Expert Irrigation Systems in Santa Barbara & Ventura

An efficient irrigation system is the lifeline of a vibrant, healthy landscape. When properly designed and executed, it’s a critical component that delivers the right amount of water precisely when your plants need it, ensuring they thrive and your property looks its best. For over 13 years, Cornerstone Landscapes has been the trusted expert in Santa Barbara and Ventura, building irrigation systems that reliably serve residential and commercial properties. We specialize in creating dream outdoor living spaces, from small residences to broadacre estates, ensuring your foliage and flowers flourish, attracting birds and pollinators, and significantly increasing your property's value. Beyond aesthetics, our commitment to water conservation and responsible water management is paramount, enhancing your quality of life while protecting precious resources.

Our Irrigation Services

Design & Build

Our irrigation systems are directly influenced by your plant design, which is why we offer customized irrigation systems designed for the specific needs of your property. Our approach ensures that your irrigation system is integrated, efficient, and tailored to the diverse plant palettes and topography of your outdoor space. We provide solutions that conserve water while maximizing the health and beauty of your landscape.
Smart Weather Technology

We incorporate the most advanced technology into our irrigation systems to optimize water usage. Our systems feature weather sensors, rain sensors, soil moisture sensors, and flow sensors with a master valve for automated shut-off if overwatering is detected. This intelligent technology manages your irrigation automatically, and is accessible from almost anywhere in the world, giving you full control via your phone or tablet. Depending on your system's requirements, we install both traditional systems and 2-wire technology for superior efficiency and the ability to expand the system in phases.
Ongoing Maintenance

Ensuring the longevity and optimal performance of your irrigation system is paramount. That's why we provide a minimum 1-year warranty on all our installations, giving us ample time to confirm a perfectly functioning system. To maintain peak efficiency, we recommend ongoing inspections performed by our experienced maintenance crew at least once a month. This proactive approach ensures your system consistently delivers the right amount of water, keeping your landscape healthy and beautiful, eliminating waste and reducing costs.

Water Management

Cornerstone Landscapes is committed to responsible water management, a critical consideration in California’s Central Coast. We build irrigation systems that adhere to water management standards set by cities, counties, and the State of California, which are fundamental to our irrigation systems, ensuring optimal water conservation without compromising landscape vitality.

Drought-Resistant Solutions

When a project demands it, we employ additional advanced technologies for responsible water management, such as rainwater catchment systems, cisterns, bio-retention basins, and for some commercial projects, recycled water applications.

Zoning & Control

Efficient irrigation is achieved through correct hydrozoning: the grouping plants with similar water needs under a single irrigation zone. This approach contributes to water efficiency by delivering precise amounts of water where it’s needed. Furthermore, all irrigation systems feature automated programming that ensures the least required water is delivered to each zone, preventing waste and promoting healthier plant growth by avoiding overwatering.

Importance of Having the Proper Irrigation System

Conserving Water & Reducing Costs

An irrigation system by Cornerstone Landscapes utilizes the minimum water required to keep your plants and sod healthy and thriving, to ensure the longevity of your landscape and significantly helps to save money on your water bills. To further fine-tune your system's efficiency, we recommend an annual water audit, allowing us to adjust programming and settings for optimal water conservation.

Get the Most Out of Your Landscaping

Your landscape represents a significant investment, directly contributing to your quality of life and substantially increasing your property's value. At Cornerstone Landscapes, we view the irrigation system as the best insurance to keep this investment consistently beautiful. A well-maintained system supports your plants to flourish, maximizing the aesthetic and functional returns on your outdoor space.

Drought Protection

In an era of unpredictable climate patterns, our irrigation systems offer crucial drought protection. Employing the latest technology, including weather prediction and sensing capabilities, our systems can identify periods of excessive heat or drought. During these critical times, they automatically increase watering times as needed to safeguard your landscape, ensuring your plants remain resilient and vibrant even in challenging conditions.

Things to Consider When Choosing an Irrigation System

Type of Soil

The soil type on your property profoundly affects the ideal irrigation strategy. Sandy soil, with its high permeability, requires more frequent watering but with shorter durations to prevent runoff or water from bypassing the plant’s root zone. Loamy soil exhibits moderate permeability, necessitating standard frequency and watering times. Clay soil has low permeability, demanding less frequent watering cycles to avoid overwatering, but with slightly longer durations to allow for proper infiltration to the plant's root zone Understanding your soil type is crucial for efficient irrigation.

Topography & Landscape Needs

The site topography plays a significant role in irrigation programming and design. A flat site more easily supports plants as water infiltrates readily into the root zone. However, a steeper site is prone to irrigation run-off if not addressed correctly. At Cornerstone Landscapes, we employ several effective solutions for sloped areas, including multiple shorter watering cycles with breaks between each run to ensure proper infiltration. We also utilize techniques like building small "check dams" (miniature moats) around plant root zones to contain water, and thoughtful site contouring with boulders and jute netting to create soil stability and level planting pockets.

Types of Vegetation

The types of vegetation in your landscape directly dictate their water requirements. Drought-tolerant plants may only need a deeper watering every 2-4 weeks, thriving with less frequent but deeper watering. Low-water-using plants generally require regular water but might only need a moderate depth watering once per week. Medium-water plants, conversely, may need a moderate depth watering 2-3 times per week. For trees, whether they have low or medium water needs, they consistently prefer deeper watering that thoroughly saturates their entire root zone to promote strong, healthy growth.