Vadim S.
02/04/2015 12:00:00 SA
So, this will be a long one...lol.
I called a local Davis plumber, he did a estimate for us, climbed under the house, went over to the clean out, pulled out his camera, it wouldn't go into the main pipe to the city, said my pipes were bad. Quoted $3800 to fix the problem and get the sewage out from underneath my house, then he said all my pipe system was bad, it was made out of 'X' material but should really be 'Y' material, that would be $7,600, he then said he would throw in the main sewer line that goes out to the city and add in a warranty for another $8050, if we did both and signed up for his 'discount' program for $69 it would only come out to $12,700.
He also did a 'service inspection' for free.
After that he noted that our water heater was old and needs to be replaced, so he added $5050 for a new tankless water heater, and he said we should buy a water softener system, which would run another $4412.
All this would be a discounted and generous $22,000 because we save 15% with his discount program.
So I said I need to talk to my husband and maybe have another opinion and do some research. I pay him his $59 diagnostic fee and he went on his way.
Then I called a second plumber, he said he wouldn't send one of his guys for any less then $250 because of his overhead, I said no thank you. He started telling me that anyone who charges less is going to tack on fees, and do a poor job. I repeat to him no thank you I don't want to pay someone $250 to do what I did for free - I crawled underneath the house my own dang self, and saw that yes a pipe is leaking, the questions would be where and why.
After hanging up with him I found a website called 'homeadvisor' I get a better idea of what the national average price is for a job that I was told by the first guy would run us. It was far less than he quoted. I realized what the deal was at that point, I was calling the wrong plumbers, I decided to call B&I, they had super high reviews on Yelp, but it is a small business less well known. He is licensed and bonded though.
Weds he comes over and asks what is wrong, and he asks where the access is to under the house. He crawled under no fussing or anything, he has me run water. He tells me the pipe is leaking and asks me if the main line to the city was snaked. I say no, so he opens up the clean out has me run some more water, and shows me that the pipe to the city is clogged and he needs to snake it. So he snakes it and about 80 feet out, near where our pipe meets the city, it stalls, he pushes it and all of a sudden you can see that it starts draining. HE CLEARED THE CLOG! To unclog it he only charges $135!
He tells me that he will come back in 2 weeks when the water underneath is evaporated, and he will remove the waste, and toss some absorbant, then fix the leak, which he thinks is a joint leak and may just need a new o ring. Basically the clog made it so that at some location where one pipe meets another it just started leaking out. He estimates that it will all run less than $1000, with the snaking included in that. He is appalled and not surprised that the big time plumber tried to sell me so much, my pipes are fine and seem to have another 30 or so years left in them.
I am blown away, and will be a customer for as long as Ivo will travel out to Davis and will be happy to recommend him to everyone and anyone who will listen to my long story. With the money I saved I can keep saving up for that kitchen remodel my poor kitchen needs, but guess who I will be calling to redo the kitchen pipes!