Cast Iron Drain Replacement Under Slab: 22 Feet, Itemized (2026 Baseline)
22 feet of cracked cast iron under an unfinished basement floor cut out and replaced with PVC: saw-cut, trench, pipe, backfill and the slab patch, itemized with crew hours.
Describe it
Every line, by trade
The job in the Clamp app: described in plain words, then the draft at $4,569 job cost, every line grouped by trade. Sample data.
The job at a glance
One build, fully itemized, with crew hours.
| Build | Job cost | Labor | Crew hours | Materials | Illustrative selling price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. 22 ft cast iron to PVC | $4,569 | $3,507 | 40 to 61 h | $612 | $5,940 to $9,139 |
Dump fees and other costs ($450) are the same in every build and included in the job cost. Materials include allowances. Illustrative selling price is the job cost at a 30% to 100% markup; your price depends on your own overhead and profit. Labor hours are a planning range and include setup, daily cleanup and material runs; they are never a charge to the customer. Permit and inspection fees are not included; requirements vary by jurisdiction.
The build in detail
A. 22 ft cast iron to PVC: $4,569
The bad section is confirmed on camera; 22 feet of slab is saw-cut and trenched; the cracked cast iron comes out and new PVC is tied into the sound pipe at both ends, bedded and backfilled; the slab strip is repoured and the debris hauled off. Labor is $3,507 of the $4,569 job cost, or 76.8%. It is about 40 to 61 hours of work, including setup, daily cleanup and material runs.
Labor cost by trade
Labor only. Materials, allowances and dump fees are in the line items below. Hours are person-hours at typical production from Clamp’s labor hours catalog, as a range: a planning figure, not a schedule and not a charge to the customer.
| Trade | Hours | Labor cost | Low-Overhead×1.30 | Established×1.50 | Full-Service×2.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumbing | 34 to 53 h | $3,507 | $4,559 | $5,261 | $7,014 |
| Setup, cleanup and material runs | 3 to 10 h | in the prices | |||
| All labor | 40 to 61 h | $3,507 | $4,559 | $5,261 | $7,014 |
Every line item
Labor $3,507 + materials and allowances $612 + dump fees and other $450 = $4,569 direct job cost. Hours are person-hours at typical production, on labor rows only, and the direct-cost row adds about 15% for setup, daily cleanup and material runs; an allowance or material row names the labor line that installs it, and a subcontract row has none, because the sub’s price includes their own time. Some labor quantities include a difficulty factor, so they can exceed the measured area; each row’s derivation is in the downloadable data.
| Item | Qty | Unit | Hours | Labor | Material | Line cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demo & Prep | ||||||
| Haul-Off Per Load | 2 | ea | $0 | $0 | $450 | |
| Demo & Prep subtotal | $450 | |||||
| Demo & Prep subtotal | $450 | |||||
| Plumbing | ||||||
| Camera Inspection Labor | 1 | ea | 1 to 2 h | $325 | $0 | $325 |
| No-Hub Drain Coupling (per tie-in)Labor on: Sewer Line Spot Repair | 2 | ea | $0 | $76 | $76 | |
| Pipe Bedding Stone (per lf of trench)Labor on: Sewer Pipe Lay in Open Trench (per lf) | 22 | lf | $0 | $99 | $99 | |
| DWV MaterialsLabor on: Sewer Line Spot Repair | 33 | lf | $0 | $206 | $206 | |
| Sewer Line Spot Repair | 1 | ea | 10 to 22 h | $1,650 | $0 | $1,650 |
| Sewer Pipe Lay in Open Trench (per lf) | 12 | lf | 1 to 4 h | $168 | $0 | $168 |
| Slab Saw-Cut and Trench (per lf) | 22 | lf | 12 to 27 h | $1,056 | $0 | $1,056 |
| Slab trench backfill and concrete patch labor | 22 | lf | 2 to 6 h | $308 | $0 | $308 |
| Slab Trench Backfill and Concrete Patch (per lf)Labor on: Slab trench backfill and concrete patch labor | 22 | lf | $0 | $231 | $231 | |
| Plumbing subtotal | 34 to 53 h | $4,119 | ||||
| Plumbing subtotal | 34 to 53 h | $4,119 | ||||
| DIRECT JOB COST | 40 to 61 h | $4,569 | ||||
| DIRECT JOB COST | 40 to 61 h | $4,569 | ||||
Methodology & reproducibility
One reviewed snapshot for this build. The build is frozen from its own estimate run and priced by the published pricer.
Direct cost equals the sum of each row’s rounded quantity × (labor + material + other). Amounts are shown in whole dollars; every column adds to its total.
Scope selection, prose accuracy, arithmetic and provenance mapping reviewed; not independent market-rate verification.
- cast-iron-drain-under-slab-22/v1: JSON, CSV, field dictionary
Questions
Why is most of this labor?
The pipe itself is cheap. Cutting, digging, hauling and patching 22 feet of concrete floor is the job, which is why the slab and trench lines outweigh the PVC.
What can push this job higher?
More bad pipe than the camera showed, a deeper drain, a finished floor that has to come up and go back, or a break that reaches the exterior lateral. Each is its own line.
Is the markup on top of this?
Yes. Direct job cost is what the repair costs a contractor to perform. The markup table shows what it sells for at illustrative markups of 30% to 100%.
Sources & provenance
- 22 ft cast iron to PVC reviewed snapshot Clamp Research