Filing a complaint against city inspector - ADU Sewer Lateral

[Kevin Arceo]

I'm about 90% completed with my detached ADU project; however, when we had our plumbing inspection done by the city they approved PVC piping from the ADU to the street (sewer lateral). However a neighbor made a complaint about some non relevant issue and called the water district. The water district (sewer) says the city inspector should not approved PVC piping and is now demanding that we change the piping to American Cast iron.

The city says we must abide to the water district and change the piping in order to receive the certificate of occupancy.

My contractor says that the type of piping should have been specified on the approved plans. Also the inspector made a mistake of approving the PVC plumbing which the supervisor inspector admits. We are looking into filing a formal complaint with the city.

The water district gave us a letter stating if the ADU lateral is not inspected within 30 days they will terminate wastewater sewer service to the property under District ordinance 3-23-71, ch 2, section 10.

I need some help...Thanks

[Chris Seveney]

Quote from @Kevin Arceo:

I'm about 90% completed with my detached ADU project; however, when we had our plumbing inspection done by the city they approved PVC piping from the ADU to the street (sewer lateral). However a neighbor made a complaint about some non relevant issue and called the water district. The water district (sewer) says the city inspector should not approved PVC piping and is now demanding that we change the piping to American Cast iron.

The city says we must abide to the water district and change the piping in order to receive the certificate of occupancy.

My contractor says that the type of piping should have been specified on the approved plans. Also the inspector made a mistake of approving the PVC plumbing which the supervisor inspector admits. We are looking into filing a formal complaint with the city.

The water district gave us a letter stating if the ADU lateral is not inspected within 30 days they will terminate wastewater sewer service to the property under District ordinance 3-23-71, ch 2, section 10.

I need some help...Thanks

 1. What was on the approved plans?

2. Did you not have the water department approve the plans as they should have reviewed them for sizing of piping and meter locations etc.

3. you can file a complaint, but (A) you will not get any monetary compensation against the local authorities and (b) it will only get them upset and possibly make it much more difficult to get other approvals.

[Kevin Arceo]

1) The approved plans don't mention the type of piping to be used. They do say that we need obtain a permit from the water department.

2) Yes, I sent the approved plans to the water department and they stamped it. They said that they would need an inspection of the sewer lateral done at a later time.

3) So I can't do anything at all. Sounds despotic.

[Wayne Brooks]

@Kevin Arceo Yes, it sucks, and it shouldn’t happen that the city inspector is not familiar with the water/sewer dept spec.s, but….

1 you did mention that your plans did Not show the type of pipe and that was a mistake

2 moreover….it is the owner/contractor’s responsibility to Know what the appropriate code calls for. If an inspector mistakenly approves something that is Not allowed, even though the owner/contractor is still responsible for complying with the appropriate code.

3 assuming you had the water/sewer inspection shortly after the city inspection as you should have, then it is essentially the same as the city inspector rejecting it….you still have to replace it.

These are the lessons we learn doing this kind of work.

[Richard F.]

Aloha,

Is your Contractor properly licensed for the work and location, and experienced with the specific type of installation? He should have know what was required, and, whether he did or did not, he also should have raised the issue of the pipe not being specified on the drawings before buying materials. I would be having him correct the problem...unless YOU are qualified to read the prints and know the regs. Complaining/suing the government agencies will likely not help matters in any way, regardless of their mishandling.

[Dan H.]

I am not surprised at the mistake, mistakes happen.

What I am surprised is that they only allow American Cast iron.  It lasts long, but I expect ABS (and possibly PVC) will last longer.  I question why cast iron.

There was a building in San Diego that had all approvals, construction began, the FAA had issues with the height.  The owner/developer had to shop entire stories off of this building (I believe it was 4 stories had to be removed).  To the best of my knowledge the city did not have to pay any compensation for approving plans that were not allowed even though the owner experienced large financial loss due to the mistake.

If that type of mistake results in no compensation your, by comparison, small item is not going to get you any compensation and as another post indicated may make your life more difficult going forward on your project.

Sorry it happened, but if you proceed make sure you understand the possible consequences.

Good luck

[Tom Fidrych]

I briefly looked over the Oakland sewer line requirements and it seems materials other then cast iron are allowed unless the line is less that 12" below soil. Is that why they are calling it out of is it a poor code interpretation by the inspector?

[Russell Brazil]

File a complaint and youre never going to pass inspection.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

File a complaint and youre never going to pass inspection.

 Or any other inspection ever :-)

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Richard F.:

Aloha,

Is your Contractor properly licensed for the work and location, and experienced with the specific type of installation? He should have know what was required, and, whether he did or did not, he also should have raised the issue of the pipe not being specified on the drawings before buying materials. I would be having him correct the problem...unless YOU are qualified to read the prints and know the regs. Complaining/suing the government agencies will likely not help matters in any way, regardless of their mishandling.

Yes, he subbed out the work to plumber from another county. Your right I think the sub he hired should have known about this special ordinance, but yet here we are. My sub is licensed and I'm not sure about the location though. I'm doing this project as a owner builder.

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Dan H.:

I am not surprised at the mistake, mistakes happen.

What I am surprised is that they only allow American Cast iron.  It lasts long, but I expect ABS (and possibly PVC) will last longer.  I question why cast iron.

