Family-run · Free estimates · Se habla español

(702) 338-6433
‹ Back to El Eden Landscaping

Yard guide

Rebates that pay for the work

Replacing grass with desert landscaping is one of the few home improvements around here that somebody else helps pay for. Between the water authority and your local water utility, a front lawn conversion can come back at several dollars a square foot.

Read this before you do anything else. You have to apply and get an approved site visit before the grass comes out. The water authority has to see the living lawn to measure it. Tear it out first and the conversion is ineligible — no exceptions, no appeal. This is the single most common way people lose thousands of dollars on this program.

Water Smart Landscapes — the turf rebate

This is the big one. The Southern Nevada Water Authority pays you per square foot of grass removed and replaced with desert landscaping.

PropertyFirst 10,000 sq ftBeyond that
Single-family home$5.00 / sq ft$2.50 / sq ft
Business, HOA, multifamily$5.00 / sq ft$1.50 / sq ft

Those are the base rates. Your water utility may add to them:

  • Las Vegas Valley Water District customers get a district top-up that brings it to $7.00 per square foot for the first 10,000 square feet, and $4.50 after that.
  • City of Henderson customers have had access to a one-time supplemental rebate on top of the authority's payment. Confirm the current amount with the city — this one is newer than the rest and worth a phone call.

Residential rebates run per property, per fiscal year — July 1 through June 30. The minimum conversion is 400 square feet, though smaller projects can be accepted if that's genuinely all the lawn there is.

What the finished landscape has to include

The rebate isn't for bare gravel. To pass the post-conversion inspection, the converted area needs:

  • Plants covering at least 50 percent of the area at full maturity
  • Low-flow drip irrigation — not spray heads
  • A filter and pressure regulator on the drip system
  • Mulch over the soil: decorative rock, bark, or permeable artificial turf. No bare dirt.
  • A conservation easement recorded with Clark County, which restricts the area permanently — the grass can't come back later

Deadlines

  • Finish the conversion and request inspection within 12 months of the approved site visit (extensions of up to 90 days on request)
  • Record the conservation easement within 18 months, or the rebate is forfeited

Trees — another $100 each

The Tree Enhancement Program pays $100 for each new qualifying tree planted as part of a conversion, up to full canopy coverage of the converted area. You have to be a current Water Smart Landscapes participant to qualify.

The tree has to be chosen from the authority's qualifying list and reach a canopy of at least 236 square feet — roughly a 20-foot spread at maturity. Henderson customers have had an additional per-tree amount on top.

This is worth planning for at design time rather than after. Shade over a west-facing wall does more for your summer water use and your cooling bill than almost anything else you can plant.

Smart irrigation controllers

  • Homes: 50 percent of the purchase price, or up to $100 — whichever is less. One coupon per address. You have 30 days from the coupon to buy and 90 days from purchase to install. Over 40 brands qualify.
  • Businesses: $40 per active valve for a replacement controller (or 50 percent of MSRP, whichever is less), and $20 per valve on a new installation.

A weather-based controller adjusts run times on its own instead of watering the same amount in February as in July. On most properties it pays for itself before the rebate even arrives.

Smaller programs worth knowing about

  • Home leak sensors — rebate on a device that alerts your phone when water is running that shouldn't be.
  • Leak detection voucher — help toward the initial diagnostic or the first couple of hours of service work.
  • Septic to sewer conversion — financial assistance for owners connecting to the municipal sewer.
  • Water Smart car wash coupons — for washes that recycle their water.

How this works with us

The rebate is paid to the water account holder, so the application is yours to file, not ours. We can't do it for you, and you shouldn't hire anyone who says they can. What we can do is the work, and time it so nothing gets disqualified:

  • 1. You apply to the water authority and schedule the pre-conversion site visit.
  • 2. You get written approval. The grass is still in the ground at this point.
  • 3. We design and install the conversion to meet the program's requirements — plant coverage, drip, mulch, the lot.
  • 4. You request the post-conversion inspection and record the easement.

We're happy to walk the yard and estimate the square footage before you apply, so you know roughly what the rebate is worth against what the work costs.

These amounts change. Rebate rates, bonuses, and local supplements get revised — usually upward lately, but not always, and funding can run out. Everything here was checked in July 2026. Confirm the current numbers on the authority's own pages, linked below, before you count on them.

Thinking about converting a lawn?

We'll measure the area and give you a real number for the work, so you can weigh it against the rebate before you apply. No charge for the visit.

Get a free estimate

Sources — checked July 2026:

El Eden Landscaping doesn't administer any of these programs and can't approve or guarantee a rebate. We've summarized the published terms as a convenience.