Luckily I don't need a plumber very often, but I have used Kramer's Plumbing when the need arises. However, this time I had what turned out to be a big issue and Wes and Kramer's plumbing came to the rescue in a big way.
Out of the blue, after flushing a toilet and the water not going down, waste water started coming out of the bathtub drain next to the toilet. Some of my drains have always been a little slow, but this was the first time this had ever happened. It was mid-afternoon and I immediately called Kramer's Plumbing. They were busy and couldn't come until the following morning but I was in a mini-panic not being able to use the toilet or any drains. I called a few places and finally found one of the larger chain plumbers that could come out within the next few hours. I have lived in my house for over 30 years and the former owner did a room addition and unfortunately covered up the clear-out pipe. They wanted to charge me almost $800 to temporarily remove the toilet and snake down the toilet drain hole and there would be an additional fee to put a camera down the drain. This seemed like an insane amount of money for that job and there was no guarantee that would even fix the problem. I quickly texted Wes at Kramer's Plumbing and he said he would do the same thing for $400. I paid the $90 visit fee and sent the big chain plumber on his way and was happy to wait overnight for somebody who was not trying to rip me off and that I had good experiences with in the past.
Wes and a co-worker arrived the next morning as promised and had the toilet removed and snake going down the drain in no time. He also put his camera down the drain, for no additional charge, to see what it looked like down there. He was able to clear out a blockage but there were various uneven main line offsets and quite a bit of roots so there were obviously cracks and/or breaks. He said I could get by with the work he did to clear out the blockages, but it would likely come back and probably get worse over time. He recommended putting in a two-way clearout out front which I agreed was the right course of action. After digging almost five feet down, thankfully in a dirt planter, to put in the two-way clearout a new camera inspection revealed definite breaks in the main drain line to the street and another major blockage. I agreed we should put in a liner to repair the main drain line. They ended up having to dig another five foot hole in order to access a main line Y-connection which split off to another part of the house for no extra charge. That segment of main drain line also had breaks and roots and they it lined as well. The lining comes with a 30 year warranty and it is nice to know I will never have to worry about this problem again.
I am positive that the big chain plumber would have charged me $20k+ for the same job and Wes and Kramer's Plumbing did it for less than half of that price. They were here for several days and were a joy to interact with, just really good people. When Wes came back a few days later for payment, he wasn't happy that the job wasn't left 100% dirt free and he pressure sprayed off my front patio and walkway to make sure everything was left pristine.
If you need a plumber who cares about their customers more than their wallet, this is definitely the place to call. Good people! read more
