New Orleans, LA
IRRIGATION / SPRINKLER ESTIMATING.

## Irrigation Estimating in New Orleans Is Not Like Anywhere Else New Orleans sits at or below sea level across most of its footprint. That single fact shapes every irrigation job you take. Poorly designed systems don't drain — they flood. Clay-heavy Sharkey and Crowley soil series dominate the metro, which means infiltration rates run slow and head spacing decisions that work in Houston or Atlanta will create standing water in Lakeview or Gentilly. You already know this. The problem is that generic estimating spreadsheets don't know it, and they cost you margin on every bid. ## What Makes New Orleans Bids Harder to Price **Lot geometry.** Creole cottage lots in the Marigny and Bywater are narrow and deep — sometimes 30 feet wide by 120 feet long. Standard rectangular zone layouts don't fit. You're cutting custom arcs, managing head throw overlaps in tight side yards, and routing laterals around century-old live oak roots that aren't on any plan. **Soil and drainage.** The slow percolation of the regional clay soils means you're often specifying matched precipitation rate heads across every zone. That adds head count and pipe footage. If your takeoff tool doesn't let you adjust per-zone head counts and pipe runs independently, you're guessing at material cost. **Salt air corrosion.** Systems within a mile of Lake Pontchartrain or the river need brass or high-grade plastic components. Material substitutions mid-estimate blow up your numbers if you don't have a saved cost workspace you can pull from job to job. **Permit and inspection cadence.** The City of New Orleans requires a plumbing permit for backflow preventer installation on any new irrigation connection to potable water. That fee adds to your job cost and needs to be line-itemed on every commercial bid. ## How Estimate.Pro Handles It Estimate.Pro is built for irrigation contractors as one of 25 supported trades. You walk the property, take AR-assisted measurements on supported devices, and the app builds a scope-of-work draft from what you capture. Camera and photo measurements are flagged as estimates so you never send a number you can't defend. From there you're working in a priced estimate — not a blank template. Your saved material cost workspace carries your supplier pricing for heads, controllers, valves, poly pipe, and fittings. When you swap a rotor head for a matched-precipitation alternative because the lot is narrow, the line item updates. You're not re-entering unit costs from memory. Median time from walkthrough to sendable bid is 8 minutes. That matters on a residential maintenance call in Mid-City where you have three other stops before noon. ## Scope Items the App Prompts You to Include - Backflow preventer (required by New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board on potable connections) - Controller and rain sensor (Louisiana law requires rain sensors on all new automatic systems) - Zone-by-zone head count with matched precipitation rate notation - Lateral and mainline pipe footage by zone - Sleeve under hardscape - Valve box and manifold labor - Startup and winterization (less critical here than in northern climates, but relevant for the rare hard freeze) - Permit allowance line item ## Pricing Estimate.Pro runs on a free forever tier — no credit card required. If you process client payments through the app, the Free plan carries a 3% Stripe Connect platform fee. Pro is $39 per seat per month and drops that fee to 0%. Elite is $79 per seat per month and adds invoice exports and full Stripe Connect workflows. Crew is $399 per month flat for multi-crew operations. ## Built for the Way New Orleans Contractors Work Most irrigation jobs in this market are residential retrofits on properties built before 1970, with no irrigation history and no existing as-built drawings. You're starting from zero on every site. The faster you can convert a walkthrough into a professional, itemized bid, the more jobs you can look at in a week — and the more you win. Estimate.Pro does not replace your expertise on New Orleans soils and lot conditions. It removes the administrative time between the site visit and the signed contract.