So impressed with this business and the service! We smelled something in our backyard at the beginning of the week...something that smelled like sewage and our hearts dropped. No one wants to find out about sewage problems from bad smells...so, we called Challenge Rooter who was referred to us by someone in the business who we trust. First off, so responsive and he offered to come same day! It was our scheduling that made it difficult, but we met him three days later. He was prompt, diligent and thorough. Checked our pipes, lateral and everything under the house to confirm there were no cracks or leaks. Walked the backyard with us and guessed where the easement began. We sniffed the air a few times together and, not sensing any foul odors, he guessed it might have been a dead animal. I have a ton of peace of mind and confidence that nothing is wrong. Grateful for Chavo's and Challenge Rooter's help! read more

Had Challenge install a new water heater a few days ago. First my sewer lateral and then my water heater! Chevo came by and took a look and had his guys here the next day. I can't say enough good things about this company. Don't hesitate to give this company a call, you will not be disappointed. read more

Sewer lateral job was excellent in every aspect and well coordinated with EBMUD and the City of Oakland permit process, all done by Challenge Rooter. Competitive pricing, extremely efficient and responsive office staff person (Rosa), to employee providing free inspection (with camera) and detailed estimate and information. All workers who completed the job of replacing broken sewer line from house to the street were diligent, worked in tandem and appeared to take pride in their work, finishing the job in one day. Clean up and attention to detail was remarkable. I highly recommend Challenge Rooter. The company is no nonsense and provided very pleasant experience. read more

Challenge Rooter is the company you need to call for all your plumbing needs. very professional and down to earth friendly people they answer all my questions regarding the problem I had with with my sewer line I will recommend it any one who's is looking for highly rated personal and professional company I dont have no doubt they will do a very good job read more

I had a blocked pipe in my kitchen and I called Challenge Rooter. Right away, Rosa was very kind and calm and offered to call the guys to see if they could help. I found out later that they are short-staffed because of COVID-19. They couldn't come that afternoon, but came first thing the next morning. They were able to diagnose the problem, extract the snake that got stuck in the pipe the day before and test the drains to make sure the water was flowing properly. They were helpful, smart, kind and efficient and very expert at their profession. I would highly recommend them to anyone with a plumbing problem. read more

Excellent work and great customer service on my clogged drain, by Chevo and his assistant! He scheduled same-day, quoted a fair price, and verified his work before leaving. They were courteous, professional, and did a thorough clean up before they left. Our old pipes are prone to clogging due to corrosion, and his first pass with the snake loosened some sludge that then re-clogged the line during his post-repair testing. He knew this was a possibility and was prepared to re-snake it before he flushed through lots of water to be sure this won't be an issue after his departure. Which is awesome since the last plumber wasn't so thorough, and the sink re-clogged in less than a month. I'm so glad this team took the time to verify, identified the sludge issue, and gave us a more lasting solution. To top it all off, they let my two young kids watch, and didn't mind my sportscasting their every move to my curious preschooler! I found them on Yelp for the first time today, and picked them because their price was reasonable and they were available same-day. I was pleasantly surprised when they went so far above and beyond. I will definitely call this team in next time I need a plumber! read more

We worked with Eucebio and the team to get our sewer lateral replaced. We got a great quote (more than 2K lower than the original quote) for the replacement. The team came out when scheduled and completed the work in less than 2 days and emailed us a copy of our compliance certificate after the inspection from the city of Oakland. I was really pleased with the level of service and communication throughout. Would recommend them for anyone needing to do similar work on their home. read more

Challenge Rooter was an absolute breeze to work with; Rosa was extremely clear and communicated well throughout the whole process. Rosa was incredibly professional and patient to walk me through the steps. They also took care of the sewer lateral so fast over the weekend that I never even noticed them, I wish I found them sooner! They will be my go to for future projects for sure! read more

Challenge rooter is an outstanding business. We decided to hire them for a sewer lateral. From the first call, the attention we received from the manager was outstanding, showed up on time, did what he had to do in order to get us a quote. within a day, we had a quote emailed to us explaining the detail and what needed to be done. We had others come for quotes, however, this company came a bit under the others, plus all the great reviews they have here we decided to go with them. They kept us on the loop, the only wait was really for the permits from our city, but other than that, they called, scheduled it and finished as they promised in 2 days. they left my property the same way they found it, their clean up and commitment to excellent service is awesome, thank you for your great service. read more

Challenge Rooter is a great company. They're professional, responsive and super helpful. They did my sewer lateral for a very fair price - lower than competing bids. I'm so glad they were recommended to me and I'm happy to pass it on! read more

