Every five years or so in the past 15 years we've had a mysterious problem where our toilets suddenly won't drain and sometimes even have backed up into the shower. Nasty! Each time I've called a different plumber, and they've come with a 110 foot snake (because the only cleanout is in the backyard and always well away from the blockage), routed out the line, and then shown me the disgusting clump of tree roots or whatever that was stuck in the pipe to prove it was fixed. And then we're fine for a while.
I never knew what caused the problem - I never knew I HAD a real problem, other than assuming the trees in my backyard were quick growing, and merely the price one pays for shade in Sac.
But this last time I called Honest Sewer & Drain (after reading all the great reviews) and hallelujah! Dustin arrived and diagnosed and resolved this crappy problem once and for all! And it was a serious problem - the sewer line was broken and needed either to be fixed or replaced along 60' from house to street.
Honest Sewer & Drain deserves five stars for the reasons noted below:
First, Dustin refused to believe the only cleanout was in the back, even though at least three prior plumbers couldn't find another one. (Sadly, I had no info about this). Not only did he find the second cleanout buried under a foot of soil and bushes in the front yard, he even found a third one by the sidewalk (also covered up), which the City (who likely installed it) didn't even know about! So five stars for sheer doggedness!
Second, he passed a fancy pipe video camera through the line and found those pesky tree roots, which had cracked the sewer line to the street likely years ago. Another five stars for applying good technology!
Third, he emailed me two professional estimates on options for the fix which fully outlined the problem and gave pros and cons for each option within 24 hours. Five stars for highly professional documentation, options for different budgets, and quick communication!
Fourth, he didn't even charge me for diagnosing my problem including all the camera work and probably 90 minutes he spent figuring out where that second cleanout was. I called another company to get a second opinion and they wouldn't come out for less than $400 to run a camera through the line. Five Stars for free estimates!!
Fifth, his bids were reasonable. By this point I knew my home insurance was (amazingly!) going to cover this major repair, which by the way is known as a 'service line repair' - who knew? I had to get several bids, and his was the best, just under the limit of my insurance - an amount which he didn't know. The others were over, one by a shocking amount. Another Five Stars for good pricing!!!
Sixth, he has a really clean and nice-looking van, all neat and tidy and organized, and with great graphics and colors. He has a good website too. Five Stars for inspiring confidence with style!!!
Seventh, Dustin is kind of a plumbing nerd and I say that as the highest praise. He obviously is really knowledgable about plumbing, enjoys figuring out problems, and recommending best practices as well as lower-priced alternatives. He explained everything to me in terms that made sense. He showed me what the inside of the pipe looked on video, the roots, the cracked part, and how you could tell it was asbestos, and all about the water flow, and pipe exploding and a bunch of other neat details. Five stars for being really cool and geeky!!!
Eight, he started and finished the job in exactly the time he said, was punctual each day, and his crew was the same. Five stars for efficiency and dependability!!!
Ninth, he took care of cutting away the sort of jungle of shrubbery in the path of work - after consulting on it all with me - and then filled up my green bin with the debris so I didn't have to. My yard looks pretty much the same before and after, except for less jungle and more nice spots for new plants. It's super. Five stars for minimal landscape impact!!!!
Tenth, after the job was done I thought I had an issue with my sprinklers and assumed it was something perhaps caused by the sewer line issue. I texted Dustin and he came over the same day and we ran through every station on my sprinkler and it turns out it was likely caused by me (sigh) and my funky drip watering system which is right near the sprinkler controls. He was truly patient and gracious about this, even though I was an idiot. Five stars for incredible customer service!!!!!
I'd give them 10 stars if I could! Highly recommend!!!!