Seattle Drain Service

I can't believe the happiest five-star review I'm giving on Yelp so far is for a drainage company in Seattle.  Out of all the yummy foods I've had, places I've seen, and things I've experienced, it comes down to a broken sewer in a house that's older than the excuses most sewer companies give homeowners - The pipe's broken all the way to the main line, it's gonna cost $60k, If you don't replace this sewer, there's gonna be a sinkhole in the middle of your street big enough to eat up your nine-year old, etc., etc.

I found Bryce and his crew on Yelp and took a chance.  After calling about 3 other companies - one of whom was recommended by a friend, I chose Bryce as I had no other options: Nobody else returned my calls.  

The receptionist on the phone was thorough and professional, Bryce came out a few days later to do a free estimate, going so far as to snake his camera down the toilet in question.  He then gave me the different options and possibilities and prices.  Being that it was an old house with very compromised drainage, Bryce never made any promises in advance till he could access the entire situation.

Without any deposit beforehand, he and his crew came and dug out the very tough dirt on the side of my place within two days revealing the drain pipe.  Instead of suggesting I replace the entire pipe, which is what most companies would do, he suggested patching the compromised areas, as were only one or two.  We'd also found that roots had gotten to the pipe at one point.  But instead of digging up that area (which was underneath a sidewalk on a busy commercial street), he came on a Sunday and tried to whack away at the roots for hours.  He finally succeeded, saving me yet another tens of thousands of dollars.

Bryce truly stands out among a crowd of questionable drainage people I've encountered in the past.  He's truly passionate about his work, always thinks from the homeowner's point of view (ie. Trying to help homeowners save money WITHOUT cutting corners, instead of suggesting the most expensive options), and is straightforward and honest about what can or can't be done.   When you call him, he'll return your calls promptly, and his follow up is great.

That being said, I really hope never to encounter Bryce again, as this means I'll be having some drainage issue of some sort.  But I won't stop at recommending him to people who need a good drainage company.

It took me a while to pin down the type of contractor needed for clogged and overflowing underground downspout drains and a channel drain replacement. So many contractors glanced at the problem and said, Find someone to dig it up and give us a call. Yeah, right. That'll happen. I was most successful contacting waterproofing contractors, and ended up hiring Bryce with Seattle Drain Service.

Don't let his amateurish-looking website fool you! Bryce is a life-long Seattlite with more knowledge and skill than anyone I've ever met (just read some of the articles on his website). His bid was not the lowest, but it was the best value with the most well thought out proposal. He encountered endless unexpected obstacles, such as a utility line that pierced an underground drain pipe when originally installed (way to go, telephone company that doesn't exist anymore!), but got the job done and did it well, AND stuck to his original estimate (for the drainage project), despite the extra work. One day of jackhammering turned into an entire week, thanks to whoever built my 1947 house having a concrete fetish. Where Bryce expected to find 3 or 4 inches of concrete, he encountered 12 inches or more. We dubbed the concrete fetishist, Concrete Bob. Oh, look, more concrete where you wouldn't expect to find any! Concrete Bob is at it again!

I found a disturbing trend while trying to find the right contractor for the job. You see, I was not preparing my home for sale; I am planning on living in my home for the rest of my life, and received very few bonafide long-term solutions during an extended bid process. Watch out for companies that give you low bids for proposals that are short-term solutions at best. Realtors love these companies because they do fast, cheap work that passes property inspections and allows the sales to go through, but are really just passing along any long-term problems onto the home buyer. I pressed one particular company for details and specifications about its so-called solution, and they repeatedly responded with, We have 4 decades of experience. Beware of any company that can't or won't answer your technical questions. I will not outright name this company, but let's just say it rhymes with Poo Construction.

Bryce works hard, does quality work, and as a result is in high demand. I've recommended him to several of my curious neighbors and would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone. He seems to particularly thrive on the most challenging jobs, and is a man of his word. How rare is that nowadays? He even offered to update our sewer line and install a cleanout for an additional fee while he had the area dug up, saving us thousands of dollars in future maintenance. He also did things like repositioning downspouts at no additional charge. Thank you, Bryce! You rule! Oscar misses trying to get you to play fetch with him!

