Talk to your neighbor to see what they have and/or recommend.

Also in the Pacific Northwest. Our county required a generator with an auto transfer switch.

In our last home, we had a natural gas generator with auto transfer switch, sump in unfinished crawl space. It was only needed after a hard rain. I would definitely get a generator. Otherwise, you'll have water problems. I would also bump it up in size to run at least the main floor during power outages. We've had a generator for +/-28 yrs, and even with underground power in our neighborhood it has come in handy.

Sounds like at least one sump and pump is a good idea. Does your area have a history of power outages? If so, definitely get an appropriately sized generator and transfer switch. Pick out the critical circuits for backup power and size the generator accordingly.

Forgive my complete ignorance about your topography. Why do you have to build to rely on a pump to prevent damage? Seems like a bad idea. Here we only see them as bandaids on poorly designed old construction.

Near a creek means potential for flooding. So you build elevated on pilings. Right? At some point a pump can't keep up

Hi All. Thanks for the replies! So apparently I’m in error in my post in general. Our sump is for sewage being pumped up to the city line and not water. So we will likely still need a back up battery in case of outages, which happen a few times a year. Last year one was three days long.

But we won’t need it for the groundwater and run off. We put in a rockpit and the water drains to that and off site.

Sumps are extremely common here. We are basically building on the side of a mountain, near a creek, in a rainforest. It’s wet! No one builds on pilings here.

That is called a sewage pump, not a sump pump.

My mistake, as outlined in my comment, I got the lingo wrong. Many homes here do have sump pumps for water. It is extremely common. They also have sewage pumps tooX

Will you need the pump for the entire house or only a basement bath? If only for basement, why bother with a generator for only a few times a year? If the power is out, just use the upstairs facilities, unless, of course, you want backup electricity for the rest of the house too.

If it's for the sewer line for the entire house, you may want to consider a heavy duty pump, not the typical home center store junk. I don't know what's available in the BC area, but in the Chicago area, we've got a local pump company that makes heavy duty pedestal sump and sewage pumps for residential use with a 10 year warranty and expected life of 30+ years. Of course, it's going to cost more than the $250 special from Home Depot. Tramco Pumps

It’s just for the basement but the basement has a two bedroom self contained suite. I’m not sure we can’t realistically demand tenants not use the facilities during a power outage. We can go upstairs they can’t.