# prefab plumbing



## 70bbc

has any one ever prefabed fixtures for a lardge scale job or pvc under ground plumbing my boss has this idea . i think its bull ****


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## SlickRick

70bbc said:


> has any one ever prefabed fixtures for a lardge scale job or pvc under ground plumbing my boss has this idea . i think its bull ****


Greetings, have you posted a Intro?


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## 70bbc

no should i


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## SlickRick

70bbc said:


> no should i


Please


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## Protech

I have info on the subject. We don't pass out info to strangers though. Stop in and post an intro in the introductions section. Where, what code, that kind of thing.


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## TheMaster

I prefab'd a 5 bathroom house...all the pvc underground anyway. hauled it to the job on a big trailer i borowed. i'd do it again too......saved me a ton of time. It was pouring down rain for a week and i was prefabing in the drainage in a warehouse 20 miles away!


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## Ron

70bbc said:


> no should i


Yes just as all the rest before you have done.

Thanks for your corporation.


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## 70bbc

Ron The Plumber said:


> Yes just as all the rest before you have done.
> 
> Thanks for your corporation.


 man you guy are ruff on the intro thing lol


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## Ron

Sorry but we like to make sure when someone new comes along they are who they say they are, this is plumbers only on here, we like to keep it that way, thanks for the intro.


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## 70bbc

national plumbing code , under ground. and frefabing sinks ,toilets,and kitchen sinks .


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## Ron

UPC code here, and no I have not tried prefab work.


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## user2091

sure we do it all the time. undergrounds, topouts, fixtures.


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## SlickRick

I have done many projects that were prefabed at our shops, especially in remote locations. When they are done correctly they are fantastic. We could install a battery of say 10 fixtures in 2 hrs. Fly them up to the floor, wheel them into place, anchor, connect, done. But sometimes you thought they were meant for another project..


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## user4

When I was running high rise work all stack fittings were pre-fabbed into a 10 foot piece of service weight CI for deck penetrations, we also pre-fabbed all the T&S valves.


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## gusty60

When I was doing apartments 30 years ago we prefabbed a lot of the underground. Have never tried it on customs. Tract homes we had all of our tub and shower valves prefabbed and water service risers.


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## 70bbc

bigdaddyplumber said:


> sure we do it all the time. undergrounds, topouts, fixtures.


 trim sinks and put together toilets ship them with out breaking them and then bring them to the right room and install it ,sounds like twice the work.as fore the under ground plumbing , pvc glue & primer fab in shop lay out on floor the room to be installed glue together with pitch lable and bring into the field lay back out dig up andfind the right peices lay in trench and double chech measurments. seems like twice the work lay out dig install pipe double check measurments and back fill. hellllllpppp it make sense on a welded pipe job it works great but on under ground no way


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## 70bbc

slickrick said:


> I have done many projects that were prefabed at our shops, especially in remote locations. When they are done correctly they are fantastic. We could install a battery of say 10 fixtures in 2 hrs. Fly them up to the floor, wheel them into place, anchor, connect, done. But sometimes you thought they were meant for another project..


 what about the time in the shop then trucking then getting them up to the floor then setting them what are you saving build in place handle it once and done


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## SlickRick

70bbc said:


> what about the time in the shop then trucking then getting them up to the floor then setting them what are you saving build in place handle it once and done


Shop hands are cheaper than plumbers.

So are truck drivers.

The 2 hrs was from the back of the trailer to finish. crane is already on site

How long would it take you to set 10 carriers and pipe water and dwv? For 5 wc and 5 lavs. From the laydown yard to ready for water?


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## Bill

Personally I cant see it working well. Sometimes things are not as per plan. I know, I can look at any blueprint and find flaws. I framed many homes and had to field adjust just about every one of them.


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## SlickRick

Bill said:


> Personally I cant see it working well. Sometimes things are not as per plan. I know, I can look at any blueprint and find flaws. I framed many homes and had to field adjust just about every one of them.


That was my job to field verify everything before I had it fabed.


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## ILPlumber

I used to pre-fab all undergrounds. Such as: an assisted living facility where all units are identical. We would just tapcon wood blocks to the shoop floor to act as a jig. After the first branch drain fab, you have all your pipe measurements. I would have a guy laying the building drain while 2 more where throwing in branch drains.

Union shops here get time and a half to install pre-fabbed piping. Needless to say, not much gets fabbed in my shop anymore..........


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## user2091

don't knock it 'till you try it. it's easyer then you think and it does work very well and fast if done right. cad drawings, autocad and quick pen have gone a long way. field verification and good iso drawings and your in the money!


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## dapperdan

Never have


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## uaplumber

I wqs looking at a job hooking up mobile homes. They were all the same layout. That would have been a perfect job for prefabbing.


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## Protech

I worked for a pretty big outfit in Orlando years ago building high-rise and we would prefab entire units on a jig and just pump out 30-40 at a time and then lift the entire thing up into the slab penetrations. It saves allot of time but is only practical if you are doing the same layout over and over. The guys setting the collars for the pours have to dead nuts all the time. If the collar crew isn't top notch then you will waste any saved timed modifying the prefabs to accommodate the collar screw-ups.

It did work out well though most of the time.

You have your best guy build the rig and then put job idiot on the prefab jig. After you set one or two, you make note of the rod lengths and right them on the top of the pipe at all the hanging points so the guy on the lift can just set the hilti anchors and thread in.


