My friend came over and we walked the front yard and looked at the line from the cleanout to the spot where it enters the city line. We discussed the process, and by using an excavator and putting in PVC, plus a couple of improvements to upgrade the system (if there's a block in the house, this will now provide a cleanout for the house that won't require getting up on the roof). If he does it for half of what the plumber would charge he'll still make a nice profit even with renting an excavator and buying the PVC and other parts. I'd rather have a friend make money on this than the plumber. It's a sewer line so we don't need a permit like we would if it was an irrigation system connecting to the water line. It's something that homeowners are allowed to do for themselves.

He also mentioned the root killer stuff, and something like that will keep the system open for now, but I have two large trees and a large shrub all in proximity of that line - it isn't going to stop having root problems with the perforated cast iron line. We'll probably do this next month.