Sewer · water · cesspools · Portland
The pipe is twelve feet down. We dig to it for a living.
A small family crew that has been digging Portland sewers since 1997. On the City of Portland's own sewer contractors list. 4.9 stars across 146 Google and Angi reviews, and an A+ from the BBB with zero complaints.
16 ft
Cesspool dug out and decommissioned
Two gravel truck loads to fill. Customer review, Google.
1.5 days
A sewer replacement others quoted at 5 to 7
Finished under budget. Customer review, Angi, February 2026.
239
Permits pulled in 2025
Public permit records via BuildZoom.
The city keeps a list. They're on it.
The City of Portland publishes a Sewer Contractors List: contractors who were licensed and bonded and sat through the city's own training on sewer connection standards. 22 companies are on it. Sierra Excavation is one of them.
You don't have to take our word for any of this. The list lives on the city's website, with Sierra's license numbers printed in it. It is one click, and it is not our page to edit.
Check the list at portland.govThe city notes the list is not an endorsement, and this page is not claiming one. It is claiming something checkable: they are on it.
- On the city list as
- Sierra Excavation
- CCB license
- 190493
- Plumbing license
- PB868
- Insured
- $1,000,000, per BuildZoom records
- Bonded
- $20,000, per BuildZoom records
- Digging since
- 1997, per their BBB record
What's under a Portland yard
A true cross section, drawn to scale at 20 pixels per foot, from your house wall to the city main. Five stops, each one carrying a number. Start at the house and walk it to the street.
1. The house line
Every drain in the house funnels into this one pipe where it leaves the foundation, about three and a half feet down, with a cleanout riser at grade.
What goes wrong: when the line fails anywhere downhill, this is where it comes back up, floor drain first. A camera scope through the cleanout finds the real break before anyone digs. One reviewed customer emailed Sierra the scope report and videos and had a $4,350 bid inside two days, against another company's $6,000 for the same fix.
2. The run under the yard
Older Portland laterals are commonly the original clay, laid in roughly 4 foot segments. Count the joint marks on the drawing: each one is a seam in a pipe your house depends on.
What goes wrong: roots read every joint as a water source and fill the pipe like a net, and pipe bellies where fill settled hold waste in the sag. Snaking a rooted clay line buys months. One reviewed replacement bought decades: 1.5 days and $10,000 where other bids said 5 to 7 days and wanted the tree and part of the porch.
3. The property line, which means less than you think
Your lot ends here, at the back of the sidewalk. Your pipe does not, and neither does your responsibility.
What goes wrong: under Portland City Code 17.32.070, the owner is responsible for the lateral past the property line, under the sidewalk and the parking strip, all the way to the curb face. The city maintains it only from the curb to the main, and where the main runs between the property line and the curb, the city maintains only the tee connection. A break anywhere on your side of that dashed line is your repair, your permits, your bill. Read the code section.
4. Under the sidewalk and parking strip
Still your pipe, now deeper, running under public concrete with the street tree planted more or less on top of it.
What goes wrong: this is where Portland's street trees meet Portland's old clay joints, and where a repair grows a second trade: cutting and restoring concrete. Work here sits in the right of way, so it takes a city UR permit, a contractor with a CCB license plus street use insurance and bond, and a PBOT inspection of both the pipe and the surface restoration. One reviewed job that opened and restored the parkstrip at the connection ran $6,650. Sewer connection permits alone typically run about $500, per portland.gov.
5. The city main
The public pipe under the street, drawn here at 12 feet because that is the depth of a reviewed Sierra job that reconnected a house to the main.
What goes wrong: on a curbed street nothing on the city's side is your problem, but reaching the main is. A trench this deep needs shoring, the connection takes a UC permit, and the city inspects it at the open hole. This is exactly the work the city's Sewer Contractors List exists for, and Sierra Excavation is on that list.
