Normally I would agree with you, but in this case I wouldn’t recommend JD do the whole job himself. The first issue is making sure the angle and connections are right. Sure he COULD do it himself, but it’s a high cost to repair after he puts the dirt back in place. The second is liability. If he hires someone licensed and bonded he has someone to appeal to other than himself if it’s wrong.

I agree that he should do as much as he can and as much as he’s comfortable with. Personally if I were in his shoes (with a currently working pipe) I would buy the materials, make a date with an independent certified plumber (a small guy who has full license and insurance but not the contacts/hardware for larger jobs), and dig out the line to be ready for the plumber. When he was there I would offer my hands as an assistant both to learn and to not pay someone else to do it.

If I were digging it by hand I would dig out most of it well before (but not so much the structure the dirt is providing is compromised), and finish it up the morning of the pipe being out. If I were using a backhoe I would rent it for the day before and let my family know there is no sewage service as soon as I hit the pipe as it will likely break when depth is reached.

Good luck.

More specifically, you want to take the line when it’s dug out. The first picture should pinpoint the location of the problem and take a second picture of the whole work area. Third and fourth would be the same of the job completed.

In case of doubt, take some more pictures of the joints, between the house and the main pipe, and between the main pipe and the city connection.

If something happens, you will have documents to go back to. Very useful when dealing with insurance companies and applying the insurance given by the contractor. You will also have valuable documents if the house is sold eventually.

Good luck!

Since eventually the entire line may have to be replaced, it could be cost-effective to do it now. A geyser in the front yard can do some serious damage to your landscape and maybe even to the house. Insurance companies cast a gimlet eye on water damage claims.

On the other hand, I sure would get at least one other opinion about it. And several bids.

I’m still teaching this one to my new hubby. He’s great, hard-working, and wonderful. However, he hates to spend money on things he knows he needs. His 15 year old car was dying on him regularly during his 45 minute a day commute to work. Buying a new car was the smart thing to do, but it took me months to convince him to do it, even though he had the money saved specifically for that purpose!

Second Opinions (of course)
Specific Estimates in Writing
Lein Waivers & A Vendor Lein Release
Different piping materials
Digsafe.com
Contacting the City/County for help w/ payment

JD — I know you need a well deserved break, but after that — recommended next project: GRS Home & Garden ebook — written w/ help from experts & your awesome community of commenters!!

But I agree that these sorts of things are hard to muster up the enthusiasm for. This was our first house and we had budgeted for all sorts of things but not for this kind of expense right away. We ended up borrowing the $$ from my parents. My mom lamented with me, “No one will ever come over and say; I JUST LOVE WHAT YOU DID WITH YOUR SEWER!”

Its a fine line whether to pull the trigger on a major repair or try to wait it out.

Especially because a lot of the time, these repair people will try to talk you into repairs that aren’t really needed.

In the end, its all a crapshoot. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose

My office is fantastic and runs some great programmes for the employees.

Being in Australia we have a bit of an issue with the sun and skin cancer, so one of the programmes run last year was a free skin cancer check. We had a skin cancer specialist come in, you made a 15 minute appointment and he checked over any areas you had concerns about.

We had 477 employees do this, and 85 of them were referred on with issues. Including myself. I ended up having two skin cancers removed from my face and head, and I have always been very sun phobic.

I am so grateful to my employers and so thankful that I took the 15 minutes to get myself checked out and saved myself a possible melanoma in the future.

I had been like you JD and actively avoided the doctor unless I was bleeding from an artery…I fully understand now the benefits of preventative medicine.

Your dad should re-evaluate how he is using his pipe. If installed correctly it should be lasting much longer than 10 years.

Where is he draining to? We have a problem with PVC drainpipe that is quite old, but that is because roots have grown back into it a number of feet to get at water. They grew up from the end, not through it. An end to end enclosed system like sewage shouldn’t have problems for a very long time.

while anecdotal evidence suggests it can last 60-100 years a study commissioned by the National Association of Homebuilders and Bank of America says buried PVC piping for sprinkler systems are expected to have a life expectancy of 25 years.

I was wondering – does anyone else use Angie’s List? We have had a lot of luck getting quotes through there – usually if we call 3 or 4 professionals with A ratings there, there’s a very expensive one, a very cheap one, and two in the middle – we always choose the middle and none of them have done us wrong yet.

In our case we’re looking at a $5k job, so we’re waiting.

But when we had our sewer inspected when we bought our 100 year old house 3 years ago he said they can dig one hole at the street, one at the house, and pull a new PVC line right through the old one.

In our case there is no way to get a backhoe into our backyard (15 ft above street level) so the hand digging ups the price.

Get 3 bids to replace it all. Do it right. And if you ever go to sell that’s one more plus on your side.

This is true that by our human nature we have a inherent tendency to avoid seeing what is beforehand, whether its a small problem of a small solution! We tend to ignore the free advices but spend thousand of bucks on buying nuts later on…

With both electrical and plumbing I would suggest thinking of any project in stages. I intend to replace a furnace this year. To do that: I will shop online and find one, have it delivered, turn off all electrical and gas lines to the current one, physically move the old one out and new one in, THEN pay a licensed plumber to connect all of the lines and test the system.

I will spend a couple hours of my time and spend 1/3 compared to calling a plumber/HVAC guy and having him do everything. I won’t touch anything dangerous, and I will have a signed receipt from a licensed professional if something goes wrong.

When you’re looking at major repairs like a furnace or sewage line doing the grunt work can save you many thousands of dollars and not risk the integrity of the repair at all.

Emergency funds are for emergencies- use the money.

Plumbing itself it actually a very very straightforward vocation with very simple principles. It pays well because it often involves getting covered in poop. I could likely come in and change your line, so make them explain everything they are doing, and if you don’t understand the explanation they are delivering a load of crap before they clean up yours. We would have done our own but my husband wasn’t comfortable running the line through the foundation. When he saw what the guy did he felt pretty stupid.

A number of people have said it and I can’t stress enough: THE MAJORITY OF THE PRICE OF A SEWAGE/SEPTIC LINE REPLACEMENT IS MOVING DIRT. You can move dirt, and if you don’t want to you can pay people a lot less than you’re plumber’s making to do it.

Get a quote for the job and then get a quote for the job if you do the excavation and replace the dirt. If the job for just the line is more than ~$1500 ask him why. Materials are marked up, but you’re probably looking at a 3-4 hour job (many times longer if you leave the dirt in place).

Plumbers put a lot of markup on a sewage line because most people are like you: they deal with it when it’s a problem and no one wants to put off the work for a few days while they solicit quotes. Work it into their schedule, do the heavy lifting yourself, and watch the price drop considerably.