From: m4rcone@xs4a11.nl
Subject: Re: main water line replacement cost?
Newsgroups: alt.home.repair misc.consumers.house
Date: 10 Sep 2004 01:34:58 GMT

In alt.home.repair m4rcone@xs4a11.nl wrote:
> When the guy from San Jose Water Company came out to see why water-flow was
> inadequate for our new sprinker system he blamed the galvanized steel main
> water line, and said he expected a plumber to charge us about $1200 to
> replace it (it's about 70 feet from the meter to the house).
> So far we've had one plumber come out to give us an estimate, and he first
> said $2800, then $2500, and finally $2000.
> I'll ask other companies for estimates, of course, but was wondering if
> anyone in here has had this work done recently, and how much it ended up
> costing.

So I called a few other companies, and got quotes ranging from $1100
to over $4000. I went with the lowest one, and so I ended up hiring 
DrainWorks (408-927-9999, they're in the local "valley yellow pages",
but not in SBC's "smart" yellow pages). A guy by the name of Ivan
did the work. Well, he had a helper who did most of the digging), and am
very pleased with the way it turned out. They took care to not damage my
plants (temporarily digging up and replanting where needed), and when
everything was done it was like nothing ever happened. Except now I have
a nice big pipe to feed the sprinklers.