Uh no it’s competive bidding

I think the problem is that we are in a diy forum. What one homeowner or tenant may find acceptable won’t fly by industry standards. My company does a variety of different types of jobs. I used to do a bunch of restoration work but now I concentrate on larger jobs like rough carpentry for a new tower complex or installing appliances for same towers. When I do restoration work it’s larger jobs like dealing with the drywall issues in a hotel after mold remediation. None of the scrape down with a 6” knife would fly on any new tower project or townhouse develoment

I see. it's just an image thing. So people aren't getting more than one estimate.

Thank you so much for this I’ve been terrified to touch my walls

>"digging up the suspect spots"

Check the splice points first.

I had this happen to me after I had a backhoe drive through my yard. I didn’t even notice the leak for like 3 months until I noticed the pressure gauge for my well pump slowly dropping even when nothing was running.

If it was after the first use, you might actually have a blockage; I have seen installers throw pipes in a dirt trench before connecting them and all sorts of debris gets in there. In my case a rock got wedged in the line and the rest of the junk built up behind it. You might be able to get a 250ft electrical fish tape and run it through the line and see if you hit anything. Just a idea.

Never. I own the company. It’s all quotes. Or a value per unit

I always wondered how they did that! (Not enough to google) amazing, thank you!

Could be direct burial wire that’s not in a metal conduit.

Either way, at 6’ it’s kinda deep for poking the soil.

It’s to prevent debris and floaters when you skim. It’s not about being stuck in old ways it’s about production and high end workmanship that dOesnt need a ton of filling afterwards. Scraping a joint might work on small patches. Try that on a whole townhouse complex and watch yourself get kicked off site. Plus….I’m only 51. That’s not old. I’m still learning all the time And I’m the first one to do something new…if it makes sense.

i would concur that metal rod poking near electric lines is bad,but the wiring should be in the proper conduit per local code,correct? poking that deep would be difficult,depending on composition and compaction of the fill, perhaps requiring a hammer,therefore i’d go with ‘no poke’.

A lot of folks jumping to the conclusion that it is a leak but I haven’t heard any definite signs it is. Do you have a water meter you can look at? If not, you can use any of the ball valves that supply your barn line to see if it has a large leak. Just barely crack the valve open. If it hisses continuously, you have a leak. If it hisses and then stops or doesn’t hiss, then you have a blockage instead of a leak. You f y or have a water meter just see how many gallons per minute the meter is racking up with everything else in the house turned off. Common causes of reduced pressure would be an extra rubber gasket, a plastic end cap, a chunk of ptfe tape, etc. knowing the material of the water line and what both ends connections look like would help to speculate further.

we had this exact problem,i only discovered it was leaking when a small pond formed in the grass between the house and workshop, which is about 180’ away.

If it's new and leaking I would contact who installed it first.

A plumber with leak detection equipment can trace the leak fairly quickly. Involves filling the pipe with tracer gas and a microphone listens for where the gas is escaping. Very accurate

short of being at the north pole, that depth ought to be fine for the freeze line. assuming the pipe getting to that depth and coming out of it is protected from the cold. could be a bad install. is it pvc? copper? did someone forget to sweat or glue a joint?

if its a fresh install then doing the rod method and digging up the suspect spots might not be a bad option.

So the splices were part of the installation, not previous repairs? If the water is under the electric I wouldn’t go poking with metal rods.

Call your water company. They have listening devices that can hear water leaks underground. They may be able to help - but since it’s on your line, not theirs they may not be allowed to. If they can’t they can probably give you another company.

6’ is deep for a water line unless you have a really deep frost line.

use a paint stirrer to hold the pieces in place when you put it in. put paint stirrer in hole and put screws in above and below (or beside) on each side, Then put new drywall in place and screw it into the stirrer as well. It will make holding it in place much easier.

It was new install, and it’s laid underneath the electrical in the same trench. Water is 6 feet and electrical is 4

Get a thin rod and start poking in the ground. If you find a really soft spot, that could be it.

If it already has 2 splices, it’s prone to breaking. Is it deep enough? Does heavy equipment go over it much? How old is it and what material is it? Maybe it’s just getting old and brittle. You fix one break and it may blow out the next weak spot.

How much water are you using in the barn? Maybe you can replace the whole thing with a spool of direct burial poly tubing.

Is it maybe frozen?

I was looking for advice on this so thanks for posting this. You too OP.

Was a total drywall noob. Basement flooded. Redid all the drywall in my basement using what I learned from jeffs videos. Get compliments on it all the time. Hes the man!