Free New Construction Plumbing Checklist

Build and download a free new construction plumbing checklist, phase by phase from underground to final, with every IPC 312 test scored against the required value and the hold time. PDF, Excel, or Word export.

Download Free TemplatePreview Template

Where should we send it?

Add your email to download this template. It is free, and you only have to do this once.

We use it to send you the occasional template and product update. See our privacy policy.

Build your checklist

Phase by phase, from underground to final. Every IPC 312 test is scored against the required value and the hold time, a correct pressure held for five minutes is still a failed test.

New Construction Plumbing Checklist

Plumbing · 11/02/2026

1Project & jurisdictionTwo values on this sheet have no national answer, your AHJ sets them.
Title
Start date
Projectoptional
Project #optional
General contractoroptional
Permit #optional
JurisdictionNot set, several values depend on it
Authority having jurisdiction
Code edition
Vent height above roof (in)
Gas test pressure (psi)
Site addressNothing set
Company detailsNothing set
2PhasesAuto-scoredUnderground through final, with the tests each phase requires.
Underground / groundworkNot started

IPC 108.2 item 1, after trenches are excavated and bedded and piping installed, BEFORE any backfill is placed.

Trenches excavated and bedded, piping supported on firm continuous bearing
Burial depth below frost line and below grade
Drainage slope verified
Tests
Gravity sewer test

IPC 312.6 - 10 ft head, for 15 minutes.

Actual ft head
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Forced sewer test

IPC 312.7 - value per system, for 15 minutes.

Actual psi above pump rating
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Inspection sign-off
Inspected byoptional
Dateoptional
Record #optional
Water serviceNot started

Not a model-code inspection. Most jurisdictions call it separately, with the trench open from the building to the main.

Water service to building sewer separation
Underground service piping rated for working pressure
Pressure reducing valve where static pressure exceeds 80 psi
Inspection sign-off
Inspected byoptional
Dateoptional
Record #optional
Rough-in / top-outNot started

IPC 108.2 item 2, after roof, framing, fireblocking, firestopping, draftstopping and bracing are in place and all piping is roughed in, BEFORE wall or ceiling membranes.

Framing inspection passed before any piping is covered
Hanger and support spacing correct for the material
Shield plates where piping runs near the face of framing
Tests
Drainage & vent, water test

IPC 312.2 - 10 ft head, not less than 15 minutes.

Actual ft head
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Drainage & vent, air test

IPC 312.3 - 5 psi, not less than 15 minutes.

Actual psi
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional

Plastic piping shall not be tested using air.

Water supply system test

IPC 312.5 - value per system, not less than 15 minutes.

Actual psi
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Shower liner test

IPC 312.9 - 2 in depth, not less than 15 minutes.

Actual in depth
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Inspection sign-off
Inspected byoptional
Dateoptional
Record #optional
Gas pipingNot started

Not a model-code plumbing inspection. Test pressure and duration vary by jurisdiction more than any other value on this sheet.

Piping material approved for the fuel and location
Underground gas piping burial depth
Support spacing per the gas code
Inspection sign-off
Inspected byoptional
Dateoptional
Record #optional
Final / trim-outNot started

IPC 108.2 item 3, after the building is complete, all fixtures set and connected, and the structure ready for occupancy.

All fixtures set, connected and operating
Cleanouts brought to grade and accessible
Shower and bathtub valves are anti-scald type with the limit stop set
Tests
Drainage & vent, final test

IPC 312.4 - 1 in water column, not less than 15 minutes.

Actual in water column
Held (min)
Dateoptional
Requiredoptional
Inspection sign-off
Inspected byoptional
Dateoptional
Record #optional

Add to your checklist:

Download your checklist:

Free · no signup · fully editable

What's included

  • The full IPC Section 312 test table, water, air, supply, shower liner, gravity sewer, forced sewer and final
  • Every test scored on the required value AND the hold time, because a correct pressure held for five minutes is still a failed test
  • The two values the model code leaves blank called out as yours to set, rather than printed as though they were national
  • What has to be exposed at each inspection, quoted from IPC 108.2
  • Failed and pending items collected into a single open-items list at the top of the export
  • Per-phase inspection sign-off with inspector, date and record number
  • Code citations printed next to the items they belong to
  • A required-value override per test, for jurisdictions that set their own
  • Your own items addable to any phase
  • Export to PDF, Excel (.xlsx), or Word (.docx)

How to use this template

  1. 1

    Name your authority first

    Two figures on this sheet have no national answer, the vent terminal height and the gas test pressure. Both come from your AHJ. Set them before the crew needs them.

  2. 2

    Work the phases in order

    Underground, water service, rough-in, gas, final. Each phase states what the code requires be exposed at that inspection, so nothing gets covered early.