Update. Bryce has reached out to us thus I am trying to amend this review but for some reason it isn't seeming to go through on yelp. Thank you for reaching back out and clarifying.

Bryce at Seattle Drain Service undoubtedly saved us a lot of time and money with his quick communication and his honest and expert advice. After receiving an over the top utilities bill, we contacted the city and several plumbers. Bryce returned my email within 12 hours. He came by the house to try to figure out where the leak was and suggested that although the leak was most likely on our end of the system, that we should let the city look at first.

After initially trying to convince me that it was not their problem, the city was unusually prompt and helpful. Both the city and the Bryce said the likelihood was greater than 80% that the leak would be ours to fix and pay for. That said, we lucked out and the city came and fixed the leak within a week. So, while Bryce never did any actual digging or repair work for us, he offered great advice and support, and did not charge us for his time. Hard to find that kind of integrity these days.

While I didn't use Seattle Drain Service (ended up needing a service they don't provide), I am giving them this rating as an integrity rating.  Rather than telling me I needed to replace a sewer line when I didn't, he recommended a cheaper option, and referred me elsewhere.

When I read reviews, I pay as much attention to didn't try and upsell me comments as I do input about the work itself, so wanted to pass this along!

We are very pleased with Bryce with Seattle Drain Service. We found him to be straight forward, honest and hardworking. He even help educate us on how to prevent our sewer line from having the roots from our willow return.

I had a consultation with Bryce on 1/3 to have some work done around the foundation to keep water out of my basement. He told me he needed to look at some of the information for my neighborhood and would call back in two days with an estimate.

I didn't hear back from him so I called and left a message. Didn't hear back again so I called and left another message. Didn't hear back again so I tried to email. Still no response.

I understand that he may have to much work scheduled right now, and not be able to get to my job, but he should have been up front about that.

I called Seattle Drain Service to replace the main water line from the street/sidewalk to the house.  Since the owner Bryce lived close by, he took a drive by and called me back.  We arranged to meet and he gave me a bid and told me when he could start.  He had determined that in some spots the old galvanized pipe was within one inch of the natural gas line!  He gave me a bid to replace the old galvanized with pex and I approved.  It was to take two days, but because of delays with getting Seattle to replace the old, old shutoff and then inspect it, it took a few days longer.  It was a difficult job because of the pipes being so close together and lots of big rocks.  The price was the same as what was bid.  I would definitely call on Bryce again, if I needed his services!  

OH, and we have great water pressure now - the 100 year old house's pipe was 1/2 galvanized with corrosion down to about 1/4 diameter - the 1 pex line is wonderful!  Also, he added a place to connect a sprinkling or drip system in the future.

After a basement flood, I needed help repairing a 70 year old sewer line. I called the standard outfits (think Roto Rooter, Bob Oates, etc) and the bids were as high as $25k to replacement the main line.  I also contacted Bryce at Seattle Drain Service. Bryce came out and spent at least an hour assessing my situation before giving me a bid.  His bid came in at less than half his competition (!).  What I really liked about Bryce was his attention to detail and curiosity.  In assessing my sewer lines, he looked at everything he possibly could - down spouts, cleanouts, main lines, tie ins, you name it.  He identified several problems his competitors completely glossed over.  He truly was interested in solving the puzzle that were my broken lines.  

I am so glad we used him for our job.  He and his crew were professional, courteous and hard working.  I routinely kept in contact Bryce and he gave me several progress updates.  I have to tell you, I never thought spending money to fix my sewer lines would be such an enjoyable experience!  I highly recommend Bryce and the crew, and will call him the instant I have a sewer issue.

Same as other reviewers, I couldn't get any response from this business - two weeks ago I called them twice during two consecutive days and sent an email with specifics - I've got zero attention whatsoever. I consider this as a bad attitude to a potential customer. IMO, in case you're so busy that you don't have time to respond in person, you should setup an auto-reply and a voice mail greeting accordingly.

Had a challenging drainage problem in our basement which another well respected drainage expert had attempted to repair and failed multiple times.  Bryce spent the time to carefully evaluate the issue and get at the root of the issue.  Then employed some clever tools and techniques to solve the problem once and for all.  Very competitive pricing given he had the insight to find simple solutions.  Would highly recommend and will use his service again at the drop of a pin.

