Frequently Asked Questions

There are two types of certifications that we can talk about in the irrigation and sprinkler system business. The first type of certification is a mandatory certification (usually called Licensing) at the state level in the USA. I have listed below the states, according to Google, that require you to be certified to do irrigation work. I can't speak for every state, but I know that some states do have loopholes or exceptions to being licensed. There may be a certain dollar amount of work exempted, maybe up to $2500 per property per year. The point is to contact the state office and look into the details of the certification process. You may have some on-ramp time that allows you to get started and making a little bit of money as you work on the Licensing process. Please check with your state.

The other type of certification is a skill set to be learned for competence in the business. For the mandatory License mentioned above, many times this indicates only that you know some rules, regulations, and book knowledge. What the Certification from Pro Irrigation Training provides you is working knowledge of the business. For our Professional Irrigation Technician Program, there are eight individual courses and over 190 videos that teach you every individual aspect of the sprinkler system business. Each lesson is taught by a technician with over 20 years of field experience.

There are other organizations that provide certifications that deal with different aspects of sprinkler system management. We would never disparage these organizations, for I have held a certification with one of them myself, and I considered it at least a decent beginner education. But there was no product knowledge, no hands-on training, no demonstration videos, and definitely not the level of field knowledge and detail that we provide. Plus, one must continue to take (and pay for, of course) Continuing Education Credits to keep the certification. Pro Irrigation Training is not trying to compete with those organizations but rather provide a different type of training. Plus, there are no further classes to take or money to spend to maintain the PIT Certification from us. It's yours to keep forever.

Our Program is designed to be a crash course, Basic Training, Irrigation 101 school. Put a new employee in the Program their first week, then put them in the field with an experienced person the second week. They will have at least seen and possibly performed all the common basic actions that a tech will need to do.

States Requiring Licensing

Connecticut Irrigation Trades Licensing

Louisiana Nursery and landscape licensing | Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry

North Carolina Home - NCICLB

Texas Occupational Licenses: Landscape Irrigator, Irrigation Technician, and Irrigation Inspector - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality - www.tceq.texas.gov

California CSLB-Home -CSLB (Landscape Contractor's License with Irrigation subcategory)

New Jersey New Jersey Department of Community Affairs |

Oregon Oregon Landscape Contractors Board (LCB) : Steps to Becoming Licensed : State of Oregon

Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training - Division of Professional Regulation - Plumbers, Irrigators, and Water Filtration

To determine how long it takes to become an irrigation technician in the USA, we have two different circumstances to consider. The circumstances are; some states require you to be certified to do the work, and other states do not require anything. State level professional certifications seem to have less to do with actual competence as they do with holding down competition by creating a barrier to entry. If you can pass a test, it definitely proves that you have some book knowledge, and that's not a bad thing. Until you get in the field, of course.

Pro Irrigation Training is devoted to Competency Training. We give you all the knowledge you need to go straight to the field and begin earning good money. We have nearly 200 videos in the Certification Course we offer, covering every basic aspect of irrigation / sprinkler system installation and repair. 37 of those videos contain "Skill Builder Exercises" that you can follow along with and become very confident in all operations.

A new technician can complete the 19 hours of video training, along with quizzes and Skill Builder Exercises in a single week. Then, that new tech is ready to be taken into the field for supervised field training with an experienced tech or mentor.

In our opinion, irrigation isn't very difficult to learn. There are some fundamentals that one needs to understand early on. The first thing to learn is Water Hydraulics, also known as Fluid Dynamics. The concepts of Pressure, Flow, Friction Loss, and Velocity aren't difficult to grasp, but if you don't understand the relationship between these factors, you will never be an effective troubleshooter. 

Beyond Water Hydraulics, a new tech should understand system design and layout. Because 90% of a sprinkler system is underground, one must have a mental visualization of how the system *should* have been installed. This comes from studying the basics of system design, as well as actually participating in a few installations.

After learning Water Hydraulics and System Design, the last step to being a great irrigation tech is to become familiar with the parts and components that are available on the market now and in the past. Knowing how to adjust different sprinklers, rebuild certain valves, and program a wide variety of timers is absolutely essential to being fast, effective, and profitable.

Determining an average wage for an irrigation tech is difficult. Across the USA, there's a wide range of wages for an employee or profit for a business owner. We've spoken with business owners in Florida that have a starting wage of ~$90,000 USD. In my market in South Carolina, one of the lower wage per capita states, most techs appear to be making around the national average income of $68k USD.

The are a number of factors that can account for this: competition, actual need for supplemental irrigation, local economy, market size, and so forth. There can also be some positive factors, lack of trained competition, or maybe your competition only installs and doesn't service. Consider all these factors when weighing a career change or starting a new business.

Our advice is to always create a differentiation between your company (or yourself) and the market. The best way to do this is to focus on training, competency, and reliability. Companies that master these factors will always be able to dominate their markets and charge a top rate, if that's their desire. Individuals who master these will always be in demand and be able to command a top wage.

In our opinion, adding Sprinkler System Service to Landscaping is one of the best service additions in the industry. Landscape Maintenance Techs are on a property weekly in many cases and can see potential issues in turf and ornamental plants before it becomes too big of a problem. It's in the landscaper's best interest to keep the irrigation system running to make sure the property looks it's best. 

Maintenance contracts are a great way to keep your revenue steady and predictable. It's quite easy to include a Spring Start Up and Winterization to the maintenance contract. 

A landscaping business doesn't necessarily even have to be the top irrigation experts. I recommend they become proficient in tune-ups, adjusting heads, programming timers, etc. When the crazy, time-consuming problems pop up, have a great, experienced irrigation company or tech on speed dial.