Seattle plumbing work should begin with diagnosis and legal boundaries, not a categorical repipe recommendation. A fixture leak, restricted supply, damaged drain and side-sewer defect require different evidence. Seattle Public Utilities states that the property owner owns and maintains the side sewer to the public-main connection and that repair or alteration requires a side-sewer permit. Ask for camera or test evidence, restoration limits and verified Washington plumbing credentials.
Seattle Public Utilities states that the property owner owns and maintains the side sewer from the building to, but not including, the connection fitting at the public main. Repair or alteration requires a side-sewer permit, and right-of-way work can also require an SDOT permit.
Map whether symptoms affect one fixture, one branch or the whole property. Ask what testing, inspection or camera evidence supports the recommendation. A slow drain does not by itself prove a broken side sewer, and older supply material does not by itself prove every pipe needs replacement.
Repairing a pipe does not establish that cabinets, insulation, flooring or framing are dry and serviceable. Name who opens, measures, dries and restores affected material. Keep plumbing correction and reconstruction roles distinct so warranties and completion standards are clear.
SPU states that the owner maintains the side sewer from the building to the public-main connection, excluding the tee, wye or connection itself. Shared side sewers can create shared responsibility. Obtain records and a located camera survey before selecting lining, spot repair or excavation.
A useful survey records distance, direction, material, defects and the connection area. Preserve the video and written interpretation. Ask whether cleaning changed the observed condition and what evidence supports repair, lining or replacement. A recommendation without a located defect is difficult to compare.
Identify walls, floors, concrete, landscaping or pavement that must open and who restores them. If right-of-way excavation or staging is needed, add SDOT requirements to the side-sewer permit plan. A plumbing total that excludes restoration is not comparable to one that includes it.
SPU requires side-sewer permits for repair, alteration, addition, abandonment or connection work. Plumbing inside the building has a separate regulatory path. The proposal should name permit holder, inspection coordinator and correction responsibility for every part of the project.
Washington L&I lets homeowners verify contractor registration and certified plumbing tradespeople. Match the legal business to the agreement and identify who performs regulated work. A registered general contractor and certified plumber are distinct checks.
Separate service call, testing, permits, piping, access, right-of-way work, drying, restoration and cleanup. Use unit rates for real unknown quantities with evidence required. Property conditions determine cost; unsupported neighborhood assumptions do not.
Obtain leak, pressure or drainage verification appropriate to the work, permit status, camera files, material records, shutoff labels, warranties and restoration punch list. Photograph concealed routing before walls close where useful.
Describe your project once and we help connect your request with relevant local contractors who serve your area. The request is free, there is no obligation to hire, and you decide whether anyone is right for the job.
SPU defines the private side sewer as extending to, but not including, the connection fitting at the public main.
SPU lists repair, alteration, addition, abandonment and connection work as permit-triggering side-sewer activities.
L&I's tool supports contractor-registration and certified-tradesperson checks.
| The pipe or fitting | Whose problem it is | What it typically needs |
|---|---|---|
| Clay side sewer under the garden and pavement | Yours, end to end, right up to the main | Camera survey, then spot repair, lining or replacement |
| The public sewer main in the street | The utility | Reported, not repaired by your plumber |
| Cast-iron waste stack inside the walls | Yours | Section replacement where it has scaled or split |
| Galvanised supply from the meter into the house | Yours from the meter onward | Repipe in copper or PEX, generally whole-house |
| Water meter and the service to it | The utility | Utility work order, not a plumbing permit |
| Pressure-reducing valve on a steep-lot property | Yours | Testing and replacement when the house pressure drifts |
Separate diagnosis, pipe or fixture work, side-sewer work, permits, right-of-way requirements, access, drying, restoration and cleanup. Remove categorical replacement and unsupported local cost claims. Use camera or test evidence and written unit prices for measurable unknowns.
Symptoms that appear everywhere simultaneously usually sit downstream of everything, which means the main waste line or the side sewer rather than any one fixture. In older parts of the city, root intrusion into a jointed clay lateral is the common cause and it tends to recur seasonally. A camera survey settles it in an hour and gives you footage of the defect and its distance from the house, which is also what any sensible second quote will be priced from.
It depends on the condition and the shape of the existing pipe. Lining suits a lateral that is structurally intact but jointed and root-infiltrated, and it spares you the excavation, which is where most of the money and all of the disruption sits. A pipe that has collapsed, sagged into a belly or lost alignment cannot be lined into good condition and needs opening up. A plumber who recommends one without having looked inside the pipe is guessing.
Yes, it is permitted work in Seattle, and a contractor who tells you otherwise is taking a shortcut on your behalf rather than theirs. Unpermitted work has a way of surfacing at the least convenient moment, usually during a sale when a buyer's inspector asks a question nobody can answer. The permit is a small proportion of the job and it should appear as a line in the quote.
Supply and waste age on different clocks, so treat them as separate decisions. Galvanised supply is generally an all-or-nothing question because the restriction simply migrates if you patch it. Cast-iron waste can often be dealt with in sections, replacing what is bad and what is already exposed. The plumber's job is to show you the evidence for each and let you sequence the work over a couple of years if that suits your finances better.
For most jobs, yes, with the water off for part of a day. A whole-house repipe is more disruptive because walls and ceilings open up in several rooms at once, though a competent crew works in zones so you keep at least one bathroom in service. Side sewer replacement leaves the house without usable drainage for the duration, so ask for that window in writing and plan around it.
For planned work, yes, and give every bidder the same written description of the job so you are comparing like with like. For an active leak, no. Comparison shopping while water is moving across a floor costs far more than any difference between quotes. Get it stopped first, then take your time over the permanent repair.
Nothing, at any stage. Sending us the details of the job is free, hearing back from plumbers is free, and there is no fee to us if you go on to hire one of them. The only bill you will see is from the plumber you choose, for the work they carry out.
Usually two to four. They are picked for the type of plumbing you have described and for whether they genuinely take work in your part of the city, then matched to you by a person. Your details are not resold, not published and not added to any list.
Describe the symptom, affected fixtures and known records. We can connect you with contractors prepared to document the failure and complete scope.
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