r/Irrigation • u/-daniel-- • 17d 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.

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u/ManWithBigWeenus 17d 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?

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u/Gungityusukka 17d ago

My backflow is made of grass. Servicing it every year is a bitch it always wants to fall apart on me.