Drain Works Plumbing

Called sun. night 30 minutes later a polite young man matt arrived fixed problem explained everything no bull no shine got a quote for future work I know I needed REASONABLE.Too much really say here but he was respectful polite efficient knowlegable and a pro also wore booties in the house.Will use them in future considering my direct neighbor works for the competition you no the one.Anyways when I read their ad I was curious and was not disappointed.

I was having irregular clogging with my toilet and was concerned about a potential sewage backup. Lou put a snake down the pipe (a camera on a cable to inspect the inner pipe for clogs) and showed me the results. The pipe was clear and Lou's analysis was that I simply have a cheap toilet that doesn't flush well. He recommended replacing the toilet with a higher end brand name and told me what kind to get, where to get it and how much to roughly spend. He also gave me a ballpark figure of the cost to have them do it versus replace it myself. He also checked for leaks in the basement with the pipe and gave a few basic recommendations on keeping my basement drains clean. There was no sales pressure, the work was quick and for the most part clean ( a bit of grit on the floor of the bathroom and hallway that needed to be vacuumed up from the removal of the toilet.)

Jeremy Harris, the technician that performed the service was polite, knowledgeable and efficient. He was upfornt about the costs and when the job was done, made sure that he left the site in a clean and orderly manner. Thanks!

I moved into an older downtown home two years ago. I have tried using friends, friends of friends and small plumbing companies. Due to the number and severity of the various plumbing problems I have faced; I opened the yellow pages one day out of desperation. The service I have received from both Chris (plumber) and Jeremy (drain specialist) at Drainworks has been excellent. It has given me a real peace of mind knowing that I can turn to a company who will solve the problem promptly, competently and be professional in every way while doing it. As someone who has worked in the service industry I am as impressed with the professionalism of this company and its employees as I am with their ability to get the problem resolved. I only deal with this plumbing company now.

We had a problem with the drains and called in a different and very reputable company to identify the problems. They came out and ran a camera (scoping) through the drains and identified the two problem areas in the outside drains. The camera itself was heavy and the cable stiff enough that pushing the camera through the drains actually unblocked the drain. We paid them for this work. They gave us a written estimate for what was needed and left.

I looked for a second estimate, but decided instead to save some money and use Drainworks promise in their Yellow Pages ad to knock 10% off the price of any written estimate. I relied on their reviews at Homestars in choosing them. Their guy came out very quickly and I handed him the estimate and explained everything. He first came up with a different solution that would cost about 80% more. There's nothing wrong with that. The cheaper solution was to patch the problem areas. But there would still be a chance that the tree would crack the pipe in a different place. The more expensive approach was to access the drain via a hole the would dig a hole in the basement and then put an epoxy liner inside the existing pipe to where it became the city's drain line. Another hole would be needed at that end. I believe this is the inversion method.

We decided to go with the patchwork solution and asked for 10% off the first estimate. After speaking to his supervisor, he came back with a price that was about 8% less. He also included scoping the drain in the price but I felt that was something they had to do anyhow. So I had a minor problem with that.

They came when they said they would, scoped the drains and made the fixes by digging by hand down to the drains and repairing them. They were clean, polite, wore booties when they came in the house and did an excellent clean up. At the end of the job, they rescoped the drains and showed me the repairs. If I understand it correctly, they probably couldn't have used the inversion method because, unknown to us when we signed the contract, there were underground y connections outside the house into the drain line from a time when downspouts from the roof went into the drains (that's now illegal). The guy from the first company knew about the problem because he scoped the drains before deciding what was needed.

Afterwords, I read the fine print on back of the contract and compared that to the fine print on the back of the first company's estimate. Both contracts made the customer liable for the cost of a broken snake and for the cost of removing if it got broken. Apparently, this can happen. In fact, the first company gave up trying to fix one of the problem with a snake with a cutter head when it looked like it might break because of tree roots. It might cost a few hundred dollars for the snake and cutter head. Under the circumstances, I wouldn't have been that upset to learn that I was expected to pay for the snake/cutter head.

But Drainworks tries to put the customer on the hook for over $5000 if the scoping camera gets broken. Remember that on any proper repair job, you need to scope the drains before hand. And unlike the problem with a snake, the customer is unlikely to learn in advance that there might be a condition in his drains that will break the camera. It's unfair to put this type of gotcha in small print on the back of the contract. Broken cameras should be part of the cost of doing business. And at the minimum, they should put the risk of camera breakage clause on the front of the contract and make the customer initial it. So I didn't like this. Of course if they did this, customers might be less likely to sign up for scoping.

And finally, it turns out that there is another method of fixing the drains that I learned about after the work was done. I never got a price on this method, but I expect it would be about the same price as the method that Drainworks wanted to use. The advantages of the pulled-in-place method is you need one less hole. A hole is needed where you're going to end the liner. But you don't need to make a hole in the basement. Instead, after cleaning out the drains, a line goes from the far end back to a cleanout inside the house. The epoxy felt liner is attached to the line and then 'pulled-in-place' to exactly where you want it. And Y connections outside the house would not be a problem. Very neat.

This method is called pulled-in-place. If I understand it correctly, with this method you don't need to make a hole in the basement.

I was ankle high in water flooding out of the toilet and as well, backing up into the bathtub. What a mess. I called and a very kind bookings department guided me through and made immediate arrangements to have someone come out. Within a short time, the tech was there and the problem resolved within an hour. Extremely professional, courteous, knowledgable and VERY reasonable with cost.
Thanx Drainworks!!!

After a flooded basement, ruined carpet etc., it was a huge relief to have Drainworks fix my drain problem so quickly and effectively. They responded right away, gave me the information I needed in language a non-expert could understand, answered all my questions, did what they said they would, did it very well, and left my yard in great shape. Many thanks to Mike and the whole Drainworks crew!

We contacted Drainworks because we had a number of plumbing issues that we detected after moving into our new "renovated" home.
The Service Technician from Drainworks arrived on time (an exact time had been provided, not a 2-3 hour window) and was professional, friendly and courteous. He conducted a brief but thorough diagnosis, provided a quote, and began work immediately (on a Saturday). He did a great job of informing us about the work required, and provided helpful feedback and suggestions for us to keep in mind to avoid problems down the road.
Within several hours (a few complications arose along the way, but the technician did a great job of trouble-shooting), the problems had been corrected. After completing the job, he cleaned up the affected space.

After waiting all day for another contractor to call me back, Drainworks had Jeremy on the scene within 90 minutes. By video camera inspection, he quickly confirmed that the sanitary sewer was clear but located two blockages in the storm drain. After clearing them by snaking, he confirmed their exact location by video inspection.

This was the second time that we had Lou Spada and his crew from DrainWorks work on the drains. When our last emergency was taken care of, Lou had spoken to us about proactive work that would be a good idea, and the tree root issues we had. This month we went ahead with the suggested work. Our experience was just as positive as the last. The work was extensive, and even with more record setting rain and fierce storms, was finished in only two and a half days, the entire sanitary line was replaced up to the city line. I was impressed again with the professionalism of Lou and his crew, their excellent work ethic, and their ability to adjust with the peculiarities of our house's plumbing and drains. This is not an easy property to work on, it presents challenge after challenge, but the crew was never stuck or complained, they got on with it, and did it right! I cannot say enough about how professional and prompt the crew was. Mr Spada is also more than willing to explain what is wrong, how it will be fixed, the options, and the results. I've made the same recommendation many times to friends and family.