Ballpark for Main to Meter service replacement?

[am589]

I was recently informed that my water service is lead. My water company puts the responsibility of the entire line on the property owner. I was trying to find a rough cost to have the line replaced on Google, but the numbers were anywhere from a few hundred to over $10,000. I don't want to waste anyone's time getting a consultation for an estimate because I wouldn't be able to afford it for a while. I'm not asking for any definite pricing or formal estimates. I just want to get an idea of what to expect.

Here's what I'm working with:
My service is roughly 40 feet from house to main.
Service enters the house about 7 feet below ground level and is a straight shot based on the location it enters the house and my stop box.
Concrete covers the whole thing. There's 3 feet of green space between the curb and sidewalk but my stop box is a couple feet over in the sidewalk at the approach of the driveway.
Pipe in the house is copper. Not sure how for out it runs as copper but it doesn't transition from lead at the basement wall for sure.
I've seen the main located 2 or 3 feet into the street. Depth of the main isn't known, but a water guy had told me they are at about 4 feet, give or take.

Not sure if it makes a difference but the gas main ends a solid 50 feet away. Never seen the sewer be marked. I've seen it located in the middle of streets and in the green space off the curb in the neighborhood though. I know my sewer line runs out the same side as my water, about 20 feet north. Power and comms are all overhead.

Taking a lightly educated guess and saying that I think getting this bored in might be the best route. Maybe not the cheapest for the new service, but the concrete work would be much less I think.

I hope that's enough info to work with to get something in the ball park. I know costs can vary for many reasons, location being one of them. I'm just trying to get an idea of where that number might be.

 

[pasadena_commut]

Pricing on that sort of thing tends to vary from locale to locale. I suggest asking your neighbors what they paid. Also, isn't there a shutoff valve and a meter somewhere on your property? Usually the way this works is that the property owner is only responsible for the pipe from the meter to the house. If you actually have to replace the pipe all the way to the main line I can see that being very expensive. It would be as much as having an entirely new service installed. Also a major PITA since the city has to be involved, OK'ing the hook up to their line, and providing a new shutoff and meter.

What's the main line made of? Not much point replacing the lead on your property if the main is also lead. In that situation I would instead put in a high quality filter. If the city ever gets around to replacing their lead line, then replace yours. Probably cheaper to do it when they have already dug up the street.

There may be grants or something available to cover the cost of replacing that lead pipe. Or for buying the filter to remove the contamination.

Good luck with this.

 

[am589]

Pricing on that sort of thing tends to vary from locale to locale. I suggest asking your neighbors what they paid. Also, isn't there a shutoff valve and a meter somewhere on your property? Usually the way this works is that the property owner is only responsible for the pipe from the meter to the house. If you actually have to replace the pipe all the way to the main line I can see that being very expensive. It would be as much as having an entirely new service installed. Also a major PITA since the city has to be involved, OK'ing the hook up to their line, and providing a new shutoff and meter.

What's the main line made of? Not much point replacing the lead on your property if the main is also lead. In that situation I would instead put in a high quality filter. If the city ever gets around to replacing their lead line, then replace yours. Probably cheaper to do it when they have already dug up the street.

There may be grants or something available to cover the cost of replacing that lead pipe. Or for buying the filter to remove the contamination.

Good luck with this.

My neighbors haven't had their service replaced.
I know pricing can vary, I said as much in my original post.
I don't know if the water main is still lead. Even if it is lead, should I find lead in my water after having my service replaced then the water company will by 100% liable.
My water company made the property owner the owner of the water service from main to meter. That's not speculation. They sent letters to everyone with records showing lead services. In that letter it very clearly points that out.

I've already looked into grants and have been speaking to a representative from my water company about them. They have applied for funding to assist with replacing lead services. The amount they had applied for is only 6% of the estimated cost to replace all the lead services. In the past income requirements to qualify for assistance were set so low that nobody with that income could afford a home.

I have to leave for work, but long and short of it is I have looked into this as much as I could before coming to these forums. When I return tonight I will try to remember to share more details if you want to hold comments and suggestions until then.

 

[havasu]

income requirements to qualify for assistance were set so low that nobody with that income could afford

Seems this is the "norm", and everyone gets caught in the middle.

I know most of this cost is labor, so maybe figure out a better route, or do whatever is possible yourself as a way of saving $ ?

 

[arctic bill]

some times a company can run a steel cable inside the old lead pipe service. and then with a backhoe pull the old pipe out and the new pipe in . this will mean that you do not have to did up you whole lawn. Just an opening inside your house and at the curb stop . call around to companies and ask . this can saw many thousands od dollars .

 

[havasu]

We have reline companies but as far as I know, is used for sewer lines. A friend had 40' of sewer line refined, and was $7500!
Yikes!

 

[am589]

I got home late so didn't respond then, but I have an update. I finally got a response from my water company about cost of line replacement. A full replacement is around $10,000 and a partial $7,000. She wouldn't go into detail about what is included in that average though. The "informative" 70 second video on their website suggests that may include tapping the main, stop box, and concrete for the road at least. The video says that's how a typical service install goes so I'd imagine that would mean it's close to the average cost.

I'll have to wait until my job is out of layoff season to pursue my options. I want to compare line replacement costs to a whole house RO system as well. Sounds like the cost may be about the same and since my water company is putting off major Flint Michigan vibes, may be the smarter option in the long term.

 

[pasadena_commut]

My water company made the property owner the owner of the water service from main to meter.

Was that a change of policy? Most water services retain ownership from main to meter, and everything after the meter is the homeowners. That was, as AFAIK, how all the water departments do it. Before your post I had never heard of the situation you describe. If that was their policy before, and they changed it once the lead pipe issue became a thing, there may be grounds for damages. It is hardly a present to gift the homeowner with a deeply buried length of toxic pipe.

 

[am589]

Was that a change of policy? Most water services retain ownership from main to meter, and everything after the meter is the homeowners. That was, as AFAIK, how all the water departments do it. Before your post I had never heard of the situation you describe. If that was their policy before, and they changed it once the lead pipe issue became a thing, there may be grounds for damages. It is hardly a present to gift the homeowner with a deeply buried length of toxic pipe.

I couldn't find dates for when they made the property owner responsible for the whole service. From the snippets I could find, and from what a neighbor told me that has lived in the area his whole life, the change happened in the 90s. That coincidentally was when the sdwa was amended to exclude lines not owned by water companies from regulations. So it wasn't a recent change, but it was almost certainly changed to push the problem on to someone else's plate.

The really screwed up part is that I am told I own the line, but there's so much red tape around it I can't so much as sneeze on it without facing fines. The water company supposedly tests stop boxes annually. If they decide my stop box is too hard to turn off they can tear up my driveway, replace the stop box, then send me the bill. Their policy says minimum 24 hour notice to do that, but that can get exempted by declaring it an "emergency". Fixing the driveway excluded from the tab on top of it. If the city has the sidewalk replaced and my stop box gets covered by concrete, guess who's footing the bill for that. If I get my line replaced I have to do it with a size and material of their choosing, where they approve it to be installed, and by a contractor that they have on their list to do the work. How can I own it if they make all the decisions regarding it?

 

[am589]

Was that a change of policy? Most water services retain ownership from main to meter, and everything after the meter is the homeowners. That was, as AFAIK, how all the water departments do it. Before your post I had never heard of the situation you describe. If that was their policy before, and they changed it once the lead pipe issue became a thing, there may be grounds for damages. It is hardly a present to gift the homeowner with a deeply buried length of toxic pipe.

Oh, and something I haven't brought up is that all water meters are installed in the house to keep it from freezing.