Thread: buried entrance leaking before main shut-off

call from the client complained I did not find leaking 4 months ago. He had to call the home insurance to dig the yard, find & fix the leaking pipe probably close to foundation because he heard the water noise & saw the stain close to main shutoff at the basement. something around $3,000 work.

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Maybe it gets lost in translation...

Leak today may not have been there 4 months ago. Could you have missed it????

Do not understand why the client called Insurance to dig up.. Would have thought they would have called a plumber....

$3,000 sounds like a gouge on pricing, but maybe not in Canada.

You do realize that it is your fault that the cat died also.....

Ya so let him prove you were negligent and in breach of your contract.

Is he expecting you to pay Peter?

You have a photo of that area without a stain?

Yes, I did this inspection 4 months ago. The plumber said to the client to go after the house inspector & estimate the cost about that much. That is why he has to go with Home insurance. no sign of leaking at the inspection. They tried to blame me.

Interesting, I told them to shut off the curb valve first but they did not really want to.

And you are supposed to be able to see in the ground how?
Years ago as a contractor a client called and said 'hey we got no water pressure all of a sudden'. Seemed odd but I figured probably just a service call to go clean out all the aerators or turn the main valve back on after little johnny played with it.
Got over there and sure enough, lousy pressure in the whole house. Aerators clean, etc.; go to the basement to the main, no signs of water leaks on the floor or wall, no damage, nothing, take the main valve apart to get free flow as see what's what, just a mild trickle comes out. At that point I realize its got to be a main break. I call my Plumber buddy, we break open the floor and cut a hole in the foundation wall, dig a big hole a couple feet and water starts gushing in. We dug up the front yard to the street and put in a new service. Ended up being a main break about 4 feet out from the house and a small leak further in the yard.
The point, the client had no problems prior to the failure and there were no signs in the basement at all.

Peter wrote in part:

The plumber said to the client to go after the house inspector

I'd be asking the client to have the plumber put on his letter head that you should have seen a leak which at time of inspection was not leaking.

My educated guess is that the client will not ask the plumber and even if the client does ask the plumber to put in writing his comments the plumber would most likely not provide it.

Peter,
What was the line made of that leaked ???

I cannot see the line, just found the shut-off. 1980s built

Probably copper. Wouldn't be the first time a incoming supply line has ruptured between the house and street.