New Construction Plumbing in Augusta, ME

Rough-in is every supply, drain, waste, and vent line run through the framed structure before insulation and drywall go in — the entire skeleton of the home's plumbing, sized and routed per the fixture layout on the plans. This includes the main drain-waste-vent stack from the foundation to the roof, branch lines to every future fixture location, water supply lines run to each of those same locations, and, on a slab or basement build, the underground rough-in that goes in before the concrete pour.

Capped stub-outs at this stage stand in for fixtures that don't exist yet — a future basement bathroom is a very common example, roughed in during initial construction and capped off to finish years later without opening the slab again.

Before insulation and drywall can go in, the local code enforcement officer or plumbing inspector has to see and approve the rough-in — every line has to be visible, which is the entire point of the inspection happening at this stage rather than after the walls close. We schedule this directly with the town, pressure-test the system beforehand so it passes on the first visit, and are on site for the inspection itself.

A failed rough-in inspection almost always means an open wall gets opened again, which is the single most avoidable delay on a new build's timeline. Getting it right the first time is worth more than almost any other decision on the plumbing side of a new-construction job.

Trim-out happens once walls, cabinets, and countertops are in place: setting every fixture, connecting the water heater, running the dishwasher and ice-maker lines, and pressure-testing the completed system before a final inspection signs it off. This is also when we catch anything a cabinet or countertop installer's measurements shifted since rough-in — a sink center that's an inch off from where the drain stub-out landed, for instance — and correct it before the final walkthrough.

We coordinate trim-out around the rest of the finish schedule — flooring, cabinets, countertops — the same way rough-in is coordinated around framing, so plumbing is never the item a general contractor is waiting on.

• We read plans directly rather than working from a verbal fixture count, so supply and drain sizing match what's actually specified.
• Underground rough-in (below a slab) happens before the pour — once concrete is down, moving a line means cutting it back out.
• We flag any fixture location that creates a venting problem (an island sink, a remote powder room) during plan review, not after framing is done.
• One point of contact for the whole job — the same crew handles rough-in, the inspection, and trim-out.