Plumber in Novato
Ongaro & Sons is the plumbing company Novato homeowners call, in Marin since our 1932 founding. We are Diamond Certified, we hold a C-36 plumbing license alongside C-10 electrical and C-20 HVAC, and we carry 2,726 Google reviews averaging 4.8 stars. We diagnose before quoting, pull the permits Novato genuinely requires, and give you the full price before any work begins.
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In Novato, your plumbing answers to two agencies, and the line between them is your foundation
Most cities in the North Bay regulate residential plumbing through one building department. Novato does not, and the split is the single most useful thing a Novato homeowner can understand before hiring anyone.
Plumbing inside the house is the City of Novato Building Division's jurisdiction. Everything from the foundation out belongs to the Novato Sanitary District, an independent special district that owns and maintains the public mains and issues its own permits. The district states it plainly: "Sewer permits issued by the District are required for all sewer work performed outside the building foundation." Its own side sewer requirements document draws the other half of the boundary just as clearly, noting that "Plumbing changes within the building are regulated by the building department of the jurisdiction in which the building is located."
The district also defines exactly where the transition sits. A side sewer, in its wording, begins at the connection to the main sewer and terminates where the pipe "first extends outside the building's foundation, which location must be two feet or less from the building foundation."
Three practical consequences follow, and they show up on real jobs:
A job that crosses the foundation line needs both agencies. Replacing a section of drain under a slab and then continuing out into the yard takes two permits, one from each agency.
The district inspects, and it inspects before the trench is closed. In its words, "Pipe must not be covered until inspected by a District Inspector," and connections to the main have to be made in an inspector's presence. Inspections are scheduled on the district's calendar, not the contractor's, which is why sequencing an excavation properly is part of doing the work rather than an afterthought.
Work in the street or a public easement is not homeowner work. The district requires that it "must be performed by a licensed contractor or plumber," and if the trench reaches the street right-of-way an encroachment permit from the agency that owns that street comes first.
We handle both tracks. It is one company, one schedule, and one set of inspections to coordinate rather than a homeowner refereeing between a plumber and a district counter.
Your sewer lateral is yours, the entire length of it
This surprises people, and it is worth stating before a backup makes it urgent. The Novato Sanitary District's position is unambiguous: "the sewer lateral is the private property of the property owner who is therefore responsible for all costs relating to the installation, connection, maintenance, repair, construction, alteration, abandonment or removal of the sewer lateral." Its side sewer document says the same thing a different way, that each building's side sewer, including a sewer ejector pump system where one exists, "is owned and maintained by the owner of the building served thereby."
That means the pipe running from your house, across your yard, under the sidewalk and often under the street to the main is your pipe. The district maintains the main. It does not maintain what connects you to it.
So the diagnostic question on a recurring backup in Novato is never just "can you clear it." It is where the failure sits along a private line that may be sixty years old, and what condition the rest of that line is in. We camera it before recommending anything, because clearing a blockage in a lateral with three offset joints and a bellied section buys you a few months and tells you nothing.
The district runs a Lateral Grant Program that shares the cost of replacement with property owners, and its rules shape how a project should be planned. It funds full replacement only, both the upper and lower lateral, with partial repairs excluded. It runs first-come, first-served against an annual allocation. Applicants obtain at least three bids from licensed contractors and may hire whichever they choose. And the timing rule is absolute, in the district's own emphasis: "Apply First! Any work performed prior to this process will make the grant application null and void!"
If your lateral is a candidate for full replacement, that sequence matters more than the quote does. Starting work before the paperwork exists forfeits the program. We tell Novato homeowners about it before we schedule, not after.
Aldo and Kris from Ongaro were wonderful! First off, I love the confirmation services. I knew a time window but also got a call with an ETA that allowed me to do more chores. They found the clogged pipe and sorted things out super fast.
Cindy S.