Drawn at 20 pixels per foot in both directions. Responsibility boundaries per Portland City Code 17.32.070. Permits per the city's UR and UC permit guide and sewer line installation guide. Every price is what a customer reported paying in a dated, attributed review. The 12 foot main depth is from a reviewed job, not a citywide average; yours may differ.
Scope your job before you call
Pick what's happening at your place. You'll get what the job actually involves, whether the city is involved, and how long the yard is typically open, based on Sierra's past jobs as customers reported them.
- The job
- Find the failure with a scope, then either a spot repair at the break or a full replacement of the run. Sierra explains it at the edge of the hole, in plain english, before work starts.
- Permit
- Yes. Sewer repair in Portland takes a city permit and a city inspection of the open trench. Sierra works directly with the city on permits, per customer reviews.
- Yard open
- Estimate from past jobs: some lines were reconnected the same day, and a full replacement ran 1.5 days where others quoted a week. Yours depends on depth and length.
Status: worth a call today. Backups do not improve on their own.
Call (503) 492-9242- The job
- A sale is where sewer problems surface: the buyer's scope, or a nonconforming sewer the city requires resolved. Sierra has fit repairs into aggressive closing dates and taken payment through escrow, per reviews.
- Permit
- Yes, with the inspection paperwork your title company will want. One review: a bid request answered in one hour, on a Saturday.
- Yard open
- Estimate from past jobs: days, not weeks. One reviewed job finished in 1.5 days, under budget, with the deal's timeline intact.
Status: your closing date is the deadline. Call with it in hand.
Call (503) 492-9242- The job
- Already have the scope report and video? Send it. One customer sent a report and videos and had Sierra's bid inside two days, $4,350 against another company's $6,000 for the same work.
- Permit
- Yes, city permit and inspection, handled with the city as part of the job.
- Yard open
- Estimate from past jobs: a spot repair can close the same day. A full run takes longer, and the bid tells you before the digging starts. Reviews repeat one phrase: no surprise fees.
Status: get a second number before you accept the first one.
Call (503) 492-9242- The job
- Dig out and properly decommission the old cesspool, fill to grade, and connect the house to the city sewer if it isn't already. Sierra has decommissioned them 16 feet deep, per a customer review.
- Permit
- Yes. Decommissioning and any new connection both run through city requirements, which Sierra handles as part of the work.
- Yard open
- Estimate from past jobs: one reviewed decommissioning took two gravel truck loads of fill. Plan on a torn up section of yard for a few days, then the cleanup reviewers describe as "cleaned up perfectly."
Status: if a scope or a sale just found one, this is the call to make first.
Call (503) 492-9242- The job
- Trench from the house to the city main, set the pipe in a gravel bed, and make the connection to city standards. Sierra has also disconnected houses from shared neighbor lines the city no longer allows, per a review.
- Permit
- Yes, and this is the exact work the city's sewer contractors list exists for. Sierra is on that list, with the license numbers to match.
- Yard open
- Estimate from past jobs: reviewers report connections passing inspection and houses back up and running the next day.
Status: connections are permit work. Start with a contractor the city already knows.
Call (503) 492-9242Every range above comes from Sierra's past jobs as described in dated, attributed customer reviews, not from a price sheet. None of it is a quote for your job. The phone call is where your number comes from.
The work
- Sewer line replacement
- Sewer repair
- New city connections
- Nonconforming sewer fixes
- Water line replacement
- Cesspool decommissioning
- Trenching
- Concrete cut and pour back
That's the whole list, and it's on purpose. This is a crew that does underground water and sewer work, not a general contractor with a sewer sideline.
How the job runs
-
First
The bid, explained at the hole
A real person looks at your yard and gives you the number before anything is dug. One review: a bid in an hour, on a Saturday.
-
Then
The dig, the pipe, the inspection
Trench opened, new pipe set in a gravel bed, city inspection at the open hole. Reviewers report houses running the next day.
-
Last
Backfill and cleanup
The part reviewers bring up unprompted: "they did an amazing job cleaning everything up."
