Question
Hello,
I just turned my sprinklers back on today now that we are safely out of the winter months.  I noticed that one zone of sprinkler heads was not popping up but water was slowly leaking from each head.  I also noticed a large amount of water soaking onto the sidewalk where there was no sprinkler head.  I dug around the area and found that the irrigation pipe had a huge crack in it.  It's at least 4 feet long.  I got sick of digging up my front lawn so I decided to stop there.

1)  My landscaper winterized my system in October by blowing out the piping with an air compressor.  How could this huge crack occur if there was no water in the line?  Did my landscaper do a poor job winterizing?  Do I have a legitimate gripe to ask him to fix this?

2) If not, what's the typical cost to get something like this fixed?  I assume that worst case scenario, the pipe from one sprinkler head to the next needs to be replaced.  Hopefully there aren't any other leaks.

Thanks for the advice.

Answer
That's how we blow out lines so it's normal to use an air compressor. Sometimes water gets trapped in elbows and other areas if you don't do it well enough. I would gripe. To fix something like that cost as much as the materials ($20-$25) and then whatever the labor cost is. We charge $65hr. This repair should take an hour or less. You should always have an irrigation expert take care of your system. Not to bad mouth landscapers but irrigation experts just do irrigation and that's it. Hope it all goes ok!