Does everyone run cameras through their water lines when purchasing a small park? Im looking at a 27 pad park on 3 acres that is submetered.
Only on the sewer lines do we use a camera. What are you trying to achieve from a diligence perspective on the water lines?
If looking for leaks consider reconciling the master meter data against submeter data if it’s available. Or otherwise have a leak detection company come out if you are seeing excessive bills.
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@jhutson Thank you for feedback. To be honest it is my first park and I have heard from others that they do not do the cameras so I wanted to see how critical or not it was. The master and submitter is available so I can reconcile that. This park runs at about $900/month each for water and sewer with 24 tenants. there are however several tenants that get billed the min as required by water company, so i don’t think the consumption is excessive.
Would you like to know before or after purchase that you need replace extensive sections of your sewer line? Is the deal is good enough it wouldn’t kill the deal if you need to replace all sewer lines?
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Phillip is right. I didn’t know to consider scoping my lines and discovered clay pipe after closing. So far, nothing terrible has happened, but I wish I’d known earlier. Finding the cost to scope the lines is easy. Finding the cost of not inspecting might be painful, might not.
Do look at the fresh water lines, at least what you can see. My park was built in the early 50s with galvanized supply. I need to replace, but figuring out how to fund is the challenge.
Agree with everyone’s comments. During DD on our last purchase, the Township actually demanded the sewer lines be camera’d before they would approve the purchase. We would have done it anyway but because the Township demanded it, the seller ended up paying for the work. I was told by numerous tenants, the water and sewer authority and a Township inspector that the clay sewer lines were collapsed in places and completely clogged in others. I was also told that because the clay sewer lines were in such bad shape, there was a ton of runoff getting in the pipes and the 8 inch mains looked like rivers.
The Water and Sewer Authority Manager pulled the manhole covers for me and we discovered that the main was dry as a bone. In fact, the camera showed that the mains were actually in really good shape with just a few minor cracks. What we DID discover was that a number of the lateral lines had root intrusion.
We developed a plan to unclog the lines and remove the intrusive trees. We have removed nearly 20 trees so far and have budgeted for this over the next 5 years. I also consulted Phillip about this and he was enormously helpful.
Do not buy that park until you camera those lines.
Jon
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Thanks for sharing this, really great info.
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thanks everyone. really good info