Irrigation contractors run on PVC pipe, polyethylene laterals, brass fittings, and Rain Bird and Hunter components — all sourced from a handful of distributors who price against live commodity markets. Your distributor's pricing system updates when resin and copper move. The Overcharge Ledger makes sure what hits your invoices is what you actually agreed to pay.
Irrigation contractors operate inside the broader landscaping services industry (NAICS 561730), which IBISWorld reports at $188.8 billion in U.S. revenue in 2025 with over 600,000 businesses. Irrigation installation and service is one of the highest-material-intensity segments of that industry — every system installed requires PVC mainline, polyethylene lateral pipe, brass and plastic fittings, copper wire, and a controller and head set sourced from a small number of dominant manufacturers. All of those materials are commodity-backed. All of them move. And most irrigation contractors buy from the same concentrated distributor network.
SiteOne Landscape Supply — the largest national wholesale distributor of landscape supplies in the U.S. — reported $4.54 billion in annual revenue for fiscal 2024 across 690+ branches serving 430,000+ professional contractors. For most irrigation contractors, SiteOne or a regional equivalent is the primary supplier relationship. That relationship is exactly where the Ledger works.
New construction and retrofit sprinkler and drip systems for single-family homes. High volume, standardized components — heads, valves, PVC mainline, poly laterals, controller. Component pricing from distributors like SiteOne is active and quote-to-invoice gaps are common on larger residential jobs.
Large-scale systems for office parks, HOAs, municipalities, sports fields, and highway medians. Larger pipe diameters, commercial-grade controllers from Rain Bird and Hunter, and valve manifolds. Multi-week installations where material pricing can move between bid and delivery.
Drip tape, polyethylene mainline, filtration systems, and central control platforms. High yardage of pipe and large fitting orders. Agricultural irrigation also uses brass and stainless fittings at connection points — all commodity-priced materials with active price histories.
Ongoing maintenance, winterization, spring startup, and component replacement. Heads, solenoid valves, controller boards, and wire connectors billed per service call without agreed pricing. Across a full service season with hundreds of calls, unquoted parts spend compounds with no single invoice large enough to flag.
Controller upgrades, weather-based sensors, and flow monitoring retrofits. Hardware from Rain Bird, Hunter, Toro, and Orbit priced by the distributor at the time of sale — often without a quote on file from a prior bid. The Ledger captures unquoted hardware spend across the full account history.
The irrigation supply chain runs through a concentrated distribution network. SiteOne Landscape Supply is the largest single player — $4.54B in annual sales, 690+ branches, and a product catalog covering every irrigation component from pipe and fittings to controllers and heads. Most irrigation contractors buy the majority of their materials from SiteOne or one of a handful of regional equivalents.
The manufacturer side is equally concentrated. Rain Bird, Hunter Industries, and Toro dominate rotor heads, valves, and controllers. That means pricing on components flows from manufacturer to a small number of distributors to your account — and the distributor sets the price your invoice reflects, not the manufacturer's list. What your distributor invoices versus what you quoted is exactly what the Ledger reads.
The largest U.S. wholesale distributor of landscape and irrigation supplies. $4.54B annual revenue, 690+ branches, 430,000+ contractor customers. Carries irrigation pipe, fittings, heads, valves, controllers, wire, and drip products. siteone.com
One of the two dominant manufacturers of sprinkler heads, valves, drip emitters, and controllers. Products distributed through SiteOne and regional irrigation supply houses. List pricing is published — what your distributor invoices against that list is the gap the Ledger measures. rainbird.com
Co-dominant with Rain Bird in commercial and residential irrigation heads and controllers. Hunter's Pro-C, ICC2, and HC controller lines are standard on commercial accounts. Pricing on controllers and heads varies by distributor — not always tied to a quoted price per job. hunterindustries.com
Third major manufacturer — rotors, valves, and drip irrigation. Strong in commercial and golf course markets. Toro products flow through the same distributor network. Price movement on Toro components between bid and invoice is a documented pattern the Ledger catches. toro.com
Ewing Irrigation, John Deere Landscapes (legacy network), and independent regional distributors carry the same Rain Bird, Hunter, and Toro lines alongside PVC, poly pipe, and fittings. Regional pricing can vary significantly from branch to branch — and from what you quoted to what you were invoiced.