Bryce came out and fixed our drain issues quickly and did a great job!! He was very detail-oriented which we appreciated.

Could not be happier with Seattle Drain Service. Bryce came out and took his time evaluating the project. It was a challenging project and Bryce took the time to figure it out and discuss the options with me. We went with pipe bursting, which required several 12 foot deep holes in my property, plus they had to remove half of a brick patio. They completed the work on schedule (man, do those guys work hard!) and with minimal mess. Then they put everything back! The patio was better than before! They take before photos to make sure all the plants, bricks, etc. went back into place! It was great. I was very pleased.

It was a summer day and my son started throwing wipes down the toilette and flushing it while i was away for a few minutes. I used yelp to find a plumber. Called two people but they were unavailable.

Great service. They did a nice job unclogging my bathroom sink/toilette. They were on time and gave me a reasonable price.

Could not be happier with Bryce, I will definitely be using his service again. He was extremely professional, and courteous. He gave me a variety of options including some that were for services he did not perform. In those cases he recommended a different plumbing company. In the end, I went with his hydro-jetting service. We had it scheduled for a Monday, but since he was in the neighborhood the Friday before and a job ended early, he went ahead took care of it. He then sent me a scope of his work complete with an explanation.

Bryce is one of those rare people you meet in this profession who actually loves his job, treats his customers right, and isn't out to gouge you. I have nothing but good things to say about my experience.

I had Bryce and his guys put in a french drain and new sewer line along the north side of my house. Then the plan was to put in the french drain and at the same time put in a new sewer line by pipe-burst from my house down to the street. Bryce gave me a fair price in the estimate and the job began with no problems, but hit some snags a couple of days in. Turns out that my sewer line wasn't exactly where we expected it to be (a little deeper, a little further out from my house) which meant his guys couldn't access it without digging a lot deeper down than originally expected. No problem, Bryce goes ahead and pipe-bursts the entire sewer line, basically 30 feet more than expected, because he could see it was the only way to get the job done.

Well, I about had a heart attack when I heard that we had to burst 30 feet more of my sewer than expected. At this point I was thinking maybe I was wrong about Bryce and  now he was going to gouge me for the additional work that had to be done (pipe-bursting is expensive). Nope, when I asked him what it would set me back he said nothing, the price of the job was set in stone and I had nothing to worry about. I think that about says it all.

Great job, great team of guys, would definitely hire Bryce and crew again.

So sad since this place got good reviews. I called for an estimate and she told me to call back in three weeks!  I am absolutely fine waiting three weeks but I'd like to be atleast put on the books, not call in three weeks to get scheduled 3 weeks out... poor poor customer service.

Bryce spent 20 minutes with me on the phone, discussing plumbing versus sewage, problems with roots, and what I can do about it. I had originally called asking for a sewer video to be done, and instead of just doing it and taking the money, he talked me through the process, and explained why it might not be the best solution for me in my situation. I had talked to nearly a dozen people from the city, and some other plumbers, and by far I got the most information and understanding from him. When I need a plumber again, I will be calling him for sure!!

EXPERT, COMPREHENSIVE, FAST + MONEY SAVING!

My water bill went up by $300, indicating a leak somewhere in my 200 foot long water line, which is mostly under an asphalt drive.  Five years earlier I had a similar problem and it took a company a couple of weeks to find the leak, a few days to fix the pipe and it cost several thousand dollars:  so I was dreading what might come next....

I found Seattle Drain Service by an online search and thought that 'trenchless technology' might be a great way to go, so I sent an email.  Bryce phoned right back and said that he would be able to come by for an initial assessment on his way to a job in progress.  He was immediately helpful and spent quite a bit of time carefully assessing the problem.  

I had also contacted another company and they came out later that morning and they explained how they would replace the water line: the bid which followed was $8400+tax and extras!

Bryce said that because of the good quality of my waterline (copper pipe), that a repair would likely be the better way proceed.  Furthermore, he suspected that the leak was most likely at the site of previous repair.  He spent a couple of hours trying to find the leak - at no charge.  Because of the complexity of signals where several underground utilities crossed, Bryce suggested that a leak detection service would be helpful in this instance. (He said he is usually able to find leaks with his own specialized equipment).
The detection service confirmed that the leak was at the site of previous repair!

