I wanted to report back and thank all the folks here for their advice. We did end up using a 2" PE pipe. The interesting thing was that my plumber had never used it. Neither had 4 other who I got quotes from. They were willing to use PVC or PEX but other than my plumber, no one was even willing to look into PE. The city inspector had never seen it and had to check the california code book to see if it was even approved (It is). The local plumbing supply stores (big box and speciality) did not have it or have in the length that I needed (280ft). So the plumber took his van up to San Francisco to buy it. The plumbing supply store also told him that he has to use a special machine for the joints that he can rent but he had to get trained before he could do that. So my plumber did get trained, rented the machine, got the pipe. It took him a few hours to lay the pipe, wrap some 18 guage wire (CA code for non-metal service lines). He connected to an existing copper for a cottage, connected to a landscape faucet, and the main house. The cost was much more reasonable than Copper. We are in middle of a remodel, so we did not need a special permit.. just an inspection. Saga over.

the term open pipes, on a utility note mean that there are pipes in the building that are not caped off.. they must have walked the building and saw uncaped piping so..knowing that turning on the water will result in water coming out of those open ended pipes..they did not turn it on..you need to cap all pipes and turn on the water because...with water off..if drywall puts a screw/nail into apipe..you will not know it till latter,,now is when you want to know..knowing latter will cost you money to fix. right now will cost you nothing.. and...no pipes should EVER be left open..BECAUSE..a tape and float guy could, accidently..drop mud on and end the pipe , plugging it up...more money lost.. a bug..could crawl in there and send you a post card thanking you for his new home.. worse than that a dirt dobber could build a nest and rock your world..you would wind up repiping..cause you would not know where the plug is and last but not least..the code says to cap pipes when not in use...to PROTECT THEM

wow this made my day ... After finding are home flooded with sewer water and then getting every thing ripped out and redone ,,, after we started to put things back in we found a wet spot on the new carpet in the office .... so had the guys remove the new drywall from the floor up to about 3 feet thinking they hit a pipe with a nail , or a screw ... nope was the the main copper pipe drain for upstairs bathroom ,, cut out higher and found the leak in a elbow joint ,, in a very hard place to fix ,,,, so went out and got the ep-200 epoxy putty ,,, cleaned up the joint really good then applied the epoxy .... been 2 days and still holding ... so this gives me hope ... until i can get it fixed ..

Glad to see I am not alone with this issue. I am a builder in Roseburg, Oregon, and recently have had the exact same issues as some of you. I first noticed a leak in the entry closet a few months ago while I was wrapping up a new spec home. The house had already been painted, including trim, and wood floors down. I noticed mold and swelling around the drywall of the finished trim and above the door. Our plumbers found 3 microscopic leaks, all within a foot of each other, that sprayed water so lightly they were likely leaking for months before damage was visible. After sending the bad pipe to Uponor we received the same news that the pipe was exposed to Western Conifer Seed Bug and damages would not be covered. Then, just 2 weeks ago, i noticed some swelling in the baseboard and trim around the bottom of the same door in the exact same area!! The plumbers came out to find 2 more of the same tiny holes about 2 feet down the line. I don't know if they didn't see the last 2 holes on the first repair or what but I had them remove/replace all of the line they could reach. Also, it was only the 1/2 inch line that was damaged in my case, even tho there was a 1'' line in the same area as well. This time I kept the damaged pipe so I can have some private tests conducted. I called our Building Official to bring up these issues and he told me to talk to the State Building Codes Division, which I saw one of you also suggested. I plan to do so too. I also had a local exterminator, who has been in business for 28 years in this area, take a look at the wall section where the damage occurred before I covered it up. He is going to write a sort of testimonial saying there were no signs of bugs in the wall of the house. I don't know how much this will help me in my battle against Uponor, but it can't hurt and it may be something for others to consider. He also suggested I contact the entomology program at Washington State University to see if they would be interested in further researching this issue, which I plan to do as soon as I finish here. We should all be spreading the word about this issue and exploring more ideas for how to make real changes.