PVC pipe is a petroleum derivative — its price tracks ethylene and chlorine feedstock costs, which track crude oil and natural gas. Polyethylene lateral pipe is the same story. Brass fittings track copper and zinc. Copper wire for valve wiring tracks COMEX copper. Every primary material in an irrigation system has a commodity index behind it, and your distributor's pricing reflects every move in that index — whether or not your quote does.
The BLS PPI for Plastics Pipe (PCU3261223261221) reached 392.514 in January 2026 — nearly 4× the 1982 baseline. The PPI for Plastics Pipe Fittings and Unions (PCU3261223261223) hit 449.959 in February 2026, up 2.1% from October. And the copper wire and cable PPI (WPU10260314) reached 540.124 in February 2026 — directly impacting your valve wiring costs.
SiteOne and regional distributors price against all of these inputs in real time. Your original quotes do not update automatically. The gap between those two numbers is what the Ledger finds. We record it. We measure it. We verify it. We do not provide financial advice.
When you buy PVC, poly pipe, fittings, and wire from SiteOne or a regional house across a full season of installs, the price per unit on those components moves — sometimes monthly. No individual invoice shows the full picture. The Ledger holds every invoice simultaneously, maps every component price against what you were originally quoted, and finds every gap.
Commodity-priced pipe, concentrated distributors, and a seasonal install cycle where volume obscures individual line items. These are the conditions where overcharge patterns compound fastest.
Schedule 40 PVC quoted for mainline. Schedule 30 or thin-wall pipe delivered and billed at Schedule 40 pricing. Same outside diameter, different wall thickness, different pressure rating, lower cost to the distributor. The description on the invoice reads "1" PVC pipe" — only the schedule number buried in the SKU reveals the substitution.
Rain Bird or Hunter rotor heads quoted by model number at a specific nozzle range and arc configuration. A lower-tier model or previous generation head delivered — same brand name on the box, different model number, lower distributor cost. The invoice line reads "Rain Bird rotor" on both the quote and the delivery.
Fittings ordered and invoiced by the bag or individual piece. Delivered quantity short of billed quantity — bags shorted, loose counts inflated. On a large commercial install with hundreds of elbows, tees, and couplings, a consistent short-count per delivery accumulates into real overcharge before the job closes.
PVC and poly pipe priced at the start of install season. As the season progresses and resin costs move, the distributor adjusts per-foot pricing without issuing a change order. Each purchase order carries a slightly higher unit price. Across a full season of installs buying from the same account, the cumulative creep is significant.
Rain Bird or Hunter controller specified by model. Distributor delivers the current year model — which may be spec-equivalent but carries a higher list price than the prior model quoted. Invoice reflects new model pricing against a quote that specified the superseded model, with no substitution disclosure.
Solenoid valves, diaphragm kits, wiring connectors, and valve boxes replaced on service calls with no agreed price. Distributor prices them at the time of the order. Across a full service season with dozens of accounts and hundreds of service calls, unquoted parts spend is the largest single source of not-in-quote billing for irrigation contractors.
The Ledger produces a complete proof package for your irrigation supplier relationships — SiteOne, regional supply houses, or direct manufacturer accounts. Every discrepancy documented back to its source. Quote. Invoice. Line item. Dollar amount.
One distributor, hundreds of SKUs, a full season of purchases. The Ledger holds all of it simultaneously — the only way to see what no single invoice ever shows.
Every overcharge sourced and documented. Hand it to your SiteOne rep, your regional supply house, or your attorney — every number comes from their own invoices and your own quotes.
Every instance where what was delivered differed from what was quoted — by pipe schedule, head model, fitting specification, or controller generation. Documented and priced.
Every service part, valve, fitting, and wire connector billed without an agreed price — exported as a spreadsheet. Send it to your distributor. They now have to respond with formal pricing.
Your invoice price history mapped against BLS PPI for plastics pipe, pipe fittings, and copper wire. See where your distributor's price increases track the market — and where they don't.
Full methodology documentation structured for your attorney — how every match was made, how every discrepancy was flagged, and how every source document was identified.
Monthly service. Flat rate. Cancel anytime. No contract required to start.