About a year and a half ago we installed a service in a 4 unit apartment building. Everything has been fine until a few days ago when the phone rang. The owner of the building informed me that one of the ground rods I installed penetrated the sewer pipe outside of the building. They had been experiencing back ups and eventually had a company run a camera through the pipe, where they could see the ground rod that had gone through the pipe.
As it turns out, the ground rod was not the majority of the problem. Beyond the rod, it was discovered that a 10' section of the pipe had substantially collapsed and was allowing very little waste to exit through it. The waste pipe exits the building about 20' away from the rod and then makes a 90 degree turn and runs parallel with the building, about 3' away from the foundation. There was no way to expect the pipe to be anywhere near where the rod was driven. We could see the natural gas line entering the building and were careful to avoid that.
The owner had the collapsed pipe and the section with tghe rod replaced just about the time I was informed and expects me to pay for a portion of the repairs. I have mixed feelings on this issue. On one hand I know the owner should not bear the burden of my "mistake". He is a good guy and I hope to do work for him in the future. On the other hand the pipe was already damaged and would have had to be replaced anyway. I also feel like "how the hell could I have know the pipe was there?". It make me want to never install another ground rod again, or should I have some sort of a disclaimer in my contract? Was I negligent?
I'm just about to sit down and negotiate with the guy and would like other people's opinions.
Thanks
