TECHNOLOGY
BY KATIE NAVARRA U
pgrading an irrigation system to use smart con- trollers can have a big payoff for clients. Just ask the managers at the Seascape Resort in Santa Cruz, California. In just 12 months, K&D Land-
scaping in Watsonville, California, cut their client’s water usage by 1 million gallons. Tat generated nearly 30% cost savings or about $35,000 in water bills in one year, according to Justin White, CEO of K&D Landscaping. “It’s hard to put an exact number on the dollar savings
because of fines the resort was paying, but it was clear the reduction in water usage offset the budget of the entire project,” White says. “It was pretty exciting to provide that report to the ownership team.” Te resort spans 40 acres, watered with a nearly 30-year-
old irrigation system operated and maintained by the resort maintenance staff. In 2021, K&D Landscaping secured the resort as a new maintenance client and pitched their newly established water management services. “Te resort’s aesthetic is very important to the owner-
ship group as well as being stewards of the environment through conservation,” White says. “So, the project had to balance those two goals.”
As commercial properties look for cost savings amid
inflation and increasing conservation legislation, smart irrigation controllers offer a viable solution. But more than being an option for solving these challenges, smart controllers offer equal benefits to those who install them, according to White. “Smart controllers have been around for a long time
and are maybe a bit intimidating for people to start with,” he says. “But they are probably one of the best tools we have as irrigators to save our clients money and water and also reduce our drive time and labor hours.”
Selling the upgrade
White could see the potential benefits, and the resort management team was on board too, but it took a solid sales process to seal the deal. Resorts, like most commer- cial properties, are cost-sensitive. White says selling the services started with preparing a financial analysis show- ing a projected return on investment for the proposed conversion of 16 traditional controllers to Wi-Fi-enabled smart controllers.
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