An epic, historic event took place this past April when I replaced the old Orangeburg sewer pipe that served this house. The project itself was a 2 week binge of digging and purchasing, but that was merely the sweat work. What preceded the labor was a period of 4 months in which I immersed myself in plumbing codes in order to pass the plumbing contractor test. I'm not even a fan of plumbing but I could not convince the city to permit me to do the work myself since the work was entirely on the public right of way. As a homeowner I am allowed to dig into the plumbing as long as it's on my property, but once it involves the sewer line to the main city sewer in the middle of a paved street, then I need a right of way permit and that can only be issued to a licensed plumbing contractor. A general contractor would not even be allowed to do that work. It must be a specialized trade CR-37 commercial and residential plumber with a bond. And the only way to get that license is to pass the state plumbing test And purchase a surety bond and complete the licensing application with fees and background checks etc. But I was left with that option OR pay a local plumber despite being totally unimpressed with the discussions I had with them...and unimpressed with their attitude and their workmanship as well as having zero confidence in their ability to ever complete the job at any price. Basically, I had local plumbers who were not worth $100 giving me a quote for $13,000...with no guarantee the project would ever be complete and definitely not to my standards. So, I'd be paying $13,000 to argue with an incompetent plumber who has a license and then do most of the work myself since they would never agree to go the extra mile. That made no sense. But the prospect of passing the plumbing test and then buying a surety bond and applying for the license and then manually digging a 140 foot trench didn't appeal to me either. What to do??
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| The Author pictured in march 2020 fixing the non-existent sewer line from his house to the sewer main. |
