Siamack Sioshansi
3 years ago
Recommended by the Competition
Last year I had to replace the main sewer line that connects my home to the street. It was damaged by tree roots. An expensive project.
In order to find a competent plumber with reasonable prices, I called several plumbing companies and scheduled 6 site visits over two consecutive days.
During the first day, all three estimators told me that the hook up from the house to street is not accessible (it was under the tree) and they could not give me a firm price until they dug up the sewer line. While their estimated costs varied, each bid had a caveat that once the land was opened, additional work/charges may be necessary.
On day two, one of the estimators was running late and arrived at the same time as the estimator for Fast Response Plumbing (FRP) who clearly explained the process to me. Basically, he could not give me a price unless he could find the connection to the city sewer line. He then ‘snaked’ a device down the sewer line and at curb, detected that my sewer connection was directly under the tree.
He told me that since all street trees belong to the City of San Francisco, neither FRP or I could remove the tree. He marked the location of the connection and gave me a note for submission to San Francisco Public Works for removal of the tree. He also told me that the city will inspect the location and if I request, the city will remove the tree at no cost to me. He then gave me a firm estimate and told me to contact FRP after the tree was removed.
Meanwhile, the other plumber was standing there watching FRP estimator work. When I asked him about his bid, he simply said, that they could not meet the bid from FRP and that FRP had trained many of the local companies in how to do trench-less sewer line replacement. He said he could write a bid but my best bet was to work with FRP.
When the last plumber arrived, I listened to how they would do the job, then walked him to the curb and explained that FRP was just here and the connection for my line is under the tree marked by red flag. At that time, the estimator told me FRP is the best at this kind of work and gave me an estimate that was 12% higher than FRP’s estimate.
FRP gave me the lowest and the only fixed price bid. The work was completed as described, on time and on budget, and I have been satisfied with the results.