Irrigation work sits at an awkward intersection: it touches your drinking-water supply, it is mostly buried where you cannot inspect it, and it attracts seasonal operators who appear every fall with a compressor and disappear by December. New Jersey noticed, which is why the state regulates who may do this work. Here is how to vet anyone you are about to hire, including us.

Start with the legal baseline

  1. State certification. New Jersey law requires landscape irrigation contractors to be certified, and the state has issued consumer alerts about unlicensed irrigation work. Ask for the certification number; a legitimate contractor volunteers it.
  2. Insurance. Liability and workers' compensation, stated in writing. Trenching, plumbing, and electrical work on your property without it is your risk, not theirs.
  3. Backflow credentials. Your system's backflow preventer protects the drinking water, and water purveyors generally require periodic backflow testing by a certified tester. A company with certified backflow testers on staff closes the compliance loop. A company that has never heard of your purveyor's requirement is telling you something.

Then judge the craft

  1. A design conversation, not just a price. A real installer measures flow and pressure, asks about pets and future patios, and explains zoning. A price quoted from the curb is a coverage problem you will discover in August.
  2. Head-to-head coverage and matched precipitation, in writing. Those two phrases in a proposal separate designed systems from sprayed ones.
  3. Who actually shows up. Ask whether irrigation crews are in-house or subcontracted. In-house means the people who designed it answer for it. At American Lawn & Sprinkler, irrigation work is performed by our own crews.
  4. What happens after the install. Winterization scheduling, spring start-ups, warranty terms, the parts they stock. Irrigation is a relationship purchase; the install is week one.
  5. Look at the backflow. Ask to see photos of their installed assemblies. A clean, tidy drop pipe that respects the house tells you how they treat the parts you cannot see.
American Lawn & Sprinkler crew members standing beside a lettered company truck
Judge the craft by what you can see: a lettered truck, a crew in company gear, heads set square to grade. The parts you can see predict the parts you cannot.

The red flags, plainly

A quote wildly under everyone else's. No certification number on the paperwork. "We do not bother with the backflow test, nobody checks." Cash only. No local address, or a phone that goes nowhere in January. A bargain blowout flyer from a truck with no company name; the freeze damage we repair every spring disproportionately follows those flyers.

Questions to ask (copy and paste these)

  1. What is your New Jersey landscape irrigation certification number?
  2. Who performs and files my backflow test?
  3. Will my proposal state head-to-head coverage and matched precipitation?
  4. Are your irrigation crews in-house? Who do I call in January?
  5. How is winterization quoted, and do program customers get route priority?
  6. What is the warranty on parts and labor, and what brand do you install?

Any established local company should answer all six without flinching. We do. It is a two-minute conversation: 1-888-388-9600.

QUICK ANSWERS

Frequently asked questions

Yes. New Jersey requires landscape irrigation contractors to hold state certification, and the state has warned consumers about unlicensed operators.

Two or three is plenty if they are all certified contractors quoting the same designed scope. Ten quotes on ten different scopes tells you nothing.

An improper purge leaves water in low spots and heads, damage you discover in April. The money saved is the most expensive money in irrigation.

They keep records of your system, stock your parts, answer in winter, and their maintenance customers get fall priority. Continuity is the actual product.