Main utility hook up questions

Badfish740 said:

Can somebody give me an idea of how utility hookups work? What I mean is, at what point does the power/water/sewer company have to get involved and do you have to pay them for it?

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You better get involved with them right from the start to find out if the fee's for hookup are outrageous or not. And normally you have to pay a hookup fee for the right to use their service. Power fee's usually don't have a hookup fee and are based on length of wire run, materials, transformer, etc. Water fee's generally have a hookup fee which can be a few hundred dollars to thousands, and they will have a meter fee. Also depending if they stubbed out a line from the main to the curb when the main was first installed there will be a substantial charge to tap the main and run a line to the edge of your property. Sewer hookup fee's can be quite expensive and usually run around here in the $3,000 to $10,000 range. And there will be a substantial fee if they did not stub out to your property line, this charge can be quite a lot depending on how deep the sewer main is. Phone and cable are usually cheap compared to everything else.

Badfish740 said:

For example, obviously the power company has to run a cable from the pole to the service connection on the house, but what about a gas line? Does the power company dig the trench from the gas line in the street all the way across your property to where the meter will be installed? Or do you have to dig the portion of the trench that is on your property (from the curb to the house)? How about the water line?

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That depends on the utility company some will allow you to have another contractor dig the ditch, some will not. Around here you have to have a certified for sewer side connections contractor install the sewer line from the curb to the house. For power most of the power companies around here allow us to dig the ditch and they install the wire, but there is one that won't let us dig the ditch. Also around here we usually install everything in the same ditch if possible except for sewer, like power, water, phone and cable.

Badfish740 said:

How does payment work? Do you pay a flat fee at the time or do the utility companies do it for free since the hookups enable you to become a paying customer for the life of the home? Obviously the level of work could vary quite a bit depending on the property type, but this would be for a home that would be sitting 30' from the curb at maximum.

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You pay everything up front, nothing is free.

Thanks for the info-I was able to find out that the water hookup fee is posted on the town website. $2120, up from $1800 when they changed it two years ago. I also found out that the particular street I'm looking at has no sewer, so I get to pay for a $25K septic system instead It's not that bad though, the design has already been approved for a 4 bedroom house and I only want to build a 3 bedroom. I don't know if there is gas in the street and I have to check out power too... Lot's of work but it will be extremely worth it when its done.

If you don't have gas on the street contact a local propane company. Most will give you a great deal on in ground tanks if you sign up with them for service. may be a better deal even if you do have gas on the street too:thumbsup:

Reaqd some of your other posts. There are alot of pit falls to doing it your self so make sure you research everthing. Most of us that are building have been in the trade a long time before we became GCs. One mistake could cost you the whole house. I've seen 2 torn down in the last year because of slab hieght issues. Also you probalby can't sell or rent for 1 to 2 years if you are the owner/builder.

Why wouldnt you be able to sell or rent for 1-2 years if you are the owner/builder?

That 1-2 years is if you build it as an owner/builder without a licence. They still let people build their own homes but they don't want them flipping them so they have that rule. I've seen it in SC and FL so I assume it's else where too.