upgrading water service

[skyfather]

For those who have upgraded their water service (eg 1" to 2"), how did you go about it and how much did it cost?

From what I've gathered so far, 6" to 12" water mains run underneath streets. Then, depending on the location, you either have individual laterals sized to the water meter running to the building or a larger lateral to a manifold which branches off to the individual units. I assume the building plumbing is usually sized to the meter?

I called 2 cities and they charge anywhere from $1900 to $3200 just for the meter and installation to the curb. Any digging and repaving on the street being extra at $15/sqft, with the whole block needing to be repaved. But I've never seen any commercial meters at the curb. It always goes close to the building. Anything from the meter to the building would need to be handled by me. Which means any digging and repaving of the parking lot needs to be handled by my own contractor. So it sounds like it'll cost tens of thousands of dollars just to upgrade the water service before any impact fees (if any)?

The city said one location I inquired on might be on a manifold. That could save a lot of money if the lateral were large enough to handle a 2" meter upgrade. But they had no records so I would need to dig up the parking lot to find out. Does this sound reasonable? How can they not have records?

If all this is true, then maybe a bladder tank can save thousands of dollars. There was talk of a previous thread. I've searched tank, expansion tank, bladder tank, pressure tank, bladder pressure tank, and nothing comes up. Can an admin help me find the thread?

Thank you.

[mjwalsh]

Skyfather,

We upgraded back in 1987 from 2" to 4". It was sort of an emergency beginning of December affair. The contractors here tend to not do that after the ground freezes so it was tough. The expansion tanks act to maintain pressure & increase storage capacity. I believe well contractors are familiar with them. One of the arguments against forcing more water through a smaller line with a booster pump is long term erosion of the incoming pipe. The electricity & maintenance of the pump & tank & possible standby backup pump & tank etc are factors. You probably want to try to get bids from every contractor in your area because the bids can vary so much. In the process some might lead you to a better handle on how to proceed. Sometimes having an engineer involved can add to the stability of the process. It seems like the technology of locating underground pipes is improving from what I have gathered over the years.

Hope this helps on a difficult & challenging situation.

[fishmanz]

In Rhode Island that job would cost approximately $15,000. Yikes!!!!

[Ken]

You may spend from $30,000-70,000 for water and sawer for each new store.Some area maybe cheaper .
Under groud plumbing is always very expensive since they know 99% laundry owner can not do it themself or not allow .The heavy machines rental are also expensive for plumber.
I had water line broke between my meter and city main shut off valve,city made me fix it,that cost me $5000 just fix a leak.It happened in Dec 24,so I just hired the first comany answer the phone and willing to do it Dec 26 AM.
This is not a poor man 's business anymore.I just visit some large new store in Chicagoland area,some cost over 2M.I bought some lots a few years ago,planing to put a new store and an arcade but when I think about the cost of build up.....that is why I always buy run down used store in good loaction,save a lot on the build up cost.

[pete f]

For those who have upgraded their water service (eg 1" to 2"), how did you go about it and how much did it cost?

From what I've gathered so far, 6" to 12" water mains run underneath streets. Then, depending on the location, you either have individual laterals sized to the water meter running to the building or a larger lateral to a manifold which branches off to the individual units. I assume the building plumbing is usually sized to the meter?

I called 2 cities and they charge anywhere from $1900 to $3200 just for the meter and installation to the curb. Any digging and repaving on the street being extra at $15/sqft, with the whole block needing to be repaved. But I've never seen any commercial meters at the curb. It always goes close to the building. Anything from the meter to the building would need to be handled by me. Which means any digging and repaving of the parking lot needs to be handled by my own contractor. So it sounds like it'll cost tens of thousands of dollars just to upgrade the water service before any impact fees (if any)?

The city said one location I inquired on might be on a manifold. That could save a lot of money if the lateral were large enough to handle a 2" meter upgrade. But they had no records so I would need to dig up the parking lot to find out. Does this sound reasonable? How can they not have records?

If all this is true, then maybe a bladder tank can save thousands of dollars. There was talk of a previous thread. I've searched tank, expansion tank, bladder tank, pressure tank, bladder pressure tank, and nothing comes up. Can an admin help me find the thread?

Thank you.

I guess you are getting an idea of why asking prices of used mats are what they are, it can be expesive to duplicate. I have heard of 50k being spent to bring water into a new location.

[Ken]

This is nothing new in this business,the build up cost is not cheap.
Some cities even charge a impact fee(tax),some are per machines,some cites charge you sign fee(tax) every year,if you have alarm,some cites charge a fee too!One of my store is in one of larger city,they run the city like cash machine,add new fee for business every few years.They know most business owners run bisiness there but don't live there.It is easy to charge business owner tax than their voters.

[Anonymous]

To install a 2" water line with the meter was over 80k after the fees and the plumber charges in our new store.

[skyfather]

Local distributors have told me that utility hookups average $25000, depending on location.

For the location I had in mind, just repaving the street will cost $30000.