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## 70bbc

Protech said:


> I worked for a pretty big outfit in Orlando years ago building high-rise and we would prefab entire units on a jig and just pump out 30-40 at a time and then lift the entire thing up into the slab penetrations. It saves allot of time but is only practical if you are doing the same layout over and over. The guys setting the collars for the pours have to dead nuts all the time. If the collar crew isn't top notch then you will waste any saved timed modifying the prefabs to accommodate the collar screw-ups.
> 
> It did work out well though most of the time.
> 
> You have your best guy build the rig and then put job idiot on the prefab jig. After you set one or two, you make note of the rod lengths and right them on the top of the pipe at all the hanging points so the guy on the lift can just set the hilti anchors and thread in.


 thx but what about the fixtures


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## smellslike$tome

Never did this to any great degree. Started off in resi new con tract housing. There would be about 6 floor plans and by the time you went through each plan a couple of times, you'de have the measurements memorized. The guys digging the underground ditches couldn't keep up with the plumber and another guy cutting pipe. No real need to prefab for something like that I don't think.

I did however spend about a year prefabbing tub/shower and shower valves as a young apprentice/shop monkey and something like this is way faster than field fab. I did it in stages, cut all shower risers, cut all spout drops, cut all spout stubs, etc., then I had a table where I would clean, flux, fit and sweat six at a time. Doing it this way, I could crank one out in about 10 minutes on average vs. 30 or so in the field. So for some things it definately makes sense.


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## Protech

The only fixtures I ever did was lavs. I did some Disney hotels and we prefabbed the lavs at the shop. We carted the lav tops to the job with the pop-ups and faucets already put on with supplies dangling. We set the tops and hooked up the supplies and install the traps.



70bbc said:


> thx but what about the fixtures


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## Plasticman

Did some apartments years ago working for a big outfit. We would use one entire apartment unit ( 2 bath ) and on one day would do nothing but trim kicthen sinks. Next day or so would trim lavs all day. Had a couple high school boys that would come in and take pre-fabbed fixtures and deliver them to each unit to be set, along with the toilets and water heaters. Took a lot of work and time that we higher paid guys did not have to worry with. I did nothing for a whole week there except hook up water heaters. So yes, it can save some time especially when some units woulod not be ready to trim out for 3 or 4 days from then. Beats being sent home early.


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## 422 plumber

It leads to killing the well rounded plumber. It is up to the plumbing shop, union or non-union, to train apprentices who will be our future. Doing prefabs, and splitting the job up into different specialties will hurt us in the long run. I am not a _tech_ or _installer_, *I am a plumber.*


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## gusty60

jjbex said:


> It leads to killing the well rounded plumber. It is up to the plumbing shop, union or non-union, to train apprentices who will be our future. Doing prefabs, and splitting the job up into different specialties will hurt us in the long run. I am not a _tech_ or _installer_, *I am a plumber.*


 Very true. I have worked with many plumbers ( term used very loosely here ) that can only do one phase of plumbing.


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## TheSkinnyGuy

I used to work for a mid-sized outfit in Odessa, Fl, where the only thing we prefab'd were the lavs for trim, and the tub/shower valves for top-outs. Our rough-ins we didn't prefab much because even on track homes there were so many changes... Then you also have to get your angles dug out just right to make a pre-fabbed rough work... (bad experience or two...)... went through a phase where the prefab'd work just sucked, and you were better of redoing it in the field (which means you've lost any time you COULD have gained... I think that anything you prefab is only as good as the people doing it..


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## Bollinger plumber

When I did townhouse I use to prefab undergrounds in the parking lot especially when it was muddy. We would cut the rough in pipes for the above ground at the shop on slow days and when we got to the job we would not have to carry in anything to cut pipe. I wouldn't recommend this on custom houses though. It would save us tons of time.


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## LIVBMI

I have perfabed a few condo multy story (waste-vent and water)The time in the shop sketching saved hundreds of man houres on the job


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## user2091

jjbex said:


> It leads to killing the well rounded plumber. It is up to the plumbing shop, union or non-union, to train apprentices who will be our future. Doing prefabs, and splitting the job up into different specialties will hurt us in the long run. I am not a _tech_ or _installer_, *I am a plumber.*


:thumbsup: this is very true specially for non union residential outfits out here in nor cal and so cal, where the practice is one english speaking person to 10 illegals. we call 'em pexicans or fab installers! by no means plumbers. but most of it is over thanks to the economy! the practice should be 1 journeyman to 1 apprentice. we need to fine and jail those who hire illegals.


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## Plumbus

bigdaddyplumber said:


> :thumbsup: this is very true specially for non union residential outfits out here in nor cal and so cal, where the practice is one english speaking person to 10 illegals. we call 'em pexicans or fab installers! by no means plumbers. but most of it is over thanks to the economy! the practice should be 1 journeyman to 1 apprentice. we need to fine and jail those who hire illegals.


They'll be back as soon as the economy picks up. I say don't bother with the illegals, _jail their employers_. No job, no illegal. It's the greed of the few that will take bread out of the mouths of the many.


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## Tankless

> the practice should be 1 journeyman to 1 apprentice


LOL....wishfull thinking


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## bartnc37

jjbex said:


> It leads to killing the well rounded plumber. It is up to the plumbing shop, union or non-union, to train apprentices who will be our future. Doing prefabs, and splitting the job up into different specialties will hurt us in the long run. I am not a _tech_ or _installer_, *I am a plumber.*


Exactly on the tech/installer deal. The boss has recently decided to refer to us as techs. It drives me nuts, i told him that until i start installing cable tv or fixing his printer that least he could do is refer to myself and my coworkers as plumbers. The other problem i see with the prefabbing is that it starts a slippery slope to a lot of plumbers out of work in favor of much cheaper "pexicans", pretty unlikely that the inspectors are going to be sitting at the shops watching who is assembling the dwv and fixtures.


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