Finally Breaking Ground
- Carol Mckee
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
The First Steps: Bringing Water, Sewer, and Power to the Build Site
Every home build has a starting point that may not look very exciting from the outside. Before the foundation, framing, windows, or finishes, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that has to happen first.
This week, that work officially began with the installation of the temporary sewer, water, and power connections for the property.
It may not be the most glamorous part of building a new home, but it is one of the most important. A construction site needs basic utilities long before the house itself is ready. The crews need water. The job site trailer needs to function. Concrete work needs a place for cleanup. Temporary power needs to be available for tools, lighting, and equipment.
In other words, before you can build the house, you have to build the job site.
Starting with Sewer and Water
The plumber began by installing the lines that will eventually become the permanent sewer and water connections for the property.
We started near the midpoint of where the sewer line will run. This allows us to create a temporary utility area for the construction phase. That temporary setup will give us working water and sewer for the job site trailer during the build. Later, the sewer connection near the front of the property will also serve as a cleanout, which is an access point that allows the sewer line to be maintained or cleared if needed.
There used to be a small house on this property, so water and sewer had already been brought to the lot years ago. However, when the county installed the water meter box, it was placed about 20 feet over into the neighbor’s yard. It is still in the right-of-way, so technically it is allowed to be there, but it is certainly not ideal.
We looked into what it would take to move the meter, but the county was not very cooperative about the process or the effort required to make that happen. After looking at the options, we decided to leave the meter where it is and design around it.
Keeping Utilities Out of the Construction Zone
For the sewer line, the goal is to keep everything out of the way of the future house and garage construction. To do that, the line is being run down the property line.
We have taken it to the point where we expect it will eventually turn toward the house. For now, it will be stubbed up out of the ground and left there until we are ready to make the next run toward the actual house location.
The water line was a little less straightforward because we were not exactly sure where the existing line entered the property. Rather than digging unnecessary trenches to hunt for it, we decided to dig for the sewer line first and locate the water line along the way.
That may sound a little risky, but it turned out to be the right decision. Our best guess was about 30 feet away from where the water line actually was, so this approach saved a good amount of unnecessary digging.
Now that we know where the water line comes into the property, we are running the water line in the same trench as the sewer line. Since the water line enters the property about 30 feet back from the street, we are teeing off from that point. One line will run toward the front corner of the property, and the other will eventually run toward the house.
The front water connection will be useful during construction for the job site trailer, concrete washout, and general site use. Long-term, it may also become a yard spigot.
By the time this phase is complete, the front north corner of the property, closest to the road, will have both a sewer cleanout and a water connection. The sewer cleanout will also allow us to empty the travel trailer tank while it is being used during construction.
So while the trenching and piping may not look like much yet, it is a major step forward. Temporary water and sewer are going in, and that means the site is starting to become functional.
Setting Up Temporary Power
The next piece of the puzzle is temporary power.
In construction, temporary power is often set up on what is called a “saw pole.” The term comes from the days when one of the main reasons you needed electricity on a job site was to run a saw.
Temporary power has to be installed in the correct location. In this case, the temporary power pole needs to be at least 45 feet away from the existing power pole. The utility company will then run an overhead line from the existing pole to the temporary pole and connect it to a meter. From there, power runs into a panel box with breakers, giving the job site usable electricity.
The temporary power pole is scheduled to be installed next Wednesday afternoon, possibly earlier if the electrician is able to get to it.
One nice bonus is that we already have the panel box we need. When the old house was still on the property, we had upgraded and installed an electrical panel box. Before the fire department burned the house down for training, we salvaged that panel and saved it for this build.
Now, that same panel box will be used as our temporary power panel.
Is it more than we need for temporary power? Absolutely. But since we already have it, the only real cost is installing it. It also means we should have plenty of temporary power outlets available throughout the build.
What Happens Next
Once the temporary utilities are in place, the property will begin to change quickly.
The next steps include removing the trees that cannot be saved, clearing debris from the lot, scraping away organic material from the areas where the grade needs to be built up, and beginning the rough grading that will shape the future house site.
These early steps are not always the most dramatic, but they are what make everything else possible. Before the house can start coming out of the ground, the site has to be prepared, organized, and supplied with the basic utilities the crews will need.
Over the next two weeks, we expect the property to look very different.
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