Budget Rooter

We had a backed up main sewer line in our second residence and required professional assistance to clear it out. We were not able to be on-site for the initial visit so had to rely on remote communication.

Once I placed my backed up sewer request on Homestars, I received multiple responses from the big chain plumbers and I was also contacted by Budget Rooter. After speaking with Jason, I wanted to proceed with giving him the service, however he was not able to make it to our home until a few days later and since the water was backed up and damaging the basement floors we had the first company on site clear our backed up pipe. During initial our conversation, Jason had mentioned that he would be available to provide a second opinion and to feel free to reach out to him with any questions that we may have. The first company on site had shared a video and advised that the whole sewer pipe would need to be replaced and gave a 10K-15K+ estimate. The second big chain on site gave similar quote.

I shared that video with Jason from Budget Rooter, and he was able to provide me with multiple second opinions and options to resolve our issue.

Of course replacing the whole sewer line is always an option, but that is also equivalent to saying that every time that someone has an issue with their vehicle that they should get a new one, as opposed to attempting to fix the issue. The big companies just want to scare you into thinking that your only option is to replace everything, taking advantage as you are in a vulnerable situation and make you feel pressured that there are no other options which is how they make their commission.

Once Jason was on site, he asked if he can take another look with his own camera, so that he do his own assessment. The first thing that he noticed was that the first company on site could have cleared the whole blockage (tree roots has gotten in), as opposed to just partially clearing it, and making several exaggerated comments in their video to make it seems like all there was a huge disaster in the pipes and that the only option was to replace the whole pipe. Jason advised that they can cut the roots that penetrated the clay sewer pipeline with pressure washer (hydrocut) and that there was not any major damage to the pipeline that warranted that the whole line would need to be replaced. Changing to PVC line is a long term solution, however not a requirement.

If you actually break down the cost of replacing the whole line vs hydro cleaning the pipes every couple of years, you clearly win by just cleaning out the pipes cost wise.

I would like to thanks Jason for his honesty and willingness to answer questions regardless of whether he was the one that we choose to go with. He also was very responsive and easy to reach and super friendly. Kudos to Jason for wanting to truly help you out and provide an alternative, rather than to dig up everything like every other companies wanted to do.

I highly recommend that everyone reach out to Budget Rooter for their great customer service but more so for their true honesty.