In July the phone rings differently. Someone watching the lawn turn grey and the hedge planted in spring drop its leaves is not asking about a new terrace. They are asking how the water can reach the right spot on its own from now on. Germany's average annual rainfall over the 1961 to 1990 reference period is 789 millimetres (Deutscher Wetterdienst), and the long-term increase of roughly 8 per cent (Deutscher Wetterdienst) since 1881 falls almost entirely in winter, while summer rainfall has slightly declined. So it does not rain less over the year — it rains less often when plants need it. On many landscaping websites, irrigation still appears as a single word in a list. This article shows how to turn it into a service page of its own: the system explained as a chain, the water source cleanly separated, the permit position on groundwater stated correctly — and an enquiry form that settles area and source before anyone drives out.
Key takeaways
- Irrigation enquiries appear once the damage is visible. A page that is findable in August collects enquiries for two dates a year instead of one.
- A system is a chain: source, pump, backflow prevention, controller, zone valves, delivery. Explaining it in that order makes the quote comprehensible instead of turning it into a parts list.
- Lawn and beds are two zones with different technology and different demand. That is why lawn area and bed area belong in the enquiry form as separate fields.
- A large share of the effort is decided at the water source. Mains supply, cistern and well lead to different systems — and a well adds a procedure with lead time.
- Spring commissioning and autumn winterising are not a one-off job but a care package. It carries the system for years and fills two quiet weeks in the working year.
Why the enquiry appears in a dry summer
Drought in a garden is not an even event but a run of weeks without rain at the wrong time. From early February to mid-April 2025, the area average was only around 40 litres per square metre (Deutscher Wetterdienst), roughly 68 per cent (Deutscher Wetterdienst) below the 1991 to 2020 reference period; it was the driest such phase since this record began in 1931. Across the whole of 2025, 642 millimetres (Deutscher Wetterdienst) fell, against a 789 millimetre (Deutscher Wetterdienst) average for 1961 to 1990, and spring alone came in 44 per cent (Deutscher Wetterdienst) below the 1991 to 2020 average. For freshly planted trees and shrubs, that spring is precisely the critical phase.
On the other side sits consumption in households and small businesses. It runs at around 122 litres (BDEW) per person per day; the German Environment Agency reports 126 litres (Umweltbundesamt) for 2022, against 144 litres (Umweltbundesamt) in 1991. Cleaning, car care and garden use together account for about 6 per cent (Umweltbundesamt) of that — a small share on annual average that tips on hot days, when household demand can rise by up to 60 per cent (BDEW) because watering, showering and pool filling all happen at once. Anyone planning a system therefore plans against the two or three weeks when everything coincides, not against the annual mean.
For the business, this is mainly a scheduling problem. The enquiries arrive in July and August, when the crews are on building sites, and they arrive with a sentence like "we could do with some irrigation" — no area, no source, no indication of whether the garden has stood for ten years or is being laid out right now. How to spread such waves across the year is covered in the article on seasonal enquiries in landscaping; how the second season becomes visible on the website is set out under autumn work on your website.
Explain the system as a chain, not as a parts list
Customers ask about irrigation but mean a result: the garden should still be green after two weeks away in August. Between that expectation and the quote lies a technical chain that can be told in five links. Describing it in that order makes it comprehensible why two systems in the same village cost different amounts — without naming a single product.
Source, pressure and volume
It starts with where the water comes from and how much can flow at once. Mains supply, cistern and well deliver different volumes at different pressures. That figure decides how many zones have to run one after another — and therefore how long the whole system runs through a summer night.
Backflow prevention and filter
Between source and system belong a backflow protection device and a filter. Protecting drinking water against contamination by backflow is governed by the standard on protection devices (DIN EN 1717). The filter keeps sand from the cistern or well away from nozzles and valves and noticeably extends service life.