The backwater device Novato requires that most homeowners have never heard of
Here is a requirement specific enough that it separates companies who work in Novato from companies who pass through it. The district's side sewer requirements state that "All side sewers must be equipped with a backwater prevention device (blowoff cleanout)," and they specify its geometry: the overflow rim has to sit at least three inches above finish grade and at least six inches below the lowest plumbing fixture in the house.
The logic is worth understanding, because it is protecting your floors. If the main surcharges or the lateral blocks downstream, sewage takes the lowest available opening. Set correctly, that opening is a capped riser outside in the yard. Set wrong, or missing entirely, it is the shower pan in your lowest bathroom.
Cleanouts have their own required locations: at the junction of the building plumbing and the side sewer, within two feet outside the building, at every bend greater than an eighth bend, and wherever a straight run exceeds ninety feet. Side sewers also carry minimum size and grade requirements, four-inch inside diameter on a normal residential load and a minimum fall of one and a half feet per hundred feet on that four-inch pipe. Grade is the item most often compromised by a repair done in a hurry, and insufficient fall is what produces a line that runs fine for a year and then holds solids.
One prohibition catches homeowners out during remodels. Roof leaders and surface drains for rainwater may not discharge into the sanitary sewer. Neither may swimming pool discharge outside the district's stated limits, nor waste carrying more than one hundred parts per million of fat, oil, or grease. Storm water belongs in the storm system. Tying a downspout into a sanitary line is a violation, and in a wet Novato winter it is also how a whole neighborhood's sewer gets overwhelmed.
What Novato's water does to your plumbing
Novato does not drink the same water as the rest of Marin, and North Marin Water District publishes enough detail to be precise about it rather than vague.
NMWD reports that it purchases approximately 80 percent of Novato's supply from the Sonoma County Water Agency, collected from gravel beds beside the Russian River, and that approximately 20 percent comes from Stafford Lake, which is "typically operated in the late spring through early fall." So most of the year your water is essentially the same Russian River source that Sonoma County towns run on, with a local reservoir blended in through the warm months. Southern and central Marin, by contrast, drink Mount Tamalpais watershed water from a different utility entirely.
The district's 2025 Annual Water Quality Report for Novato gives average hardness of 110 mg/L on the Sonoma County Water Agency supply and 91 mg/L on the Stafford Lake supply, and converts those in its own footnote to about 6.4 and 5.3 grains per gallon. The U.S. Geological Survey classifies 61 to 120 mg/L as moderately hard, so both of Novato's sources land in the same band.
Moderately hard is the result that gets ignored, because it is not dramatic. It will not ruin a fixture this year. Over a decade it does all of the following: sediment on the floor of a water heater tank, scale inside a tankless heat exchanger, mineral fouling in shower valve cartridges and aerators, and crusted shutoff valves that seize the first time somebody needs them. None of that is an argument for panic. It is an argument for a maintenance calendar, and for not assuming a schedule borrowed from a friend in Mill Valley applies to your house.
What we find in Novato homes, by era of pipe
Novato covers more ground than most Marin cities, and its housing was built in distinct waves. It is usually more useful to think about what is in your walls than about which neighborhood you are in.
Galvanized steel supply, prewar into the early 1960s. It corrodes from the inside out, so the symptom is not a leak, it is pressure that has quietly declined for twenty years and rusty water on first draw. Once the hot side is restricted, patching one section moves the failure downstream. This is the classic repipe case.
Copper supply, roughly the 1960s onward. Long-lived and generally sound. Where it fails it is usually pinhole leaks at points of turbulence, or corrosion at a dissimilar-metal junction where somebody joined copper to galvanized without a dielectric.
Cast iron drains, midcentury tracts and older. Scale builds inward on the pipe wall until the effective diameter is halved, and the bottom of a horizontal run channels out. Camera work distinguishes a cast iron drain that has twenty years left from one that is already sectioning.
