How to Hire a Sewer Contractor

The order of operations

Every good sewer job follows roughly the same sequence, and nearly every bad one skipped a step. Hold the contractor to this order, and if someone wants to jump ahead, ask why.

1. Symptoms. Write down what happened: which fixtures backed up, how often, whether it follows rain, whether there is a wet spot in the yard or a sag in the driveway. The pattern narrows the diagnosis before anyone opens a truck door.
2. Camera. A recorded inspection of the full line, from the cleanout to the city connection, with on-screen footage counts and a locate from above. Nothing else happens until this exists. Our camera guide covers what the recording has to show.
3. License check. Look the license number up yourself on the state board or the city register, and confirm the name on the record matches the name on the truck. Which license applies depends on where you live; see licenses, permits and lateral ownership.
4. Written scope with alternatives. The proposal names the method and explains, in a sentence or two, why the other methods were set aside. "Lining is recommended because the pipe is round and the slope is intact; bursting is not needed because there is no collapse" is a scope. "Repair sewer" is not.
5. Compare bids. Two or three proposals, each built from the same footage, laid side by side against the checklist in what a bid should include.
6. Permit. The contractor pulls it, in the contractor's name, and you see the number before the first shovel.
7. Work. With the utility locate marks on the ground and the inspector's visits scheduled.
8. Final video. A second camera run after the work, recorded, that you keep.
9. Warranty. On paper, with a term, a scope and the company's license number on it.

What to ask on the phone

The first call is for screening, not for pricing. Anyone who gives a firm figure before seeing the pipe has told you how they estimate, and it is not from evidence. Ask these instead.

• What is your license number, and which board or city issued it? You will look it up before the appointment.
• Do you record every inspection and hand over the file? Some crews camera the line and keep the footage; that leaves you unable to get a second opinion without paying for a second run.
• Who will be on site: your employees, or a crew you hire out to? If it is a subcontractor, you want that company's name and license too.
• Which methods do you perform yourselves? A company that only lines will recommend lining, and a company that only digs will recommend digging. That is not dishonesty, it is inventory. You just need to know it.
• Do you pull the permit, and does the price include the inspection fees?

What to ask on site

Stand next to the technician during the camera run. Watch the footage counter and ask where each defect is in feet from the cleanout. Then ask the following, and listen for answers that refer to what is on the screen rather than to what usually happens.

• Where exactly is the problem, how deep is it, and can you mark it on the surface?
• Is there standing water in the pipe when the flow stops? Standing water means a belly, and a belly changes which methods are honest options.
• How far does the pipe run before it reaches the public main, and who owns the stretch under the sidewalk and street here?
• What would you do if this were your house, and what would you not bother doing?
• What could you find once you start that would change the price, and how would you tell me?

What to get in writing

A sewer contract is a short document when it is honest. It should carry the footage and diameter of the line, the method, the access points, the permit the contractor will pull, the inspections that will be called, who restores the surface and to what condition, how surprises are priced, the warranty term, the payment schedule, and the license and insurance certificate numbers. If the proposal is a single line with a dollar amount, ask for the rest before you sign. The bid checklist walks through each item and explains what its absence tends to mean.

Keep a copy of the pre-work video, the permit, the inspection sign-offs, and the post-work video together. The next owner of the building, or your insurer, will want them.

How many bids

Three is the usual answer and it is a good one for anything that involves excavation or a full-length liner. Two is enough for a short spot repair when both bids come from licensed companies working from the same footage. One is enough only in an emergency, and even then a one-bid job should be scoped to stop the overflow and nothing more, so that the permanent repair can be bid properly once the water is down.

Bids are only comparable if they describe the same pipe. Hand every bidder the same recording and ask each to quote from it. If a company insists on running its own camera, fine, but ask for that footage as well, and notice whether the footage counts agree with the first run.

When a second opinion is worth it

Get another set of eyes when any of the following is true: the recommended fix is a full replacement and you have only seen a few seconds of video; the diagnosis came without a recording you can keep; the contractor says no permit is required; the bid is far below or far above the others for no reason you can find in the scope; the problem is described as urgent but the pipe is still flowing; or the method chosen is the only one the company offers. The red flags page covers these in more detail.

A second camera run by an independent company costs an hour of time and settles arguments that would otherwise cost the price of a trench. On a big job it is cheap insurance.

Residential, commercial and municipal differ

A homeowner hires one company and signs one contract. A property manager usually needs a certificate of insurance naming the owner, a lien waiver at payment, and a schedule that keeps tenants flushing. A public works department follows procurement law, prequalifies bidders and specifies the work to a published standard. The sequence above still holds in all three cases; what changes is the paperwork around it. We have separate pages for residential, commercial and municipal buyers.

Your state's rules

Who issues the license, who issues the permit, and where your pipe stops being yours all change at the state line and again at the city limits. The state guides spell out the board names, the permit offices and the ownership line for each state, and list a verified contractor where one has been checked out. Where none is listed yet, the national line will find one.

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