Irrigation designers share how design software helped execute noteworthy projects
Company: Utah West Landscape Design-Build
Software: PRO Landscape by Drafix Software
Brad Curtis, owner of Utah West Landscape Design-Build, has used PRO Landscape since around 2007 and has been designing irrigation projects for 22 years. Utah West Landscape Design-Build provides landscape design/build and irrigation services for high-end residential clients and commercial projects.
Curtis says PRO Landscape allowed his company to transition from hand-drawn irrigation designs to digital designs. This has allowed him to make modifications and pipe size changes as needed on projects with a click of a button. While Curtis says PRO Landscape has been a tremendous tool for all his projects, one he was subcontracted to design was a 40-acre community with retention ponds, playgrounds and common areas. Curtis says PRO Landscape helped him calculate the points of connection for the civil drawings and the estimated water use for the irrigation system.
“I was able to determine how many points of connection that they needed to prepare for this particular project and supplies for this project.”
PRO Landscape also made it easy for Curtis to make modifications as the sizes of parking lots or the park changed. He could pull in the new drawings and cut and paste his mockups over the new designs in either CAD or PDF files and modify the sprinkler systems. PRO Landscape also provided detailed information on head placements, pipe counts and pipe sizing. He said this came in handy because the architectural firm he was working with put the job out for bid.
“Since that project, I’ve been able to secure more and more projects, because they liked the way it looked,” he says.
Company: RPickering Design Service
Software: Pro Contractor Studio
Bob Pickering, owner of RPickering Design Service in Dallas, which serves a mix of residential and commercial clients, recently worked on a commercial irrigation project that he says he wouldn’t have been able to do without Pro Contractor Studio.
He’s been using Pro Contractor Studio since 2008. Pickering says he was able to use the software to calculate the most economical mainline and zones while maintaining proper water pressure for this project in a community shopping center.
For example, a commercial job uses 4-inch sleeves and schedule 40 pipes. For this project, he added a little extra sleeving to be conservative, which alarmed the client who said the extra sleeving cost him an extra $6 a foot and asked Pickering to create a more economical design. Pickering said he was able to refine the project in about 45 minutes using Pro Contractor Studio and knock several thousand dollars off the cost.
“I saved him a lot of money,” he says. “I would not have been able to do that without that program.”
