Yard is tore up.

[Timothy Grice]

My 4″ line was broke. The plumber brought a tractor in to dig down 4-5 ft. My yard now has all of the root debris and red dirt piled up about 8-12 inches higher than the surface of the ground. A HORRIBLE MESS. Isn’t the plumber responsible for compacting the dirt (leveling it)?

[John Aldrich1Participant]

Only if the Plumbers bid included restoration of the Landscaping. He probably considers himself a Plumber, not a Landscaper. In order to clean up the mess, do it yourself or hire a Landscaper. The Plumber should state on his bid exactly the tasks for which he is responsible.

[DUNBARParticipant]

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In reply to message posted by patricia.gillespie:
My 4″ line was broke. The plumber brought a tractor in to dig down 4-5 ft. My yard now has all of the root debris and red dirt piled up about 8-12 inches higher than the surface of the ground. A HORRIBLE MESS. Isn’t the plumber responsible for compacting the dirt (leveling it)?

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To add to John’s statement,

When you excavate ground, the process of backfill is intentionally building the ground up where the ditch was dug to allow for settlement.

75% settlement will occur in the first 3 months and if you watch that ditch after a few rains, it will drop dramatically.

Mother nature does a better job at compaction than any piece of equipment can and when trying to speed up this process you can accidentally crush the new pipe laid in the ground. Seen it happen too many times where the operator rutted the ditch with the equipment and find out months later there’s either a belly in the pipe or snapped off at a tee or fitting.

As John stated,

Plumbers are not landscapers, it must be dictated on the bill that the gradescape is to be put back to original condition as stated by both parties.

Otherwise the plumber followed a normal and ordinary procedure that is common across the land.

DUNBAR

Website Moderator

[patricia.gillespieParticipant]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I will just have to wait it out. I appreciate your responses.

[Author]

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