There was a building in San Diego that had all approvals, construction began, the FAA had issues with the height.  The owner/developer had to shop entire stories off of this building (I believe it was 4 stories had to be removed).  To the best of my knowledge the city did not have to pay any compensation for approving plans that were not allowed even though the owner experienced large financial loss due to the mistake.

If that type of mistake results in no compensation your, by comparison, small item is not going to get you any compensation and as another post indicated may make your life more difficult going forward on your project.

Sorry it happened, but if you proceed make sure you understand the possible consequences.

Good luck

Yes, my contractor said the same thing regarding American Cast Iron. My area is the only place where it's required in comparison to the other areas surrounding us which is why the mistake happened. The general sentiment here is that proceeding with the complaint will delay my project. Seems tyrannical to me...

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Tom Fidrych:

I briefly looked over the Oakland sewer line requirements and it seems materials other then cast iron are allowed unless the line is less that 12" below soil. Is that why they are calling it out of is it a poor code interpretation by the inspector?

I'm in Contra Costa County. West county wastewater has jurisdiction in my area.

[Tony Ngo]

My client had the property build from ground up. The existing property used septic tank. The new construction had in drawing to connect to public sewage. After everything completed and my client moved in. Two years later and he had problem with the sewage and then he found out that the contractor never connect the sewage to public sewage but city inspector signed off based on the plan. City didn't compensation anything to my client except refund the city fee back to him. I guess in your situation, you pretty much have no choice to correct. Very sorry to hear that. I am also starting ADU build from ground up. Thank you for sharing and I will make sure the type of pipe to be listed on the plan. If you have any more tips or recommendation, kindly share with me. Thank you

[Henry T.]

Weird. Everyone up here uses PVC, or at least sch 35(the cheap green stuff). I only see cast where its exposed, like parking garages and such.

[Wayne Brooks]

Quote from @Kevin Arceo:

Quote from @Richard F.:

Aloha,

Is your Contractor properly licensed for the work and location, and experienced with the specific type of installation? He should have know what was required, and, whether he did or did not, he also should have raised the issue of the pipe not being specified on the drawings before buying materials. I would be having him correct the problem...unless YOU are qualified to read the prints and know the regs. Complaining/suing the government agencies will likely not help matters in any way, regardless of their mishandling.

Yes, he subbed out the work to plumber from another county. You’re right I think the sub he hired should have known about this special ordinance, but yet here we are. My sub is licensed and I'm not sure about the location though. I'm doing this project as an owner builder.

Just to clarify one thing….Yes, an experienced contractor generally knows what is required in the area he works in, but….a contractor bids and builds from a set of plans that is developed/design by someone else, an engineer or architect. But, he Should have asked for clarification of the pipe material. This was sloppy from whoever created the plans by not specifying the correct pipe material.

[Ryan Normand]

Quote from @Dan H.:

What I am surprised is that they only allow American Cast iron.  It lasts long, but I expect ABS (and possibly PVC) will last longer.  I question why cast iron.

 My thought exactly. I'm not a plumber, but I was under the impression that cast iron piping has largely been phased out of residential new construction because of longevity and cost issues. Most people these days are paying to tear their old cast iron out because it's corroded after 50-75 years and replacing it with PVC/ABS. 

I would go to the water district directly,  explain your situation, and get written confirmation that this is actually what they require before you make any changes. To me, it makes no sense. 

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Henry T.:

Weird. Everyone up here uses PVC, or at least sch 35(the cheap green stuff). I only see cast where its exposed, like parking garages and such.

Yep! This is why we were dumbfounded. My county is the only one that does American Cast Iron.

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Tony Ngo:

My client had the property build from ground up. The existing property used septic tank. The new construction had in drawing to connect to public sewage. After everything completed and my client moved in. Two years later and he had problem with the sewage and then he found out that the contractor never connect the sewage to public sewage but city inspector signed off based on the plan. City didn't compensation anything to my client except refund the city fee back to him. I guess in your situation, you pretty much have no choice to correct. Very sorry to hear that. I am also starting ADU build from ground up. Thank you for sharing and I will make sure the type of pipe to be listed on the plan. If you have any more tips or recommendation, kindly share with me. Thank you

Hope all goes well for you. Learn from my mistakes!

[Kevin Arceo]

Quote from @Wayne Brooks:

Quote from @Kevin Arceo:

Quote from @Richard F.:

Aloha,

Is your Contractor properly licensed for the work and location, and experienced with the specific type of installation? He should have know what was required, and, whether he did or did not, he also should have raised the issue of the pipe not being specified on the drawings before buying materials. I would be having him correct the problem...unless YOU are qualified to read the prints and know the regs. Complaining/suing the government agencies will likely not help matters in any way, regardless of their mishandling.

Yes, he subbed out the work to plumber from another county. You’re right I think the sub he hired should have known about this special ordinance, but yet here we are. My sub is licensed and I'm not sure about the location though. I'm doing this project as an owner builder.

Just to clarify one thing….Yes, an experienced contractor generally knows what is required in the area he works in, but….a contractor bids and builds from a set of plans that is developed/design by someone else, an engineer or architect. But, he Should have asked for clarification of the pipe material. This was sloppy from whoever created the plans by not specifying the correct pipe material.

This is my first ground up project and I had no idea what is and isn't suppose to be on these plans. I just assumed the contractor to know his stuff.

I know for the foundation part it was a lot more detailed.