Controller and sensors
The controller switches the zones in sequence, usually in the early morning. A rain sensor or a soil moisture probe prevents watering in wet weather. More important than the type of device is the question of who adjusts the schedule when planting or weather changes.
Distribution and delivery
Pipes run from the valve box to the individual zones. On the lawn, pop-up sprinklers work in overlapping circles; in the bed, a drip line sits close to the roots. Putting both on the same valve typically produces a wet lawn and dry perennials.
These five links are the through-line for the service page, for the quote and for the conversation at the garden gate. They replace a catalogue with a story a customer can follow without looking up technical terms. How to translate technical processes into plain sentences in general is shown in the article on writing text customers understand.
Lawn and beds are two zones
How much water an area actually needs
Demand depends on four variables: area, planting, soil and sun exposure. Sandy soil takes water up quickly and gives it up quickly; loam stores it longer. A south-facing plot evaporates more than a north side. There is therefore no dependable blanket figure per square metre, and anyone who quotes one will have to correct it later. What is dependable is the method: mark out the zones first, then set a run time per zone, then adjust it through the first summer.
What can be said is the direction of travel. Summer rainfall in Germany has declined slightly over the long term, while winter rainfall has gained 48 millimetres (Deutscher Wetterdienst) since 1882, measured against a winter mean of 181 millimetres (Deutscher Wetterdienst) for the 1961 to 1990 period. The water increasingly falls outside the growing season. A store that fills in winter and gives up water in summer is therefore less an environmental gesture than a sober response to how rainfall is distributed across the year.
| Zone | Typical technology | What the service page should say about it |
|---|---|---|
| Lawn, sunny | Pop-up sprinklers in overlapping circles | Why the lawn has to be cut open for it and how quickly the seams close again |
| Perennial bed | Drip line close to the roots | That less water is needed here than on the lawn and the pipework disappears under the mulch |
| Hedge and shrubs | Drip line along the row | That young shrubs need more for two to three years than established planting |
| Pots and containers | Individual drippers on their own line | That this zone runs separately because pots dry out considerably faster |
| Shaded areas | Own zone with a shorter run time | That sun and shade should not hang off the same valve |
Water in the garden therefore connects to several other topics. Where standing water and its upkeep are concerned, the article on setting expectations for ponds is the natural neighbour; where infiltration and retention on paved surfaces are at stake, it is the article on unsealing as an enquiry driver. Both meet in the same question: where does the water go when it falls.
Where the water comes from: cistern, mains, well
The water source is the junction of the whole project. It determines pressure, available volume, running costs and official lead time. If it is only settled at the site visit, that visit is often used up before anyone has talked about zones. Four routes are common in a private garden, and each has its own consequence.
- Mains supply. Available immediately, but paid for as drinking water and limited in volume and pressure. The connection needs protection against backflow (DIN EN 1717); a separate garden meter can save the sewage charge on water that soaks away, where the local authority allows for it.
- Rainwater from a cistern. The obvious source for a garden, because the water is soft and already there. Planning, operation and labelling of such systems are described in the standard on rainwater harvesting (DIN 1989). The decisive detail is the top-up: it runs through a free air gap, not through a connection to the drinking water pipe.
- Well. Productive and cheap to run, but with lead time. The drilling has to be notified, and whether and how much may be abstracted is decided by the lower water authority. A water analysis belongs with it: iron and manganese clog nozzles and drip lines and stain light-coloured surfaces.
- Surface water from a pond or stream. It looks obvious, but it counts as use of a body of water under the law and therefore requires a permit (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz). For most private gardens this is the most laborious route and seldom the most economical.
Across all four routes the same rule applies: service water and drinking water stay separate systems. Pipes and outlets for non-potable water are permanently marked, and a connection between the two networks is not permitted (Trinkwasserverordnung). On a service page this paragraph is worth its space, because it shows the customer that the business knows the rules before it has to explain them.
