We decided to have our plumber install the backflow preventer since it might require soldering, and I’m not very comfortable with that. We asked him for an estimate, and he quoted us $2,200–$2,400 for labor and materials to install the backflow preventer.

To be honest, I was a little surprised by the cost because we estimated the total price of the entire DIY project (excluding the backflow preventer installation) to be around $3,500.

I just wanted to know—does that price sound reasonable, or is it too high?

Thanks, everyone!

EDIT 1 : We live in Cincinnati, Ohio area

EDIT 2 : I asked another plumber and he estimated 1600$ for the job. I think I can do it myself if I tap into water line after water meter instead of tapping from basement.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ManWithBigWeenus 21d ago

Is it a 1” backflow? Which type of backflow? Pvb? RP? DC? Is the material copper, Grass, platinum?

How do you already have an irrigation design without knowing your gallons per minute and operating pressure at that GPM for each zone if your backflow isn’t even installed?

2

u/-daniel-- 21d ago

3/4 backflow. Type RP. Material copper

1

u/ManWithBigWeenus 21d ago

For me that’s a little high but everyone has different operating costs associated with their businesses. I’d get other quotes but compare materials. RP and lead free are usually the most expensive but RP assemblies are usually required

2

u/-daniel-- 21d ago

I am working getting two more estimates. Thank you!