SewerOwner

Repair or replace

This is usually presented as a question about how bad the damage is. It is more usefully a question about how much of the line anyone has actually seen.

A condition at one location, with the rest of the line inspected and unremarkable, is a different decision from the same condition with two-thirds of the line never reached. The observation is identical; the decision is not.

What this page cannot establish

  • SewerOwner cannot tell you whether to repair or replace
  • no observation, on its own, establishes that replacement is required
  • a longer warranty does not establish that a larger scope is better
  • a lower price does not establish that a smaller scope is sufficient

Questions that make the decision visible

Ask these of everyone who has quoted. Where the answers differ, that difference is the actual disagreement.

  • How much of the line has been inspected, and how much has not?
  • Is the condition you are addressing at one location, or several?
  • What is your basis for what the un-inspected portion is like?
  • If we repair the identified length, what specifically are we accepting the risk of?
  • If we replace the whole run, what part of that scope is addressing a condition someone has actually observed?
  • What would you need to see to change your recommendation?
  • What does your proposal assume about material, depth, and length, and how were those established?

Why "it will fail eventually" is not a decision criterion

Every buried pipe will eventually need attention. That is true of a line in good condition and a line in poor condition, and it is therefore not information that distinguishes between them.

The useful version of that argument is specific: a stated observation, at a stated location, with a stated basis for extending it to the rest of the run. That version can be checked. The general version cannot.

What would change the answer

  • what the inspection covered, and what it did not reach
  • whether the observed condition is at one location or several
  • what is known about the rest of the line, and how
  • what each proposal states about the length it addresses

What to do next

The decision becomes tractable once the two proposals are laid out by stated scope rather than by price.

Compare what each proposal states it covers

If your situation is different

Related, and why