Classic situation. Got a call for a "BID" on a french drain job. Instead they need an engineered system. 3 buildings @140' each tied together. 19 total downspouts. Groundwater will be collected also using same ditch but separate pipe. Rainfall sq. footage numbers allow for 4" pipe for the majority. 6" for a portion. 850' of ditch including tie-ins. Here is the giant curve. Almost 70 individual utilities to expose. ointhead This is of course a worst case scenario. Once utilities are spotted this number could go down a bit. I know pictures pictures pictures( it won't work). Maybe. How do you account for that much hand digging. Even if we don't have to cross some of the utilities with the main ditch we will with the downspout tie-ins. I'll start here. looking for suggestions....like tying all the downspouts together above ground and running a 4 inch line along the base of the building so we only have to tie in once per building under ground..??
You will want to carry a few days with a vacuum excavator to find and expose all the utilities. Its a lot cheaper in the long run then hand digging. You could also directional drill under the area with all the utilities to avoid digging around them. 70 utility crossings sounds a little crazy unless you are going back and forth over the same lines. I mean there could only be water,sewer,drain,gas,electric,telecom, and irrigation lines.
You can just charge for test pits individually in my opinion.
Every apartment is individually metered of course. All branch off right where the line needs to go. Directional boring sounds like the ticket. I just don't have that equipment. My cousin however does...could possibly work...
The smaller ditch witch style directional drills are cheap to use especially if you are only pulling a 4" pipe. Last time I did an apartment complex there meters where in clusters with only a few services. I would call in a digsafe to just make sure your not going overboard. Have them layout all the services for you. You may find there are cluster of meters and possibly one shared water service per building