Home › What Actually Happens in the Yard
What Actually Happens in the Yard
Service line work is short in pipework and long in everything around it, and the things that decide how it goes are settled before anybody arrives.
Straight answer
Service line replacement runs either as an open trench from the main to the building or as a trenchless pull between pits at each end. What decides the job is the distance, what sits on and under that route, the ground conditions, and the restoration afterwards rather than the pipe itself.
Start with whether the utility is already coming
Systems are working through a ten-year replacement program for the lead and GRR lines under their control. If your street is scheduled, the sensible order of events is to find that out first, because the customer side is much easier to deal with while the system side is open.
The replacement plan is a public document. Ask where your address sits in it before commissioning anything on your own.
The two ways the pipe gets across
Open trench. A continuous excavation from the street to the house. It is straightforward, it is certain, and it removes the old pipe. It also crosses everything in its path, which on a mature property means driveway, walkway, irrigation, roots and whatever else is buried.
Trenchless. Pits at each end, with the new line pulled or bored between them. Far less surface damage, and it is usually the faster option, but it needs a workable path, clear ground conditions and room for the equipment.
The questions that decide which
How far it is from the main to the house. What is on top of the route. What else is buried near it, which is a locate call rather than a guess. Whether the old line can be used as a path. And whether the ground is rock, clay or fill.
Any contractor quoting without answering those has not looked properly.
What else gets touched
The meter and its setting, sometimes the shutoff at the street, and the point where the line enters the building. Work at the entry point is often where a job gets complicated, because it is the one part that is inside something finished.
Ask what the restoration includes, in writing: the trench, the surface over it, the driveway if it is cut, and the yard afterwards. Restoration is a larger share of this job than most people expect.
Permits, the utility and credentials
Service line work is normally permitted and frequently has to be coordinated with the water system, which may need to inspect the connection or do the tie-in itself. Contractors are required to hold whatever credential their state or municipality demands — ask to see the permit rather than assuming there is one.
We do not vouch for any individual contractor and no page on this site says we do.
What to read after this
Look your address up first.Your utility has published what your service line is made of, and finding out costs nothing. If it turns out to be your side and it needs work, we will route you to a contractor covering your area, found from the ZIP code you give — you are never charged. Service lines are our subject; anything plumbing-related can be put through the same way.
Call (888) 753-6580