No cross-connection between the networks
What has to be settled before drilling a well
Abstracting groundwater is in principle a use of a body of water and therefore requires a permit or a licence (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, § 8). For the household and for watering one's own garden, the law provides an exception: such abstraction is permit-free as long as no significant adverse effects on the water balance are to be expected (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, § 46). That freedom covers the abstraction only, not the hole in the ground. The drilling itself counts as breaking ground and must be notified to the competent authority at least one month before work begins (Wasserhaushaltsgesetz, § 49).
The federal states fill in this framework differently. In Lower Saxony, permit-free abstraction is governed by § 86 of the state water act (Niedersächsisches Wassergesetz), while other states attach additional volume thresholds. Two things follow for the business. First, the notification belongs in the workflow and in the schedule, because the authority is allowed time to review it. Second, no outcome is promised on the website: the sentence is not "a well is no problem" but a description of who notifies what and when, and that the lower water authority decides.
- Is there already a well, and how long has it been used for the garden?
- Is there a notification of the drilling or a water-law permit, and what does it cover?
- Is there a water analysis, in particular for iron, manganese and hardness?
- How deep does the groundwater sit in late summer, and how productive is the well by then?
- Does the plot lie in a water protection area or an area with abstraction restrictions?
These five questions cost two minutes in conversation and save a week later. The wording on the page matters: describe what gets checked rather than holding out an outcome. Which claims in advertising have to hold up is covered in the article on advertising with prices and claims; how to state an order of magnitude without committing to it is set out under showing prices on your website.
What belongs on the service page
A page of its own pays off as soon as a business builds irrigation regularly. It answers the questions otherwise asked on the phone, it makes the business findable at all for someone searching for an irrigation system, and it gives the offer a place to point to in conversation. Four building blocks carry that page.
A cross-section of the system
A simple drawing from the source through pump, backflow protection, filter and controller to sprinkler and drip line explains at a glance what a paragraph can only describe awkwardly. It also shows what sits below the surface — and makes clear why the lawn has to be cut open.
A zone plan with areas
A sample garden with lawn, bed and hedge zones and the matching square metres translates the technology into something a customer can compare with their own plot. At the same time it prepares exactly the details the form is about to ask for.
The water source in plain words
A section on mains supply, cistern and well with the consequences of each for volume, cost and lead time. The note on separating drinking water from service water belongs here too, because it shows diligence before anyone thinks to ask.
Operation, maintenance and running costs
What happens in spring and autumn, roughly what it costs and what the customer can handle themselves. This section sells the maintenance package without a sales conversation, and it prevents disappointment in the second year.
Pictures carry this page more than text does: the open trench, the installed valve box, the lawn four weeks later. How to collect and sort such shots is covered in the article on building a portfolio gallery; the implementation on our own site is shown on the portfolio gallery page.
Four fields that prepare the site visit
An irrigation form is not a general contact form with one extra field. It has one job: to prepare the site visit so that the visit pays for itself. Four details carry most of that load — lawn area, bed area, the existing water connection, and whether this is an established garden or a new build. Everything else is convenience.
- Lawn area in square metres. A rough figure is enough; it decides the number of zones and the run time overnight.
- Bed and hedge area, listed separately. Different technology, different demand, different run time — and a different material cost.
- Existing water connection. Mains supply, cistern, well or not yet decided: this single answer steers the whole rest of the quote.
- Established garden or new build. In an established garden the surface is cut open and closed again; in a new build the pipe goes into open ground before planting.
- Timeframe. Someone enquiring in August often wants to build the following spring; that detail noticeably relieves the running season.
- One or two photos. A picture of the garden saves more time on the phone than three additional required fields.
