Trench for new water supply - any guesstimates on how big and expensive?

[d000hg]

We are being required to get a brand new supply from the water main for a new build in our garden. It's about 50m up our private lane from the road, then about 10m across our garden to the building. We'd hoped they'd let us put a new meter on the existing (very old) pipe that runs up the lane to our house but they refuse, so now we have to trench and lay 50m of pipe. We're in a rural area.

We're organising some quotes but I just have no idea in my head how big a job this is. I know the pipe itself should only cost 50-100 quid but is this a day's work to dig a trench with a digger, or multiple days? And what might that cost me?

Then we've been told we are required to do a pressure+chlorination test, I've heard £500 bandied around for this (money for old rope!)

We might consider "self lay" as we have a contact who is an independent digger hire guy, the issue then is trench inspections and all that stuff.

Anyone know about this stuff from their own projects or their field of work?

 

[mikeey84]

We had a new supply to our house put in. Moleing was by far the easiest way, and maybe worth considering? Means a few pits rather than a huge trench, and it's pretty quick

 

[d000hg]

We had a new supply to our house put in. Moleing was by far the easiest way, and maybe worth considering? Means a few pits rather than a huge trench, and it's pretty quick

I wondered about it though I've heard it's really expensive - can you share approx size and cost of your project?
I was also wondering if tree roots could be an issue - also the new pipe is (we think) going to to run near the old water pipe and our gas pipe. Can they detect and avoid such things with a mole?

 

[mikeey84]

It was about 700 quid a few years ago for about 15m run.

Most of the day was spent digging the pits (one needed every 5m or so to make sure the mole keeps inline)

It's a fairly beefy pneumatic system, so tree roots shouldn't be an issue, and they will go above or below any other pipework (I imagine they would dig pits at any potential cross points)

Worth getting someone in- they have a scheme similar to Fensa, so can be self certifying, and if you offer to dig the required pits, you could save quite a bit of cash

 

[d000hg]

Cheers Mike. Yeah we've had one accredited/certified guy round (is WIAPS the relevant one here?) but not yet received a quote. He seemed in two minds whether micromole or full mole or trench would be best. I guess we wait and see - he seemed a decent guy - but I have fears we're suddenly going to get a £10k cost we hadn't planned on just because the water-board jobsworths won't T off a perfectly good pipe right next to the build site

He was happy to have us self-lay and he'd come do the certified bits rather than rely on the water company come and do the inspections, which might be good.

 

[mikeey84]

Unless you are digging up block paving or public roads/paths etc, it shouldn't cost that much

 

[Tigercubrider]

Could you use a trencher?
They are similar to a rotovator but dig a deep slit

 

[d000hg]

I mean I now want one of those just to play with But I'm not sure - if that was the best tool wouldn't trenching companies use them (maybe they do?)
Mostly the nervous bit would be not hitting anything with it but then that's the same with a digger. Something to look into anyway - thanks.

 

[VDubDan]

Are you the same D00hg as on CUK?

Anyhow, we had 16 meters layed and it cost £1000 [incl. VAT], including the incoming to copper + stopcock (although that's pennies really) and the making good including some concrete. Expensive, but very painless and I'm glad I didn't bother with digging up my drive.

That said, depending on how you do - I recently hired an excavator for some foundation work and that included trenching for some drains. It was only a few meters, but was very painless and didn't take long at all so given your distance it may be better for at least some portion of it

The water board bit was free under their lead replacement scheme (Something to look at for you), though in our case it was also a brand new connection as the old supply came from next door and I didn't have to pay for any other tests or anything

 

[bernardgreen]

When we installed the supply back in 1980 the water company strongly recommended a trench, bed of sand and then (after inspection ) a layer of sand on top of pipe.

The sand was to protect the pipe from the many sharp stones that were in the ground.

You could at the same time lay in ducts to enable other services to be up-graded in the future without havig to dig another trench.