Bryce and his crew found the leak straight away, and showed me why the previous repair had failed.  He used a much stronger repair method, and he and his crew were able to do the entire job in less than a half-day.

The total cost was much less than the job five years earlier.

Bryce and his crew are great folks and obviously enjoy their work.  Bryce's assessment and recommendation saved me thousands of dollars and his superior repair method have put my mind at ease.

A little rough around the edges, but fast, clean, cheap, and very effective. The service was exceptionally quick (within 90 min of calling).  Bryce is the main guy, and Keith showed up in a fairly nondescript van full of all kinds of plumbing tools. He picked the right size auger for the job (another plumber a year ago brought massively oversized equipment inside for just a clogged 1.5in sink drain). Also, he was careful to put on plastic booties to keep the carpet clean, had some helpful insight into other issues in our midcentury house, and he was in and out in under an hour.  I'd call them again, no question.

The water line to my house coincidentally broke during the big snowstorm. Knowing every plumber in the world would be buried, I took a day to search Yelp looking for someone skilled in this type of plumbing.  Lots of the highly rated plumbers looked like one man shows, and I knew this was going to be more than a simple fix.  I decided to call Seattle Drain because of their website showing the types of services they offer, and a good Yelp rating.  I called the office, then called the cell number, and within half an hour Bryce called me back.  That was my first pleasant surprise.  Based on our conversation I felt perfectly comfortable and we set a day to get started.

My system had a couple issues with the City side, but Bryce and his guys had the job done in two days, and only dug two holes to run a whole new line.  On budget, on time, and as minimally intrusive as possible.  I always knew this was going to be an ugly job, and they were as clean as possible.

If you have a drain problem of ANY kind, or a big job like mine replacing a water line, CALL THESE GUYS!

My water line is over 150 feet to the meter.  After being informed by the city that repairing the break in the line was my problem, I called several places.  Bryce was extremely responsive and quickly came out in person to assess the situation and bid the job.  His bid was not only lower than everyone else's but he also assured me he could get started within 24 hours.  He and his crew showed up on time and finished the job in record time.  He could have charged me a lot more but actually pointed out things which saved me literally thousands of dollars.  Bryce and his team were professional and provided great service.  I would recommend them in a heartbeat!

Seattle Drain Service just finished a massive sewer replacement and drainage project at our house.  We cannot say enough good things about them and their work.  Because our property is almost at the lowest point in the neighborhood, this job presented some major challenges for them.  But they rose to the occasion every time.  For instance, they struggled for hours to connect our new sewer pipe to the city's line.  Underground was extremely muddy and even had running water.  At one point a gush of water filled the hole they were working in, but they figured out how to deal with it and had the sewer line working by night fall.

We were extremely impressed by how much Bryce, Keith and the rest of the crew take pride in their work, and it really shows.  They pulled all the necessary permits, but often times their work was above code. They also did their best to protect the grass and plants as much as possible. They had to temporarily remove some pavers, but put them back better than they were originally. Also they cleaned up the work as best as possible, and we are more than happy with the way things turned out.

I had my sewer hydro jetted today by Bryce. He was very professional.  did an excellent job. He certainly knows what he is doing and have a lot of experience. also he was very responsive on emails. I did need to wait about 10 days for an opening but it was not emergency so it was ok with me. I also got an impression he was honest which is very important for me.
I really recommend using his services .
I usually never write reviews but i was very satisfied so i did make an effort to write a review on this case.

Seattle Drain Service came out to replace our ancient water service line, and they managed to do it with minimal disruption to the site or to the water service.  They have lots of interesting equipment for burrowing and excavating, but it's a fairly small business and I gather on a job of this nature you could expect Bryce to be on hand, so you can count on a high level of expertise.  Cost was reasonable and agreed on beforehand, no surprises.

We are now able to do laundry again! Thanks to Bryce our drain is in working condition.  We had water in the basement coming out from the pipe that drains the washer.  We thought it was definitly a broken pipe, but Bryce used his mini camera on the 2 pipe and was able to see that it was just blocked with 40 years of gunk and backing up.  He super snaked it and all is well now.  We now have peace of mind that the pipe is not broken and is draining well again.  Bryce was on time, professional, and quick.  He explained what he was doing and even had some suggestions on how to keep the drain working better.  Thanks!

