Straight answers
Everything people actually ask us on the phone, answered the way we would answer it on the phone. If yours is not here, call and ask.
Calling us
Getting us there
How fast can you actually get here?
Our target is 90 minutes from your call anywhere in our service area, and we run 24 hours a day. It is a target we hit most of the time rather than a guarantee we will pretend to make, because traffic on the Buckman at 5pm is real and so is a truck already three hours into a main line across the river. What we do guarantee is that you will know. Dispatch gives you a window when you call, and if it is going to slip you get a phone call with a new one.
Do you really answer the phone at 3am?
Yes, and a person answers rather than a queue or a voicemail box. That is a large part of what running 24 hours actually means. If you would rather not talk to anyone, the request form works at any hour too, but for a genuine emergency calling is minutes faster and minutes matter.
Can you come today?
Usually, yes. That is more or less the whole point of how we run. Call and dispatch will tell you honestly what today looks like rather than promising you a window nobody intends to hit.
What do you need from me before you arrive?
Clear a path to the affected fixture, and if you know where your exterior cleanout is, that saves real time on anything involving the main line. It is usually a white or black capped pipe standing a few inches out of the ground near the house. If you have already poured a drain product down it, please mention that when you call so the technician arrives with the right protection.
Do I need to be home?
For residential work, generally yes, because you need to approve the quote before work starts and see the result afterward. For rentals and commercial properties we regularly work with a key, a code or a property manager, and we photograph everything so you can see what happened without having been there.
Pricing
What it costs
Do you charge by the hour?
No. We quote a flat rate for the job before any work starts, so the number you agree to is the number you pay, whether the line opens in twenty minutes or two hours. Hourly billing puts you and your technician on opposite sides, and you have no way of judging whether the pace is honest.
Is there a charge just to come out?
We come out, diagnose the problem and give you a flat-rate quote. If you decide not to go ahead there is no charge for that visit. We would rather you compared quotes and came back than felt cornered into saying yes on the spot.
Do you charge more at night or on weekends?
No. A blocked main at 1am on a holiday costs what it costs at 1pm on a Wednesday. Charging people extra for having an emergency at an inconvenient hour has always struck us as a poor way to treat someone having a bad night.
Why do you not publish a price list?
Because a number posted without seeing your line is a number that will change on arrival, and a bait price that rises when the technician gets there is worse than no price at all. We would rather quote your actual job accurately and let you compare it against anybody else's.
Can the price change once you have started?
Only if we open the line and find a genuinely different problem underneath, and in that case we stop and requote before continuing. What does not happen is the number quietly growing and appearing on the invoice at the end.
How do I pay?
Card, check or cash on completion. Commercial accounts can be set up on terms, and financing is available through third-party lenders on larger sewer repair and replacement work, applied for at quote stage so you know where you stand before committing.
Methods
How the work is done
What is the difference between cabling and hydro jetting?
Cabling drives a steel cable through the blockage and punches a channel so water moves again. Hydro jetting uses high-pressure water to scour the entire inside wall of the pipe back to its original diameter. Cabling restores flow. Jetting restores the pipe. For hair in a shower branch, cabling is the right answer. For a kitchen line coated in fifteen years of grease, cabling just buys you a few months.
How do I know which one I need?
Largely by history. A line that has never given trouble and has stopped once is a cabling job. A line that keeps coming back is telling you the coating on the pipe wall was never removed, which is a jetting job. If we are unsure we put a camera down it rather than guessing with your money.
Will jetting damage my pipes?
Not in sound pipe, and pressure is matched to the line rather than run flat out. In pipe that a camera shows is cracked, badly scaled through, or separated at the joints, yes it can, and in that case we will tell you so and decline the job rather than take your money for something that makes it worse.
Why do you want to put a camera down my drain?
We do not, on a first-time straightforward clog. We recommend it when a line has failed twice, when somebody has quoted you excavation, when you are buying the house, or when we need to know whether jetting is safe. Outside those cases it is an expense you do not need and we will say so.
Do you pull the toilet to clear a main line?
Rarely. We work from the exterior cleanout wherever one exists, which keeps the mess outside the building and lets us get a much bigger machine onto the line. If a property genuinely has no cleanout we will discuss the options with you before doing anything.
Doing it yourself
Before you call us
Should I try a store-bought drain cleaner first?