Rosa G. is very responsive to my require of prove of city permit closure, prove of sewer lateral certification. They guys came out did a fine job. Clean the job site nicely. Faster than I expected. Sewer lateral type job is pricy but Challenge Rooter gave a reasonable price. I checked their insurance certificate which is a bit old and their office sent me an updated one right away. Of cause, I also checked with the insurance company for their coverage. Seems fine to me. This job is done in Oakland CA. read more

These guys were great. They showed up on time, did the work, and got the inspection by EBMUD all in one day. The next morning we had our certification. Excellent work! read more

Challenge Rooter was great to work with. They were responsive, professional, got the job done in the morning with EBMUD approving it in the afternoon. I would work with them again. Rosa was very communicative. read more

Polite, thorough, efficient. They came out, gave me the options, gave me a plan and wound up saving me quite a lot of money compared to other "rushed" solutions. Rosa and office was great with scheduling and some hiccups on our end. read more

I wanted to answer this to everyone to give a HUGE plug to Challenge Rooter. (510) 479-1129 I had to have the sewer lateral replaced at my house in Oakland just yesterday. It was a little complex as I had NO clean-outs (they had to add two) and the public sewer is about ten feet deep in my street which is a little deeper than usual. There were also underground utility lines nearby so they had to dig by hand. I also required them to put the clean outs in the most discrete places possible. All in all, they completed the work in just one day, 50 feet of trench-less sewer, permits and Oakland certificate for $4,800. I had seven other bids ranging from as high as $16,500 which was absurd, with the rest in the $5,200-$8,800 range. The crew was friendly and organized and if you looked at my house last evening, you would have had no clue they were here. I am a realtor so I will be recommending them to all of my clients moving forward. read more

I am a Project Manager for a General Contractor repairing fire and water damaged homes throughout the Bay Area. I have been in Construction for over 25 years. I have never had a sub-contractor whom I had never worked with, step up and come through for me in a pinch the way Challenge Rooter did. I had to call Challenge Rooter because another "Rooter" company (not "Queen" Rooter but her husbands Rooter) out of Oakland kept pushing me off and pushing me off and eventually ghosted me for the Private Sewer Lateral replacement I needed done at one of my Oakland projects. I was in an extremely bad position as my client was going to be irate if I didn't complete the final inspection with the City of Oakland on time. Challenge Rooter not only got all necessary documents to me to be an approved vendor, but also got the PSL replaced and had the EBMUD certificate to me in less than a week. I cannot say enough good things about Eucebio, Rosa and their team. They were knowledgeable, prompt, efficient, reasonably priced, and did very clean work. If you need a quality plumber, do not hesitate to call Challenge Rooter! I WILL be calling Challenge Rooter for all my PSL Replacement projects in the future!! read more

The Challenge Rooter team did an excellent job replacing our sewer lateral before the close of our new home. All of the other quotes that we got were at least $700 more and required that we damage our front yard as well as the street. They replace our entire sewer lateral and got the EBMUD permit in 2 days. Plus, our yard looks like no work was completed. read more

We had to replace an old sewer lateral, and these guys were amazing. They obtained all of the permits from the Oakland, were the most price competitive, and had the PSL certificate to us the day after the replacement. I would definitely use them again. read more

I recently purchased a home in the Rockridge neighborhood in Oakland. I had a big sewer lateral problem that I was required to fix by EBMUD. It involved excavation of a big area in the street, another 15 feet long in my driveway, and one by my garage. The team was first rate -- always on time and very hard working. There was a lot of of drilling and digging, but they cleaned up the site at the end of each day and completely when finished. Rosa in the administrative office was terrific -- very helpful and cheerful. Their bid was reasonable and the work well done. I highly recommend them if you need their services. read more