Bryce is an extremely nice, knowledgeable guy! After reading the yelp reviews, we decided to go with him to do our sewer jetting. He walked me through the process, patiently explaining what he was doing and why. I felt like I learned more than I ever wanted to know about sewer lines! During his jetting, he uncovered a couple issues and explained what the implication of these were (eventual sewer re-lining). Although he couldn't do that work at my property due to access limitations, he had a couple of recommendations and encouraged me to call him back and verify what they were telling me in case I had questions. Overall, an extremely pleasant interaction and I was really impressed with his customer service. I'd go back to Bryce anytime.

I usually don't take the time to give Yelp reviews. But Bryce & his company really deserve it. He doesn't solicit Yelp reviews probably because he has more than enough business. Like me, others have likely found that he's a rare breed in an industry full of shady characters trying to make a fast buck.

I had gotten another bid from someone highly reviewed on Yelp, who was located in West Seattle. While that other person got a lot of positive reviews, his approach was sleazy (asked for all cash up front & claimed that permitting was unneeded for my smaller project). Bryce, on the other hand, is incredibly well spoken and sounds more like a professor rather than a plumber. Never did I feel like he was selling me on anything. I just knew that I had to get part of my sewer line repaired. He educated me on what the problem was & gave me a reasonable quote. And no, he never suggested that I pay him all cash before beginning the job. Moreover, he explained why even simple sewer line repairs *require* a permit. No biggie for Bryce, as he managed everything in a prompt & efficient manner.  While I hope never to have another sewer/plumbing issue, I know who I'll call if I ever do.

Seattle Drain is fantastic.  I've had drainage problems leading to humidity problems in crawl spaces leading to dry rot, and numerous other problems.  I've had a dozen different companies come out and try to address these issues.  Bryce came up with a plan in 15 min, implemented it, and fixed the problem.  He had about 5 people working nearly 3 days, and the charges were very fair.  I would recommend them very highly

This company was recommended to me by a friend, and I couldn't be happier with Bryce and his work.  The previous owner of my house had been a ruin-it-yourselfer and had plumbed the basement tub and sink drainage with Ts instead of Ys, setting us up for clogging.  No cleanouts were provided or even a way to access behind the wall.   Bryce arrived with a large van full of all kinds of tools which made me hopeful that one of those would be the miracle tool we needed.  It wasn't easy and I felt so bad to put it on Bryce's shoulders, but didn't want to have to tear out the tub. Luckily, he was determined.  He said it was him against the pipes and he had never lost yet.  Eventually he won again for me and I was so relieved!!   What's more, his price was very reasonable.  Highly recommend.

Bryce and his helper did an awesome job replacing a side sewer on my 82-year old house.  He cleared the line so the sewer could be used before he started the repair a couple of weeks later;  and he didn't even charge for that work.  He came well prepared for the job, was thoughtful,  careful, and performed top-quality work.  Tying into the main sewer line was very challenging due to poor workmanship on a repair done 10 years ago by a chain plumbing company on the other side sewer  . Bryce was able to make improvements to that repair, which was very difficult to access, and complete the connection of the new line.  I wish I had found him to do all the previous sewer line repairs!  He will definitely be my choice for any future plumbing repairs.  He stuck to his quoted price for the job, did more work than originally scoped, and beat the competition by  a significant margin.  When the plumbing was completed, he and his helper left the grounds in great shape.  Avoid those big plumbing companies; save money and get higher-quality work with Seattle Drain Service.

Bryce Kennedy is the guy to call for plugged drains.  He will scope it for you, run a snake, or start working on replacing what needs fixing.  He goes way beyond to make sure what he and his crew do is the best quality, done right the first time and completely cleaned up afterwards.  As a homeowner, you don't have a clue what will turn up when you start digging holes in your yard, what kind of unpleasant, expensive surprises.  Bryce is on your side to figure things out.