Vitrified clay laterals. Common on the older side sewers and the reason roots are a Novato problem at all. Clay joins in short lengths, and every joint is an invitation. On clay, root intrusion is a structural finding rather than a nuisance.
Slab and post-and-beam construction in the Eichler-era and midcentury tracts. No attic, minimal crawlspace, and supply lines that may run in or under concrete. Diagnosis before demolition is not a slogan here, it is the difference between a targeted repair, an overhead reroute, and an expensive hole. If you own one, our Eichler home services guide covers the systems side in more depth.
Hamilton Field. The converted former air base does not reliably follow the utility routing, mechanical space, or service capacity you would predict from a conventional subdivision of a similar period. We look at the actual installation instead of assuming a layout.
The rural edge. Parts of Novato sit outside district service on private wells and septic. Untreated well water is harder than district supply, which changes both the equipment conversation and the maintenance interval.
What we do in Novato
Drain and sewer diagnosis, camera first on anything recurring. See drain cleaning in Novato.
Sewer laterals, spot repair, full replacement, and coordination of the district permit and inspection. See sewer repair in Novato.
Water heaters, tank, tankless, and heat pump. See water heaters in Novato and tankless water heaters in Novato.
Repiping, whole-home and partial, including overhead reroutes where slab construction makes an under-concrete replacement the worse answer.
Fixtures, valves, and shutoffs, including the isolation valves an older Novato home frequently does not have until somebody installs them.
Leak detection, electronic and pressure-based, before anything gets opened.
Water treatment, particularly on well properties and where hardness is shortening equipment life.
Sewage ejector pumps on low-lying lots where gravity service is not feasible.
The service and install were impeccable to remove and install three new toilets. There were some install issues that needed repair and Kurt, Jeff and Randy all did a great job.
Stanford S.
Ejector pumps, low lots, and where plumbing becomes electrical
On parcels where gravity flow to the main is not possible, the district allows a residential sewage pump system by special application, approves the design, and reserves the right to say no. The requirement most often missed is the split: the pump, the holding tank, and the electrical work "must meet the codes and regulations of the building department of jurisdiction issuing the building permit" and be inspected by that department, while the discharge line and its connection remain the district's business. Both gravity and pressure discharge lines have to be inspected before they are covered.
That is one project with two regulators and an electrical component. Because we hold a C-10 electrical license alongside the C-36, the circuit, the disconnect, and any backup power for a pump on a hillside property that sees PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs stay inside the same job. See electrical panel upgrades in Novato if capacity is the constraint.
Backflow prevention, and the state rule that widened it
If you have irrigation, a pool, a well, a booster pump, or fire sprinklers, this applies to you. North Marin Water District's backflow protection program requires that "All commercial and industrial facilities are required to have a backflow prevention assembly installed at the meter," and residential premises are assessed on risk, including those with an auxiliary supply such as a well, a pump serving low pressure, a water storage tank, or dockside water facilities.
The scope grew recently. As NMWD describes it, "The State of California Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) adopted a new Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook (CCCPH) that became effective on July 1, 2024," expanding requirements to premises with more than one connection to a water main, a swimming pool, a fire sprinkler system, recycled water or graywater systems, or restricted access. If you have added any of those and never heard from anyone about an assembly, confirm your status with the district rather than waiting to be told.
Septic, wells, and connecting to the sewer
Septic systems sit outside the sanitary district's jurisdiction. In the district's words, "Septic tanks are under the jurisdiction of the County of Marin Environmental Health Department," which must be notified when a tank is abandoned or encountered during a side sewer installation.
Converting a septic property to sewer is a defined sequence rather than a hookup. All building plumbing outlets have to connect to the new side sewer and completely bypass the tank, and the tank itself must be abandoned following the Uniform Plumbing Code and the county's requirements. The district also requires that each structure be separately and independently connected to the main, with limited exceptions granted at its discretion, which is worth confirming early if a second dwelling is part of your plan.
