Five stars. I own a rental in Burbank that had been backing up for the better part of a year, and…read moreCharlie's is the company that finally got it sorted.
I called on a Wednesday afternoon with sewage coming up through a shower drain. Cesar came out that evening and worked late into the night, but the line would not open, which told us this was not a normal clog. The next day they excavated, got down to the blocked section, removed the clogged pipe, and jetted it clear. Once it was open they ran the camera, and it showed exactly why this kept happening: the old clay pipe was cracked and offset, with a corroded section of cast iron next to it. Cesar walked me through the footage and laid out the options, and we went with a full trenchless pipe burst replacement.
The thing that stood out most was the communication. Cesar answered every question I had, no matter how small or how many times I asked, and he answered them fast. Everything was in writing. The scope grew as they found more, but every increase was explained and quoted before they touched anything, and the final bill matched the contract to the dollar. When they ran into an extra connection at a bend they handled it at no charge without me asking. My tenant works from home with strict privacy requirements and a hard cutoff time, and they worked around her schedule every single visit.
Small things, but they say something: the whole crew showed up in matching Charlie's uniforms, trucks clearly marked, everything organized. When the job had to pause for the city inspection, they tarped and secured the excavated soil, covered the pits with plywood, and left the property clean and safe with my tenants living there the whole time. Their mascot is great too. After a week of dealing with this, having a team show up looking like they knew exactly what they were doing was reassuring.
The crew did the entire 65 foot pipe burst in one day during an Extreme Heat Warning, close to 100 degrees, and still had water back on that night. They pulled the permit, coordinated the city inspection, and passed it. Huge shout out to Cesar, Javier, Hector, Oscar, Giovani, and Adrian. These guys worked hard in brutal conditions and I'm grateful.