The first automatic cycle of spring is when freeze cracks announce themselves as geysers. A 20-minute walk with the clock in manual saves a flooded parkway and a high bill. Texas spring also means resetting seasonal adjust that was left at 10% from January.
This guide is written for Texas systems — Blackland clay in Plano, freeze risk in Round Rock, watering rules from City of Plano. It is not a national blog with the city name swapped in. If the hardware is already failing, skip to winterization & spring start-up or call 888-427-5022.
What spring sprinkler start-up actually looks like on a Texas lawn
You turned it on from the app, left for work, and a neighbor called about a fountain. Or nothing came on because the rain sensor is still “wet” from winter. Or everything came on at January minutes and the lawn is still brown.
In Plano the same symptom often traces to smart-controller retrofits and HOA audits. In Round Rock we see more freeze and heave. In Fort Worth (Fort Worth Water) the program may be legal but the heads are wrong. Do not assume the YouTube fix matches City of Plano pressure.
Diagnose before you buy parts
Order of operations matters. Controller and rain sensor first, then the valve box, then heads with water on, then a shovel. Skipping steps is how people replace nozzles when the solenoid is open, or trench for a “root problem” when station 4 is dead at the clock.
- Inspect the backflow for cracks before you pressurize.
- Open valves slowly. A slammed ball valve hammers old pipe.
- Run each zone from manual. Watch, do not assume.
- Clean nozzles, raise sunken heads, note leaks.
- Set a spring program, not last August’s program. Enable rain skip correctly.
Keep a notepad of zone numbers. The FAQ covers the phone questions we ask so the truck shows up with the right fittings.
Parts that actually last in this climate
A few nozzles, a couple of heads, maybe a solenoid that sat in a wet box all winter. That is a start-up. A cracked backflow is a start-up that became a repair — we call that out immediately.
We use matched-precipitation nozzles when we change a head, and we flush grit after a pipe cut so the next screen does not pack. Brand-specific notes live in the blog as well — start with Sprinkler Emergency Shutoff, Broken Sprinkler Head Repair in Texas, Sprinkler Head Not Popping Up.
What it costs in Texas (ranges, not bait)
A start-up visit is a planned, finite walk-through. Repairs found during it are quoted before we do them, except active gushers we will shut down.
A written quote before work is the rule. See Winterization & Spring Start-up for what a typical visit includes, and the full service list if more than one system is involved.
DIY vs calling a licensed irrigator
You can walk zones. If you see a crack in brass, stop and shut water off. If you do not remember how to run manual on your clock, that is what we are for.
Texas licenses landscape irrigators for a reason: backflow, buried electric, and municipal rules. If you are in Plano, Round Rock, or Fort Worth, start on the city page — Plano, Round Rock, Fort Worth — then book.
Mistakes that turn a one-hour job into a weekend
- Enabling all programs at once from a phone in the parking lot.
- Leaving seasonal adjust at a winter value and blaming the grass.
- Ignoring a small leak at a head because “it’s just start-up.”
How this ties to other repairs
Winterize in the fall so spring is boring. Tune-ups and dry-spot coverage belong after the system actually runs.
Coverage problems after a “fix” usually mean the program was never updated. Pair mechanical work with controller programming and, on clay, cycle-and-soak — not a longer single runtime.
What a good visit looks like on our trucks
We do not start with a parts cannon. Controller and sensor, then the box, then water-on, then dirt if the lateral is the problem. That order is how you avoid replacing a clock for a cut wire, or trenching a puddle that is eight feet from the break. If you want the short phone version, the FAQ is enough. If you want the long version, you are already in it.
Texas jobs change by metro even when the part number does not. Plano clay hides water. Round Rock actually freezes brass. Fort Worth bills you through a different utility window. A national blog that only swaps the city name is how Google ends up indexing one page. We write the local constraint in the article because it changes the repair.
Bring zone numbers, whether the problem is new or slow, whether anyone dug recently, and whether the meter moves when everything should be off. Those four answers route the call — leak truck vs simple head work vs controller power path. Book on contact or call 888-427-5022.
Frequently asked
When is spring in Houston vs Dallas?
Houston may run almost year-round. Dallas has a real off season. Do not copy programs across metros.
Should I fertilize the same day?
Not before you know the water lands in the right place.
Need it fixed, not diagnosed over email? Call 888-427-5022 or use the contact page. Same-day windows are for active leaks and stuck-on valves. Everything else we schedule on emergency vs standard priority.
Texas context we will not skip
Gulf clay, Blackland prairie, and Edwards rock do not share a repair script. A wet spot in Houston is not a freeze crack in Dallas, and a SAWS stage day is not a MUD watering window in Katy. We write those constraints because they change the parts on the truck and the program we leave on the clock.
If this article is about a part, still run isolation before you buy a case of that part. If it is about a city, still open the valve box before you trench the first damp patch. If it is about a clock, still measure the solenoid. That order is the whole business.
Call 888-427-5022. Use the contact page if you need a gate code on the ticket. Hub pages: services, service areas, blog.