[jyl]

I put in a sprinkler system in a prior house. Not hard, kind of fun actually, like gluing together a plastic model - but the trench digging wasn't.

At this point (weaker back, fatter wallet) I think ideal is to hire guys to dig the trenches - get the guys who wait for work outside Home Depot, have trenches staked out, sticks to mark exactly how deep you want it. Then assemble the system yourself.

Get a good programmable controller. Do the water pressure calculations. Put in spare circuits. Have electrician hook up the controller, plumber hook up the manifold. Spend the $10 for a PVC pipe cutter, don't waste your time sawing. If you have to put pipe under sidewalk, connect length of PVC pipe to garden hose (glue pipe to screw fitting) and use water pressure to tunnel.