First time Home Kit set up stuck at “Loading Accessories and Scenes”

THIS IS CRITICAL: we have an irrigation device that will no longer work without Apple’s Home Kit so we are attempting to install/set up Home Kit for the first time but set up is stuck at “Loading Accessories and Scenes”. We have none since this is the first time we have tried to install Home Kit and cannot get to a screen where we can add the desired accessory. A complete erase and restart does not work because the initial steps to set up Home are associated with our Apple ID.