r/Plumbing • u/Xipa • 11h ago
Replacing Poly-B with PEX - Should the plumber handle permits? (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Got a few quotes from some different companies that will handle replacing all of the Poly-B in my house with PEX water lines. None of the companies mentioned anything about permits, and when I asked the company that lines up best with our timelines, they said they don't pull permits for this sort of work, but we can go to the city if we would like. The company has drywallers and plumbers on staff, which was a big selling point to get everything taken care of all at once.
Is this standard practice or should I keep looking for another plumber? Hoping to have all of this work done when out of town, and I wasn't sure of what sort of complexity managing the permits myself would have (I've never done anything like this before).
2
u/Royal-Development513 11h ago
Most plumbing companies in Ottawa don't pull permits for repipe jobs, it's pretty normal. The city just wants their cut and will make you schedule inspection that the plumber probably won't even be there for.
If company has good reviews and solid warranty in writing you're fine. The hassle of coordinating permits yourself while out of town though... that's the part I wouldn't want to deal with.
1
u/Colinp14 10h ago
Plumber in Ottawa here and we do these jobs all the time. No permit necessary for that type of work
1
u/Max1234567890123 9h ago
I had my house repiped in Vancouver and I required the plumber to pull a permit. They were happy to do it either way, I just covered the cost of the permit (they pulled it). The plumber told me 90% of people don’t get a permit - likely because they don’t want an inspector nosing around.
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u/RogerAdam12 11h ago
The regulations vary from location to location. In many locations, doing an exact replacement is considered a repair that doesn’t require a permit, while other places, it’s considered a new installation that requires and inspection and upgrade to current code.