We had a major plumbing catastrophe around the holidays. It required digging several holes on our property through our concrete driveway around 3/4 of our home to replace 80+ year old sewer pipes. At every section of pipe, a new problem developed. We initially hired another company and their service was terrible. We connected with Bryce after doing Internet searches and thank goodness we did. He spent several days over about four weeks problem solving and working. He gave us a quote for the whole job and stuck to it.  Even when I know he encountered numerous other issues along the way that cost him more time, he didn't increase the initial quote.  If I could pay him more I would have.  The whole event was already an unplanned financial blow for us but I felt that Bryce was more than honest with us.  His work mates were respectful and hard working. They even took the time to clean my neighbors front sidewalk that was dirty from runoff from our property as a result of all the work. I highly recommend him. Honesty is what you will get with Bryce.

Bryce came to evaluate our clogged underground pipe.  I was so pleased with his honesty and all the time he spent helping me evaluate all the options and discussing various plumbing companies I could call.  I highly recommend calling him first!

Thanks to Seattle Drain Service I saved two thousand dollars! Literally. I had a small leak in my basement and called another company for a quote. After ten minutes the guy quoted me two thousand dollars. Bryce came over and really analyzed my problem. After walking around my yard and thoughtfully checking out the situation he deduced that the problem was probably coming from my downspouts. I simply diverted my downspouts which were previously going to some unseen place in the ground and poof! No more water in the basement. Bryce really put in a good deal of time and energy helping me out and he didn't even charge me. Any plumbing issue I may have in the future I will be sure to call him!

I just had Seattle Drain Service fix a broken sewer line on the side of my house in View Ridge. Bryce and his team were fantastic. The were very professional and very knowledgeable. There was a great deal of trouble shooting to do as the project was more complex than originally thought. He was great at that. When he showed up to give me a bid he actually stayed quite some time to see what was wrong. He saved us money and hassle by telling me that we did not need to move out of the house. This was an emergency and his crew was fast. Just all in all a great experience. Bryce was also a really nice person, funny and affable. And he really cares. And you know that expression about not judging a book by it's cover. Don't judge him by the how plain is web site looks. That web site has more useful information than lots of other web sites with more fluff.

TLDR: best service-related experience I've ever had.

A few months ago, we were in the process of selling our house and the inspection uncovered several fractures our sewer line so I contacted as many sewer repair companies as I could find. But first I did my research and learned all I could about sewer lines, what makes them fail, the types and classifications of defects/failures and the techniques used to repair them. After talking to 7 different companies, only half of them called me back within several hours to come and look at the situation. Five of these companies were recommended to me by the previous inspection, agent or other sewer companies and the other two I found via Yelp. Bryce and Seattle Drain Service was one of the companies I found myself. Each company bid on the project and they came in a various price points as well as how they would approach and fix the issues in the line. Several of these (big name companies you see advertising all over the place) had bids that were double all the other bids. It was insane. Bryce and two other companies had similar bids and approaches to the problem. So why did I choose Bryce? Everyone else made the job seem simple and straightforward - we'll dig here, demolish the concrete here, do this and that and we'll be done. Bryce, in contrast, walked through all the options. He said these things are never easy because you don't know what you'll find under the ground. He said he'd try to dig under the concrete first to see if he could reach the broken pipe that way and he'd only resort to demolishing the concrete as a last resort. Bryce was also personable and unpretentious, never acted like a salesman and answered all of my many questions, patiently! As a homeowner, I wanted easy and cheap and simple but based on my conversations with Bryce and the glowing reviews on Yelp, I took a chance with him and I'm totally glad I did.

Let me tell you what happened.

Within 2 days, Bryce and his crew were at the house. Instead of tearing up the yard with a backhoe, they brought in this really powerful air-shooting-thing that cut up the soil and they vacuumed it up. The surveyor indicated the line was ~5-6' deep but it ended up being something like 8-9' deep! The surveyor's markings were also off but Bryce kept at the job and located the line. He did like twice the amount of work and DIDN'T CHARGE ME A SINGLE PENNY more than his original bid. Throughout the job, Bryce and his crew approached this as a challenge. They clearly love their craft and it shows. I even felt a bit bad that they did as much work for what I was charged.

That's honesty. That's customer-focused. That's ownership and it sums up Bryce and his company. I couldn't be happier with the work and if I ever have another sewer issue (I really hope I don't). I'll be calling Bryce. Every other person in the service industry should pay close attention to what Bryce does, how he does it and how he runs his business. It's proof that you can run a business in an honest way and succeed through word of mouth instead of through overcharging and spending tons of money on advertisements.