We would rather you did not, and not because we want the work. Chemical openers almost never clear a real blockage. They sit against the pipe wall where the water has stopped, which is the worst possible place for them, and they are hard on older cast iron and on plastic traps. They also turn standing water into something hazardous for whoever has to work in it. If you have already used one, just tell us so we can protect ourselves properly.
Is a plunger safe?
Yes, and it often works. What causes damage is repeated flushing, not plunging. On a toilet, close the flapper or shut the supply valve behind it first so a failed attempt cannot overflow, then plunge with a proper flange plunger.
What can I actually fix myself?
More than you would think. A slow bathroom sink is very often hair on the pop-up stopper, which lifts straight out. A slow shower is usually a hair mat you can reach under the strainer. A dishwasher that will not drain is frequently a clogged air gap on the countertop. If you describe the symptom on the phone and it sounds like one of those, we will tell you how to try it before sending anyone.
My drain cleared on its own. Do I still need you?
Often, yes. A drain that clears itself has not fixed anything, it has let enough water through to relieve the pressure. The restriction is still there and still growing. If it is the second time on the same line, or if more than one fixture was involved, get a camera on it before it stops at a worse moment.
Can I rent a drain machine and do it myself?
You can, and for a simple branch line clog it sometimes works out. The two things that go wrong are using a cable too heavy for the pipe, which damages it, and getting the cable irretrievably stuck in the line, which turns a service call into an excavation. If it is a main line, please do not.
Sewers & septic
Below the yard
How do I know if it is one drain or the main line?
Run water in a fixture on a different side of the house and watch. If it is fine, you have a branch line problem and it is a routine service call. If it is also slow, or if it gurgles or backs up while the first one runs, the shared main downstream is restricted and nothing you do at any single drain will help.
Why do roots keep coming back?
Because cutting them removes the roots but not the opening they came in through. Anyone who tells you a root cut permanently solves root intrusion is not being straight with you. The real choice is between managing it on a schedule and repairing or lining the joint that is letting them in, and both are legitimate depending on the pipe and the tree.
Are you plumbers?
Yes. We are full-service plumbers whose specialty is drains and sewers. That is where the heavy equipment, the cameras and most of our training hours go, which is why we are faster and more thorough on a blocked line than a general shop. It also means that when the cause turns out to be a fixture, a valve or a water heater, we simply fix it instead of handing you off.
Do you work on septic systems?
We clear and camera the lines running to and from the tank, which on a septic property is often exactly where the problem is. We coordinate licensed pumping rather than doing the hauling ourselves. If the camera shows a full tank or a failed drainfield we will tell you that is what you are dealing with rather than cabling a line that is not blocked.
Someone quoted me a full sewer replacement. Should I get a second opinion?
Always, and specifically ask to see camera footage of the pipe. Replacement quotes are sometimes written off a blockage rather than off a picture. A camera run costs a fraction of a replacement and regularly turns one into a spot repair, a descale or a liner. That applies to our recommendations exactly as much as anyone else's.
Commercial
Businesses & portfolios
Can you work outside our operating hours?
Yes, and for kitchens it is usually what we recommend. Tell us your window, whether that is after close, before open, or a specific closed day, and we schedule inside it. There is no surcharge for working those hours.
Do you carry the insurance our building requires?
Yes. We carry general liability and workers compensation and can issue a certificate naming your entity as additional insured before the first visit. Send us your building's requirements and we will match them or tell you plainly if we cannot.
How often should a restaurant grease line be jetted?
It depends on your volume and your menu, which is why we camera the line before quoting a schedule rather than selling everyone the same interval. A high-volume fryer kitchen is often quarterly. A cafe with limited cooking might comfortably go annually. What we will not do is put you on a schedule you do not need.
Can you handle multiple properties on one account?
Yes. You get one dispatcher who knows the portfolio, a record of every line at every address, and invoicing set up the way your accounting needs it, whether that is per property or consolidated.
Do you provide reports for HOA boards?
Yes. A written condition summary with camera footage, written to be circulated to owners rather than to another technician, and specific enough to support a reserve or special assessment decision.
Still have a question?
Just ask us
Describe the symptom on the phone and we will tell you honestly whether this is something you can handle in ten minutes or something that needs a truck.