  3. 3

    Record the tests as you run them

    Enter what the gauge showed and how long you held it. Both halves are needed, a pressure with no hold time reads as an unfinished test, not a passing one.

  4. 4

    Capture the sign-off

    Inspector, date and record number per phase. The checklist records that the AHJ released the work; it does not stand in for that release.

  5. 5

    Download the record

    Export to PDF, Excel or Word. Anything failed or pending appears as an open-items list at the top, ahead of the detail.

The half of a pressure test everyone forgets

Most new-construction plumbing checklists in circulation are a list of things to tick. The tests are the part that actually decides whether the work passes, and they are almost always reduced to a single box. That loses the half of the requirement that fails jobs.

Every test in IPC Section 312 has two conditions, not one: a value and a duration. The drainage and vent water test is a 10-foot head held for not less than 15 minutes. The air test is 5 psi, or enough to balance a 10-inch column of mercury, for not less than 15 minutes. The shower liner test is 2 inches of water for not less than 15 minutes. A correct pressure held for five minutes is a failed test, and it is a far more common failure than a wrong pressure, because the pressure is obvious on the gauge and the clock is not. This builder scores both, and when a test fails it says which condition was missed rather than showing a bare red mark.

It is equally careful about the values the code does not fix. IPC 312.5 states no blanket psi for the water supply test, it defers to the working pressure of the system, and the 50 psi figure people quote is the air-test alternative, which is not permitted on plastic at all. Two other figures have no national answer whatsoever. IPC 903.1.1 prints a fill-in blank rather than a number for vent terminal height above the roof, and jurisdictions disagree: 6 inches in North Carolina, 12 in Connecticut and Utah, 24 in New York City. Gas test pressure is worse, not one jurisdiction we surveyed reproduced the model figure, and they range from 10 psi to 40. Printing any single number for either would be wrong nearly everywhere, so the checklist asks for yours and prints it as the authority’s value.

Related templates

More free downloads for your PLUMBING template library.

Worth asking before you book

New Construction Plumbing Checklist FAQs

Seven that a new-build contractor performs. Drainage and vent by water at a 10-foot head, or by air at 5 psi. The water supply system at working pressure, or by air at 50 psi. The shower liner at 2 inches of water. Gravity sewer at a 10-foot head. Forced sewer at 5 psi above the pump rating. And the final test at a 1-inch water column. All of them are held for 15 minutes. Storm drainage has no independent values, it inherits whichever of the first two you use.
Because the duration is half the requirement and it is the half people skip. The code says "not less than 15 minutes" for most of these tests, and a system that holds 10 psi for four minutes has not passed anything. The builder scores value and duration independently, so a short hold fails on its own terms and says so.
No. IPC 312.3 carries an explicit exception: plastic piping shall not be tested using air. This one surprises people because it is often described as a UPC-only restriction, it is not, both codes prohibit it in near-identical language. The builder prints the prohibition alongside the air test rather than leaving you to remember it.
Whatever your authority says, and you should ask rather than assume. This is the least portable figure on the whole sheet. Of the jurisdictions we surveyed, not one reproduced the model code value, Gallatin, LaGrange and Easley call for 10 psi, and West University Place in Texas calls for 40 psi at top-out. Ten is the de facto street standard, but a checklist that printed it as a national requirement would be wrong in real places, so it is a field you fill in.
The model code does not say. IPC 903.1.1 literally prints a fill-in blank, "not less than [NUMBER] inches above the roof", and each jurisdiction fills it in. North Carolina uses 6 inches, Connecticut, Ohio, Utah and Denver use 12, New York City uses 24. Record the figure your inspector enforces and the export prints it as the authority’s value, not as ours.
Not under the 2021 IPC. Older editions had a base-of-stack provision at 708.3.4, and it did not survive the renumbering into 708.1.x. If your inspector expects one it will be a local amendment or a UPC habit, worth asking rather than assuming either way.
The test values happen to match, both codes use a 10-foot head, 5 psi, and 15 minutes, and both prohibit air on plastic. But the checklist items are cited to the IPC, and the two codes genuinely diverge elsewhere: trap arm lengths differ at every size, the UPC has no air admittance valve provisions at all, and wet venting is limited to one bathroom group rather than two. Adoption is also messier than most people expect, five states use neither code, Texas adopts both, and four have no statewide plumbing code. Confirm with your AHJ.
No. It is the contractor’s own record of what was installed and tested, and every export says so. IPC 108.2.3 is clear that non-complying work shall not be covered until the code official authorizes it, this checklist helps you get to that point and records when it happened.
Where to next

Watch the work before you hear from us

Diagnostics, installs and the odd bad attic, from contractors who film their own jobs.

Follow the work