Irrigation Update — Irrigation Supply Line Challenges

by Meta L. Levin

Aperfect storm of the pandemic, bad weather, logistics, labor shortages and demand have served to send the irrigation industry – like most others – scrambling. “We got emails from suppliers weekly,” says Brett Gold, CTO and project manager for American National Sprinkler & Lighting. “We had to edit our price book throughout the year.”

He estimates that between March 2020 and the present, the cost of installing a $5,000 sprinkler system jumped to $6,500.

“It’s been an astounding year,” says Kevin Koss, divisional sales manager for the Great Lakes region for Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply. “We continue to see supply challenges in almost all categories.”

He points to March 2020 when the pandemic forced everything to shut down. “Manufacturers pulled back,” Koss says. “Employees couldn’t come in.” Many irrigation equipment manufacturers are in Mexico, where there also was a “massive shut down.” Three to four months later demand for work skyrocketed, in part because people who were working from home wanted to enhance their outdoor environment. “Demand continues to remain high,” he says.

The weather has played a part in the challenges, as well. For instance, Louisiana, which was plagued by fires and hurricanes, is the largest resin manufacturing location in the United States. Oregon, which is responsible for 80 to 90 percent of grass seed, has had severe rains in the winter and spring, followed by a summer drought.

In fact, Mike Martin, who heads Business Development and Commercial Sales for Mueller Mist irrigation, pinpoints some of the materials shortages to the February 2021 winter storm in the Dallas, TX area. He also noticed problems with getting PVC pipe in early 2020 and, he says, “It spiraled from there. I just heard that PVC is going to be an issue again this year.” Copper and brass prices have gone up every two weeks or so. “It’s tough keeping up.”

The well-known backup at some of the largest and busiest shipping ports also affected the industry, as did, says Koss, the lack of truck drivers and shipping containers.

All of this and more influenced prices. “We seem to be getting price increases weekly or monthly,” says Koss. These, of course, are passed along to customers – whether by suppliers to their contractor clients or contractors to their clientele.

“I had to raise prices across the board,” says Alex Mayfield, principal at JM Irrigation. From January 2021 to January 2022 Mayfield raised prices five times by approximately 30 percent. The cost of PVC pipe alone he estimates went up 200 percent in the last 18 months.

“It hit us hard, but I don’t think it was quite as hard as some of the smaller contractors,” says Martin. Mueller Mist typically works with three suppliers, which, he says, has allowed them to keep up with demand. If he needs 10 of a part, he might have to go to all three, getting a few from one suppler, a few more from the second and more from the third until he gets his 10.

Customers who postponed work and now want to get the project done are the ones most surprised by the price increases, says Laury Feldman, President of Sales for American National Sprinkler & Lighting. He points to some prospective clients with whom he talked with in early 2020, who have put off the work and now have decided, based on the 2020 prices, to get on with it. “There’s been significant price increases since then,” he says.