What you’ll build
Four installations, all permanent: a gutter-to-tank rainwater catchment with a first-flush diverter, a pump and pressure tank assembly feeding a pressurized distribution loop, a drip irrigation zone in the orchard, and a French drain that fixes a real wet spot on the property. Each one is in service when you leave.
Day by day
Day 1 — The water on one property
Morning skill. Arrival at 13:00 and site safety. The water cycle on a single parcel: where it arrives, where it sits, where it leaves. Well types, and how a well gets sited.
Afternoon build. Site walk. Identify the property’s actual water problems: the wet spot, the dry orchard rows, the roof that dumps at the foundation.
Evening. Water testing. Contamination sources, what to test for, how often, and how to read the lab report.
Day 2 — Pumps and pressure
Morning skill. Pumps, pressure tanks, and pressure switches: how they work together, how to size them, and how to troubleshoot the three things that actually go wrong.
Afternoon build. Build a complete pump and pressure tank assembly on a stand: tank tee, switch, gauge, relief valve, check valve, unions where you’ll want them later.
Evening. Frost depth. Why Zone 4b means burying water lines 48–60 inches, and what that costs per foot.
Day 3 — Pipe
Morning skill. PEX: crimp versus expansion, manifolds, home runs. Copper: cut, clean, flux, sweat. When each material is the right one.
Afternoon build. Run a distribution loop using both materials. Pressure test it. Find your own leaks and fix them.
Evening. Freeze protection and winterizing: drain-back design, heat trace, blow-out procedure.
Day 4 — Rain
Morning skill. Rainwater catchment math: roof area, local rainfall, collection efficiency, storage sizing. First-flush diverters, screening, and overflow.
Afternoon build. Build the gutter-to-tank catchment with a first-flush diverter and a managed overflow.
Evening. Greywater, and what is legal in Michigan.
Day 5 — Drainage and irrigation
Morning skill. Drainage: French drains, swales, tile, and grading. Slope, fabric, stone, and outlet. Drip irrigation layout: zones, pressure regulation, filtration, emitter spacing.
Afternoon build. Install a drain run and a drip zone.
Departure, 15:00. You leave with your water plan.
What you’ll be able to do afterward
- Size a catchment system from roof area and rainfall.
- Build a pump and pressure tank assembly.
- Crimp PEX and sweat copper with confidence.
- Pressure test a system and find the leak.
- Lay out a drip zone with correct emitter spacing.
- Cut a drain that actually moves water.
Tools and materials you’ll use
- Shallow-well jet pump, pressure tank, pressure switch, tank tee kit
- PEX-A and PEX-B tubing, expansion tool, crimp tool and go/no-go gauge, manifolds
- Type L copper, tubing cutter, torch, flux, lead-free solder
- Gutters, first-flush diverter, storage tank, bulkhead fittings
- Perforated drain pipe, filter fabric, washed stone
- Drip tubing, pressure regulator, filter, emitters, punch
- Laser level, transit, trenching shovels, and a trencher where it’s the right tool
The exact bill of materials, with part numbers and what each line cost, is sent to registered participants before the session and published in the Build Log after it.
The paperwork
- Michigan well permitting through the local health department.
- Septic site and soil evaluation, and what a percolation test tells you.
- EQIP cost-share for irrigation efficiency and water management practices: what it pays for and how long it takes.
Rules change. Anything regulatory taught in the session is date-stamped and you are told where to verify it for your own county.
What you take home
- A drainage and water plan sketch for your own property.
- A catchment sizing worksheet, filled in.
- A plumbing materials list.
Who this is for / who it isn’t
For: landowners with a water problem, in either direction: not enough where they want it or too much where they don’t. Homeowners who are done paying a plumber for a twenty-minute job.
Not for: anyone who needs a well drilled or a septic system designed and stamped. We teach you what those jobs involve and how to hire them. We do not teach you to do work that requires a license you don’t hold.
Prerequisites and physical demands
No prerequisites. This is the most physical of the three launch sessions. Drainage is digging: expect several hours with a shovel on Day 5, kneeling in a trench, and carrying stone by the bucket. There is an open torch on Day 3.
Instructor
Matt Vorst. See Instructors.