Real jobs, real numbers
Prices people actually reported paying, in their own reviews, with the year. Filter by the kind of job.
- 2026 Sewer replacement in 1.5 days, others quoted 5 to 7 and wanted to cut a tree and part of the porch. Under budget.Jim M., Angi, February 2026 $10,000
- 2017 Full replacement where a big company's bid was $28,786 for the same work.Patrick P., Angi, 2017 $8,175
- 2020 New access point at the city connection, including opening and restoring part of the parkstrip.Pete H., Angi, 2020 $6,650
- 2022 Sewer repair. "Excellent communication and integrity."Ted L., Angi, 2022 $5,000
- 2015 Repair bid off the buyer's scope report and videos, inside two days, against a $6,000 bid for the same work.Jacob D., Angi, 2015 $4,350
- 2021 Two cesspools decommissioned plus a new city sewer connection. "The price was definitely fair."Robert G., Google. Price not stated in the review.
- 2021 New sewer line plus a 16 foot deep cesspool decommissioned, two gravel truck loads of fill.Audrey A., Google. Price not stated in the review.
These are what those customers reported paying in those years, quoted from public reviews. Costs change with depth, length, and access, and old prices are not today's prices. They're here so you know the shape of the number before you call.
What Portland says
“This was the best contractor of any kind that I’ve ever done business with. Their bid was the lowest but the quality provided was top of the line.”
“Andy, Ubaldo and their crew worked like a well oiled machine.”
“We expected our lawn to be a disaster based on how much digging they did, but they did an amazing job cleaning everything up.”
“Everything went quickly, passed inspection and we were up and running the next day.”
All quotes are from public reviews on Google and Angi, attributed as they appear there.
Who shows up
A family crew, two employees, no subcontractors. That's straight from their Angi listing, and the reviews back it up: the same names appear over and over, the owner quotes the job in person, and the crew that bids the hole is the crew that digs it.
Digging Portland yards since 1997, per their BBB record. The city's inspectors have been signing off on their trenches for decades.
Straight answers
Do I need a permit for sewer work in Portland?
Yes. Sewer repair, replacement, and new connections run through a city permit with an inspection at the open trench. Reviewers describe Sierra handling the permits and working directly with the city, so that part rides along with the job.
Who fixes my yard afterward?
They backfill and clean up as part of the job, and it's the thing reviewers mention most. One wrote that they expected the lawn to be a disaster and it wasn't. Another said the crew cleaned up perfectly.
How fast can I get a bid?
Reviews report a bid request answered in one hour on a Saturday, and a bid built from an emailed scope report and videos inside two days. Call with what you have, even if it's just a description.
We're mid sale and the sewer just became a problem. Can this close on time?
That exact situation shows up in their reviews more than once: repairs fitted to aggressive closing dates, payment taken through escrow, and the paperwork inspectors and title companies need. Bring your closing date to the first call.
Is Sierra really on the city's list?
Yes, as Sierra Excavation, with CCB# 190493 and plumbing license PB868 printed in the entry. The list is published by the City of Portland at portland.gov, and checking it takes one click.
The trench gets closed. The work has to be right first.
Nobody ever sees this work again after the backfill. That's the whole point of hiring a crew the city lists, the inspectors sign off on, and 146 reviewers rated 4.9 stars. Dig once. Dig right.
Hours & area
| Monday to Friday | [confirm with owner] |
|---|---|
| Saturday | Bids have been answered on Saturdays, per reviews [confirm with owner] |
| Sunday | [confirm with owner] |
Where
Portland, Oregon and the metro area. Based on the east side.
Street address held for owner confirmation. [confirm with owner]
One call starts the bid
Tell them what's backing up, what the scope found, or when you close. A real person quotes the job at your actual yard.
Prefer to text?
Text the details straight to (503) 492-9242. It goes to the phone, not to a form.
Text (503) 492-9242