This is my first review on Yelp. I felt compelled to write as Challenge Rooter and their plumber, Jose Ramos, impressed me with his expertise and honesty. Challenger Rooter is fair, reasonable and competent and resolved my issue for under $200.00 when the other "Rooter" company pushed a $1200 hyrdrojetting and my other plumber/Rooter company charged $1,119.00 and did not resolve the issue. Be wary of these other Rooter companies offering you sewer lateral service and hydrojetting. Long story short, after I was ripped off my long-used plumber (now former) and the other "rooter" company - Challenge Rooter saved the day. Jose fixed my issue in about 40 minutes and charged me a fraction of what the other two companies did. Jose ran his camera, cleaned my lateral and ran the camera again to show the pipe was clear. The two prior plumbers did not resolve the issue and offered expensive fixes. I cannot thank Jose and Challenge Rooter enough as I was really in a pickle due to COVID. I knew nothing but now I am a bit more educated and encourage folks to be careful with regard to these rooter companies with fancy advertising. Based on my experience, Challenge Rooter can be trusted. Read below for details of debacle before Challenge Rooter stepped in and saved me a couple thousand dollars. It may or may not be of interest. I share it because Challenge and Jose were the exact opposite. Background Before Jose Helped Me: My kitchen sink was backed up with dirty water (at first soil/dirt) when my washing machine drained. I called my (former) long-used plumber in Oakland/Montclair who has been a plumber over 20 years. He first charged me $495 to snake my kitchen sink and then "fix" the pipe under the sink he poked through while snaking. It was old and needed to be replaced. Fair enough. The issue came back in less than 20 hours when I was in the shower as now it was smelly water (gross, I know!). Then I flushed the toilet and it filled my sink with foul water. I had to clear out of my place for the Memorial Day Weekend and he ghosted me until Tuesday. I get it - long weekend. He lives about 1.5 away but I did not ask him to ruin his weekend. After the failed snake, his next recommendation was too "dig around" and try to find the pipes. He did not consider the sewer lateral lateral pipe and suggested I replace pipe. I suggested a camera scope but he said the sink is too small. He thought it was a broken or cracked pipe because I had a root blockage or broken pipe. He never asked to see the sewer lateral cleanup until I researched it. He came back after the long weekend and snaked the sewer lateral cleanup once I showed it to him. He used a 1 1/4 inch bit on at 3-4" sewer lateral. He did not suggest that I call a company that specialized in this and has the right equipment. After he spent a couple hours, he said he went as far as he could and I should replace pipe and get a camera inspection and find the pipe as the problem wasn't fixed. I could now use the bathroom finally for a bit. Snake #2 was $360.00. He recommended a Rooter company to come out and run a camera. This other Rooter Company came out with their upfront "pricing package on his iPad". Ran a video camera and then showed me there were roots and that I needed to "get a hydrojetting". The videocamera work cost $264.00 (no offer of snake work). I told him upfront the whole point was to show it to my plumber. At this point, I am in $1,119 .00 (with a partial 1" partial snake about 20- 30 feet of a 100 foot run). The camera showed some roots. This Mr. did not offer to snake it as it was a "temporary fix" for roots. I asked if he could snake with a larger 3" cutter blade and he said, he couldn't as he did have a 3" inch cutter. Mind you, he had a full van of equipment. He only recommended a hydrojet cleaning for $1,192.00. As it was expensive (also temporary), I asked how much would it got for me to replace the section with roots, he seemed disinterested and recommended the hyrojetting - otherwise I would have to break through concrete (that is steel pipe and has no roots). He thought maybe it would be $3,000 to $5,000. He left without making me a copy of the video. I realize this right away and went to his van and asked him to email the video. He didn't record it. I told him I needed it, and he said he couldn't record as he didn't have a removable drive. I advised that I did. He was nice enough about running it through again but he ran the camera through really fast. I asked for a bid for the hydrojetting and to replace pipe. He only sent the bid for $1,192 hyrojetting. Jose came after these two. Ran his camera and stated he felt he could clear everything out with a 3" inch cutter. It took him about 30 minutes and he ran the camera again to show he how everything was cleared and I had time to consider a more permanent replacement. It was all under $200 dollars. Great bid on replacement too. read more

I needed to get my sewer lateral repaired and certified (as many home owners know, this is an expensive repair, cost thousands of dollars!). Chevo was actually recommended by _another_ plumber, as being more reasonable priced while still doing great work. And he definitely lived up to it. Chevo came in not at the lowest, but was still very well priced (I still want it was done right). And then, during the repair, he and his crew came in and did the entire repair in half a day. I've got a lot going on, and I really appreciated how fast and through the job was done. On top of this, I found out later that one of the connections to the sewer line got loose. Chevo came in about two hours and fixed it up so it was even better than before (replaced both sides of connection with a new fitting). Thanks Chevo, great work! read more

I had a sewer back up in one of my apartment complex on a Saturday morning, the plumbing company that I regularly use was not available to come out until late evening. I was out of town and in need for a plumbing company to come out right away, I searched Yelp and came across Challenge Rooter, I spoke with Chevo and he responded to my service call within 45minutes to solve the issue. Chevo was easy to communicate via mobile phone and text message. Thanks Chevo for your prompt service, I will lock your number in my contact vendor list as I own multiple properties and I'm sure I will need plumbing service in the future. read more

Near the end of the renovation of an inherited duplex, the city inspector asked to see our sewer inspection certificate. First we'd heard of the requirement. Had two companies come out. Both scoped the lateral. Same result: rusted cast iron and fractured clay pipe needing replacement and both specialize in trenchless repiping (an interesting process). Challenge's price was substantially lower and, equally important, was able to start within a day or two. They said they'd start at 8 a.m. and would finish the same day. Their crew arrived before 8 in trucks piled with equipment and towing a small backhoe and a steamroller. Everyone immediately started in on their piece of the job. Challenge arranged for the City and EBMUD inspections -- which went without a hitch -- closed up the holes, poured concrete, repaired the street, cleaned up and were gone by the end of the day, just as promised. We highly recommend Challenge Rooter. read more

