I live in Los Angeles city in a townhouse where I share a common water supply with several other units. I have my own water shut-off valve. The community is about 1400 homes in total and each day a pipe is bursting. The place was built in 1978 w the thinner copper. My particular HOA used to repair pipe bursts and also pay for the epoxy lining when someone had a slab leak. Now they have made the homeowner responsible for all pipes.

I prefer to have a full re-pipe rather than the epoxy. Several reputable contractors have supplied me estimates and indicated the job would be easy. Before I pulled the trigger on any of them I had a 2 hr meeting w the Godfather of re-piping in this area who spent a great deal of time walking in my crawlspace and checking out the pipe paths and water supply at the street. He even called a friend at the permit office allowing me to listen in.

It turns out a re-piping permit is very tough in LA City in my situation because some sort of "calculation" may be needed AND there is something about the main supply line being a different size. I was also told I could only use copper-which is fine to me because switching to pex would raise more eyebrows at the permit office.

This expert plumber said he would decline the job as it was too bothersome saying he could only do it unpermitted. He also strongly encouraged me to go to a competitor he wanted to mess with in order to pass the permit headache on to them. He even taught me how to do this. This makes me truly believe what he had to say.

I went back to all my estimates and most did not mention permits or mentioned I had to obtain them myself and/or pay for them. But no price was mentioned. If my expert is right my 7 plumbers had no mind to permit the job, or choose to not divulge the extra 5k this calculation would cost.

My questions are this. First, does my expert sound like he knows what he is talking about? Second, if this fancy permit is real in LA city are there some ways around it-such as seeing if there are calculations already done somewhere I could use. Having 1400 townhomes and most having the same number of fixtures I bet someone has re-piped. Are these permits kept somewhere in the city records?

Thanks so much for your time and expertise.

as DJT says... it took less time to build the empire state building than it would take to get all the necessary permits today.

We don't know your expert. The fishiest thing you said was "He also strongly encouraged me to go to a competitor he wanted to mess with in order to pass the permit headache on to them." You absolutely do not want to get in the middle of a contractor dispute, there is no possible upside for you, only pain and suffering.

Bottom line:
* Permits cost money and take time.
* Unpermitted work will likely not be be reimbursed by your homeowners insurance.
* Future water damage will likely not be covered by your homeowners insurance,
no matter what the cause, if they discover unpermitted work.
* Your best bet is to talk to other owners to find out who is super happy with their plumber.

In some areas, repairs under a certain cost or size threshold do not require a permit. Sometimes a job can be split into multiple smaller jobs. I repiped my entire home in Northern California over 20+ years, one bathroom or kitchen at a time, then replaced the long runs just before selling it.

Thanks for responding. A full condo re-pipe here is over 10 K and most certainly requires a permit. And as far as I know I am the ONLY person considering a re-pipe in my townhome complex. Most settle for the epoxy lining procedure which I don't care for. But I do like your advice on homeowners insurance. Of course I'm still stuck as even the city office themselves as well as contractors will not tell me the cost of the permit.

Los Angeles has a permit fee calculator here:

[ladbs.org]

It may not be perfect but it will get you close. The result is itemized.



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