Homes staying on a well get a different conversation. Harder untreated water, pressure tanks and pumps as part of the plumbing system, and treatment priced alongside whatever appliance you are replacing rather than discovered later.
Permits: who issues what
Inside the building, the City of Novato Building Division. Novato runs a Residential Express Permits path for a short list of straightforward replacements, and its water heater entry reads "Residential Water Heater Like-for-Like Replacement with no change," available only to licensed contractors registered with the city. Anything that changes gas supply, venting, or location falls outside that list, so we confirm the correct path with the division rather than assuming.
Outside the foundation, the Novato Sanitary District, for all sewer work, with inspection before backfill.
In the street right-of-way, an encroachment permit from the agency with jurisdiction over that street, obtained before the district issues its sewer connection permit.
Unincorporated Marin, the Marin County Community Development Agency for the building side.
Two code items reach almost every Novato water heating job regardless of which counter issues the paper. California Health and Safety Code section 19211 requires "all new and replacement water heaters, and all existing residential water heaters" up to 120 gallons to be braced, anchored, or strapped in accordance with the California Plumbing Code, so it covers the unit already in your garage rather than only the new one. Title 24 energy requirements including pipe insulation apply to water heating work, with California's 2025 Building Energy Efficiency Standards in effect since January 1, 2026.
Unpermitted work does not save money. It becomes a disclosure problem at resale, and on the sewer side it removes the inspection that is the only independent check the pipe was laid to grade before the trench closed.
The 2027 air district rule, in one paragraph
All of Marin sits inside the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, with no partial-boundary question of the kind parts of Sonoma County have. The district's zero-NOx standards phase in by equipment type and size rather than all at once. Rule 9-6, amended in 2023, is enforced at the point of sale. It sorts appliances into years rather than banning a category, running 2027 and 2031 by unit size and type, and in practice a compliant unit means electric heat pump equipment. The district's own material notes the amendments apply to new appliances and do not mandate retrofitting existing ones, so nobody is coming for a working water heater. We confirm current requirements at project time rather than quoting a rule that may have moved.
Rebates and incentives in Marin
Marin is served by MCE as its community choice energy provider, not Sonoma Clean Power. Sonoma County rebates do not reach a Novato address regardless of what a search result implies, which is worth saying because the county line is only a few miles north.
MCE offers a heat pump water heater rebate for MCE customers who own and have lived in their single-family detached home for at least 12 months in MCE's service area, installed through a participating contractor who processes the paperwork. The application has to precede the installation, because MCE does not apply rebates retroactively.
Novato Sanitary District's lateral grant is the one most homeowners here have never heard of, and it is the only local money in this trade that goes underground rather than into an appliance. The district pays half the cost of replacing an entire lateral, up to a published cap, first come first served until each year's funds are gone. Repairs and partial replacements are excluded. Apply before any work starts, because the district states that work performed beforehand voids the application, and submit three written bids from licensed contractors on its own list.
What drives the cost of plumbing work in Novato
We do not publish flat prices, because two Novato houses can present completely different jobs. What actually moves the number:
- Whether the work crosses the foundation line, since a sewer scope brings a second agency, a second inspection, and often excavation.
- Depth, length, and surface on a lateral, and whether the trench reaches the sidewalk or the street.
- What the diagnosis finds, which is the reason we camera before quoting rather than pricing a guess.
- Construction type, with slab and post-and-beam homes routing differently than a raised foundation with a crawlspace.
- Access, from a flat lot with a clear side yard to a hillside property with stairs and a long carry.
- What code brings up to standard, including seismic restraint, cleanout and backwater device placement, relief discharge piping, and expansion control where the system is closed.
- Water treatment, where hardness or a private well is shortening the life of the appliance you are about to buy.
- Permits and inspection, included in what we quote rather than added afterward.
Price first, work second, with financing available on a replacement.