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Eucevio saved the day for a small plumbing emergency! I am so happy that I called him. He responded quickly and was able to fix our problem. He is very friendly, courteous and professional. I am so happy that he was able to help us. I will definitely use him again! read more

Challenge Rooter was amazing and I highly recommend this company! Not only were they very prompt but very professional, knowledgeable, and honest. Jason M. read more

Challenge Rooter was really great. He was very professional and did wonderful work on our toilet. Very reasonably priced and Chevo explained everything and made feel very comfortable with the work he was doing. Definitely will be calling them again if we have any more plumbing needs. read more

I want to give a shout out to Chebo (in the field) and Rosa (in the office) at Challenge Rooter. They came out yesterday to replace a piece of our sewer line that was almost completely blocked by roots. I called last week and was incredibly happy with how responsive everyone was; they came out right away (without charging me $150 to bring out a camera to look down the sewer line, which is what many companies do now) to give me an estimate and I was able to book an appointment within a week. I had contacted another company who was going to charge me over twice the amount that Challenge Rooter charged me! They even came up with a wonderful idea -- to add a cleanout where they were doing the work, since it's already 50 feet away from the house, to make future work easier. Could not be happier with the services!!!! read more

I called Challenge Rooter based on recommendations on Yelp and Next Door. After they did the job, I belatedly discovered their "standard charge" is $250 per hour, PLUS $175 for removal and reinstalling a toilet in order to snake out the 10 ft. backup. I find this hourly rate excessive and strongly suggest Yelp and ND users find more competitive hourly rates and fees for "extras". Live and Learn. Always get 2-3 "quotes" before you allow them on your property, or certainly before they do ANY work. read more

These guys were great! And they did the job so quickly. Plus, they use email to send the sewer lateral certificate and coordinated with EBMUD and the city so that inspections happened the same day. Great experience for an otherwise not so fun thing to tackle. read more

Great service by all. Especially Rosa in the office. Highly recommend by my neighbors. On time clean and efficient. Thanks for the great job read more

A+ response, service, follow up for sewer lateral replacement. Had service fall through with another compAny and ended up with challenge who was very reasonably priced. From same day inspection/quote (no promises but got lucky) to immediate responses they had great communication throughout the whole process. They knocked out the job in one day with no prob and the workers were courteous, clean, and efficient.Great compAny, good service, and Competitively priced. Use challenge and be done with your sewer lateral replacement. read more

Eucevio is the greatest! We were panicked about flooding in our kitchen and he got here right away and solved the problem. He was fast, friendly, and did great work. I will definitely be hiring Challenge Rooter again. read more

Wow. So thankful for these guys. They came out at 10:00 p.m. tonight and cleared a backed up sewer for the apartment bldg I manage. The price was very reasonable especially for a late night emergency. I will definitely use them in the future. Thanks guys! read more

These people are the In-And-Out-Burger of sewer service. They did our two houses' lateral in one day and came back and filled in everything and cleaned up the next. We were in a hurry so we could put our house on the market and they were able to accommodate our tight schedule. Highly recommended! read more

I want to echo the great reviews for Challenge Rooter! They did an excellent job replacing our sewer lateral. The project was priced very fairly, too. The owner really knows his business and coordinates everything without delays or any kind of run-around. The crew works together seamlessly and cleaned up the area nicely. We even had our pressure test certificate from EBMUD the same day they finished! Highly recommended! read more

Another solid 5 stars for Challenge Rooter. So happy to have found them. We have called Challenge more than a few times... Even if we have a problem, we have peace of mind because we know that Challenge will take care of it and with reasonable prices (and won't cheat us). Also, the owner, Eucevio, answers the phone! You get the owner on the phone! They are reliable and on time! Thanks Challenge! read more

We need get our sewer lateral replaced and certified. Our house is located on hill side and around by trees. It's complex as we had no cleanout in the front of house and shared sewer with neighbor. Among lots of estimations, challenge root's proposal is the most practical and least affect to trees. They did trenchless for the first part and open trench for the second part. They work very hard and proud of their work! Inspections for city of Oakland and EBMUD are passed on the same day. We got certificate within 12 hours after inspection. Great experience with Challenge Rooter. Strongly recommended! read more

Euvecio and his team at Challenge Rooter are awesome!!! I needed a sewer lateral done for an older property to be in compliant with city standards. We had a rocky start with scheduling the perfect time to look at the old sewer pipes, but none of it was his fault at all. We had to schedule several appointments, and with all his patience he still showed up on time to the appointments scheduled. On the day of, he got the job done and I received my compliance certificate the same day. He made suggestions to cover my gas pipe and to fix one of my sunken concrete slabs, which I appreciated. Very professional and even took time to look at some plumbing issues I had in the bathroom. His prices are very fair. I recommend! read more