Estimating & takeoff from drawings
Send the plan set. Get a priced proposal by position, with alternates and unit prices.
Commercial fit-outs & new work
Restaurants, retail, offices, medical. Demolition to close-out under a GC schedule.
01 · The problem
A fit-out lives or dies on the rough-in. Miss a slope, undersize a vent, forget the interceptor, and the inspector or the tenant finds it after the slab is poured and the walls are closed.
02 · The system
We read the whole set before pricing a line: plumbing sheets, schedules, specs, the kitchen plan, the structural drawing the sanitary line has to cross. Every fixture gets a position. Every run gets a length, a material and a slope.
03 · The fix
Sanitary and vent in no-hub cast iron (the NYC code allows plastic only in residential buildings of five stories or less). Domestic water in Type L copper. Grease interceptors sized to the flow of the fixtures that drain to them. Cleanouts where they can be reached, hangers at the spacing in NYC Plumbing Code Table 308.5. Tested, inspected, closed out with the documents the owner needs.
How it goes
In the order it happens
- 01
The set is read, all of it
Plumbing sheets, the fixture schedule, specs, the kitchen plan, the reflected ceiling plan and the structural drawing the sanitary line has to cross. The questions go to the GC before the price, not after the award.
- 02
Scope and price by position
Every fixture gets a position number, every run a length, size and material. Alternates (owner-furnished fixtures, for example) and unit prices for field changes sit on the same sheet.
- 03
Filing and the rough-in
The job is filed with DOB by the design professional or the licensee engaged for it. Underslab and in-wall piping goes in to the layout, hung at the spacing in NYC Plumbing Code Table 308.5, and is tested before the slab is poured or the wall is closed.
- 04
Inspections and the finish
Rough inspections are scheduled with the GC and the super so no other trade waits. Fixtures, trim and equipment connections follow the finishes.
- 05
Close-out
Final inspection, the sign-off, the test records, as-built riser notes and the equipment data in one package the owner can hand to the next contractor.
Drawn out
A restaurant kitchen in plan: what the plumbing scope has to carry
Every fixture a fit-out puts in a kitchen brings a drain, a vent, a supply and a code item with it. Waste in white, water in copper.
The drawing scrolls sideways on a phone. The numbers are explained below.
- 1Three-compartment sink
Wash, rinse, sanitize. The heaviest grease load in the kitchen, so its waste goes to the interceptor, and its hot water sets the heater size with the dish machine.
- 2Grease interceptor
Sized to the flow of the fixtures that drain into it, set where it can be opened and pumped, vented. Undersized or unreachable, it is the line item that closes the restaurant two years later.
- 3Hand sink
On its own waste line, not through the interceptor, with hot and cold. The health inspection counts hand sinks before anything else.
- 4Dish machine and its floor sink
Commercial dishwashers discharge indirectly: the drain hose ends through an air gap above a floor sink, so a backed-up drain can never reach the machine. Its booster or the heater supplies the rinse temperature.
- 5Ice machine, indirect waste
Same rule as the dish machine: an air gap over a floor sink, never a direct connection. Anything that touches food or ice drains indirectly.
- 6Floor drains with trap primers
Under the cook line, by the dish area, at the mop closet. Each one trapped and primed, or the seal evaporates and the kitchen smells like the sewer in week three.
- 7Mop sink
With a vacuum breaker on the faucet, because a hose left in a bucket of chemicals is a cross-connection. Usually the fixture the architect forgets to draw.
- 8Water heater
Sized from the dish machine, the sinks and the recovery the service needs, with a recirculation loop back to the tank, an expansion tank on the cold side and the relief line to a drain.
- 9Vent through roof
Every trap gets a vent, and the vents join above the flood rim and leave through the roof. In a fit-out the vent path through the floors above is the first coordination question with the landlord.
- 10Service and backflow
The water service with its RPZ where the hazard calls for it: chemical dispensers, carbonators, the dish machine. The device is on DEP's plan before it is on the wall.
Sanitary and vent in no-hub cast iron (NYC allows plastic drainage only in residential buildings of five stories or less). Hangers at the spacing in NYC Plumbing Code Table 308.5. Cleanouts where they can be reached.
What is included
- Demolition and cap-offs at the demolition line
- Sanitary, waste, vent and storm piping, underslab and above grade
- Domestic hot and cold water with recirculation, insulated
- Grease interceptors, floor drains, floor sinks, trap primers
- Fixtures, carriers, trim and ADA layouts
- Water heaters, pumps and equipment connections
- Inspections coordinated with the GC and the super; close-out package at the end
Where
New York City: Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. PlumbHub LLC manages plumbing and fire protection projects. Licensed plumbing and sprinkler work in New York City is contracted, performed, filed and signed off by the New York City Licensed Master Plumber or Licensed Master Fire Suppression Piping Contractor engaged for each project, chosen to fit the job.
What to send for a plumbing bid
Questions people ask first
What does the restaurant kitchen add to a plumbing scope?
A grease interceptor sized to the fixtures that drain into it, indirect waste with an air gap for the ice machine and dish machine, floor drains and floor sinks with trap primers, a hand sink on its own line, hot water sized for the dish machine, and the backflow protection the equipment calls for. The scope lists each one as a position.
Can the sanitary and vent be plastic?
In New York City plastic drainage pipe is limited to residential buildings of five stories or less. Commercial fit-outs are piped in no-hub cast iron, which is also what the price assumes unless the specs say otherwise.
Who schedules the inspections?
We do, with the GC and the super. The licensee engaged for the job requests them; the schedule by week shows when each one has to land so the ceiling and slab dates hold.
Related
Other systems
Fire sprinklers
Heads and mains for fit-outs, heads moved for apartment renovation, fire services. From the drawings to the DOB sign-off.
Backflow prevention
RPZ and double-check devices: DEP-approved plan, installation, the yearly test, the report to DEP.
Send the set. Get a number you can build from.
Plan set by link or email (PDF or CAD), specs and schedules, the bid date. We tell you the turnaround when we see the drawings.