I am having a house built and the contractor just had the sewer line installed. The pipe is 3 feet off the floor in the basement. It does not seem right to have it this high off the floor. Is this the proper way?

Mine is about 5 feet off the floor. I am not a plumber but I know about laying pipe and the fact that the line has to fall toward the main.
The lower the pipe is in the basement, the deeper the trench outside has to be and digging deeper than necessary is just a waste of money.

Hey t3b0... ;)

Smearcase really answered the question...

It's all about the INVERT at the manhole in the street that determines how high or low the drain will show up in your house.

In other words, pipe will pitch up from the manhole to the main drain line in the street and then pitch up from the main drain line in the street to your house. The pipes are usually pitched at about 1/8" per foot of pipe.

Most of the time, contractors pitch the pipe as required and can't worry about where it ends as long as owner can drain first and second floor by gravity drainage.

Check with your neighbors and see if they have sewer pipe up off the floor as well... I am quite sure they will (unless much closer to road).

Anyway, nothing abnormal about it...just the way it ends up for some homes!!

If the concrete floor has not been poured yet and you planned on installing a bathroom in the basement in the future I would still install the waste pipes... only difference from normal will be that you also need to install a sewage ejector PIT (NOW) and pump (LATER when completing the job).

Check out Zoeller Corporation (http://www.zoeller.com) for more info. On that.

You may also want to install a floor drain at this time into this sump pit now, so can drain things later... ;)

Let me know if you need more info... MARK