{
"form": "irrigation-enquiry",
"required": [
{ "name": "lawn_sqm", "label": "Lawn area in square metres" },
{ "name": "beds_sqm", "label": "Bed and hedge area in square metres" },
{ "name": "water_source", "label": "Water source",
"options": ["mains supply", "cistern in place", "well in place", "not decided"] },
{ "name": "existing", "label": "Existing garden or new build",
"options": ["existing garden", "new build in planning", "new build under way"] }
],
"optional": [
{ "name": "timeframe", "label": "Preferred period",
"options": ["this season", "next spring", "not decided"] },
{ "name": "photos", "label": "One or two photos of the plot" }
]
}More fields do not produce more clarity. An average checkout form contains 11.3 fields (Baymard Institute 2024), although six to eight (Baymard Institute 2019) usually turn out to be sufficient; every extra required field costs abandonments. For irrigation that means four required details, two optional ones, and the rest settled on the phone. How such a form is structured in principle is shown in the article on an enquiry form that qualifies; the finished implementation is on our enquiry form for landscaping page.
Two dates a year instead of one job
The commercially interesting part begins after handover. An irrigation system needs an hour of attention twice a year, and both dates fall in the same window for every customer. That is exactly what makes them plannable: they can be bundled into rounds and they fill the edges of the season, when the large sites are not yet running or no longer running.
March to April: commissioning
Fill the system, run each zone through in turn, clean and align the nozzles, set run times for the season. This is when winter damage shows up — with time to repair it, rather than in the middle of the heat.
May to August: adjusting
Two short checks in the main season are usually enough: adapt run times to the weather, straighten displaced nozzles, flush the filter. These visits can be combined with a maintenance round that was scheduled anyway.
October to November: winterising
Drain the system, blow out the lines, shut down valves and controller, and document it. Frost in filled pipes is typically the most common cause of damage that only comes to light in spring.
December to February: review and quote
The quiet period is when extensions can be discussed: an additional zone, a larger store, a soil moisture probe. Raising it in winter means selling without the time pressure of summer.
Fill the system, run each zone through in turn, clean and align the nozzles, set run times for the season. This is when winter damage shows up — with time to repair it, rather than in the middle of the heat.
Two short checks in the main season are usually enough: adapt run times to the weather, straighten displaced nozzles, flush the filter. These visits can be combined with a maintenance round that was scheduled anyway.
Drain the system, blow out the lines, shut down valves and controller, and document it. Frost in filled pipes is typically the most common cause of damage that only comes to light in spring.
The quiet period is when extensions can be discussed: an additional zone, a larger store, a soil moisture probe. Raising it in winter means selling without the time pressure of summer.
As a single line item each of these visits looks small. As a package inside a care contract it changes the calculation, because it recurs and the travel is spread across several customers. How to describe and offer maintenance work as a contract is covered in the article on maintenance contracts in landscaping; what ongoing care looks like technically and organisationally is shown on our maintenance page.
Twenty systems become forty appointments
Common mistakes on irrigation pages
The following points turn up regularly when reviewing landscaping websites. None of them is a gross blunder, yet each on its own stops a summer question from becoming a usable enquiry.
- Irrigation as a keyword only. One word in a list of services answers no question and is barely found by someone searching for an irrigation system.
- Components instead of a chain. Listing parts rather than explaining the route from source to surface loses the customer who does not yet know what they need.
- No area in the form. Without lawn and bed area, the site visit starts with measuring up, and the trip cannot be assessed beforehand.
- The water source stays open. Cistern, mains supply and well lead to different systems and different lead times; that question belongs before the visit, not in it.
- Prices without a basis. A price per square metre with no reference to zones, source and ground conditions typically does not survive contact with practice and produces awkward variations later.
- Not a word about maintenance. Leaving commissioning and winterising off the page gives away the recurring part of the job and hands it to the next contractor.
Irrigation is thus an example of a larger pattern: trades that disappear as a keyword carry a page of their own. The same holds for boundary work, as the article on fencing and screening measured in running metres shows, and for building greening, described as a project business in its own right in the article on green roofs and living walls. What is promised after handover and what is not is sorted out in the article on warranty in landscaping.
Sources and Studies
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