We're building on an empty lot. Do we call MAWSS or a plumber first?

Start with MAWSS for the paperwork. MAWSS handles new-construction service on its own line, 251-694-3155, and asks for the building permit and its fees before it sets up a connection where none exists. The plumber then lays the private line from the house to the property line and makes the connection, which MAWSS requires a licensed plumber to do.

The house sat empty for years. Will the old sewer connection still be there?

Maybe not. MAWSS may cap the sewer service at a property that has been abandoned or unoccupied for more than five years, and reopening it costs the normal fees for a new service. Even where it isn't capped, MAWSS puts the job of checking that an old lateral works on the owner, so have it filmed before anyone moves in.

Can a backyard cottage tie into the main house's sewer line?

Ask MAWSS first. Its capacity fee applies to customers who add or build facilities that put more demand on the sewer, so a second dwelling can bring a new fee even if no new tap is cut. On the private side, a plumber has to add a cleanout wherever the new branch turns more than 45 degrees and keep the line at code slope.

Sewer Line Installation in Mobile, AL

New line price: HomeGuide's national guide puts a new sewer line at $40 to $180 per foot, or $1,600 to $7,200 for up to 40 feet.
Timeline: installing a sewer line takes 1 to 5 days on average, by HomeGuide's figures, depending on obstacles and length.
MAWSS tap (2025): a $3,200 flat fee for MAWSS to lay the sewer lateral from the main to the property line.
MAWSS capacity fee (2025): $720 for a single-family home, less per unit in duplexes and apartments.

Mobile Sewer Line Replacement arranges a callback from an independent plumbing contractor about new laterals and MAWSS tie-ins. Ask the quote to show the run from the building drain out to the property line in code-listed pipe such as PVC to ASTM D3034, at least 4 inches across, with the cleanouts the city requires and the connection to the public lateral, which MAWSS says only a licensed plumber may make.

Sewer Line Installation Jobs in Mobile

New sewer work is either a brand-new connection or a change to the line a house already has. In both cases the private side belongs to the owner, from the house to the property line, and MAWSS's side runs from the property line to the main.

Long open trench across a bare red-dirt building lot with new white PVC sewer pipe laid on a sand bed toward the street

New-Construction Lateral on an Empty Lot

On a new house the plumber runs the building sewer from the foundation to the property line, where it meets the lateral MAWSS installs with the tap. The city's code fixes the basics: nothing narrower than 4 inches, a two-way cleanout at the lateral junction (cleanout rules), and an inspection while the pipe sits bedded in the open trench. PVC sewer pipe made to ASTM D3034 is one of the materials the code allows; ABS isn't, by local amendment.

New MAWSS Tap at the Main

The tap is MAWSS's work, not the plumber's. MAWSS defines it as installing the sewer lateral from the main line to the property line, charged as a flat fee. Beyond the $3,200 tap, its 2025 schedule lists:

Extra 6-inch lateral: $3,200 up to 8 feet deep, $3,600 at 8 to 12 feet, cost-based deeper or for 8-inch pipe.
City sewer permit when the tap is in the right-of-way: $250, with street cutting billed at cost.

White PVC sewer branch pipe with a capped cleanout riser joining an existing line in a shallow trench beside a new backyard cottage

Tie-In for an Addition or Detached Building

A new bathroom wing, garage apartment or cottage can join the existing building sewer; ask MAWSS early whether it wants a separate connection. The code adds a cleanout at any horizontal turn sharper than 45 degrees, and MAWSS may charge an added capacity fee when a change on the property adds demand on the sewer. Ask the plumber to film the existing line where the branch will join; tying new pipe into a cracked clay lateral just moves the problem.

Rerouting a Line Around a New Structure

When a slab, pool or driveway is going over the old path of the line, the line moves. Mobile's code keeps sewer pipe lighter than Schedule 40 pressure-rated out from under driveways and parking areas and wants at least 12 inches of cover on it. HomeGuide adds that a driveway can go over a line only if the line is deep enough, since the weight can crush shallow pipe. Every new turn sharper than 45 degrees on the reroute needs its own cleanout.

Gloved hands holding a sewer camera monitor showing a cracked clay pipe joint with roots, beside an open cleanout in a lawn

Why Mobile homeowners, landlords and businesses call Mobile Sewer Line Replacement

One licensed plumber gets the request, not a bidding list
No charge to you for the introduction
Ask to keep the camera video from before and after
Alabama plumbing licenses can be checked online

Sewer Line Installation Cost and MAWSS Charges

The plumber's share follows HomeGuide's per-foot range. Trench digging alone runs $5 to $12 a foot and directional boring $10 to $30, by the same guide. MAWSS's capacity fee is separate and not refundable. For sewer, the 2025 schedule lists:

Connection	MAWSS sewer capacity fee (2025)
Single-family home	$720
Building with 2 to 4 dwelling units	$540 per unit
Apartment or condo	$360 per unit
Business	By meter size, from $720 for a 5/8-inch meter

A capacity request application is free for a house in an existing reserved subdivision and $50 for one outside it. Owners who live in the home can finance single-family sewer connection fees for up to five years, and MAWSS offers a loan with a lien on non-rental residential connections. Business and rental connections don't qualify.

Getting a New Sewer Connection Approved

Three approvals line up on a new connection: MAWSS service for the property, the City of Mobile plumbing permit (covered on the trenchless replacement page), and the city inspection of the bedded pipe. Ask the plumber who books each one. Where the house was on septic, the tank has its own rules, on the septic to sewer conversion page.