Low water pressure in Ann Arbor - Excavators or Advice

[Benjamin T.]

Hello - 

I am a bit of a newbie here, I accidentally got into rental properties when I moved away from Ann Arbor and couldn't get the price I wanted for my house. It is now my only rental, but I'm interested in more.

Anyway, the house has low water pressure and the tenants this year complained. The water works, it is just if the washer is filling up or something, the faucet will be very weak for those few minutes. Roto-Rooter says I have a galvanized water main line that needs replacing, and after checking with the city of Ann Arbor and reading city code I find that I am responsible for this even though it is before the meter.

The first estimate to fix this came back around 7k. I am working on getting more, but have two questions:

1. Does anyone have a good excavator recommendation in Ann Arbor?

2. Am I obligated to fix this right now? Or at all? The water works and has always been low (even when I lived there), but these are the first tenants to complain. I want happy tenants, but these ones are likely gone come summer as it's a college rental. The next ones might not care at all. At the very least, it would be a lot easier to take care of after the holidays for both fiscal and travel reasons.

Any insight at all is appreciated, thank you very much!

[Joshua B.]

Originally posted by @Benjamin T.:

Hello - 

I am a bit of a newbie here, I accidentally got into rental properties when I moved away from Ann Arbor and couldn't get the price I wanted for my house. It is now my only rental, but I'm interested in more.

Anyway, the house has low water pressure and the tenants this year complained. The water works, it is just if the washer is filling up or something, the faucet will be very weak for those few minutes. Roto-Rooter says I have a galvanized water main line that needs replacing, and after checking with the city of Ann Arbor and reading city code I find that I am responsible for this even though it is before the meter.

The first estimate to fix this came back around 7k. I am working on getting more, but have two questions:

1. Does anyone have a good excavator recommendation in Ann Arbor?

2. Am I obligated to fix this right now? Or at all? The water works and has always been low (even when I lived there), but these are the first tenants to complain. I want happy tenants, but these ones are likely gone come summer as it's a college rental. The next ones might not care at all. At the very least, it would be a lot easier to take care of after the holidays for both fiscal and travel reasons.

Any insight at all is appreciated, thank you very much!

The guy who did my inspection in Ann Arbor said Olde Town Plumbing in Ypsilanti is very reasonably priced and does a good job. I've never used them myself, though. 

http://oldetowneplumbing.com.s59565.gridserver.com/services/