Keeping a Novato home's plumbing out of trouble
Know where your main water shutoff is, and turn it once a year so it still moves when it matters. Flush the water heater annually, because moderately hard water builds sediment steadily rather than suddenly, and descale a tankless unit on the manufacturer's interval rather than when output drops.
Keep fats, oils, and grease out of the drains. The sanitary district puts it bluntly on its own drain and flush guidance: "Fats, oils, and grease (FOG), and non-flushable items like wipes can cause clogs, leading to costly repairs," and its rule for toilets is "Only flush pee, poo, and toilet paper." Wipes labeled flushable are the single most common cause of a blockage that did not need to happen.
Locate your cleanout and your backwater device before you need them, and keep them accessible rather than buried under a planting bed. If you have mature trees over a clay lateral, put a camera inspection on a schedule instead of waiting for the backup that tells you what you already suspected. And fix small leaks quickly, because a slow drip inside a cabinet becomes rot and mold long before it becomes a plumbing problem.
Where we work in Novato
We serve all of Novato from our Petaluma headquarters, a short run north, including downtown and Grant Avenue, Hamilton Field, Bel Marin Keys, Indian Valley, the Eichler-era and midcentury tracts, and the rural properties at the city's edges. Those outlying areas see PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which matters for anything with a pump or an electronic control in it.
How to choose a plumber in Novato
Ask who issues the permit for the work they are proposing. If the job crosses the foundation line and they only mention the city, they do not know how Novato is regulated.
Ask whether they will camera the line before quoting a repair. On a private lateral of unknown age, clearing without looking treats the symptom and leaves you to find out the rest later.
Ask whether your house has a backwater prevention device set to the required elevation. Most homeowners have never been asked, and the answer is useful.
Ask whether they have told you about the district's lateral grant before starting work, because starting first voids the application.
If someone quotes you a Sonoma Clean Power rebate for a Novato address, they are working from the wrong county's program.
We have answered questions like these the same way since 1932: look at the actual house, explain what we find, price it before we start, and build it to pass inspection.
Plumbing and home services across Novato and Marin County
One company, all trades: Novato home services, plumbing across Marin County, Novato heating and cooling, Novato electrical, and Novato solar. Specific Novato plumbing services: water heaters, tankless water heaters, drain cleaning, and sewer repair. Related Novato work: electrical panel upgrades and heat pumps. If you own a midcentury home, see our Eichler home services guide.
Book a plumber in Novato
Book online at any hour, or speak to someone during office hours if the situation needs describing. An Ongaro & Sons plumber will look at the actual problem, explain what it needs, handle whichever agency has to sign off, and give you the price before any work begins.
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Read MorePlumbing in Novato: frequently asked questions
Who is the best plumber in Novato?
Ongaro & Sons has served the North Bay since 1932 and is Diamond Certified, holding a C-36 plumbing license alongside C-10 electrical and C-20 HVAC, with 4.8 stars across 2,726 Google reviews. We diagnose before quoting, coordinate both the City of Novato Building Division and the Novato Sanitary District where a job crosses the foundation line, and give you the full price before starting.
Do I need a permit for plumbing work in Novato?
For most significant work, yes, and Novato splits it between two agencies. Plumbing changes inside the building go through the City of Novato Building Division. The Novato Sanitary District states that "Sewer permits issued by the District are required for all sewer work performed outside the building foundation." Unincorporated Marin permits the building side through the Marin County Community Development Agency. We handle the permits and the inspections.
Who is responsible for the sewer lateral at my Novato home?
You are, for its entire length. The Novato Sanitary District states that "the sewer lateral is the private property of the property owner who is therefore responsible for all costs relating to the installation, connection, maintenance, repair, construction, alteration, abandonment or removal of the sewer lateral." The district maintains the public main; the pipe connecting your house to it is yours, including the portion under the sidewalk or street.
Is there any help with replacing a sewer lateral in Novato?
