How to Hire a Sewer Contractor in Louisiana

Who licenses sewer contractors in Louisiana

Every person doing plumbing in Louisiana must hold a license from the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana, and a company may hold itself out as a plumbing business only if it employs a licensed master plumber. The statute's definition of plumbing covers waste piping on the premises and excludes community sewage collection systems, so the lateral on your lot is plumbing and the main is not. A second license enters when the job is large or touches public property. The Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors requires its own license for plumbing projects over ten thousand dollars and its Municipal and Public Works Construction classification is what lets a firm cut into a public main or right-of-way without a plumbing license, limited to mains six inches and larger and never service lines. Verify both in the plumbing board's license search and the LSLBC contractor search, and ask for insurance certificates.

Permits and inspections

In New Orleans the private portion requires a plumbing permit from the city's Safety and Permits department, pulled by the master plumber, and anything touching the public main or street requires a separate permit from the Sewerage and Water Board's House Connections section, issued only to a contractor holding the state Municipal and Public Works license and insurance that indemnifies the board. In Baton Rouge, the Department of Environmental Services controls sewer taps and the city-parish permit office issues the plumbing permit, and Shreveport is similar. A street cut needs a right-of-way permit from the city or parish. Expect an inspection of the open trench before backfill and a camera pass after lining. Louisiana One Call must be notified two working days before excavation. The master plumber pulls the plumbing permit; the licensed contractor pulls the connection permit.

Who owns the pipe under the street

Louisiana generally draws the line at the property boundary. The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans makes the owner responsible for the sewer line inside the private property and performs or permits the connection to the main itself, so a break in the street is usually the board's problem and a break in the yard is yours. Baton Rouge and Shreveport follow a similar property-line convention, with the utility maintaining the tap and the segment under the street in most cases, though you should ask the utility to confirm in writing before paying for work in the right-of-way. Some smaller parish systems and private utilities instead make the owner responsible all the way to the main. Louisiana has no point-of-sale lateral inspection law.

What is under Louisiana, and why it shapes the bid

South Louisiana's ground is the hardest in the country to trench. New Orleans and Metairie sit on soft organic clay and peat with the water table a foot or two down, so every open cut needs dewatering and trench boxes, often sheeting, and settlement after backfill is routine. Subsidence also bends and separates old laterals even when nothing else is wrong, which is why bursting and lining dominate there. Baton Rouge has firmer terrace clay but still a high water table; Shreveport and Monroe have shrink-swell clays that crack pipe in dry summers. Pipe by era: cast iron and terra cotta through the 1950s, Orangeburg in post-war suburbs, PVC after about 1970. No frost, so depth follows grade.

For the lining methods themselves, the Sewer Pipe Lining Louisiana pipe lining guide goes into what fails in the ground here and which method fits.

What a Louisiana sewer bid must include

• The Louisiana master plumber's license number and, for work over ten thousand dollars or touching the main, the LSLBC license and classification.
• In New Orleans, both the Safety and Permits plumbing permit and the Sewerage and Water Board connection permit, with who applies for each.
• Dewatering, sheeting and trench boxes as separate items, since the water table and soft clay drive cost in New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
• A settlement allowance and pavement restoration, because south Louisiana backfill sinks.
• A post-repair or post-lining camera recording and the inspector's sign-off.

The full checklist, for any state, is on what a sewer bid should include.

Red flags in Louisiana

• No master plumber license from the State Plumbing Board of Louisiana behind the company.
• A New Orleans bid proposing a street cut with no Sewerage and Water Board permit or state public works license.
• A fixed price for an open cut in delta clay with no mention of dewatering or shoring.
• No Louisiana One Call ticket before the dig.

Finding a sewer contractor in Louisiana

Louisiana does not yet have a verified contractor listed on this site, which is why the number on this page rings the national line. Call it or send the form with the property address and what the symptoms or the camera are showing, and we will locate a qualified sewer contractor near you, screen them the same way we screen every listing, and make the introduction. There is no charge for that. You can also search the CIPP Verified Installer directory yourself.

Estimates are free. Call now. (855) 804-1434

Where Louisiana property owners ask for help most

The rules above apply statewide; the communities below are the ones that generate the most questions.

Louisiana sewer contractor questions

Who licenses a sewer contractor in Louisiana?

Two boards. The State Plumbing Board of Louisiana licenses the master plumber who must stand behind any plumbing company, including lateral work on your lot. The State Licensing Board for Contractors licenses the firm for plumbing projects over ten thousand dollars and for connections to the public main.

Who fixes a sewer break under a New Orleans street?

Usually the Sewerage and Water Board. In New Orleans the owner is responsible for the sewer line inside the property boundary, and the board controls the connection and the street segment. Confirm with the board before paying a Louisiana contractor for right-of-way work.

What permits does a New Orleans lateral replacement need?

Two. A plumbing permit from Safety and Permits for the private portion, pulled by the master plumber, and a connection permit from the Sewerage and Water Board's House Connections section if the main or street is touched, issued only to a state-licensed public works contractor. Elsewhere in Louisiana the city handles both.

Why do Louisiana bids include dewatering and sheeting?

Because the water table in New Orleans, Metairie and much of Baton Rouge sits within a few feet of the surface and the soil is soft clay or peat. A trench floods and the walls fail, so pumps and trench boxes are required. Trenchless methods avoid most of it.

Is the lateral always the owner's to the main in Louisiana?

No. New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport generally stop the owner's responsibility at the property line, with the utility handling the tap and street. Some smaller parish systems and private utilities in Louisiana make the owner responsible all the way to the main, so ask yours in writing.

The short version for Louisiana

In Louisiana, camera first, then learn from the utility whether the failure is inside your property line or in the street, because that decides who pays. Verify the master plumber with the State Plumbing Board and, for larger or public work, the LSLBC license. Compare bids naming the same permits, dewatering, shoring and restoration. Insist on inspection before backfill and a video afterward.

Estimates are free. Call now. (855) 804-1434

Sources checked for this page: www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=93229 · www.legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=93239 · lslbc.gov/types-of-licenses/ · www.swbno.org/Business/Connection