About San Diego Swift Sewer Line Repair

What we work on

We work on one pipe: the private sewer lateral that carries your building's sewage to the public main. In the City of San Diego that pipe is yours all the way to the connection at the main, so our work runs from the cleanout at the house, across the yard and, when it has to, under the sidewalk and street.

• Sewer line replacement: A new lateral from the house to the City main, by open trench or pipe bursting, with the permits, inspections and street work that come with it.
• Trenchless sewer repair: Lining and pipe bursting that reach the lateral through cleanouts and small pits, chosen only when the camera shows the pipe can take them.
• Sewer pipe lining: A cured-in-place liner that forms a new pipe wall inside a cracked or root-prone lateral, for pipes that are still continuous and round.
• Pipe bursting: Trenchless replacement that splits the old lateral in place and pulls a new HDPE pipe through the same path, between two pits.
• Sewer camera inspection: A recorded video of the lateral from the cleanout to the main, with each defect measured by distance and the line's path and depth marked on the ground.
• Sewer spot repair: One cracked section or failed joint fixed by a small excavation or a sectional liner, when the rest of the lateral checks out sound.
• Sewer root removal: Clearing roots, grease and buildup from the lateral by cable or jetter, then a camera look at the joints the roots came through.
• Street lateral repair: The section of your lateral under the sidewalk and street, repaired or reconnected at the City main with the right-of-way permit, traffic control and resurfacing it needs.
• Emergency sewer repair: When the house has lost its sewer or sewage is coming up: restoring flow first, then finding out why with a camera before anything permanent is decided.
• Commercial sewer repair: Laterals serving apartment buildings, mixed-use and commercial properties, where larger pipe, manhole connections and occupied buildings change how the work is planned.
• Cleanout installation: A capped access fitting on the lateral, near the house or toward the street, so the line can be cleaned, scoped and repaired without pulling a toilet.
• Collapsed sewer line repair: Repair of a lateral that has caved in, from confirming the collapse on camera to digging out the section, bursting through it or replacing the line.
• Sewer belly repair: Correcting a section of lateral that has sunk and holds water, usually by excavating the low run and relaying it on firm bedding at a proper slope.
• Cast iron sewer replacement: Replacing or rehabilitating corroded cast iron drain and sewer pipe, from the building drain under the slab to the lateral in the yard.
• Clay sewer pipe repair: Repairs for vitrified clay laterals, from a single failed joint to a full line, chosen by how many joints have opened, shifted or cracked.
• Sewer line excavation: Open-trench and pit excavation for sewer laterals: utility locating, shoring, pipe bedding to grade, compacted backfill and surface restoration.
• Home-buyer sewer inspection: A camera scope of the lateral during escrow, recorded and located, so a buyer knows the pipe's condition before the contingency period ends.

The rules we work to

• California Plumbing Code as adopted by the City of San Diego. The City adopts the 2025 California Plumbing Code with local amendments (SDMC 147.0103), and it applies to privately owned plumbing, the lateral included.
• City lateral standards. Development Services Information Bulletin 166 sets standard public laterals at 5 to 7 feet of cover at the property line, a minimum 2 percent slope and a perpendicular connection to the main.
• Right-of-way permits and inspection. Work in the street or a sewer easement goes through a Right-of-Way Permit with a construction plan and a City inspection before the connection is made; City crews no longer install laterals, and the City points owners to a Class A licensed contractor for that work.
• Trench safety. Trenches 5 feet or deeper are shored to Cal-OSHA standards, and backfill is placed and compacted in lifts.
• Camera before and after. We start every repair from camera footage of the line and finish it with a camera run through the finished work.