Yes. The district's Lateral Grant Program shares the cost of a full lateral replacement, both upper and lower, on a first-come, first-served basis against an annual allocation. Partial repairs are excluded, applicants obtain at least three bids from licensed contractors, and the timing rule is strict: work performed before the application process is complete makes the application void.
What is a backwater prevention device, and does my house need one?
It is a capped riser outside the house that gives a surcharged sewer somewhere to overflow other than your lowest fixture. The district requires that "All side sewers must be equipped with a backwater prevention device (blowoff cleanout)," with the overflow rim at least three inches above finish grade and at least six inches below the lowest plumbing fixture. Older installations are sometimes missing it or set to the wrong elevation.
How hard is Novato's water?
Moderately hard, and the precise figure matters. The district's own annual report puts the Russian River supply at roughly 6.4 grains per gallon and the Stafford Lake supply at roughly 5.3, which is moderately hard on both counts. The USGS classifies 61 to 120 mg/L as moderately hard. It is not aggressive water, and it is far too mineral-rich to ignore over a decade.
Why do my drains keep backing up?
Because clearing a blockage treats the effect. On a Novato home the usual causes are root intrusion at clay lateral joints, scale narrowing an old cast iron drain, a bellied or offset section, or grease and wipes accumulating on a surface that was already rough. A camera inspection converts a repeating annoyance into a decision you make once.
What drives the cost of plumbing work in Novato?
Mostly what the diagnosis finds and whether the work crosses the foundation line into district jurisdiction, which brings excavation, a second permit, and an inspection before backfill. After that, depth and length of any trench, whether it reaches the street, construction type, access on hillside lots, and what current code brings up to standard. We give you the full price before we start rather than a range.
Do you handle repipes in older Novato homes?
Yes, and it is regular work here. Galvanized steel supply from the prewar and early postwar era corrodes inward, so the symptom is declining pressure and rusty first-draw water rather than a visible leak, and patching one section pushes the failure downstream. On slab and post-and-beam homes an overhead reroute is often more durable and less disruptive than replacing lines in the concrete. We assess the whole system rather than defaulting to either answer.
Do I need a backflow prevention assembly?
Possibly, and the rules widened recently. North Marin Water District requires assemblies at commercial and industrial facilities and assesses residential premises on risk, including wells, booster pumps, storage tanks, and dockside facilities. NMWD notes the State Water Board's new Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook "became effective on July 1, 2024," extending requirements to premises with more than one connection to a water main, a swimming pool, a fire sprinkler system, or recycled water or graywater systems. Confirm your status with the district.
I am on septic at the edge of town. What is involved in connecting to the sewer?
More than a hookup. Septic tanks are under the jurisdiction of Marin County Environmental Health rather than the sanitary district, and the county must be notified when a tank is abandoned. All building plumbing outlets have to connect to the new side sewer and completely bypass the tank, the tank is abandoned per the Uniform Plumbing Code and county requirements, and the district requires each structure to be separately and independently connected to the main, with exceptions at its discretion.
Do you install and service sewage ejector pumps?
Yes. Where gravity service is not feasible the district allows a residential sewage pump system by special application and approves the design, while the pump, holding tank, and electrical work must meet the building department's codes and be inspected by that department. Both gravity and pressure discharge lines are inspected before being covered. Because we hold a C-10 electrical license alongside the C-36, the electrical side stays inside the same project.
Will I still be able to install a gas water heater in Novato?
Yes. The air rule everyone has heard about is Rule 9-6, amended in 2023, and it bites at the counter rather than in your garage: appliances are sorted into years running 2027 through 2031 by size and type, and the district states that the amendments apply to new appliances and do not mandate retrofitting existing ones.
Can you work on homes at Hamilton Field?
Yes. The converted former air base does not reliably follow the utility routing, mechanical space, or service capacity patterns of a conventional subdivision from a comparable period, so we look at the actual installation instead of assuming a standard layout and quoting from it.