Straight answers, no upsell.

Nine times out of ten it's a coverage gap, not a lack of water — a head that's clogged, aimed wrong, or sized for the wrong zone leaves a dry patch no matter how long the system runs. Turning up run time just wastes water on the areas that were already covered fine.

Once the risk of a hard freeze has passed for good — for Central Arkansas that's typically mid-to-late March. Starting too early risks a freeze cracking a line that's already pressurized.

A water bill that jumped for no obvious reason, one patch of yard that's always soggy, or noticeably lower pressure at the heads are the three big tells. Any one of those is worth a free system check before it gets worse.

If your system already runs on a fixed schedule regardless of rain, yes — a weather-based controller usually pays for itself in water savings within a season or two. If you're already adjusting it by hand regularly, the upgrade matters less.

Water left in the lines expands when it freezes and cracks pipes and valves — it's the single biggest cause of spring repair calls. A compressed-air blowout takes under an hour and prevents almost all of it.