Questions People Ask Before Hiring a Sewer Contractor

Three is a sound number, with one condition: every bidder should price the same camera footage. If the first contractor shot the video and gave you the file, the others can bid from it and confirm with their own camera if they wish. Three bids built on three different guesses cannot be compared. Three bids built on one recorded inspection can, item by item, and the differences between them become easy to question.

Start with the symptom. One slow fixture is a plumber's job. Several drains slowing at once, or the lowest drain backing up when something upstairs runs, points to the building drain or the lateral, which is sewer-contractor territory. Sewage surfacing in the street or at a neighbor's cleanout means call the sewer utility first; the blockage may be in the public main. Some plumbing companies do lateral work well. The test is whether they run cameras routinely and can show you comparable jobs.

Almost everywhere, yes. Lateral repair, replacement or lining is permitted plumbing or utility work, and most cities require an inspection before backfill or a video of the finished liner. Anything in the sidewalk or street takes a separate right-of-way permit. Some jurisdictions let a homeowner pull the permit on an owner-occupied house; many require a licensed contractor. Your state guide names the office. A contractor who says no permit is needed is a reason to check.

Usually you do. In most of the country the property owner is responsible for the lateral from the house to its connection with the public main, including the portion under the sidewalk and the pavement. Some cities take over at the property line or the curb, and a few share the cost of the public stretch. The rule is set by the local sewer authority and changes at city limits, so confirm it for your address before any scope is written.

Get a different contractor. The camera is the only way to see the condition, slope and length of the pipe, and every honest method decision depends on those. A contractor who prices without looking is either guessing or planning to sell the one method they prefer regardless of what is down there. The exception is an emergency clearing to restore flow tonight; even then, the camera should go in before any repair is scoped.

You should, and you should ask before the inspection rather than after. The recording is the evidence behind the diagnosis, the document a second bidder prices from, what the city inspector may want to see and what the warranty is measured against later. Most reputable contractors hand over a file or a link as a matter of course. A refusal, or a fee that seems designed to discourage you, says something about how the rest of the job will go.

The term in years; whether it covers labor and materials or materials only; exactly which footage of pipe it covers, by the same stations used in the inspection; what voids it; who honors it if the company is sold; and whether it transfers to a buyer. Read the exclusions closely. Ground movement, roots and anything not shown on the pre-work video are common ways to promise a long term and cover very little. A warranty you cannot locate on a recording is hard to enforce.

A license classification, used in a number of states, for contractors who install and repair underground pipe such as sewer, water and storm lines, as distinct from a plumbing license, which covers pipe connected to a building. Which one a sewer lateral requires varies by state, and a few states require either or both depending on where the work starts. The license and permit guide on this site explains the categories; your state page names the classification used where you live.

Look it up yourself on the register kept by the board that issued it. Do not rely on a number printed on the truck or the estimate. Check that the license is active, that it is held by the company named on your contract rather than a former employee, that the classification covers sewer or plumbing work, and whether any disciplinary actions appear. Most state registers also show the bond and insurance on file. Your state guide names the board and what to look for.

A growing number of cities have point-of-sale ordinances that require a sewer lateral inspection, and sometimes a repair and certificate, before the deed transfers. Find out early which inspections the city accepts and who may perform them, because a report from an unapproved party may have to be redone. If defects are found, a repair credit at closing often works better than a seller-chosen repair, since the buyer then hires the contractor and holds the warranty. Your state guide notes which cities have these rules.

It depends on how the program ordinance is written. Some cities hire one contractor for every lateral in the program and the owner's role is consent and a cost share. Others let the owner choose any licensed contractor who meets the program's specification, with the city inspecting the result before paying its portion. Ask the program office in writing, and ask who holds the warranty under each arrangement. The municipal page on this site describes how these programs are set up.

That the pipe is repaired or rebuilt from inside, through existing access or small pits, instead of being dug up along its length. The two common trenchless methods are relining, where a resin liner cures inside the old pipe, and pipe bursting, where a new pipe is pulled through the route of the old one as it is broken apart. A bid that says only "trenchless" has not told you which. Each has conditions it cannot handle, so insist on the method, and on the footage showing why it fits.

A straightforward house lateral is often a one-day job for lining and one to two days for bursting, which needs a pit at each end. An open trench depends on depth, length, what is above the pipe and how much surface must be restored, and commonly runs from two days to a week. Permit processing can add time before any of that starts. A bid should give a schedule with the start, the days of lost service and the restoration, so delays can be measured against something.

First check whether they agree on the diagnosis. If one contractor sees a belly or a collapse and the other does not, someone misread the footage, and reviewing it together settles that. If they agree on the condition but prefer different fixes, both may be defensible, and the question becomes cost, disruption, warranty and how each handles the specific defects on the video. Ask each bidder to explain, on the footage, why the other method would fail. The one who can is usually the one to hire.